Bulbous Monocle Vinyl, CD & Tape 3 Items

Bulbous Monocle, a new label focused on the legacy of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 and the scene from which it reveled in between the years 1986-1996, is honored to launch the label with arguably the most lauded and concise testament from the band. 1993’s mini-masterpiece Admonishing the Bishops. Originally released on the Matador Records label, this title and most of the “Fellers” discography has been out of print for over 25 years. Now, newly remastered by Mark Gergis (Sublime Frequencies et.al) this perfect EP is sounding better than ever! “Formed in San Francisco in 1986, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 had the bad luck to display a range of cultural and musical reference points shared by relatively few members of that era’s archconservative “underground culture.” On any given day, you might hear that their records were too manicured or too chaotic, too cerebral or too absurd, too personal or too impersonal, too experimental or too pop. Above all, they were derided as “self-indulgent” by critics who expected artists to tiptoe deferentially around their audience’s blind spots. "To be fair, their early recordings had about as much relation to their in-the-flesh grandeur as a dripping faucet does to Iguazu Falls. Against steep technical odds, Greg Freeman of Lowdown Studio made their LPs work beautifully as aural monuments. But listeners who hadn’t seen the Fellers’ live could be forgiven for finding these albums a bit forbidding. "Which brings us to Admonishing the Bishops — a wholly unexpected breakthrough release comprising four down-home, crowd-pleasin’ tracks engineered by Volcano Suns / Shellac bassist Bob Weston during the Fellers’ epochal tour with Sun City Girls in fall 1992. “The studio was in Steve Albini's basement, and we stayed there at his house for a couple days while we recorded and mixed,” vocalist/guitarist/bassist/banjoist/trombonist/etceterist Mark Davies explains. The relaxed, low-stakes atmosphere — along with the band’s tour-hardened performances and what Mark calls “the joy of getting our minds blown every night” by Sun City Girls — yielded tracks that were polished and approachable without sacrificing any of the band’s complexity or ferocity. "Back in San Francisco, they decided to release these tracks as a 10-inch EP rather than saving them for a full album. Mark notes that bassist Anne Eickelberg spearheaded the project: “She wanted to put out something concise after the somewhat bloated double-LP.” "Upon its release in 1993, Admonishing the Bishops’ concision, clarity and accessibility went over like a duralumin-and-fabric zeppelin. With its 20/20 focus on the band’s songcraft, it’s an ideal introduction for curious neophytes and a natural choice for the first installment of Bulbous Monocle’s highly anticipated Tful282 reissue series. Long-time listeners, meanwhile, will appreciate this reissue’s meticulous remastering by Mark Gergis of Sublime Frequencies. Or else.” – Brandan Kearney, Portland OR 2022

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 as a double LP (gatefold jacket with a twelve page libretto). It 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.

Named after a West Coast grocery store chain, The Whitefronts started out in 1982 as a quartet of art and theater students attending Ucsb at Isla Vista CA.. The band quickly mutated into a sextet. In 1984, they moved north to establish themselves as part of the San Francisco DIY culture. Live shows usually consisted of open jams drawing from what the band was obsessing about at the time—free jazz, The Velvet Underground, Caribbean music, improv noise—as well as their own unheralded genres that popped in and out of existence like subatomic particles. Shows with local bands like Slovenly, Camper Van Beethoven, Caroliner Rainbow, Vomit Launch, Barnacle Choir and Barbara Manning provide some context as to their eccentric position within the indie scene of the era. In 1985, the band released their sole LP, Roast Belief, on their own Bogden label. This was an ambitious attempt to document the various ideas that were happening live. Though practically unknown today, it’s an extraordinary record—a mid-80s classic serving up eclectic derangement on a par with contemporaries like the Butthole Surfers, Meat Puppets, Sun City Girls, Tuxedomoon and Eugene Chadbourne. The Mamo Waves LP was compiled from recordings made between 1982-1987. As with Roast Belief LP, it’s a mind-melting jumble of the genres explored by Whitefronts throughout their existence. It was originally supposed to be released by Camper Van’s Pitch-A-Tent imprint, as a couple of WF members were touring with CBV in 1987, but the release fell through the cracks when CBV was airlifted to Virgin Records in 1988. Today, it’s clear that Mamo Waves belongs to the same 1980s Californian sub-underground aesthetic that nurtured mythical 80s bands like Departmentstore Santas and Prominent Disturbance. It’s a real WTF m.o. that still sounds like the future. Limited Edition of 300 copies.