Funny, all these years, I've been remembering a genius track on the Athens, GA: Inside/Out soundtrack, Golden as being Pylon and remembering/forgetting to search it out. Searched and now find it was Dreams So Real. Only available on the soundtrack and a bootleg cd comp Discogs lists.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 15 June 2016 21:23 (eight years ago) link
I need to hear this
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 June 2016 14:37 (eight years ago) link
the live Pylon album and the Dreams So Real track
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 June 2016 14:38 (eight years ago) link
ooooh, i always forget i have a copy of inside/out, it gets buried down in the soundtracks/comps. will pull that out for today's listening, thanks.
― Harvey Manfrenjensenden (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 16 June 2016 15:35 (eight years ago) link
Report back to us on that, please. They have three studio albums, dagnabit! Yep, and Chain is worthy, but the press release is all about hyping Phase One: this is "the last show" until reuniting and it sure felt goood.
dizzy among "Reptiles," drawn into wet tunnel of pedals & bass On headphones, now think they're all fingers, fingers, fingers
― dow, Thursday, 16 June 2016 17:58 (eight years ago) link
Good interview--- maybe source for the press sheet's backstory of Pylon Live, but other good bits too, like debunking the source of their name, also another name they considered. w visual deal, both still worth another band/solo artist's consid:http://www.eldredgeatl.com/2016/07/01/art-punk-perfection-deerhunters-bradford-cox-interviews-pylon/
― dow, Friday, 1 July 2016 19:02 (eight years ago) link
Vanessa & Michael make a mixtape of early 80s Athens bands, comment on 'em too---some deep out-of-catalog listening here:
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/07/22/pylon-a-sonic-reminiscence-of-1980s-athens-ga/
― dow, Friday, 22 July 2016 22:52 (eight years ago) link
Yep, remember the names of many of those groups (the Squalls, etc.) but not the songs
― curmudgeon, Monday, 25 July 2016 14:14 (eight years ago) link
Interview with Vanessa and Michaelhttp://observer.com/2016/07/americas-other-best-band-pylons-brilliant-punk-minimalism-lives-on/
― Brad C., Monday, 25 July 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
Nice. I remember them opening for U2 at the U of MD in 83, and eventually I will find the never published interview I did with them then that was going to go in my fanzine's next issue, but we ended the zine before that could happen.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 July 2016 16:54 (eight years ago) link
The dancing crowd shots in that Side Effects footage make me so nostalgic. That's how I spent my early 20s too.
― this is a salad for the BALSAMIC REVIVAL (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 26 July 2016 17:28 (eight years ago) link
Saw Pylon Reenactment Society the other night. The band is not quite Pylon, but they re-do the tracks pretty well, and Vanessa still powerfully switches between her screetch and a more melodic tone
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 September 2016 12:53 (seven years ago) link
In addition to the Reenactment Society tour, the Pylon Live in 83 album is out, music from "Cool" is in a Lexus commercial, and they're namedropped by young hip Baltimore post-punk artist Sneaks (recently signed to Merge)
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 September 2016 12:56 (seven years ago) link
PRS is touring again this summer.
http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2018/06/12/pylon-reenactment-society-tour-dates/
― nickn, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 22:16 (six years ago) link
Chomp More disappeared from Apple Music! Gah.
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 23:55 (six years ago) link
Spotify too. Main thing left seems to be live album
― And Nobody POLLS Like Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 00:16 (six years ago) link
Chomp More was on DFA
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 04:18 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_3sPmTRsFs
live 1981
― Brad C., Sunday, 8 July 2018 15:40 (six years ago) link
thank yoouuuu
every time this thread is revived i hope it's with footage like that
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 8 July 2018 16:17 (six years ago) link
haha, were bewley and lachowski toying with the idea of coordinated stage dancing during that era? (see 7:10 in for a glimpse)
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 8 July 2018 16:23 (six years ago) link
How do you guys feel about the quality of the reissues? I liked them but maybe sound a bit more dense than they should? I haven't heard the originals. Feel like I should have enjoyed these albums more.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 21 July 2018 21:49 (six years ago) link
Top 3 tracks: Yoyo, Human Body, Cool.
