Low rock

Low rock is a genre of rock, placed under many different umbrellas, although some things do remain constant over all its subgenres. In contrast to most other forms of rock (cf. rock and roll, heavy metal, and hard rock), which are traditionally guitar-driven, low rock is driven by the saxophone and other pneumatic instruments. In some low-rock bands, such as Morphine, the guitar is, in fact, absent. Low rock is also characterised by thick, dark, atmospheric, and mellow vocals and a "minimalist" sound stemming from what was considered "unusual instrumentation" for rock. The voice of Mark Sandman, a low rock singer, was described as a "deep, laid-back croon"; the article tentatively coins the name "dream rock" for what would eventually become low rock.
History
Pioneered by vocalist and frontman Mark Sandman in the 1980s, low rock combines blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements, giving the band an unusual sound. Arguably, the first low rock band was called Hypnosonics; the earliest mention of this band is in 1986, but it has been described as being an earlier band than Treat Her Right, which was formed in 1984. Over the years, Hypnosonics (originally named Hypnos after the Greek god of sleep was composed of Sandman, saxophonists Russ Gershon and Dana Colley, flugelhornist Thomas Halter, as well as percussionist Jay Hill; when their previous bassist left, Michael Rivard joined the group.
Another of its pioneers could be the cowpunk-blues hybrid band Treat Her Right, described as "sparse and rarely easy to classify". Nevertheless, Rolling Stone magazine describes the sound as "smoky blues that harks back to the urban blues of the Fifties (Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker) and a healthy dose of rockabilly". The band was composed of Sandman on guitar, Billy Conway on drums, Dave Champagne on guitar, and Jim Fitting on harmonica; singing and song-writing duties were shared by all but Conway. Moderately successful, Treat Her Right made three albums. Their first, eponymous album was a low-budget production which received some college radio airplay; their second, although promoted by RCA Records, was of lower quality and did not sell well. This was acknowledged by the band, and, after several disparaging comments towards the record company, they were dropped. Their third album, What's Good For You, (with a detectable "stripped down live-in-studio approach") was issued on Rounder Records in 1991; shortly after, the group disbanded.
However, it is Sandman's later band Morphine (Sandman on bass; Dana Colley on bari sax, alto sax, and tenor sax; and Jerome Dupree and later Billy Conway on percussion) that defined the genre as it stands today. They were, arguably, the most successful low rock band, having released five studio albums. In chronological order, the first four albums were Good (1992), Cure for Pain (1993), Yes (1995), and Like Swimming (1997). In 1999, Sandman suffered a fatal myocardial infarction while performing in Europe. This heralded the end of Morphine, and their last album, The Night was released in 2000.
Within a year of Sandman's death, Colley and Conway created Orchestra Morphine, a group of Sandman's friends and colleagues who toured to celebrate the music of the band and to raise funds for the Mark Sandman Music Education Fund, "which benefits music programs in the Cambridge school system". Orchestra Morphine mostly performed music from The Night, but also included some Hypnosonics material as well.
Later, singer and guitarist Laurie Sargent, a member of Orchestra Morphine and former vocalist for the band Face to Face, would join Colley and Conway in their first post-Morphine musical endeavour, Twinemen. Conway and Colley also officially formed the Hi-n-Dry independent record label and studio, converting Sandman's workspace into a commercial enterprise. The label's roster includes a number of their friends, colleagues and other Boston-area musicians. Orchestra Morphine still reunites on occasion but no longer tours.
In 2004, the Mark Sandman box set Sandbox was released by Hi-n-Dry. It contains two CDs and a DVD of previously unreleased material spanning Sandman's musical career (Disc 1 contains mainly Morphine songs, whereas Disc 2 contains content from other low rock bands of which Sandman was a member). The DVD features clips from early Sandman shows, interviews from the Morphine tours, and videos from other Sandman solo and group projects, such as Treat Her Right. However, the box set does not contain any Sandman material found in the Morphine catalogue, Morphine videos, or promotional material produced by Rykodisc or DreamWorks Records. Many believe this is the result of a less-than-cooperative relationship between the surviving members of the band and their former record labels, although both Colley and Conway contributed to the release of The Best of Morphine, released by Rykodisc in 2003. Sandbox contained not only songs by Morphine as such, but also Hypnosonics songs like Middle East and Early Man.
Jerome Deupree continues to record with various jazz musicians and later became a member of the group Bourbon Princess. In 2006, Dana Colley formed the band A.K.A.C.O.D. with Monique Ortiz (former leader of Bourbon Princess). Their debut album Happiness was released in early 2008.
Low rock songs have appeared many times on television and in film, so one can hardly consider the genre avant-garde or uncategorisable. For instance, the work of Morphine has "showed up on the soundtracks for Spanking the Monkey and Very Bad Things, among other films , and recently a Morphine video popped up on HBO's hit series The Sopranos."

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