southern records

Born in the suburbs of San Francisco, California, Albert Menduno grew up in a musically enriched environment. He recorded his first record when he was barely old enough to drive a car with the band MOHINDER. While the aforementioned fast became a staple in the Northern California hardcore scene, Albert's attentions drifted elsewhere. When the band reached an untimely demise in the fall of 1994, Albert traded in the bass guitar to focus on playing drums for the stylistically opposite CALM. It was at this time that he started to noodle around with four track recorders. His days were spent teaching himself guitar and piano and recording tapes upon tapes of songs, most of which no one would ever hear. At night he would put his ear plugs in and resume his place in the shadows. Aside from his day and night drama he was also involved with another four track project, DUSTER, and while he didn't mind playing other peoples songs, he knew that his own songs deserved an equal amount of attention.

In March of 1997 Albert recorded 11 songs with Hutch Harris of the Urban Legends under the name HAELAH, 2 of these songs ended up on a single called "The Birds" (TREE002) and another on a split single with ASPERA AD ASTRA as part five of the POST MARKED STAMPS singles club. Haelah was a very pivotal point for Albert, Frustrated by a lack of intensity in his contemporaries, he could feel his latent abilities being squandered. On a whim he moved into a small room in Portland, Maine for four months to write songs. He poured coffee and read books but most importantly, he wrote songs. After his four month tenure was up, Albert set his sights on Chicago and recording, for the first time, his own songs.

"Songs From The Red Room" is not A-Set's first record. Their debut "The Science Of Living Things" was produced by Tim Hurley (Red Red Meat, Califone, Loftus) and featured Tim Kinsella (Joan Of Arc, Cap'n Jazz) on guitar and turned a fair amount of heads upon it's arrival in March of '99. However, when The A-Set sat down to record this follow up record, they were tired of the "Lo-Fi" moniker that they'd been lumped into. They enlisted unknown engineer Pat Keneally (who studied under Albini and Weston) to add a thicker, Hi-Fi sound to the A-Set's trademark home recording environment.