Pylon was that other band from Athens, GA – you know, the one that wasn’t the B-52’s or R.E.M. The ones that made a couple of singles and albums, got some love from hipsters, made no money, then disappeared into the mists of rock history. Now the ultra-cool DFA Records (of LCD Soundsystem fame) has re-released their first album, which has long been unavailable on CD. This is a perfect opportunity for a Critical Upgrade.
This isn’t a case where the band has had their critical stock price fall over the years. It’s more like they just kind of fell off of everybody’s radar. Though they came out of the same scene as their more famous Athens contemporaries, they don’t sound much like either one. They have a much more hard-edged post-punk sound, one that at the time was most often compared to the Gang of Four.
The Athens scene was very dance-centered, and this music definitely works on the body, but it’s doesn’t have the party atmosphere of the B-52’s. One reason is the lyrics. Vocalist Vanessa Briscoe wrote cryptic songs that remind me a lot of the early Talking Heads lyrics – topics like reading, driving, gravity, volume, work, all approached elliptically and sung about in a detached but intense style that’s hard to get a fix on. I find the approach mysterious and oddly alluring, but it was not one that drew in large numbers of listeners. The fact that they were on DB Records, not a major label like their peers, did not help their commercial prospects.
Instrumentally they were more direct. When I met them on their first tour, they said soundmen loved them because their set-up was so easy to mix – one trebly guitar, one deep bass, no background vocals, and drummer that hit hard enough that he hardly needed the PA. Neither of the gigs I saw back then was well-attended, and I believe that was sadly typical for them. After a couple of albums they were gone, and a so-so reunion album in 1990 (Chain) did nothing to revive their fortunes. I understand they’ve been playing a few gigs around this re-release but that they’re no longer a going concern.
So as not to compete with DFA, these tracks are vinyl transfers from my collection. You might want to boost the bass on them a bit. The mastering on the new CD is very nice, and the tracks sound even better on Gyrate Plus (so called because it includes their early single “Cool”). Here are a couple of album tracks (“Volume” and “Stop It”), the B-side of that single (the awesome “Dub” with its chant “we eat dub for breakfast”), and a follow-up single not included on the DFA re-issue (“Beep”). Enjoy.
Pylon, “Volume”
Pylon, “Stop It”
Pylon, “Dub”
Pylon, “Beep”
After I wrote this post, I discovered that, although I know I owned the Cool/Dub 7″, I no longer have a vinyl transfer for Dub. So the version of Dub posted here is from the DFA re-issue version on Gyrate Plus. This way you can hear an example of their digitizing.
No argument from me. I’ve lived with the only digital Pylon available until now “Hits” which includes the super-cool “Cool” as well.
Of the Athens triumvirate they’ve got it all over the B-52s and over the years I’ve come to listen more to Pylon than the early REM that I used to love. This is likely due to being bombarded with images like this:
My only question is- Does Pylon require an upgrade? Are they not already held in pretty high esteem by geeks like us?
No need for an upgrade round these parts. I’ve been flying the flag for Pylon ever since I first heard “No Clocks” on college radio back in the day.
They require an update for the likes of myself. When they first came out and I read numerous comparisons to Gang of Four, I couldn’t wait to pull a copy of their album out at my college radio station and play it. I found it short on hooks and interesting vocals. Where was the song I could sink my teeth into? I never spent much time with Pylon after checking out that first album that was getting all the Gang of Four comparisons. The jagged guitars were nice, but I didn’t get the full package I was expecting.
Listening to these tracks now for the first time in 25 years or whatever it’s been (my lord, how time flies!), this sounds better although I’m still not immediately grasping anything distinctive at the fore. What’s really helped me, though, is having BigSteve’s Talking Heads comparison in mind. I can better appreciate this stuff thinking of some of Talking Heads’ more minimalist stuff than thinking of what I found special about Gang of Four. Thanks, BigSteve. These are four songs I’ll check out more than every 25 years.
I never heard the Gang of Four comparisons and don’t hear it in their music. They have claimed to be influenced by Talking Heads, Television and The Ramones.
well, “influence” and comparability are two different things.
certainly, when a critic is trying to place the sound of a new band, in this case pylon, for his / her reader, it is reasonable to note the dry, tough, bass heavy sound of “cool”, which compares reasonably the early gang of four stuff.
but, no, they don’t sound entirely like gof to me, either. in the end, the songs are different in spirit.
i heard “cool” when it came out thanks to a friend who went to swarthmore while i was still a senior in high school. i was excited. and based on that song, i could see why pete buck might rave about them. …there’s a fresh energy in that recording that approaches what i’ve seen of their early live performances. and both still seem fresh to me.
as much as i like them, i think they’re one of those tragic bands that was rarely able to translate their magic into their recordings. “cool” is remarkable, and what BigSteve has posted also comes close, but it somehow loses something. thanks for posting them, steve! I like pylon alot!
i also don’t think the footage from ’07 quite makes the case….
