In the 1990’s and 2000’s, Ida’s live shows were widely considered ground zero for indie rock first dates and heartbreak. Their air-tight, three-part vocal harmonies, lo-fi, post-punk aesthetics and humor, coupled with the vulnerability at the core of their songs, earned the band an international audience and a special place on many, many mix tapes. The band got its start in 1992 in Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton’s Brooklyn apartment. Mitchell’s folk instincts and unusual open tunings became the basis for their early songs; Littleton, a veteran of the 80’s Maryland punk scene, added distortion and feedback to their shared poetic observations of everyday life. Friends Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson of Simple Machines encouraged the duo to record, and the band released their debut album Tales of Brave Ida in 1994. Daniel’s brother, Michael “Miggy” Littleton, joined on drums for the band’s first tour, opening for Tsunami. After the 1996 release of the critically acclaimed I Know About You, Beekeeper’s Karla Schickele joined as bassist, vocalist, and contributing songwriter, establishing Ida’s most recognizable and enduring lineup. With 2000’s Will You Find Me, the band’s musical vocabulary coalesced. Ida toured widely, recording eight albums, multiple EP’s, live albums and 7” singles, and collaborated with Retsin, Low, the legendary Michael Hurley and many others.

Since their last tour, to Japan in 2008, Ida’s members have been busy. Elizabeth Mitchell, now a Smithsonian Folkways artist, founded You Are My Flower, a Grammy-award-nominated folk music project. Daniel Littleton records and performs with numerous artists including Amy Helm and is overseeing the reissue by Numero Group of the complete recordings of his teenage punk band, The Hated. Karla Schickele founded Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, and Miggy Littleton formed excellent underground bands White Magic and Blood On The Wall. Ida reunites now, with violinist Jean Cook (Jon Langford, Mekons), who joined the band for 2005’s Heart Like A River album, and guitarist Storey Littleton, Dan and Liz’s 23-year-old daughter, for the band’s first tour in almost twenty years.

Self-sufficient and quick-witted, Tsunami were among the most inventive and resourceful bands to emerge from the American independent scene of the 1990s. Founded in Arlington, VA in late 1990 on the intertwined guitars, sharp-tongued lyrics, and forceful vocals of frontwomen Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson, co-owners of the highly regarded Simple Machines record label, Tsunami were equally noted for their music and their unwavering commitment to D.I.Y. principles, which established them among the most respected voices in the alternative community. Throughout the 1990s, Tsunami wrote and recorded prolifically, releasing three full-length albums and over a dozen seven-inch singles and EPs, most on their own Simple Machines label. Over the same period, the band logged tens of thousands of miles in the minivan, touring the U.S., Canada, the UK and Europe multiple times, and playing the side stage at Lollapalooza in 1993. Since their final tour in 1998 – over 25 years ago – Tsunami has only played four shows, but are gearing up for a US tour in spring 2025.

Numero Group has assembled all of the band’s recordings in Loud Is As, a 5xLP box set out November 8, 2024. The box set includes the 4-track demos released as Cow Arcade (1991); remastered versions of their three Simple Machines albums, Deep End (1993), The Heart’s Tremolo (1994), and A Brilliant Mistake (1997); and all of their singles, b-sides, and compilation tracks. The 61 songs across the box set’s five LPs track Tsunami’s rapid evolution from a scrappy, self-taught outfit playing house parties and laser tag arcades, to a varied and ambitious band, using harmony and metaphor to tackle love and its disappointments, mock the corporate music industry, and kick back at capitalism.