Baltimore's experimental bands

Ecstatic Sunshine

Members: Kieran Gillen, Matthew Papich, David Zimmerman

Ecstatic Sunshine began as a strangely organic-sounding noise rock duo which occasionally flirted with aspects of math and prog. Songs like "Anagram" seem to grow like the result of some weird photosynthesis involving guitars and cables instead of water and carbon dioxide. Originally featuring two guitarists (Papich and Ponytail member Dustin Wong) and no drums, Ecstatic Sunshine was about bright, punk-inspired melodicism. When Wong decided to devote himself to Ponytail, Papich steered the band toward an electronically involved approach, recruiting Gillen and Zimmerman as full time sound manipulators. 

Live, the band hasn't sounded much like the old Ecstatic Sunshine, or anyone else for that matter. Where most Baltimore musicians have involved electronics for dance-y means, Ecstatic Sunshine now employs overprocessed signals, and creates droning loops, somehow still reaching a very organic result.

Level of experimentation: 8, for fearless movement from one style to the next

Web site: www.myspace.com/ecstaticsunshine