Thomas Function played Bruar Falls this past Friday. It was the last of their string of New York shows, and even though they had a run in with the police earlier that day they were still spot on. They played for a little under an hour, and sounded very much live like their southern influenced punk pop album Celebration. Even the newer songs were faster than on recording, but it just seemed to fit in with their stage presence. I wish I would have gotten to see more than one of these shows (there were some songs I really wanted to hear that weren’t played), but I guess that is what happens when a band has several shows in a row.
Thomas Function are still on Tour…the rest of those dates can be found here. I highly recommend catching them…it’s a really fun show.
Links:
more on Thomas Function (mail order info, mp3s, ect.) here.
I recently got copies of both Celebration, and their forth coming record In the Valley of Sickness. Both records are great in very different ways… Celebration showing a slightly faster more punk rock side of the band, and In the Valley of Sickness experiments with song writing showing maturity and growth. In the Valley of Sickness seems to be a natural progression for Thomas Function, and I’ve been spinning the LP every chance I get.
Celebration came out on Alive Records (who does super fast mail order…my record was at my house with in the week), and has the song that has been in my head for the past two weeks… even though I don’t know all the words I still try to sing it:
I discover something new about In the Valley of Sickness with each listen, and it slowly bring a little bit of blues, country and folk into the foreground while the band remains deeply routed in energetic pop. I’m really hoping to hear “ADP Blues,” the opening track from the new record live…the record is almost worth it for that song alone. In my last post (part of my This Week In Mail Order series) I put up two tracks from the new record (mistakenly thinking they were from Celebration)…which I will re-post here for the sake of completeness. These are the two songs that got me hooked on the TFunk.
Buy In the Valley of Sickness from Fat Possum on CD here, or on LP here. It will be released on October 13th (I think they are shipping mail order early).
Thomas Function really bring a smile to my face both musically and lyrically (really some of their lyrics are hilarious!). These guys have something, and I’m not sure what it is…but I plan to find out on Friday at Bruar Falls…If you can I highly recommend making it out to one of these shows…it will be fun.
Yesterday was a day of music discovery for me in many ways. I’ve been in a funk, but I heard a whole bunch of new stuff, and surprisingly not too much of it had fuzzy vocals! Maybe that fad is dying (don’t get me wrong some of it is really good, but I’m ready for music to move on). While I’m going to be posting about several things that I have been listening to over the past 24 hours I think the band that has impressed me the most has been Thomas Function.
I guess there are two people I have to thank for this discovery, and the first is PopJew and the second is PopTarts (the first for the initial recommendation and the latter for posting some tracks!)
Thomas Function are from Alabama, and make really fun infectious pop music, almost punk at times, with hints of all your favorite garage/pysch/blues, and nasally twangy vocals tie it all together. On top of totally fun catchy songs their lyrics are the icing on the cake…how can you argue with a song that starts “are you gonna buy a record? or what?” (check out “Picking Scabs below).
Thomas Function formed in 2007 have released six singles, a full length called Celebration on Alive Records, and have just been signed to Fat Possum who will release their second full length In the Valley of Sickness on October 13th. That is three busy years.
Out of the 30 tracks that live on my ipod right now(yep you read that right…only 30… don’t ask) the two by Thomas Function have gotten by far the most play time. I wanted to hear more so I headed over to the Free Music Archive. Sure enough Thomas Function recorded a live set on January 27, 2009 for The Evan Funk Davies show on WFMU. The set clocks in at 23.5 minutes and is a totally free legal download!
I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Celebration, and very soon In the Valley of Sickness as well.
Both mp3s above are from Neither of the songs above are from Celebration, but you can still buy it from Alive Records here or buy it at insound! (I thought they were, but I just got the record in the mail, and they are not…maybe they are on In the Valley of Sickness…and if so that will be available next month).
based in greenpoint, brooklyn. established in 2009. thoughts on music, pinball, beer, food, and happenings in and around new york city.
the white lodge
the white lodge is a photography collaboration between klk and myself. We specialize in analog photography using both 35mm and medium format film. Please check out our flickr.
i occasionally post mp3s and videos on this blog for the sole purpose of promoting artists that I believe deserve attention. all songs are for sampling purposes only, if you like it there will be a link to buy music from the artist (or tour dates...go see them!). if by chance I post an mp3 or video with audio that you own, and you would like me to take it down please let me know. you can reach me at:
(tom at gprecs.com)
in this instance i am very sorry.
fuck yeah! can't wait! RT: @BrouwerijLane: Just tapped: Cask of the new Pretty Things Fluffy White Rabbits. Hoppy Belgian tripel.about 20 hours agofrom Echofon
