I mostly know these guys from the cutout bin of my favorite record store.
Virtually nobody I know has ever even heard of them- if you have, I'd give you a "not crap" rating just for that.

I know of them. I think I may have one of their records. Are you talking about the band from Finland?

Or the one from Athens, GA?

Hopefully it's the one from Finland as they are NOT CRAP.
I think that the Athens' band are awful CRAP.

YAY YAY YAY YAY

Pylon is one of my favorite bands of all time. A great forgotten gem. I heard something about them doing a reunion show recently--after the fact of course.

they are currently doing a few shows. Their first reunion, around '88 until '91, they put out the album "chain", which wasn't terrible but not as inspired as the old stuff. I lived in Georgia then and got to see a bunch of shows, they were one of the best live bands I ever saw. I'd have to say you need to have seen them to be able to deem them non or crap. I obviously say "not crap".

Back in 1991, not long before Pylon called it quits the second time, my old band got to open for them when they played in Ann Arbor. Pylon were very cool people, and their show was superb. Their early records are great, too -- if you ever run across either Gyrate or Chomp, pick 'em up. The original lineup is back together again, and have been playing fairly regularly in Georgia ... I haven't seen 'em, but the reviews have been encouraging. Here's Pylon's website:

http://www.wearepylon.com/

Not Crap!

A belated thanks for the link to their website which I otherwise might not have stumbled across. A few years back there was next to nothing on Pylon on the net.

Anyway, awesome that you did a show with them. I'm guessing it was at the Blind Pig, right? I read somewhere that Randall Bewley or whoever the guitarist is has proudly professed not to know how to tune his guitar, and I was curious about this. Does he tune it in straigth fourths or what?

At anyrate thanks for the feedback.

don't rock and roll
don't rock and roll
don't rock and roll NO!

DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO NO NO NO NO

NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

Hey, kids
Hey, kids
Hey, kids

NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW
NOW ROCK AND ROLL NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

Hey, kids
Hey, kids
Hey, kids
Hey

DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO NO NO NO NO

DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO NO NO NO NO

don't rock and roll
don't rock and roll
don't rock and roll NO!

DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO
DON'T ROCK AND ROLL NO NO NO NO NO NO!

...

not crap

I listened to them tonight. Not a perfect band, but far from Crap. They have moments of brilliance. Gyrate and most of Chomp are stellar albums. the !! 10" is also quite nice..

I like the bass guitar sound and approach, even if the guy went overboard on the poly chorus (what can you say, this was the late 70's and early 80's!?). He played the absolute minimum on most of the songs on the first few albums. I like this approach. Not to mention, he's obviously got the Gang of Four thing going on, but his tone and basslines add a nice industrial angularity.

The guitar playing reminds me of a cross between Andy Gill, Keith Levene and Link Wray, but even less technical and stripped down than any of those guys.

The drumming is good and frantic when it is fast, keeping up with just enough urgency to make it exciting.

Although the production is definitely 100% Athens, Georgia on the early stuff, there is certainly a clarity to it that other early 80's bands were lacking.

Some of the songs have great repetitive parts with tense atmosphere (check out the tunes Gravity, Danger, and Working is No Problem off Gyrate)

I sense a primitive blueprint for other minimal and repetitive rock to come later.

R.E.M. unfortunately slaughtered their song "Crazy" (12 string electroacoustic guitar= bad idea Peter Buck.)

"Cool" is a great tune
"Feast On My Heart" is kick ass.
"Italian Movie Theme" is a superb instrumental.
"Yo Yo" is either the worst song put to tape, or it is 100% brilliant in how it makes me hate it so much.

even "B-Complex" and "This-That" from the not so great album Chain are memorable. Any other college/indie band from 1988 with the production that Pylon had on Chain might suck 500% more than they did.

Not Crap.