That video was the best I could find on youtube, and no it doesn’t make the case.
It’s true that Pylon’s recorded sound was a bit tamer than their live sound, which was totally slamming on the two occasions I saw them, but it was also more detailed and it allowed one to see their artier side.
yeah, steve, there’s not much video out there of pylon, is there? i realize you posted the best stuff.
but that movie about athens (i believe it was called “athens, ga”) has some really hot stuff.
and i agree, completely: the recordings bring out their ‘artier’ side, which, unfortunately, doesn’t agree with me. it’s not that i don’t like *all* artiness. but i don’t like theirs. i hear it as self-consciousness instead. that probably says more about how i hear it than how it *actually* sounds.
btw, steve, on a more general note: thanks for reminding me of this band. it had been ages since i listened to any of it, and it’s been a pleasant revisitation!
To be fair, Mr. Mod, the second album is a lot more overtly hooky than the first, to my ears.
Was that second album called Beep, Great One? I seem to recall some Woody the Woodpecker/Roadrunner-type cartoon bird on one of their album covers. I’ll have to hear some of that second album again. This stuff BigSteve posted has its merits, and if I were the kind of guy who could lose myself dancing in a club, maybe I’d like it better, but it ultimately sounds kind of flat to my ears. Somehow I’m reminded of the first Feelies album, another album I wish I could like more than I do.
The second album was called CHOMP, although there is indeed a song called “Beep” on it. The aforementioned “No Clocks” is on there, and it would have sounded right at home on stage in Hoboken circa 1987 or so.
The second album, which included Beep, was called Chomp, and it had a Tyrranosaurus Rex on the cover. The side where the LP came out was serrated too (chomp … get it?), which I thought was pretty cool. It was also produced by Chris Stamey and Gene Holder and engineered by Mitch Easter.
I checked and yes the Beep/Altitude single has a cartoon bird on it. Check out Vanessa’s history of the band(http://jollybeggars.netnik.com/pylon.html), and about a third of the way down there’s a reproduction of this image.
I think at times they sound almost like Joy Division. Listen to a song like “functionality” next to the live Joy Division stuff from Performance. It’s pretty close.
and what about the after life of this kind of sound (whether influenced by Pylon or not)?
the first time I saw Erase Errata (very early after their formation), i thought of the live Pylon. I have no idea whatsoever if they were fans, but i wouldn’t be surprised.
there was also a band that came before the d.c. band called “autoclave” that was comprised of some of the women who would form that band, and which sounded alot like pylon, to me. i don’t know if they ever gigged, but i got to hang out at some of their practices.
Cool, I did remember a woodpecker cover, and I remember that dinosaur one as well.
Afterlife: many of the female singers of today’s new wave revivalist bands sound very much like Vanessa, whether directly influenced or not. The girl from Be Your Own Pet, for example.
Baby Flamehead didn’t tour with them, but in 1990 we did end up playing with them about a half-dozen times around the mid-west. They were one of the most pleasant bands to get to know – for being generous, intelligent, funny, and low-key. It was always odd to run into another band’s world-view when you were the opener. And often felt like putting on ill-fitting clothes. But these guys, musically miles away from us, were very compatible, as I recall. Always fun, though the crowds were sparse, and the fervent few weren’t enough to save it from feeling a little sad. We were used to it, being new kids. But I wished they were getting more for what they were giving.
Great M. Stipe picture there. What, is he re-enacting Anita Ekberg’s scene from LA DOLCE VITA?
Always loved Pylon, so there doesn’t seem like much to rediscover on this reissue, surprised there isn’t more unreleased stuff around. “M-Train” was always in my secret pocket when I would DJ live, always seemed to get a boisterous response on the dancefloor when I played it.
Mod,
The Woodpecker cover you’re thinking about could be an EP by the Full Time Men (side project of Fleshtones/Peter Buck). Click on the link under my name to see it. Also, I just picked up the CD reissue of Gyrate. Glad to see stuff like that getting support from record companies.
I’ve listened to these songs and a few more from Gyrate on Rhapsody. I defintely dig the instruments more so than the singing and melody.
I do hear one commonality between Pylon, B-52’s, and REM. They are all one-guitar bands who let the bass play a major role.
I did see Pylon as a cross between the Gang of 4 and the B-52s. They used the basic surf beat feel of the early B-52s and with the dubby sound of Gang of 4, instruments playing minimally and dropping in and out in those classic anti-solos. I was really disappointed in Chomp. It just had a dull sound to it and I actually think Gyrate was a swell sounding record. The original CD rerelease, “Hits” also sounded crappy to my ears but the new version sound right.