Lotus Crown

Named for a historical Chinese language fable, the orchestral hip-hop group Lotus Crown was the automobile of singer/guitarist Jimi Shields, a onetime person in the Irish noise-pop outfit Rollerskate Skinny. After exiting the group’s rates pursuing their 1994 EP Threshold, Shields relocated from Dublin to Chicago, halting briefly to try out drums for his sibling Kevin’s music group My Bloody Valentine. After settling within the U.S., he recruited guitarist Paul Dillon, bassist Lennie Dietsch and drummer Zack Kantor, and Lotus Crown shortly hit the street to get the Flaming Lip area and Mercury Rev just before saving their debut EP Alvar Aalto (entitled in tribute towards the Finnish architect) in later 1995. After getting into the studio room with manufacturer Dave Fridmann, the quartet surfaced using the full-length Chokin’ over the Jokes within the springtime of 1997.