Courtesy began in Memphis, TN when Drew Ryan and Kirk Rawlings met and started trading self-indulgent 4-track scraps, voice memos and private recordings not meant for others’ ears. Drums and guitars were recorded, chopped, and screwed as the two figured out how to combine their ideas into songs.
In 2011, the duo released Idmatic—a collection of collage-based songs constructed via email, crammed with blown out boom-bap drumming and stretched out cassette wonk. By 2012, the duo relocated to Chicago, where they released Slow Bruise in 2015—a darker, colder, and more aggressive effort.
They released HEY in 2018, “an unclassifiable electronic blend of off-kilter atmospheric synths, otherworldly vocal harmonies, deep-house grooves, and weirdo-funk bass lines all sewn together via a persistent Oberheim DX drum machine.” (Steve Rosborough, Moon Glyph Records).
With the late-2021 release of CHECK THE MILK, the band finds itself with a new focus, ready-made for basement DJs and glossy pop fans. The pair’s collaged sound stays locked in polyrhythmic interplay, while exploring life’s mundanity and the perils of safety.
