Vol. 2: Thomas Function – Alabama
UPDATE: According to festival organizers Thomas Function is NOT PLAYING at Sled Island 2010. They were in the original lineup announcement so I’m not totally out to lunch but apparently it did not work out. Shitty.
I really wanted to make this preview series all about bands that I hadn’t gotten into before the lineup was announced but this was a bit of a harrowing week and I wanted to keep up a reasonable pace so I figured I would post a few thoughts about a band I discovered a few months ago — Thomas Function. Also holy crap just like our Vol. 1 stars the Duchess & the Duke they have a relatively recent Daytrotter session!! Head over and check that out while you sit at your desk pretending to work just really wishing you were sitting on a patio or swilling beers in a U of C parking lot or something.
So Thomas Function. I first heard about these guys from my favourite bartender the world-famous Glenn at Local 510 around Christmas time. We were chatting about bands and he mentioned that their new album In the Valley of Sickness was currently at the top of his playlist so I decided to check them out and I wasn’t disappointed!
Musically this is pretty jaunty bouncy rock ‘n’ roll. Even though I don’t really know what "post punk" means when I hear it that’s what I think of. I don’t know if that’s a consequence of subliminal conditioning or what but I guess it sounds a bit like Television or a less uptight version of Gang of Four or something. I love Television and I don’t love Gang of Four and these guys fall somewhere in between. Instead of looking up "post punk" I decided to ask my graduate supervisor who is old-ish and hates pretty much every song I think is good. After mumbling somthing about Sonic Youth and grunge he pointed at me and said "Punk died in 1984 man!" Perfect?
But I digress.
So Thomas Function. They write songs that are simple and fun and their vocals are sort of moany and/or out-of-tune but man are they ever fun! Maybe the best way to sum up their vaguely amusing/offensive-depending-on-your-perspective lyrics is to say that the chorus of the lead-off track on Sickness is about how "a good cop // is a dead cop." Catchy! Instrumentally most of their songs are back-stopped by simple-but-solid 4/4 drums but the organ lines really add something to complete the package as you will find out if you check out Not Asking for Much which is a huge highlight in both its studio and Daytrotter-fied forms.
Some of my favourite shows of Sled Island last year were woefully underattended (the Dead Science anybody?) and Thomas Function are sufficiently under the radar that they might suffer a similar fate but I certainly hope that can be avoided. I have a feeling they will put on a rad show. Come on people! You know it will be fantastic. Because I said so.
Shows: None. They’re not playing. Dang.
Previous entries in the Sled Island 2010 Preview Series:
