PYLON! C or D?

Not sure where to put this, but my friend just completed her MA Thesis in Southern Studies. It's this documentary about Southern Underground Music from 1978-1990.

http://vimeo.com/40600465

Featuring interviews with people from Pylon, Let's Active, The Judy's, The dBs, Carnival Season, Windbreakers, The Squalls, and the Germans.

Thanks for the link, that's a great documentary. I really like the way it puts the B-52s, R.E.M., and Athens into the context of other Southern DIY scenes. It's good to see some of that history acknowledged and recorded.

sweet, that looks great! will watch soon.

Me too. Thanks!

Enjoyed it but she doesn't ask Vanessa about their go4 postpunk guitar style, while several others talk about their love of Big Star

Nice! As if to back up the title's accuracy, neither Shazam or Soundhoud could identify the first song played. What is it?
And what is all that stuff floating around Mitch Easter?

Here is an article about the Jackson scene as discussed in the film http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2011/nov/21/noise-our-own/
and here is one side of the single by one of the bands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXYpnxmRXtc
Kinda wish I liked it more

Jazzbo: Friend said the first track is "You Gotta Go Away" by the Windbreakers.

Thanks much!

yeah, the xpost Vimeo thesis sure packs a lot of clarity into 35 minutes. And so many non-academic music docs have just as much talk over music, without a grade's requirements to justify the ratio. The participants aren't kidding about the indie DIY conditions: back in the 80s, I rode past Mitch Easter's parents' already-consecrated home, where Murmur was recorded in the garage ("next to the Purina bags," I was assured). Let's Active's Sara is still drumming with her brother Dex, ex-Flat Duo Jets ( FDJ's in that rustic doc, Athens Ga Inside Out). They're biilled as the Dex Romweber Duo, she should have her name in there too. His songwriting has its slumps, but they delivered a fairly good mini-set on WXPN's broadcast/Webcast Non-Comm series last week (might be archived). She's always crip, he's the one with the moody atmospheric ups and downs. I really enjoyed the pre-DB's/Let's Active Sneakers' energetic '06 collection, Nonsequitur of Silence, and lots of unissued sets from the dB'sverse, some of them involving Chilton, have been posted here http://dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com/, to whet our chops for the new dB's album, out in a couple weeks.

She's always "crisp," Ah meant to say!

Oh, and Nonsequitur of Silence is not a boot, it is or was out on Collector's Choice, "curated by Chris Stamey," sez here.

Murmur wasn't recorded there (they used a bigger studio in Charlotte), but Chronic Town was.

O that funky tourguide! I wuz robbed!

Still wanna get the Method Actors reissue on Acute--how is it?

http://www.mbvmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/the-method-actors-cover-art.jpg

It's really great, a rather singular band! Pick it up, you won't be disappointed.

yeah, the xpost Vimeo thesis sure packs a lot of clarity into 35 minutes

I enjoyed it but it seemed more hit and miss to me. I do not think it covered that well how deciding to form a punk/postpunk/alternative/ new wave/power pop whatever band in the South differed from elsewhere in the US (and as I mentioned above it did not get into the origins of Pylon's guitar sound, which was not Big Star rooted like the others in the doc)

Felt pretty much the same way tbh, but didn't want to be a curmudgeon about it, so I left that to you

Ha

RE Pylon's guitar sound, Gang of Four released their debut EP 12/78, debut LP 9/79. Pylon was already playing their first shows in spring of 79. Unless they were first on their Athens block with the import EP, I tend to think they created their own sound based on their own abilities/limitations, and absorbed the influence of Gang of Four a bit later. (Unlike that clip by The Germans, which I actually love but is a pretty blatant Go4 copy.)

This early Pylon demo (actually 1979, not 1980 as the youtube is labelled) shows Randy Bewley working out his guitar chops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYNM4WLLXY

interesting

Thanks by the way, Gukbe, for posting that doc. Maybe not earth-shattering insights, but it did give a good feel to what being "alternative" in the small town South meant; as opposed to NY or LA or Austin, or even Minneapolis where I lived through that 70s/80s scene, I think being in that kind of a band in, say, Mississippi, must have felt like being some sort of urban pioneer.

I've repped for the book Party Out Of Bounds by Rodger L. Brown elsewhere, but it delivers similar memories of Athens in the new wave era.

Yeah, that's a good read! A little too nostalgic and wide-eyed in places but I forgive that because it captures the vibe correctly. The author once contacted me with a very nice friendly email after I posted a review on Diaryland, too!

Newly unearthed video:

Danceteria, 1980

YES

THANK YOU

wow, that was exactly what i was hoping for. good sound quality, close to the stage, one of my favorite pylon songs...

i really wish someone would post a whole show like that!

