Make this Band Your Myspace Friend: Thomas Function

I know I haven't updating this blog in a while and certainly not with anything very worthwhile but when something's this good you've just got to let the people know about it. If you're like me and you think Pavement peaked with "Box Elder" or if you've ever wanted to hear what a cross between Great Plains and the Art Attacks might sound like, boy have I got the band for you.

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of seeing Thomas Function perform at the Annex here in New York in front of a crowd of maybe three dozen or so. Lately I've been verbalizing to anyone who will listen that I think bands should only do 20 minute sets. This probably started shortly after seeing Jay Reatard, who blasted through a set of about a dozen song in about that time. I get bored easily I suppose and usually about halfway though many bands' sets I become restless and wonder if I couldn't be spending my time better elsewhere. But damn me if Thomas Function didn't keep my attention for the duration. So much so, that without hesitation I plunked down $20 for their LP and both 45s they had for sale (All on colored vinyl! Take that, digital age!) despite the fact that I have about $25 in my bank account until my next payday. Hell, if that's not a recommendation, I don't know what is. I've seen the band compared to Television and the Modern Lovers but that's really only telling half the story. They're nowhere near as punctilious as the the former or as coy as the latter. Thomas Function play their off-kilter pop songs with an unabashed enthusiasm that's won that them a following with the usually suspicious of anything cleaner than scuzz garage crowd. I know it's only April but the band's debut album Celebration is going to be hard to beat for record of the year.

Also, a quick word about the headliners Live Fast Die. I caught them for a couple of songs as they went on way after my bedtime but they were thoroughly entertaining as well. And not just for their songs either as they displayed some funnier on stage banter I've heard in a while. I suppose a band with song titles like "Camero Shit the Bed" and lyrics like "I like weapons for killing stuff" should have a good sense of humor. Their debut LP Bandana Trash Record is recommended for fans of Rip Off Records, "Kicked Out of the Webelos"-era Queers or anyone who thinks GG Allin is hilarious.

Make Thomas Function your myspace friend.

Win the top friend slot on my myspace and help WFMU!

Hello friends,

Here is your opportunity to earn a special place in my heart and put it on display for all of the world to see. Plus, you get to help out the great non-profit, listener sponsered radio station WFMU.

I am selling the top friend spot on my myspace on ebay. I know what you're thinking: "Paul, that's not really worth anything is it?" Wrong! If you've ever heard the amount of drama and personal anguish people put into the placement of friends or their placement on a friend's page, you know it's worth quite a bit and you'll get to be my friend for 1 entire year (until the next WFMU marathon).

My page gets plently of traffic. (Over 15,000 views! I think that's almost as many as Tila Tequila!) Perhaps you have some band or comedy troupe or some other commerical venture you'd like to promote. Or perhaps you think our relationship dictates that you should be my top friend regardless. Here's your chance to let the world know that we are BFF. You don't even have to currently be my myspace friend. If you win I'll accept your friendship and put you in the top spot.

Besides you'll be helping WFMU, perhaps the greatest radio station in the world. Even if you don't want to participate in this auction you should show them support by pledging at wfmu.org. The winning bid will be pledged to the Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T on Saturday, March 8th. And don't think this is my way of cheaping out either. I'll be pledging myself no matter what. This is just icing on the cake.

Happy bidding and good luck!!

(Sorry, paypal only)

Update: The winning bid? $51.77

Make this band your Myspace friend: Tyvek

Best record I've heard thus far this year? That would be Tyvek's "Summer Burns" double 7 inch. I've been hearing this band's name thrown around for months: sharing a 7" with the excellent Cheveu, going on tour with the also excellent Cause Co-Motion!, doing a session for the Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU, being name dropped by none other than Ted Leo. It's easy to see why. Many bands who drink from the post-punk fountain are stiff and rigid, recreating the formal elements of whatever aspects of the sound they choose to emulate but not the enthusiasm, and are generally too cool for school (but not cool enough for my turntable, motherfucker). Tyvek play their songs with the ragged fervor of a lo-fi garage punk band. (They're from Detroit so maybe that helps.) They're all about immediacy, not detachment and these four songs will penetrate your soul to evoke memories of your 16 year old self scouring 7 inch bins for Datapanik/Anyway singles or hearing Delta 5 or the Fall for the first time. (Okay, that's probably more my 16 year old self than yours.) The 2x45 has me clamouring to hear anything else the band has to offer as I suspect it will for you as well.

Mucho props to the folks at What's Your Rupture? for presenting this gift to the universe. They are quickly becoming of the best labels in the world. If only they would release the 3rd Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves album they would almost certainly get the top spot. That's called a suggestion, guys!!

Make Tyvek your myspace friend.

Make this band your Myspace friend: Wooden Shjips

I was turned on the these guys via the fabluous blog Agony Shorthand (which has closed down and now exists as the equally fabulous but more MP3 intensive Detailed Twang). Total mind fuck psych rock drone that absolutely no one will be grooving to at Burning Man. The band released two fine pieces of vinyl last year ("Shrinking Moon for You" + 2 10" and "Dance, California" b/w "Clouds Over Earthquake" 7"). These records might be a little hard to find but you write the band, ask nicely and promise to send money, they'll send them to you. Seriously, I got in touch with the band and they sent me a record before I even cut a check. What a bunch of swell guys!! And if you're not turntable equipped (for shame!) you can listen to 3 of their 5 released cuts on their myspace page. Full length supposedly coming this year.

Make Wooden Shjips your myspace friend.