Pylon
Chomp More
(orig: DB, 1983; re: DFA, 2009)

I regretfully begin this review with the news that earlier this year Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley died at 53 following a sudden heart attack, and didn’t live to see his band’s masterpiece turned into an expanded version and digitally remastered re-release by way of DFA. With the legendary ’80s post-punk band officially kaput, it’s a shame that even a boost by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem couldn’t garner them a taste of the band-reunion resurgence now enjoyed by the Pixies, Mission of Burma, and Sunny Day Real Estate, among others.

Pylon was as basic as their titles: Gyrate, Chomp, “Cool”, “Beep”, “K.” They made colorful, danceable art from single notes dropped into the air like little guitar stabs, blobs for bass lines, and monosyllabic, pre-Björk grunts and wheezes from front-cavewoman Vanessa Briscoe Hay. They had pop moments—the R.E.M.-covered “Crazy”, included here, is a high point—but mostly they functioned as proto-geniuses of punk rock rhythm and vamp. It’s a little odd that this re-release of Pylon’s sophomore release, Chomp, didn’t come out alongside 2007’s wondrous Gyrate Plus beef-up. Chomp took the frenzied elements of the debut and squeezed (not polished) the band into an identity more removed from their more familiar elements. Perhaps that made them uncomfortable. However, the lack of a center is glorious: Frameworks like “Yo-Yo” and “K” are deceptively skeletal, bumped by subtleties of ingenious atmosphere built on spry harmonics instead of the usual chords and bass lines over melodies.

“Beep” split the difference between the Time and PJ Harvey; the latter it beat by almost 10 years. Bewley’s scratch guitar wasn’t without James Brown’s spirit when it underpinned Briscoe Hay growling “Four minutes! Four minutes!” over and over before a long “meoooooooooow” took it to the, er, bridge. “Italian Movie Theme” pays tribute to their Athens hometown’s fellow new-wave oddballs in the B-52’s, while the airy yet beat-oriented “No Clocks” doesn’t sound too far off from actual hits by, say, ‘Til Tuesday. The bonus tracks here aren’t revelatory, like the “Cool”/”Dub” single affixed to the Gyrate reissue, but they’re nice to have: A “male version” of “Yo-Yo” with Briscoe Hay’s slowed-down vocals, a seven-inch version of “Crazy”, and a time-fucked remix of “Gyrate.” The extra-fucked “Four Minutes” (which is actually six) could’ve been left on the studio shelf, but I’m more grateful for the cult classic’s availability plus superfluous bonus reel than have to wait another 26 years to hold it in my hand.

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]