Sea Of Cortez - Age Of Anxiety lp - Re-issue

Sea Of Cortez - Age Of Anxiety lp - Re-issue - this album is the first 11 tracks on the discography.

Sea of Cortez formed in late 1996 when AJ Tamura (Bass/Vox) and Paul Canari (Guitar/Vox) were introduced to Jef Wright (Drums) through a mutual friend. Within a few months the trio from the west side of Phoenix played their first show - the first of many up to their final performance in May of 2000. A little challenging to put into one specific genre, Sea Of Cortez may have been referred to at the time as math rock, emo, screamo, post-punk, or hardcore – among others. Each band member contributed to songwriting, resulting in a sound collectively influenced by groups like Slint, Rodan, June of ‘44, Unwound, the Jesus Lizard, lowercase, and Blonde Redhead.

In 1997, Sea Of Cortez released their first 7” - a split with Mars Observer Mission (tracks 12 and 13 of this discography), a two-piece with Jef on drums/vox and Mike Juliano on guitar/bass/vox, that would later become Death of Marat. A self-titled 7” (tracks 14, 15 and 16) followed in early 1998, their last release before their first and only full-length, Age of Anxiety (tracks 1 through 11), was released that summer by Voice of the Sky. A month-long US tour with labelmates Ambassador 990 was cut short for Sea Of Cortez when they had to sell their broken down van in Topeka, Kansas and pick up the tour back home in Phoenix. It turned out to be their only tour, but they played a lot of shows locally and were fortunate to have been part of a burgeoning music and arts scene in central Phoenix in the late 1990s. Sea Of Cortez contributed two unreleased tracks on two separate local compilations (track 17 was released on the Libations Unlimited: Phoenix '97-'99 compilation) that feature a variety of bands that performed at Modified Arts, an all ages venue and art gallery. Additionally, Sea Of Cortez provided local support for a variety of touring bands including the Locust, Unwound, Deerhoof, and Lightning Bolt.

After the tour, Sea Of Cortez wrote six new songs, recorded, and self-released them in 1999 as the Intermission EP (tracks 18 through 23) . The group wrote another batch of songs but only recorded one of them which appeared on one of the aforementioned Modified Arts compilations (track 24). The rest of these songs, along with earlier tracks, can be heard on Live at Modified, available on the 2025 Stickfigure Recordings digital release of Age of Anxiety, which also includes the band’s entire discography.

Post-Sea Of Cortez, all members stayed active and were a part of other projects. AJ played in an Aphex Twin-inspired electronic duo, Early Outward. He later reunited with Jef in colorstore - a band Jef drummed in from 2003-2012 - and played live bass in support of their last album. Previous to that, Jef played drums in addition to doing most of the vocals for Death Of Marat, and did the same in Other Voices - a band that included John Brandon from Death of Marat on bass. Jef continues to perform with Treasure mammaL and ROAR. Paul continues to release music under the name UNIQORNZ.

The Age Of Anxiety tracks have been re-mastered by Carl Saff.