Masters of the Hemisphere

Masters of the Hemisphere are an American indie pop group, founded by Bren Mead and Sean Rawls. The two moved to Athens, Georgia, to attend college in 1996. There they met Ryan Lewis, co-founder of Kindercore Records, who played drums at the first Masters of the Hemisphere show. Jeff Griggs (also of The Mendoza Line) soon replaced Lewis. In 1997 Kindercore released their debut seven-inch ep, Going on a Trek to Iceland. The group then recorded their first full length album, the eponymous Masters of the Hemisphere, which was released on Kindercore Records in 1998. The band soon expanded to a four-piece, adding multi-instrumentalist Adrian Finch. Several singles and compilation appearances followed, including a release on the Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records singles club, before the band released their second full length, the concept album I Am Not a Freemdoom, also on Kindercore. The record garnered mixed reviews, which in part was likely due to the album's rather complicated concept, regarding an island of reservoir-dwelling creatures being enslaved by an evil dog. The Permanent Stranger EP followed in 2002, on the dcBaltimore2012 label. The band split up after their next album, 2002's well received Protest a Dark Anniversary. A recording of their then-final show at Athens, Georgia's 40 Watt Club was later released as The Last Show Ever.

Masters of the Hemisphere (album)

Masters of the Hemisphere is the first full album by the Athens, Georgia based indie pop band of the same name. Though it lacks the elaborateness of their followup, the heavily concept-based I Am Not A Freemdoom, it still maintains the essential element of the band's indie pop songcraft, drawing comparisons to R.E.M., among others.

Track listing

Additional information

The Japanese release of the album contained two bonus tracks - 'Going on a Freak to Iceland' (also known as 'Bat', which appears on the Going on a Trek to Iceland 7"), and 'My Crowd' (also known as 'My Cloud', which appears on the Seven Summers compilation).