I wonder how much of that show was filmed.

Just got chills watching. So so so great. Randall Bewley is one of my favorite guitarists of all time, his dub effects on this are unlike other versions I've seen/heard.

First comment on the vid is from their bassist.

Indeedio, thanks for this. The current dB's album, Falling Off The Sky, is pretty good too, and just got this press sheet:

CHRIS STAMEY’S NEW RELEASE, LOVESICK BLUES,
DUE OUT FEBRUARY 5, 2013

dB’s founder, esteemed songwriter and Southern alt-pop godfather
hits a creative high with intimate, expansive new set

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Lovesick Blues is Stamey’s first full-length release since A Question of Temperature, his 2005 collaboration with Yo La Tengo. The new album follows on the heels of Falling Off the Sky, the long-awaited, much-acclaimed reunion album of the dB’s, as well as Stamey’s involvement as musical director and orchestrator for a series of all-star concert performances of Big Star’s classic Third album in New York, London, Austin and Carrboro, NC.

While his prior work has established Stamey as an incisive songwriter, compelling performer and innovative sonic architect, Lovesick Blues finds the artist staking out some new songwriting territory, with inspired results. Such vividly forthright new tunes as “Skin,” “London,” “Wintertime” and “I Wrote This Song for You” deliver bittersweet, personal lyrics and inventive acoustic arrangements that employ strings, woodwinds and vocal harmonies to evoke the songs’ emotional landscapes.

Those intimate numbers are balanced by more upbeat tunes like the vibrantly jangly "Astronomy" and the playful road-trip memoir "You n Me n XTC." Another highlight is the poignant late-night torch song "Occasional Shivers," which Stamey first recorded as the B side of a limited-edition Christmas single in 1986. The album's musical and thematic centerpiece is the seven-minute "Lovesick Blues," dedicated to the late North Carolina guitar great Sam Moss, and encompassing solitary late-night heartbreak, sweeping orchestral drama and redemptive uplift.

The resulting album is a landmark for Stamey, balancing his new songs’ unfiltered emotional honesty with the effortless melodic craft that’s always been a hallmark of his work.

“I wanted to make a record that could make you feel less alone, like someone else has been there before you,” Stamey explains. “I was thinking about records like The Ballad of Todd Rundgren and Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter and Robert Wyatt’s “At Last I Am Free” and Richard Thompson’s Small Town Romance. Those are all records that were a source of comfort to me at various points in my life. They were records that seemed to speak one-on-one, records that weren’t trying to sell you anything. It’s that old saw about the blues being sad yet making you feel better. None of the songs on Lovesick Blues are traditional three-chord blues, but some of them speak that same emotional language.”

Like the recent dB’s album, Lovesick Blues was birthed at Modern Recording, the small yet technologically advanced Chapel Hill studio that Stamey has operated for the past two decades, where he’s produced recordings by the likes of Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo, Flat Duo Jets, Le Tigre and Tift Merritt. The Lovesick Blues sessions found him handing the production reins to fellow North Carolina musician/producer Jeff Crawford, who’s also a solo artist and a member of the band the Old Ceremony. The album also draws upon the talents of the Fellow Travellers, a core group of musically literate young players from the Chapel Hill area who participated in the Big Star concerts, as well as members of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.

“I wrote most of the songs during one two-week period,” Stamey explains, adding, “I’d wake up early and go into a room where the light was good and write a song every day. Then I played them for Jeff, and we picked the ones that seemed best for the way we wanted to record. On most of the songs, we first did live takes, with me playing guitar and singing at the same time. Then we’d orchestrate them, adding the string and wind and vocal colors that we thought were needed to underline the meaning of the songs. In the process, I added a couple of older songs, ‘London’ and ‘Occasional Shivers,’ which seemed to make sense for this album.”

Some unexpected but helpful input arrived in the form of XTC’s Andy Partridge, who entered the picture after Stamey invited him to make a vocal cameo on “You n Me n XTC.” Partridge declined the offer, but ended up getting involved in the project anyway, offering some key production, arranging and mixing suggestions via transatlantic email.

“He didn’t like the repetitive chords of ‘You n Me n XTC,’” Stamey admits. “It was only after I played him the other songs that he started getting really into it. He became a long-distance safety net for us; Jeff and I would send him mp3s of songs in progress and he’d write back with very detailed, specific suggestions. It was like having an exceptionally intuitive Ouija board, and it really enlivened the process.”

