by Matthew Wickline (@guccifannypacks)
San Francisco has helped to lay the bedrock of experimental music within underground American culture, attracting artists and musicians looking to push the boundaries since the Paisley days of psych-rock. This tradition would continue well into the 80’s, with bands like Negativland and Oxbow making music on the fringes of the mainstream. One of the stalwarts from this era are Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. During the quintet’s initial run from 1986-2001, their style ranged from lo-fi home recordings to noise punk. Their arthouse roots bled into their music, creating a collage of guitar feedback and surrealist lyricism.
As a group, the discography ranged from full-lengths released by Matador to rare singles on obscure labels and compilation tracks shared around by hand. There was a litany of covers and b-sides that were only accessible to listeners through tape trading or Youtube. A new compilation, These Things Remain Unassigned, digs deep into the band’s archives to assemble these miscellaneous tracks. Bulbous Monocle, the new reprint label dedicated to SF and Bay Area underground music, tracks the rarities from the Thinking Fellers run through the 80s and 90s. Mastered by Mark Gergis, who’s worked with TFU282 collaborators Sun City Girls, this showcases a different side to the band only previously found on live bootlegs and fan-made tapes.
The comp kicks the door down with “2X4,” a single released in 1990. Guitars shoot from all angles, fighting against each other in an apocalyptic version of indie rock. With the new remaster, it’s a great introduction to the Fellers for curious outsiders. The b-side, “Horrible Hour” is the band testing the limits of their experimentations. It’s dada avant-garde rock, splicing found audio, accordion, and blasts of static together to make music that’s simultaneously compelling and beguiling.
Abstract works in audio experimentation continue in tracks like “Entolama” and “Electric Chair,” which oscillate between radio broadcast samples glued on top of grooves, and unnerving ambiences scored by sickly voices and detuned guitars. On “Ed Sullivan,” the Optigan (a toy piano from the 70s) is used to provide a cocktail lounge vibe to the vocals, which come from a poem by Ernest Noyes Brookings. Thinking Fellers were a group with no stagnant sound, instead mixing colors on the palette for a different picture each time.
The remaster really shines on “Strange Mail”. Previously only available to collectors on label samplers and live concert tapes, the new recording is a standout in a stellar compilation. The thumb piano reverberates clear as the instruments come into focus. The lyrics are an absurdist collection of letters sent from the highest skies, to the deepest oceans, and finally to the gates of hell, detailing unreal life to a curious narrator. Thanks to the work of Gergis, the vocals come in much cleaner than the ripped versions found online.
The handful of covers featured here magnify the band’s influences, which range from outsider music to favored film scores. On one hand, you have their cover of fellow SF band Caroliner Rainbow’s “Outhouse of the Pryeeee”. The guitars wail like ambulance sirens, the muddied vocals sound like a collect call from the lake of fire, and the music sounds like it’s about to collapse onto itself at any moment. On the other, there’s the cover of The Shaggs “Who Are Parents”. The band subverts noise for a toned-down take of the novice original, while the churning organ and spectral vocals make the music feel alien.
San Francisco has changed dramatically in the past two decades. Lowdown Studios, the recording HQ used to record TFU282 and many other Bay Area bands, was demolished to make way for Oracle Park, the new home of the SF Giants. The rent goes up and the people that made the local scene start to disappear. Thanks to Bulbous Monocle, we have documented evidence of a truly weird and special band with These Things Remain Unassigned.