After the magnificent Donner Party split up, kryboardist, guitarist and vocalist Sam Coomes relocated to Portland (Oregon), joined Heatmiser as their bassist. He then formed Quasi with drummer Janet Weiss (of Sleater-Kinney). His specialty had become old-fashioned, out-of-tune keyboards.

Those keyboards flood Early Recordings (Key-Op, 1995), recorded in 1993 and 1994, Quasi's debut album, and somehow turn Coomes' very depressed lyrics into upbeat songs, enhanced by majestic melodies (in the vein of early Pink Floyd and the Doors) and by vocal harmonies of a mystical quality. Most of them are odd but catchy pop songs, built in unusual and intriguing manners, quoting the history of rock music and turning it upside down. Superficial is a Nirvana-style (soft/hard) ballad that suddenly explodes in terrifying boogie riff. In the driving space-rock of Time Flies By the synthesizer is used a` la Ravenstine (Pere Ubu), as surrealistic decorations. The loud and macho Monkey Mirror echoes the Cream but is sung by Weiss in a folk style. Mammon is sort of a parody of John Lennon at the piano with funeral marching band. The early Pink Floyd albums are the main influence here, as those ethereal melodies permeate Gaping Holes, Homunculus and The Egg (powered by riffs that often recall The Nile Song).
The instrumentals are even more bizarre. Two Hounds weaves a piano tune (that mimicks the refrain from Patti LaBelle's Voulez Vouz Couche Avec Moi), a shoegazing drone and a syncopated, Rolling Stones-ian riff. Lump Of Coal is a distorted Beefheart-ian blues. Hul Neng weds raga-rock and heavy metal. Deep Sleep is a mantra-like epilogue, a light Velvet Undergroun-ish boogie drenched in strings and tiny dissonances, and sustained by a mad piano tune.

R&B Transmogrification (Up, 1997) is a more depressed work that borders on gothic art (Ghost vs Vampire, Chocolate Rabbit, My Coffin) but the instrumentals Bird's Eye View and R&B Transmogrification show technical progress.

The desperate Featuring Birds (Up, 1998) presents Coomes as a chronically depressed Jonathan Richman. Our Happiness Is Guaranteed, California, Poisoned Well and It's Hard To Turn Me On rank among Coomes' best but are also the musical equivalent of epitaphs.

Field Studies (Up, 1999) is a more balanced collection: A Fable With No Moral showcases Coomes' arranging skills, The Star You Left Behind is gentle glam-pop, and All The Same is an upbeat ditty.

Coomes is probably aiming for mass appeal with The Sword Of God (Touch & Go, 2001), a carefully crafted album that beats Guided By Voices at their own game. Fuck Hollywood is a sarcastic, languid litany that recalls the Flaming Lips. The Sound Of God has a little bit of Television neurosis wed to Byrds' breezy jingle jangle. The sunny aria of The Curse Of Having It All soars with a grandiose psychedelic organ. Nothing Nowhere is am ethereal piano-based lied. Genetic Science could be an XTC alternate track. The duo does rock on From A Hole In The Ground, Goblins And Trolls and the Rolling Stones-ian Rock And Roll Can Never Die, but Coomes searches too hard for the grand melody and ends up frequently achieving Beatles-grade morosity (It's Raining). We have to wait till Seal The Deal for a decent instrumental interplay (nonetheless marred by another sugary refrain).

Blues Goblins (Off, 2003) is Coomes' tribute to the blues.

Hot Shit (Touch and Go, 2003) is a guitar-intensive collection that highlights all the weaknesses of Coomes' music and waters down his skills at penning charming melodies and precious arrangements. Case in point is the seven-minute Sunshine Sounds. Coomes' genius is clearly visible in Hot Shit, as an electronic nightmare mutates into a limping blues shuffle with ecstatic organ: the voices only appear towards the end, and the back-up vocalists simply repeat a mantra, without even trying to engage the main melody.
But the incandescent boogies of Good Time Rock N' Roll and Mama Tired, the "spiritual gone Led Zeppelin" of Good Times and the angry Clash-ish White Devil's Dream, sound out of character. Coomes remains one of the few musicians who can truly reinvent the tradition, as demonstrated by the jazzy piano ballad Drunken Tears, Memories of the Band surface in the roots-rocker Seven Years Gone. But none of this is essential. The lyrics (especially the political sermons) further compound the problem.

Coomes and Weiss continued to refine their art on When The Going Gets Dark (Touch & Go, 2006), a collection of impeccable songs whose only drawback is that none is groundbreaking, memorable, original or unique. Not even the lyrics manage to truly catch the listener's attention. This is the typical album that works like wallpaper. In fact, the only track that sticks to mind is the instrumental Beyond the Sea: the fact that it is instrumental turns out to be a defining quality that the other songs do not have. Second best would be Death Culture Blues, which is mostly instrumental. Among the more traditional output, The Rhino and Alice The Goon stand out.

Sam Coomes of Quasi and Spencer Seim of Hella formed Crock that debuted with Grok (Jackpot, 2011), mostly devoted to very noisy psych-pop deformities such as No More Dumb Fun and Nutritional Beast but also indulged in violent/hypnotic trips like the litany propelled by frenzied blast-beats of Eat Your Hat Out.

American Gong (2010) was Quasi's most monotonous collection despite the general euphoric mood.