* En anglais uniquement
The brainchild of guitarist
Brad Laner, Los Angeles trio
Medicine play a melodic, rhythmic style of noise rock that has been tagged as dream pop.
Laner began performing in his early teens in such local bands as Vox Pop and Nervous Gender after developing a taste for such avant-garde rock performers as
Captain Beefheart,
Throbbing Gristle,
Yoko Ono, and
the Residents. Over the years,
Laner played on more than 300 albums, the most famous of which belonged to industrial rock outfit
Savage Republic, for whom he served as the drummer.
Medicine were formed in 1990 with drummer
Jim Goodall; their early lineup included guitarist
Jim Putnam, bassist
Eddie Ruscha, and singer Annette Zalinskas, an original member of
the Bangles.
Putnam,
Ruscha, and Zalinskas eventually left; the latter was replaced by former Fourwaycross singer
Beth Thompson.
The band's debut,
Shot Forth Self Living, was released in the U.K. several months after the band formed; it was picked up in America by
Rick Rubin's American label, which signed
Medicine in 1992. An EP, 5ive, was released in 1993, followed a year later by the band's second full-length album,
The Buried Life, featuring more collaborations within the group.
Laner,
Goodall, and
Thompson made one more record together, the slickly poppy
Her Highness, before splitting in 1995 and moving on to different projects, most notably
Laner's experimental solo project
Electric Company.
In 2003,
Laner recruited vocalist Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee's daughter) and formed a new version of
Medicine. Pursuing a more electronic sound, the duo made one album for Astralwerks,
The Mechanical Forces of Love, before splitting. The band's reputation grew as the shoegaze style became more and more popular in the 2000s, with many bands adopting aspects of
Medicine's sound. Influential U.S. label Captured Tracks capitalized on the band's rep and released deluxe reissues of
Shot Forth Self Living and
The Buried Life in early 2012. Inspired by the release of their best work, the trio of
Laner,
Thompson, and
Goodall buried any lingering bad feelings and set about recording a new album. The shockingly good
To the Happy Few was released by Captured Tracks in the summer of 2013. Forsaking touring,
Medicine set to work right away on their next album.
Home Everywhere was released in early autumn of 2014.
2.0 Extraneous, a collection of B-sides and unreleased material from
Medicine's 2003 incarnation, appeared in 2017. ~ Steve Huey