Ashrae Fax

Greensboro, North Carolina's cult dream-pop revivalists Ashrae Fax featured vocalist Renee Mendoza and guitarist Alex Chesney. A couple of self-described "art kids," the pair's frustration with the lack of anything interesting going on in their town in the late '90s gave shape to their music, which revitalized the most ethereal and chaotic moments of the Cocteau Twins, Dif Juz, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The pair self-released the debut album Static Crash in 2003 on spray-painted CD-Rs to little acclaim at the time, but eventually word spread. The album was reissued on cassette in 2005 and again on vinyl in 2011 in a limited edition of 300 copies that quickly sold out and spurred more interest in Static Crash from the music press. Mexican Summer gave the album its widest release yet with their 2013 reissue, the first in a series of Ashrae Fax releases. Next was 2014's Never Really Been Into It, a re-recorded collection of Mendoza and Chesney's earliest songs. The duo reunited for a handful of live dates that year. After Ashrae Fax disbanded, Mendoza performed in the rock outfit Filthybird with her husband Brian Haran, and also formed the drone-oriented trio Ama Divers with Haran and Chris Girard. Mendoza also worked on a solo R&B project with Megafaun/Gayngs' Brad Cook as co-producer. Meanwhile, Chesney made electronic music as Faster Detail.
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