Growing up in Winston-Salem, Stamey made his earliest ventures into recording with a series of homemade avant-garde experiments with future Let’s Active leader Mitch Easter during grade school, then studied formal composition at UNC-Chapel Hill before starting the obscure but ultimately influential Sneakers. Stamey launched his own pioneering indie label, Car Records, in 1976, and the following year moved to New York, where he played bass with Alex Chilton before forming the dB’s.

The dB’s recorded a pair of albums, 1981’s Stands for Decibels and 1982’s Repercussion, that remain indie-pop landmarks. Stamey then departed for a solo career, turning out a series of smart, musically adventurous gems including It’s A Wonderful Life, Instant Excitement, It’s Alright, Fireworks, Travels in the South and the holiday-themed Christmas Time. His catalog also includes a pair of duo albums with Peter Holsapple, Mavericks and Here and Now, as well as the experimental instrumental departure The Robust Beauty of Improper Linear Models in Decision Making, a collaboration with guitarist Kirk Ross, and A Question of Temperature, on which he was backed by longtime friends (and early production clients) Yo La Tengo.

Having recently wrapped up a round of rocking live shows with the reunited dB’s, and energized by the understated intensity of his new solo effort, Stamey is planning on bringing Lovesick Blues to the live stage with an acoustic chamber-pop format, touring on his own and calling on local string players and harmony singers to play the notated arrangements.

By embodying the qualities that have always been at the heart of his work, while introducing some vital new elements to the mix, Lovesick Blues demonstrates that, after a lifetime of music-making, Chris Stamey’s flame still burns as brightly as ever.

“I’ve been very lucky to have been around a lot of great, creative musicians in my life,” he states, adding, “I still learn things all the time from them, and I know that I still have a long way to go. But I think this is the closest I’ve gotten on record to expressing what is unique about what I do, the part that’s been there all along.”

# # #

x-post. Seeing that Pylon live at Danceateria video reminded me of when I saw Pylon in NYC a year or so later at a New Music Seminar associated event. Most of the folks there were too cool to even nod their heads.

I didn't realize Chomp didn't come out until 1983; seems more like '81 in my memory. Saw them on that tour, and danced like a dervish.

Someone came up to me and my friends at that NYC gig when they saw us dancing, and said, "You must not be from here." I also saw them in DC opening for GO4 and later in 83, opening for U2.

what was that like in 83, opening for U2? Watching the Athens, GA Inside/Out documentary, that tour seemed to be a turning point where Pylon collectively got freaked out by what they were doing, the bigger audiences, didn't seem like it was "fun" anymore, etc.

Yep, before several thousand people at University of Maryland Richie Colesseum, where I had once seen the Clash. Most of the crowd was not interested in Pylon, and the acoustics in that cement gym were not that good either. I interviewed Pylon afterwards and it was going to go in my fanzine but for some reason, it never did. Somewhere I still have the transcript sitting in a box I think.

PLEASE POST IT

i have pylon fever in 2012, you have to help me

My absolute favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyca-sGEoZE

Manages to be both a little scary and a hell of a lot of fun.

Yeah, I have that 10 inch as a 12 inch. It has the longer, dubbier version of "Danger."

Somewhere online, Randall B.'s U2 experience: "It was like opening for Jesus Christ." Not meant as a compliment. Also said that when they told their manager or label rep they were dropping out of the tour, he indicated they better think about their priorities. So they did, and dropped out of showbiz.

Haven't watched this yet but it sounds good (1 hour).

Pylon at 40 Watt Club 2005

I was at that show! If it's as good as I remember you're in for a treat. Looking forward to watching the synchronized guitar poses.

nickn, thank you! I need to watch this when I'm not at work. Previewed the first bit,and while Vanessa's less feral twenty-some years down the line, this sounds great.

Pylon's farewell performance (the first time around) was filmed at the time, and I've never seen any of that surface.

"Feast On My Heart," starting at 42:20, has the great guitar poses. Thanks for linking this.

Okay, I'm 11 minutes in and retract what I said about "less feral." It just took her a bit to get warmed up!

Young Doctor Casino, trying manfully to hit on Vanessa's daughter: "Your mom's band was totally awesome last night!"

http://www.madmuseum.org/events/new-wave

Pylon in NYc circa late 70s early 80s footage, among many other bands, showing April 18th and April 24th

Described by the New York Times as, “The Lewis and Clark of rock video”, video artists Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong spent their nights from 1975-80 documenting the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs around New York City. Ivers and Armstrong were acutely aware of the significance of that era and their material captures the sprit of the time. The edited results were shown on their weekly cable TV show NIGHTCLUBBING

http://www.gonightclubbing.com/

I need to bring a showing to DC

New Interview with Vanessa.

http://punkglobe.com/vanessabriscoehayinterview0315.php

Interesting even if some of the questions are not the best ("the new wave sound")