My Dad Is Dead

Mark Edwards understands the crushing pessimism that warms the hearts of Clevelanders like a hobo's trash-can fire. He grew up here and put the hometown gloom to good use throughout the mid-'80s. My Dad Is Dead, Edwards' one-man band of drum machines, layered guitars, and monotone vocals, evoked a million Joy Division comparisons back then.

Edwards lives in North Carolina these days, but members of both Prisonshake and Cobra Verde have always been on call whenever backup musicians are needed. And so sporadic recordings -- that are sometimes black-hearted, but at other times evoke a rainbow of gray -- continue to make their way into the world.

Edwards' profile is rising again due to a current wave of '80s nostalgia. There's also a recent release titled A Divided House. The sheets of distorted guitar and bedroom vocals pick up the thread of personal and social alienation. So whether it's been a while or not, take time to go back and visit the slightly bleak landscape of My Dad Is Dead.