Decibel Festival

THE HISTORY OF BEING ADULT. 1998 through PRESENT (2013).

Detroit’s ADULT. (Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller) began their unpredictable path with one now totally obscure 12”. The “Modern Romantics” 12” was recorded under the name PLASMACo. and released on the now defunct German label Electrecord in 1998. They quickly changed their name to the more fitting ADULT. and in the same year released their second 12” Dispassionate Furniture on their own label Ersatz Audio (which they had started back in 1995). Three 12”s followed, including the highly sought after “New-Phonies” limited edition picture disc on the Dutch imprint Clone Records which introduced the now unmistakable photography of Kuperus.

Things began to escalate for ADULT. in 2001 with the release of “Resuscitation”, their first compilation album. ADULT. was playing more shows than ever, as well as remixing artists like Tuxedomoon and Phoenecia . After two more 12”s and their first limited edition 7”, ADULT. delivered their second album “Anxiety Always” in 2003 on Ersatz Audio. Following it’s release,ADULT. embarked on their first “proper” US and European tour, followed up by three limited edition 7”s.

2005 found ADULT. ready to be discharged back into circulation with “D.U.M.E.”, a six song ep out on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey. ADULT. released their third album “Gimmie Trouble” (written in part with short-lived third member Samuel Consiglio) later that year on Thrill Jockey as well. A follow up split 7” with NUMBERS on Kill Rock Stars ended their releases for 2005, but not the live performances. 2005 saw ADULT. embarked on their most ambitious touring yet, with 81 live performances from Moscow to Miami and not stopping until 2006. ADULT. also returned back to their “odd couple” status with the departure of Consiglio early that year. 2007 included the release of their fourth album “Why Bother?” (Thrill Jockey), new music videos created by ADULT. and another world tour.

In 2008, ADULT. premiered their new silent-experimental-short-horror film DECAMPMENT at the Detroit Institute of Arts accompanied by their own peculiar electronic horror music especially scored and performed live for the film. ADULT. also took their film/performance to the Anthology Film Archives in New York City and to the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles. DECAMPMENTwas written, produced and directed by ADULT. In conjunction with the film, ADULT. released theDECAMPMENT TRILOGY, an extremely limited 7” series released on their own label ERSATZ AUDIO. Three 7”s (each strictly limited to 100 copies) tell the story of DECAMPMENT through music, lyrics and photographs. Each hand numbered limited edition 7” came with a signed and hand numbered limited edition 16” x 20” photographic print from Nicola Kuperus. A very adventurous project to say the least. ADULT. ended 2008 with a four song EP entitled “Let’s Feel Bad Together” (Ersatz Audio).

In 2009, ADULT. scored the sound track to the feature film OPEN, and they also began to focus more on their individual art practices (Kuperus/Photography & Miller/Painting). In 2010, ADULT. complete two more short films that they create and score: TRADITIONS & POSSESSION. These two films complete a trilogy ADULT. have been working on since the creation of DECAMPMENT in 2008. This 113 minute film and live soundtrack presentation is taken to the Anthology Film Archives in NY, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Toronto’s Music Gallery and Distrital Film Festival in Mexico City.

In 2012, Ghostly International re-issue their seminal fist album “Resuscitation” on vinyl along with a new 7” containing two cover songs. Currently, ADULT. are preparing to release their fifth studio album “The Way Things Fall” on Ghostly International (May 2013). Much more is to come…