Athenaeum

A private library in Boston, the Athenaeum has been around for hundreds of years. It has a pretty selective membership process, but the payoff is supposedly a fairly extensive collections of books on demon lore and other arcane matters.

An alternative rock band hailing from Greensboro, North Carolina. Athenaeum¹ play a mellower, more melodic type of rock than many of their contemporaries. Their albums consistently receive positive reviews, but they remain mostly unknown.

Athanaeum was formed in 1990, when its members were still in high school, and was initially composed of Mark Kano on lead vocals and guitar, Grey Brewster on backing vocals and guitar, Alex McKinney on bass, and Nic Brown on drums.

In 1995, Athenaeum independently released their self-titled debut album (referred to as "The Green Album" to prevent confusion with their later eponymous release).

The band signed with Atlantic Records the following year and in 1998 released Radiance, which yielded a Top 10 modern rock single, "What I Didn't Know". After the release of Radiance, Brewster left the band.

Athenaeum's self-titled second Atlantic album was released in 2001. Athenaeum was hailed by some as the best alternative rock album of the year, but got almost no promotion. It was recorded mostly as a three-piece band, with Mike Garrigan of Collapsis performing backing vocals on one song. Garrigan was later recruited as the band's second guitarist. Also around this time, Brown left the band to attend university and was replaced by Jeremy Vogt.

In 2002, Athenaeum left Atlantic and released their fourth album, Hourglass, on their own Athenaeum Records with distribution by Redeye. Hourglass was a collection of rarities and outtakes dating back to the band's founding.

Update, February 2004: Kano, on Athenaeum's website, has announced the group's breakup. Alas.

Athenaeum albums tend to be somewhat difficult to find (at least in the U.S.), especially at chains such as Sam Goody. Larger stores tend to have one or two of the in-print albums, but rarely all three. The hunt can be somewhat irritating, but ultimately very well worth it.

Discography:

• Athenaeum (Currently out of print. Independent, 1995)
  1. On My Mind*
  2. Summertime
  3. Haircut
  4. No One*
  5. Just Like You
  6. Different Situation*
  7. Away*
  8. Days
  
  * These songs are the same as the Radiance tracks.


• Radiance (Atlantic Records, 1998)
  1. What I Didn't Know
  2. Flat Tire
  3. On My Mind
  4. Lifeline
  5. Spotlight
  6. Away
  7. Unnoticed
  8. No One
  9. So Long
  10. Different Situation
  11. Anyone
  12. Radiance


• Athenaeum (Atlantic Records, 2001)
  1. Suddenly
  2. Damage
  3. Comfort
  4. Frozen In Time
  5. Sweeter Love
  6. Plurabelle
  7. All My Life
  8. Waiting For You
  9. Mistake
  10. If Baby's Gone


• Hourglass (Athenaeum Records, 2002)
  1. Lacy
  2. On Her Way
  3. I Don't Wanna Be The One
  4. Walk Away
  5. Young Again
  6. One Day At A Time
  7. Family Tree
  8. Banana
  9. If Baby's Gone (Demo)
  10. If You Want Me To
  11. Sweeter Love (Demo)
  12. Paragraph
  13. Hourglass

Official site: http://www.athenaeum.net

1. Pronounced "ath-A-nee-um", as any number of web sites, as well as a sticker attached to Radiance's shrink-wrapping, will tell you.

Ath`e*ne"um, Ath`e*nae"um (#), n.; pl. E. Atheneums (#), L. Athenaea (#). [L. Athenaemum, Gr. a temple of Minerva at Athens, fr. , contr. fr. , , in Homer , , Athene (called Minerva by the Romans), the tutelary goddess of Athens.]

1 Gr. Antiq.

A temple of Athene, at Athens, in which scholars and poets were accustomed to read their works and instruct students.

2.

A school founded at Rome by Hadrian.

3.

A literary or scientific association or club.

4.

A building or an apartment where a library, periodicals, and newspapers are kept for use.

© Webster 1913.