Discography
Partial discography for Steve Koester, including albums by Two Dark Birds, Koester, Maplewood, and Punchdrunk.
TWO DARK BIRDS + J.B. MILLS // POROUS
Vfib Recordings 2022
Porous is the fifth release from Two Dark Birds, the critically acclaimed band from the Catskills. This four song EP, a collaboration between singer-songwriter Steve Koester and producer / dummer J.B. Mills, is a distinct departure from the band’s previous more folk- leaning forays. Porous delves into the minimalist sounds of today’s pop and yesterday’s wave. It’s more J. Dilla than J.J. Cale, more New Order than New Riders, more Billie Eilish than Billy Bragg, more Drake than Nick. Yeah or something like that…
TWO DARK BIRDS // RESERVOIR
Vfib Recordings 2020
Reservoir is the fourth album from Two Dark Birds, the critically acclaimed band from The Catskill Mountains. These songs were written to accompany the audiobook version of Nina Shengold’s beautiful new memoir "Reservoir Year: A Walker’s Book of Day." We crafted a set of mostly instrumentals to match the vibe -- woody, watery, meditative, deeply Catskillian.
TWO DARK BIRDS // BOW
Vfib Recordings 2017
Bow is a cycle of songs about openings and awakenings, about the spirit of nature and the nature of spirit. Recorded in Woodstock, NY with Chris Maxwell, Bow was written and performed by Steve Koester with the assistance of a group of Catskill musicians. “Bow, the latest luminous and ambitious collection of poet-grade and quietly experimental folk music written by Steve Koester and performed by his loose assemblage of Catskill cronies. . . one begins to see the outline of a new, progressive Catskill sound of sorts. All hail!” - HV1
TWO DARK BIRDS //
Songs for the new
Riot Bear Recordings 2011
"Evokes the Catskill Mountains from whence it came and stands in the grand tradition of folk-rock from that area while doing something new with the form. A little mountain magnum opus. Recorded and produced by Steve Koester with Jason Mills and Don Piper in Brooklyn, NY. Mixed by Joel Hamilton. Also featuring Jude Webre and Ben Wildenhaus. "You will hear the imprint of the broken-but-not-beaten American Bard, from Parsons and Van Zandt to Tweedy... at once folk-accessible and lit-deep... hits the mark again and again.” - Woodstock Times
Two Dark birds // s/t
Vfib Recordings 2008
"America Soul" with traces of Neil Young’s "On the Beach," The Band’s "Music from Big Pink," and echoes of Dylan, Bill Withers, and the Meat Puppets. Recorded and produced by Steve Koester and Don Piper in Brooklyn, NY. Mixed by Joel Hamilton. Also featuring Matt Trowbridge, Charles Bissell, Dave Baine, and Joe Pisapia. “Strange and beautiful… It’s a record heard best with a beer in hand beneath a star-punched sky.“ - Nylon Magazine
MAPLEWOOD // YETI BOOMBOX
Tapete Records 2009
Maplewood's second album, Yeti Boombox, was released in the fall of 2009 on Tapete Records to much critical acclaim from American and British press. Magnet Magazine picked it as the #2 Americana record of the year. Popmatters called it "knockout gorgeous" and put it at #6.
MAPLEWOOD // s/t
Tee Pee Records 2004
Koester teamed up with Mark Rozzo of Champale, Ira Elliot of Nada Surf and Craig Schoen to form the "canyon-rock" band Maplewood. Maplewood's self-titled debut (Tee Pee Records 2004) was an homage to 1970's harmony-heavy soft rock as practiced by America, Bread and Crosby, Stills and Nash. In 2006, the album was released by Hamburg's Tapete Records and European tours followed. The album was picked as one of the top roots albums of the decade by Rhapsody.
KOESTER // LOSERS, WEEPERS
Vfib Recordings 2006/2019
The third and final album from Koester the Rock Band, “Losers, Weepers” is a sonic exploration of NYC in the early 21st Century. Big hooks, weird sounds, AOR airs, Moog magic. Slightly fried… Recorded in 2005, the album was produced by Alan Weatherhead at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond Va.
KOESTER // OH! TURPENTINE
Pitch-a-tent Records 2001 / Vfib Recordings 2020
Cool, dark and lyrically driven, this critically acclaimed album was originally released by Pitch-a-tent Records in 2001. "... a wee-hours, insomniac's tour of past romantic conquests and libidinous lost opportunities.” For fans of Sister Lovers, Skip Spence, L. Cohen, Sparklehorse.
PUNCHDRUNK // Bird Bird
Veto Records 1998
Punchdrunk was formed by childhood friends Judd Counsell, Rick Donner, Steve Koester and Galen Polivka in Milwaukee in 1992. They released three albums: From Dad (1994), A Message from the Cockpit (1996), and Bird Bird (1998). Bird Bird finds the band at the height of their weird-ass powers. It’s concept record, perhaps, if you can locate the concept. Recorded in Minneapolis by Mike Wisti at Albatross Studios.
PUNCHDRUNK // wind up the devil clock
Vfib Recordings 2020 (Recorded 1999)
The tracks that make up "Wind Up The Devil Clock" were recorded during two different sessions in 1999 in Minneapolis by Mike Wisti at Albatross Studios. Some of the best “pop” songs that Punchdrunk put to tape. Never previously released.
PUNCHDRUNK // A UNDISCOVERED ELEMENT
Vfib Recordings 2020 (Recorded 1999)
“A Undiscovered Element” was recorded direct to two track at Sorry Studios NYC in 1999. The album finds the band, in its final days, at its most impressively strange and pugnaciously stereophonic. For fans of: Pere Ubu, Bitches Brew, Can, Ben Oglivie, SCTV, Chairs Missing, David Whitehurst, SST 84, Bud Powell, NJ casinos.