Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: S & D, C or D...

# 2 - Gentleman's Lament
# 3 - Catcher
# 4 - Hornet's Heart
# 5 - Star Trek
# 6 - Tell Me
# 8 - Hive
# 9 - Hummingbird In a Cube of Ice
# 11 - Wide Forehead
# 12 - Infection
# 18 - 1" Tall*
# 19 - Raymond H.
# 21 - Cistern
# 22 - El Cerrito**

So classic. I have most of the albums, but I'm always drawn back to Strangers From the Universe. ...and Funeral Pudding. Never had the chance to see them live, except in 1996 and I blew it. Listened more recently to some live shows from earlier in the 90s and was amazing at how loud they could be and how quickly they could shift gears, even mid-song. Why in the world are their Matador albums out of print?

Crazy. People just aren't in the mood for 90s music right now, myself included.

Listened more recently to some live shows from earlier in the 90s and was amazing at how loud they could be and how quickly they could shift gears, even mid-song.

I saw them live in 1994. Easily the best show I saw that year in a year of pretty decent live shows.

Sucks about the Matador stuff being out of print, but I'm guessing, sadly, that people have mostly forgotten about the Fellers, which is really a shame. I can't really blame Matador for keeping them out of print for the time being -- especially if you can still find the stuff used without much difficulty. Matador released four of their albums, and if none of the four are still selling, well.. :( (not to mention Ajax's release of The Funeral Pudding, which kinda went OOP immediately, and the CD reissue of Wormed By Leonard, and the OOP Communion issues of I Hope It Lands and Bob Dinners)

Maybe in the 2010s, people will catch up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B7vogZkBjA&feature=youtu.be

can't see that, but i assume it's from their show last night in boston? sigh. been trying to see these guys since 1995, never works out.

This is one of those bands where I never purposely put on a whole album but if they come up on shuffle I'm like, "WTF is this? Some rad Sonic Youth (etc.) b-side I forgot? Oh wait, it's Thinking Fellers."

never understood TFUL at the time. they seemed too willfully obtuse and jokey for my tastes, some kind of fake-beatnik, zappa-loving boho bullshit. but i'm listening to strangers from the universe and realizing that it's like the greatest shit i've never heard. "socket"! "hundreds of years"(!) amazed and somewhat humbled by how long it takes me to "get" so much obviously amazing shit. want MOAR!

where should i go next? help me ILM.

not so much the results but the commentary in this thread:
Best THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282 release

'Yeah, the combo of "Admonishing The Bishops" and "The Funeral Pudding" EPs from 1993 would comprise of the best of their work, IMHO" this is very OTM!! I miss getting their records in the mail from Ajax, man I used to love these guys. Also if you can find a certain issue of Bananafish magazine, their was a cd that was great with solo stuff by these guys, along with lots of other guys oddball artist. Maybe it was the first four or five issues compiled?

Mother of All Saints' showing in that poll is just stupid. Was just playing it the other day, wishing it could get a remaster (CD is too quiet) and marveling at how well it holds up. Just skip the annoying tracks...

They were the most unlikely band ever I think:

http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n10/htdocs/mother-of-all-strangers-164/thinking_fellers_union.jpg

no! they look awesome! <3

and thx, steve

Great photo!!

o shit, "the operation", fuckin <3 this band

I dug this band in the '90s though I haven't listened to them since then. Sometimes I feel like Deerhoof kind of has a TFUL282 feel to them, is that weird?

nah, that makes perfect sense, given what little i know of TFUL. both indie/punk prog rockers. love deerhoof, btw. their "new sneakers" even has a touch of "noble experiment" poignancy (nowhere near as intense, obv).

dude seeing this band plow into "The Operation" in a live setting was one of my finest concert experiences ever.

Was just listening to some of Mother Of All Saints this morning!

and for your next record may I suggest Bob Dinners, Admonishing The Bishops, or I Hope It Lands.

will check "admonishing" next, due to support in this and the other thread. mother of all saints is the album that derailed me at the time, and i'd like to give it another shot, too, see if i've come around. remember loving a plugz-esque tune called "narlus spectre" once upon a time, god knows where it came from. doesn't seem to appear on any of their more popular releases.

it's on Wormed By Leonard iirc, also on the 4-song "best of" 7" sampler from that album that Ajax put out in like '92 (The Natural Finger).

I was thinking a little bit more today about those "difficult" pieces on MOAS. Although I appreciate the pared-down song-oriented tracklist someone posted in this (or the other) thread, the spacing of those tracks really helps with the sequencing and overall epic flow of the record.. I think that at the time there was some criticism of teh "practice room" pieces in the press but it was also kind of a statement of purpose by the band. At any rate, "Tuning Notes" has perversely become one of my fave tracks from that record as the years have gone by. It's just such a perfect window into their world, a distillation of the practice room experience.

Awww man, my favorite radio station is rocking "The Operation" right now. Doubly sweet that it was preceded by Wire's "Mercy". TFUL282 rules so hard, happy Friday to me!

"The Operation" rules so hard

Yeah, so so good.

amazing full show from 1994:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBfO4FRA6ps

I really love some of TFUL282's lyrics. Really evocative and intriguing at times. I mean, what the heck is "The Operation" about?

I can't find it above, but probably said on another thread. They had some of the best lyrics of any band ever, full stop. It's annoying, because they present, historically, as some cute slightly eccentric indie rock band of the 90s. I rarely care about words, but was floored when I started reading the lyric sheets for their albums. It's like suddenly discovering that The Archers of Loaf were up there with Dylan Thomas. Or whatever.