Kinda wish there was more stuff with the sound of the Cool/Dub single.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 21 July 2018 21:52 (six years ago) link
A Tourist in the Land of Rock 'n' Roll: Vanessa Briscoe Hay
A long interview that includes a lot of details about the early history of the band
― Brad C., Sunday, 5 August 2018 13:06 (six years ago) link
Wow, thanks
― Suspicious Hiveminds (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 August 2018 13:45 (six years ago) link
Here's my ancient review, with a little update added to the blog archive clip:
Originally published in Village Voice,Tuesday, OCTOBER 9, 2007 AT 4 A.M.
Pylon, Gyrate Plus (DFA)
"Cool" begins with a march, which Pylon's guitar propeller finely chops, letting the chips fly and fall where they may. No hurry. But nothing too laid-back, either—not in a small Southern town, where everybody who isn't dead is aware that too-easy fuh-un is as boring as everything else. So, despite not being as biz-adaptable as Athens, GA neighbors and admirers like the B-52s and R.E.M., Pylon were and are practical, in their own way. Their lyrics have been called surreal, but it's all part of the protocol, as vocalist (and registered nurse) Vanessa Briscoe often murmurs her way into a surgical strike, around which Michael Lanchowski's bass, Curtis Crowe's drums, and Randy Bewley's guitar channel a sinuous, sensuous, yet non-anesthetic groove, on Gyrate Plus: Pylon's 1980 debut album plus bonus tracks, including earlier singles ("Cool" and the equally voracious "Dub"), now opening Gyrate's first appearance on CD. They both sneak up on "Danger," which has often infiltrated DFA/LCD Soundsystem co-founder James Murphy's DJ sets. A few tracks here are too arty-mundane, which can happen when you're flying DIY through another date with "Gravity," like this brainy slam band did around the dawn of the big '80s, briefly in the '90s, and several times since '04. But, as Vanessa growls on the previously unreleased "Functionality": "There's something to be written on the air," always, and never much room for typos.
(update: Briscoe later told an interviewer that her combo's name came from the stripey road cone, not Faulkner's novel, Still, the way that his stunt-flying crew's inner tumult added to the momentum of their unified front always has appealed as a rockband description too.)
― dow, Wednesday, 8 August 2018 02:06 (six years ago) link
For some reason Gyrate Plus got pulled from Spotify.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 8 August 2018 13:45 (six years ago) link
Got pulled back in June from Spotify as was noted earlier in this thread. Still not there.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 8 August 2018 13:54 (six years ago) link
Pylon founder Michael Lachowski remembers the punk band's rise and fall
https://www.redandblack.com/culture/uga-employee-and-founder-of-pylon-michael-lachowski-discusses-the/article_b5c1f5e4-efd7-11e9-8ccf-3fc7ef6cc833.html?fbclid=IwAR2oZSeqh-BhSzImZLvtsrthRmEG3eEw-F6j5MSJ2l7ki64T-RQtfB2HREo
― nickn, Saturday, 19 October 2019 21:59 (four years ago) link
Vanessa has been working on a Pylon timeline and asks for help filling in gaps
― Brad C., Saturday, 19 October 2019 22:07 (four years ago) link
Nice
― curmudgeon, Friday, 1 November 2019 23:28 (four years ago) link
https://vimeo.com/411617086
part of the video from the 1983 show released as Pylon Live
― Brad C., Thursday, 14 May 2020 12:32 (four years ago) link
Haven't had time to read all of this yet, but good, brisk-not-breathless detail so far (lots of it I didn't know), also video links:https://slate.com/culture/2020/07/pylon-band-athens-georgia-history-video-cool-town.htmlAdapted fromCool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture by Grace Elizabeth Hale, in stores now from the University of North Carolina Press. Yes way overselling past the colon, but may not have been her idea---got to watch those university presslords.
