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Epic Soundtracks
Biography
Perhaps best known as a co-founder of British post-punkers the Swell Maps, Epic Soundtracks reinvented himself as an eccentric, critically acclaimed piano balladeer during the '90s. Soundtracks -- who trademarked his stage name, forcing Epic Records' soundtrack division to change its spelling to "Soundtrax" -- was born Kevin Paul Godfrey in Croydon, England, on March 23, 1959 (although several sources list Paul Godley). In 1972, he and his older brother Nicholas -- later Nikki Sudden -- started playing music together, influenced chiefly by Can and T. Rex, and often using found objects as percussion. By 1976, this project had become the seminal Swell Maps; over 1979-1980, the band issued two cultishly adored albums that influenced underground icons like Sonic Youth and Pavement.

The Swell Maps disbanded in early 1980, and Soundtracks issued two solo singles on Rough Trade, "Popular Classical"/"Jelly Babies" and "Rain Rain Rain," in 1981 and 1982, respectively. (The latter featured Swell Maps bandmate Jowe Head.) In 1984, Soundtracks joined his brother Sudden's new project the Jacobites, playing the drums on their first two albums (The Jacobites and Robespierre's Velvet Basement).
Selected Discography