"You can fizz out the top or settle to the bottom or stand still inside a liquid life.
You can float away or melt into the ground, but scientists can watch you through the glass and measure forces pulling you, and measure forces pushing you, until you stand still and make the shadows stop.
Vaporize, solidify. Hummingbird in a cube of ice."

I really love some of TFUL282's lyrics. Really evocative and intriguing at times. I mean, what the heck is "The Operation" about?

― Duane Barry, Tuesday, June 23, 2015 7:21 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

alien abduction, no?

this thread has reminded me that I have misplaced my "Hope It Lands" CD

I had forgotten/did not know that they did a 2011 ATP gig. There's a disappointing practice version of "Piston And The Shaft" on Youtube:

httpx://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afiMfHjQMKI

(change x to s)

but it contains this fabulous comment:

As the fifth viewer of this clip, and a citizen of the United States of America, I say that the Thinking Fellers Union is a national treasure, and should be granted immunity from any and all need to work for a living; they should be given a large practice space underneath the national mall in DC, located, say, under the Washington Monument, with instruments made of gold, and free electricity and infinite credit at the local supermarket.

my favorite lyrics are the piston and the shaft like

When the car parks in the garage
When the beauty receives her beau
There's a border taut and bold
That's a feeling we'll never know

You're the hard spot on my seat
I'm the drooling bitch in heat
I'm your gravy baster gun
You're my creamy squishy bun
We got a funny situation, you and me
We're the beaver and the hog
But who's biting what and what's eating whom
We're a dripping marsh full of frogs

I've always been in love with this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czp3wGZ9XUM

always loved "Heavy Head":

You sleep so you won't notice the weight upon your breast
You drift on winds you can't feel, flowing so your dreams won't end
What have you done to manufacture your own fear?
It could last forever - no one can see you in there

Black and rusted handcuffs chain you to your bed
Struggling exhausts you - rest your heavy head
Stop the dream while you can
Lose your mind

You beat yourself unconscious with heavy words and sighs
You lose your focus and your breath and you close your eyes

Why is it that the 90s seem to have the most inventive chord progressions in the dissonant-yet-melodic category?

Never listened to this lot. How do they compare to Cheer-Accident?

they are of a similar era, and share fans, and members of one have played with members of the other

Hope It Lands is my favorite

xp check out the show I linked! you won't regret it.

Hope It Lands is on Spotify, which is nice

Will listen to the show and the album, cool

I like this band but I've been very slow in getting their discography. I Hope it Lands is the next one for me I think.

They weren't really anything like Cheer-Accident though, more like if Polvo were collectively recovering from head injuries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkwGzl1I42g Heavy Head is their best song!

I listened to I Hope it Lands; it was amazing. Heard about 25m of the gig too. Lovely.

Then listened to all of Enduring The American Dream by Cheer-Accident and that was even better, but the two bands are both clearly wonderful

alien abduction, no?

I guess so! It's a bit ironic that never occurred to me, given the bloody username I chose for this place.

Happy to see the love for "I Hope It Lands" here, it seems to be their least-mentioned album but it's actually my favourite of the two "pop" TFUL albums (the other being "Strangers").

2019 resolutions: increase public awareness of this band, find another set of the stickers I bought from them in the mid-90s.

weird that I never posted on this thread, I have about eight of their records. favourite song is probably a tie between heavy head and narlus spectre?

As someone who spent quite a bit of time studying/playing a lot of Sundanese-style gamelan in the pelog (7-tone) scale, "Hundreds Of Years" lead guitar is definitely the most melodically gamelan-ish rock song I can think of (even moreso than a lot of late-period OOIOO).

OMG OMG OMG this is the one I have been waiting for

Bulbous Monocle focuses its lens further into the legacy and archives of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. These Things Remain Unassigned — a phrase coined by Brian Hageman, one of the band’s musical snake appendages emanating from its Medusa crown — is presented by Bulbous Monocle as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). BM-03 gathers together the band’s singles, compilation tracks, outtakes and never before released gems encompassing the arc of TFUL’s musical corpus. Every track has been surgically remastered by Mark Gergis (Porest/Sublime Frequencies/Mono Pause) with his signature craftsman approach.

This collection is an auditory and visual feast. The extensive booklet included features band ephemera, concert flyers, photographs, and commentary about each track from Mark Davies. Beyond the rare singles and unreleased tracks from the TFUL archives, are cover versions from such disparate artists and composers as: Ennio Morricone, Krzysztof Komeda, The Residents, The Shaggs, Caroliner Rainbow and Pérez Prado.

and i'd vowed to stop buying records with boobies on the cover

wow "Strange Mail" is amazing, up there with any of their best

oh man this "Rosemary's Baby" theme

I am in awe

Perez Prado cover is fab as well

3 tunes I've never heard so far and 1 more to go, plus an alternate version of Flames Up

I got a comment on my shirt recently - it's like finding yr people, man.

― BlackIronPrison, Friday, March 12, 2021 7:20 PM (two years ago)

In Seattle this past summer, construction dude in line in front of me at the sandwich shop turned to me and said "Great band" with this intense stare. Gave him the Vulcan salute in response.

In my neighborhood last weekend for a block party: "My ex-husband used to tour with them all the time, they were amazing!"

Old news at this point, but did anyone hear Cup of Dreams sampled in this Yves Tumor song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSPhsieipTg

With so many older and underappreciated bands getting bigger than ever through tiktok, I've found myself wondering if TFUL282 will ever get the same treatment. Unfortunately Cup of Dreams only has ~150,000 plays on spotify (Noble Experiment is their most played at ~600,000) so I'm not sure that the Yves Tumor sample has helped much.

Guess I'd just like them to get big enough that they could cash in on touring again as I was in middle school and not aware of the band's existence when they did their two reunion shows in 2004.