― dow, Friday, 10 July 2020 04:02 (four years ago) link
― Brad C., Thursday, May 14, 2020 7:32 AM
yes, i've had too much to drink and shit has been weird, but yes, that brought me to tears by the end. jfc
― Karl Malone, Friday, 10 July 2020 04:44 (four years ago) link
I've had Cool Town on the shelf for months and am finally three chapters in. I'm struggling here and there with Hale's romanticism and nostalgia, but that reaction has more to do with my personal perspective on the early Athens scene than with the way her utopianism occasionally drifts over the top.
As history, it's excellent, meticulous on details and documentation and (judging from what I've so far) the best account yet of how the scene evolved from the B-52s to Pylon to R.E.M. I thought Lurie's Begin the Begin was exhaustive, but Hale's broader context lets her show better how skeptically R.E.M. were received by the Pylon-centric faithful and why R.E.M. became so much more successful (tl;dr Pylon didn't have the same industry connections and weren't willing to tour pizza parlors to build a regional audience).
Pylon rules.
― Brad C., Friday, 10 July 2020 14:39 (four years ago) link
I somehow missed news of this book. I'm pretty much a romanticist and a nostalgist when it comes to stuff like this, so count me in.
― Album Moods: Rambunctious; Snide (Dan Peterson), Friday, 10 July 2020 14:46 (four years ago) link
I am torn on the romantic and nostalgic approach but want to read the book to hear more about the early days of Pylon, and yes to cherish my memories of seeing them back then and playing their music on my college radio show.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 10 July 2020 16:45 (four years ago) link
Hale was in Athens in the 80s, so some of her romantic/nostalgic tone is that of a memoir ... it combines a bit oddly with the research-backed reportage, but it's earned and she maintains a careful balance between those voices
More difficult for me are some strong claims (suggested by the subtitle) about the Athens scene's unique influence, rarity, creativity, freedom, etc. ... as a cranky old townie, my first reaction to these is rmde, but she frames her arguments in ways that are making me reflect on my skepticism, so I'm enjoying that cognitive dissonance as much as the factual content
it's too close to home for me to be objective, but just based on the quality of the writing and research, I'd recommend it to anyone into Our Band Could Be Your Life and similar books
― Brad C., Friday, 10 July 2020 17:17 (four years ago) link
Dissatisfaction, what?Let's take a look at that inkB-L-O-TI'm tired of moving my jawGonna call and pa and maM-A, 10 pointsMamamamamamamamamamamamama, 10 pointsLife is nothingBut death and taxesAnd all the treesThat get the axesA-X-E-SOhhhhhh, 22You aren't the status quoI just thought that youWanted to knowN-O, 8 pointsNonononononononononononono, 8 pointsLet go of my sleeveOr I'll turn you over my knee, kneeK-N-E-EK!The Camaro has aD-E-N-TDissatisfactionWhat!
I'm tired of moving my jawGonna call and pa and maM-A, 10 pointsMamamamamamamamamamamamama, 10 points
Life is nothingBut death and taxesAnd all the treesThat get the axesA-X-E-SOhhhhhh, 22
You aren't the status quoI just thought that youWanted to knowN-O, 8 pointsNonononononononononononono, 8 points
Let go of my sleeveOr I'll turn you over my knee, kneeK-N-E-EK!
The Camaro has aD-E-N-TDissatisfactionWhat!
is "K" about scrabble?
