Yellow Ostrich

Yellow Ostrich
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, USA
Genres	Indie rock, Indie pop, lo-fi, shoegazing
Years active	2009–2014
Labels	Barsuk Records
Website	yellowostrich.com
Members	Alex Schaaf Michael Tapper Jared Van Fleet Zach Rose
Past members	Jon Natchez

Yellow Ostrich were an American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York. The band formed in 2009 and, at the time of their last show, consisted of Alex Schaaf (vocals and guitar), Michael Tapper (drums), Jared Van Fleet and Zach Rose.^[1]

History

The band formed in 2009 and consisted of Alex Schaaf (vocals and guitar), Michael Tapper (drums), and Jon Natchez (bass, horns, lapsteel, keyboard, and electronics).

Yellow Ostrich originated as the solo project of Schaaf, who first started recording music in his bedroom with a 4-track recorder. While pursuing his music degree at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Schaaf had the opportunity to open for Michael Tapper's then project Bishop Allen, for whom he played drums at the time.^[2] The two musicians made a connection, and when Schaaf moved to Brooklyn at the same time as Tapper in 2010, they decided to perform together officially as Yellow Ostrich.^[1]

After recording their first studio album, The Mistress, the band enlisted the help of multi-instrumentalist Jon Natchez to help achieve their sound on stage. Natchez had played previously with numerous other indie bands including The Antlers and Beirut, and eventually became an official band member. While on tour in 2011, the band signed to Barsuk Records, who released the band's sophomore LP, Strange Land.^[1]

On June 10, 2013, the band announced that Jon was leaving the band to pursue other things. At that time, they announced that Jared Van Fleet and Zach Rose (who had been with the group since January, 2013) were officially joining the band.

On November 7, 2014, Yellow Ostrich released a statement on their official Facebook page that they would be disbanding after their final performance, which occurred on December 8, 2014 at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, New York.^[3]

Discography

Albums

• Yellow Ostrich (2009)
• Wild Comfort (2010)
• The Mistress (2011)
• Strange Land (2012)
• Cosmos (2014)

EPs

• Carousels (2009)
• Whalemary 7" (2010)
• The Serious Kids EP (2010)
• The Morgan Freeman EP (2010)
• Fade Cave EP (2010)
• Ghost EP (2012) ^[4]

References