The music of the San Francisco (by way of Oakland) indie rock outfit
Erase Errata has been compared to such eclectic experimentalists as
Captain Beefheart,
the Minutemen, and
the Dog Faced Hermans, due to the fact that the group posses an uncanny knack of improvising on the spot (claiming that they could improvise a whole set if pressed to). Comprised of members
Jenny Hoyston (vocals and trumpet),
Ellie Erickson (bass),
Bianca Sparta (drums), and
Sara Jaffe (guitar),
Erase Errata originally formed in December of 1999 -- when the group jammed in the vacant room of one of
Sparta and
Hoyston's roommates. The quartet immediately proved that they had a solid chemistry, as they penned ten original tunes in the span of a half-hour.
Erase Errata spent six weeks during the fall of 2000 touring alongside the likes of
Melt Banana and
Le Tigre, issuing a split single soon after with Brooklyn, NY-based noise rockers
Black Dice, on the Troubleman label. A year later,
Erase Errata's full-length debut was issued,
Other Animals (also via Troubleman). In 2002, the band released a split single with electro-rockers
Numbers, and in spring 2003,
Dancing Machine, a remix album featuring
Adult.,
Kid 606, and
Matmos, arrived. Meanwhile,
Hoyston worked on her other project
Paradise Island, releasing the debut album
Lines Are Infinitely Fine that summer on Dim Mak.
Erase Errata's long-awaited second album,
At Crystal Palace, came out in fall 2003. They returned -- minus
Jaffe -- in 2006 with
Nightlife. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide