Synth Punk from cowpoke country in Arizona isn't the most obvious thing you'd expect.Such practices ,you would think, could easily attract a drunken crucifix waving mob determined to stamp out this faggot/nigger music spawned by Satan himself.
I once drove through Arizona, and stopped to ask a Dungaree and baseball cap wearing Redneck, who was creosoting a fence(Stereotypes are largely deserved?), which was the way to Flagstaff. He just turned slowly in my direction and looked at me as if I had just landed from Outer-space, jaw dropped in incomprehension.Not many Flares and Hawaiian Shirt clad Skinheads with English East Midlands accents happen this way often I guess. I repeated the question to be met with silence again. I thanked him, and got back in the car and wheel spun out of there.
This was the same trip, where I entered a redneck hostelry, attracting a disapproving salvo of stares from the locals at the bar.Decided to pay pool and selected something on the jukebox that they could probably like.....AC/DC right?....but instead of 'Hells Bells' the machine decided to play "I'll Tumble For Ya" by fucking Culture Club. I felt in imminent danger of a severe Hill-Billy arse-raping as portrayed in that John Boorman film "Deliverance".So I supped up my Coors Light and my partner and I slipped out the side entrance before Bronski Beat's version of Dueling Banjos came on.
The people who make art in these circumstances are the real heroes of Punk Rock in my opinion.And Tone Set(Galen Herod and Greg Horn) are fine examples of not only that, but of prime minimal wave electronica.
Their early sound was ostensibly synthetic, mixing very 'clean' analogue synthesizer sounds with taped dialogue. This was the sound of their debut release, the 1982 cassette called "Cal's Ranch". It almost completely lacked vocals, which is generally a good thing is it not?
Tracklist:
A1 Introduction 0:08
A2 Out Out 3:56
A3 He's Got A Little Dog 5:42
A4 Predictions 5:25
A5 Such Heavy Conviction 3:20
A6 The Devil Makes The Loudest Noise 6:38
A7 Waiting For Oatmeal 3:20
B1 Indeed 3:28
B2 Relax 4:00
B3 What Good's A Hit Song? 3:24
B4 Time Travellers 2:36
B5 The Tone Set 3:38
B6 Appeal To Them 3:16
B7 Wigglin Around In Middletown 6:56
B8 Close 0:20
3 comments:
Your general alienation is showing. Thanks for the treats on offer here.
Coors Lite?!? I'll Tumble For Ya?!?. Damn, you were butt-rapin' yourself there mate! Agreed, the fact that artists like Tone Set can grow out of dirt like that is pretty amazing. Then again, don't the best flowers usually grow out of the worst shit? Sun City Girls came outta that wasteland too. Gawd I hate that 'room full of dissapproving faces' feeling. Probably why I'm so anti-social.
Third Noise Principle compilation brought me here. The Devil Makes the Loudest Noise, there's no doubt about it. Thank you so much for posting this.
Meat Puppets were pretty crazed AZ, for a few years anyway.
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