14th
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: It’s Completely Lodged Inside You Now
This week’s single-artist mix comes courtesy of Douglas Wolk, who volunteered his services a few weeks ago. I requested that he give TFUL 282 a shot, in part because they fit the general theme of establishing a ’90s indie canon, but also because I barely know their music, and knew that he was the perfect person to provide a guided tour of their discography. Here is Douglas’ intro:
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 were like a woolly mammoth riding a unicycle: heavy, hilarious, surreal, a little bit scary, way off balance but holding it together anyway, and weirdly miraculous. A bunch of Iowans who relocated to San Francisco in the mid-’80s, they moved in together and started a very smart band that was fond of extreme stupidity (exhibit A: their name). TFUL282 had four excellent and very different singer-lyricists, gymnastic triple-guitar friction, and fantastically lopsided senses of rhythm and of humor. They were stop-on-a-dime precisionists who sprinkled their records with spasms of messy improv, and they found both beauty and ugliness in unexpected places. Between 1988 and 2001, they released nine albums and a handful of EPs and singles, most of which are now out of print just when the world needs them most.
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 “It’s Completely Lodged Inside You Now”
Waited Too Long / A Lamb’s Lullaby / Sister Hell / Cup of Dreams / Socket / Empty Cup / You In A Movie / Hurricane / Brains / 2x4s / Hornet’s Heart / Star Trek / Noble Experiment / More Glee / ‘91 Dodge Van
