Alexis Gideon

Alexis Gideon is that rare bird, a creative eccentric who left New York City to pursue his very individual muse somewhere else. Gideon first gained the attention of adventurous music fans in Chicago, when he formed the warped hip-hop duo Princess with Michael O'Neill; fusing simple but funky beats with lo-fi electronic accompaniment and off-kilter instrumental interludes featuring anything from faint strains of banjo to overdriven electric guitars, Princess suggests what might have happened if Ween or Eugene Chadbourne had started listening to a lot of OutKast. Princess released an album on the Chicago-based Sickroom Records label in 2005, but before long, Gideon began focusing his attention on a solo career and left the group to start touring and recording on his own (sometimes simply as Alexis), adopting a similar but slightly more warped style. Modestly described by Gideon as "the craziest music currently available," his first solo album, Welcome Song, was released by Sickroom in early 2007, and featured wobbly gangsta rap parodies, Casio keyboard workouts, and a homage to his favorite non-existent animal, the Liophant. Shortly before Welcome Song was released, Gideon pulled up stakes and relocated to Los Angeles, where he began appearing regularly at local clubs.