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Saturday, 1 August 2020 19:31 (four years ago) link
Y-E-S, 6 points
https://creativeloafing.com/content-161391-vanessa-briscoe-hay-s-top-5-pylon
― Brad C., Saturday, 1 August 2020 19:53 (four years ago) link
haha, that's awesome! the whole anecdote about the making of that song is cool:
2) "K" from the album ChompThis song that fell together by chance. The lyrics came from a scrabble game that bassist Michael Lachowski and I played together in a session where we were consciously trying to write lyrics. When we first performed this song live, it fell completely apart. We were sort of embarrassed, but our friend John Seawright came up to us after the show and was raving about that new song. We went back and listened to the tape of it and realized that it was better than what we were originally trying to do. So we spent hours dissecting that tape and learning the song the way it accidentally happened. Chris Stamey and Gene Holder from the DBs worked with us at Mitch Easter's studio to make it happen in an interesting way.
This song that fell together by chance. The lyrics came from a scrabble game that bassist Michael Lachowski and I played together in a session where we were consciously trying to write lyrics. When we first performed this song live, it fell completely apart. We were sort of embarrassed, but our friend John Seawright came up to us after the show and was raving about that new song. We went back and listened to the tape of it and realized that it was better than what we were originally trying to do. So we spent hours dissecting that tape and learning the song the way it accidentally happened. Chris Stamey and Gene Holder from the DBs worked with us at Mitch Easter's studio to make it happen in an interesting way.
vanessa hay is a lovely person
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Saturday, 1 August 2020 20:12 (four years ago) link
From Rolling Reissues, re 2020 Soul Jazz comp The World of Keith Haring: "Danger" certainly held its own among stiff competition (these are the ones I liked): 3. Pylon – Danger£0.996. John Sex – Bump and Grind It£0.998. The Girls – Jeffrey I Hear You£0.9910. Talking Heads – I Zimbra (on CD version only)12. Class Action – Weekend (Larry Levan Mix)13. Adiche – Chuka-Ja (Get Ready)£0.9915. The Golden Flamingo Orchestra – The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us16. Gray – Cut It Up High Priest£0.9919. Yoko Ono – Walking On Thin Ice
That's almost half, better than I thought.
― dow, Monday, July 27, 2020 6:41 PM (five days ago)
― dow, Saturday, 1 August 2020 22:15 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAOILacn8Dw&t
Video of full show, Cleveland, 6/22/90
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 August 2020 13:17 (four years ago) link
let's try that YouTube link again:
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 August 2020 13:18 (four years ago) link
bah, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAOILacn8Dw&t
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 August 2020 13:19 (four years ago) link
sigh ... search YouTube for "pylon cleveland"
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 August 2020 13:20 (four years ago) link
maybe try a different browser? Chrome won't do this any more for me, Firefox sometimes.
― dow, Monday, 3 August 2020 02:40 (four years ago) link
vinyl remasters and a comprehensive box set, out Nov. 6
https://pylon.band/
― Brad C., Wednesday, 26 August 2020 13:56 (four years ago) link
Chomp in print! Wow, that's awesome. I can't tell but it looks like the two bonus discs of rarities and unreleased stuff are only for the box set, which is kind of a bummer if so. But great that this stuff is getting out there.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 26 August 2020 15:17 (four years ago) link
i've managed to snag nice OG copies of Gyrate and Chomp, so i probably won't be picking this up. but damn, it's really cool and i hope that it makes some money for the pylon crew (i'm not sure how much the Dead Letter Office royalties provide, these days)
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 26 August 2020 15:48 (four years ago) link
Thanks for the news!Still got my ancient CDs Gyrate Plus and Chomp More, have heard Live enough times online to agree w those who say it takes quite a while to achieve liftoff (although it all sounds pretty confident: maybe they're teaching patience, loyalty)---but had not heard of the Buzz Tape, hmmmmm----among Other Options here, bandcamp pre-order for digital is $40.00, and they're already streaming 25 tracks. Looks like nothing from Chain, but I've still got the pre-recorded cassette somewhere, pretty good reunion album. Hope it'll get a nice remaster someday.(XXpost: I was right to incl. Pylon and those others as keepers from The World of Keith Haring, but so is most of it! I should have listened again before posting.)
― dow, Wednesday, 26 August 2020 16:30 (four years ago) link