Iran

Conceived in San Francisco in 1998, Iran began as the four-track bedroom-recording project of singer and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Aites. Playing most of the instruments himself and recruiting friends as needed, Aites released Iran's self-titled debut through Andee Connors' (<a href="spotify:artist:4ABTeyDAbK3iv09CHSsoW0">A Minor Forest</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5cGuLuR5EH4Xj9KKZlcggT">J Church</a>, Ticwar) <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tumult%22">Tumult</a> label in 2000. The album showcased Aites' talent for balancing pop melodies with noise and tape hiss. The result was a sound like a more approachable <a href="spotify:artist:6TA37XSAq0gFy4lI3LMSHq">Dead C</a>, or like a throwback to the lo-fi early-'90s sound of <a href="spotify:artist:3inCNiUr4R6XQ3W43s9Aqi">Pavement</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ajVJyxI4sHmTMtTA3ENko">Smog</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2wrhBKGC3DTNNNDRJPaxW6">Sebadoh</a>. Aites relocated to New York City and released the more straightforward album Moon Boys on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tumult%22">Tumult</a> in early 2003. The project fell into an indefinite hiatus when guitarist Kyp Malone joined popular indie rock band <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>, and Aites began shifting focus to film work with his partner Audrey Ewell, which included their co-directed Norwegian metal documentary Until the Light Takes Us. Iran returned in 2009 with what would be the group's third and final album, Dissolver, which featured Malone and production by David Sitek, also of <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TVOTR</a>. Aites went on to accumulate more documentary film credits, including 2013's 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, before Ewell announced in early 2016 that her partner had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of kidney cancer. Aites died in his sleep that April. ~ Jason Nickey & Marcy Donelson, Rovi