The Recordings of Thinking Fellers Union Local 282

(Pretty much superseded by the band's official website.)

easy to love ... hard to get ... addresses


You should probably buy all of these, because all of these are very good.

Wormed, By Leonard
1988, Thwart, Cassette; 1995, Thwart, CD
A tribute to Leonard Nimoy. See also "Star Trek" on Mother of All Saints.
The recent reissue of Opus 1 shocked me with my own shallowness: it sounds so much better now on CD than it sounded in my memories of someone else's shaky cassette copy. This is not for collectors only.

Tangle
1989, Thwart, LP; reissued on CD by Scratch Records
Their semi-professional debut shows TFUL282 already in full bloom with a typical mix of finely tuned artifacts (best known of which is "Sister Hell"; all of which are toe-tapping delights) and thickly untuned blats (all of which are cerebrospinal-fluid-tapping delights).

Lovelyville
1991, Matador, LP, CD
Full bloom, part II. The only problem with this album is that college DJs tended to concentrate on the cover of "Green-Eyed Lady" rather than the fabulous originals.

Mother of All Saints
1992, Matador, CD, double-LP
My favorite TFUL282 release to date, because it's the longest.

Admonishing the Bishops
1993, Matador, EP, CD
Four magnificent songs, and nothing else. A good place to become Unionized.

Where's Officer Tuba
1993, Hemiola, EP
This true-life story comes to us straight from J.T. Wolfenden herself:
As the person who used to run Hemiola - before it became impossible to sell even twenty copies of anything transatlantic within the United Kingdom - I thought I'd let you know what was on it and also tell you that there are no copies whatsoever left so there is no point anybody writing to me to buy one. It was actually scheduled to come out about 18 months before 'Mother. . .' but got delayed due to pressing plant bankruptcy. And the songs on that lp are actually remixes of the Tuba tracks; the band having asked me if I minded them putting some of the same stuff from the Hemiola e.p. on the lp, which was due to come out so much later. Naturally because the lp ended coming out about the same time most people have assumed that 'Tuba' is the mutant offspring of 'Mother' rather than the progenitor.Also, as a result, the e.p. did not sell that well at first. Most people preferring to buy the better value lp, and let's face it that lp is fantastically good value! Anyhow, the e.p. began to sell slowly and steadily and eventually all 1500 copies were sold. As it was so expensive to make, the material was pretty much available elsewhere, and I had other releases to put out I've never repressed it.
And as I am now destitute and back in school I probably never shall.

The Funeral Pudding
1994, Matador, too-long-for-an-EP-and-too-short-for-an-album
Mellower, good consistency, still bouncy; this record would make a perfect cantelope. Also notable for Anne Eickelberg's unusual prominence. (My own unusual prominence is my nose, but Eickelberg's is more interesting.)

Strangers From the Universe
1994, Matador, CD, LP
What I expected the Minutemen's Project: Mersh to sound like way back when. Sweet and catchy, and avant-garde only in the absurd depths of its stupidity. Happy dreams of an idiot savant. Let's just hope that it doesn't portend the over-ripeness under which Sonic Youth drooped before being scraped into the slopsbucket: there's not a single rave-up on the record.

TFUL282
1995, Japan Overseas, CD
Uh.

XXI, or Porcelain Entertainments
1995, Return to Sender / Normal Mail Order, CD
An unusual item, well-described by our beloved Slovenian correspondent. Take it away, Janez!

... bzzzt skrchchchtitit wree ...

Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 10:57:49 +0000 (GMT)
From: "ADMD=mail test account, TELEKOM Slovenije" 
To: raydavis@pseudopodium.org
X-Personal_name: janez
From: golic@public1.noprmd.mail.si
Subject: TFUL282

TFUL 282 have just released limited edition CD on German label
Normal called Porcelain Entertainments. It contents 6 live tracks
recorded in SF last December, most interesting among them is
medley from spaghetti western film Fistful Of Dollars. Few songs
are tipical Feller Fillers and 5 songs were recorded separatelly
by each member of the band. It is release of limited 2000 copies.
Best regards to TFUL 282 fans all over the world. Janez Golic,
Slovenia.

I Hope It Lands
1996, Communion, CD, LP
Soft and warm off the presses! "Lizard's Dream" appends itself on TFUL282's impressive list of make-out songs, but as a sometime science fiction writer I also appreciate "Rampaging Fuckers of Anything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere." Here's an insightful review from the "Zine Kids Like," Deep Style. I especially liked the Hatari! reference.

Collectibles:
2 "Wormed, by Leonard" tracks on A String of Pearls
1988, Nuf Sed, Cassette
"Trevor" on Not All That Terrifies Harms
1989, Nuf Sed, Cassette; and 1992, 7"
"Superstar" and "KLTX" on Timeless Positive Infinity
1989, bonus 7" with Bananafish
"2 x 4's" and "Horrible Hour"
1990, Nuf Sed, 7"
4 "Wormed, by Leonard" tracks on The Natural Finger
1990, Ajax, 7"
Caroliner cover on Outhouse of the Pryeeeee
1991, Nuf Sed, 7" (shared with Sun City Girls)
1 "Lovelyville" track on Mesomorph Enduros
1993, Big Cat, CD
1 "Wormed, by Leonard" track on Soluble Fish
1993, Homestead & Chemical Imbalance, CD
"Hurricane" live on Fear of Pop Music, Vol. 1
1993, Fear of Pop Music, LP
"2 x 4's" live from WMBR, home of charming lady DJs, on Clear the Room
1993, No Life, 7"
"Everyday" / "A Fistful of Dollars"
1995, Amarillo in North America, Runt in Europe, 7"
I finally got a copy recently; lyrics and concept are inspiring and the off-center hole punch adds street cred.
"Empty Cup" on Strength Through Ooij
1995, Brinkman promotional compilation, CD
"Ed Sullivan" on Outstandingly Ignited, a compilation of Ernest Noyes Brookings poems set to music
1995, ESD, CD
"Undertaker", live, in Komotion International Sound Magazine #9
1995, Komotion International, CD with Komotion magazine
"Holiday For Strings", live, on Topps All-Stars No. 2
1995, 20-20 Sound, Cassette
"The Electrocutioner" on Eyesore: A Stab at The Residents
1996, Vaccination, CD
"Electric Chair" on Sidereal Rest
1996, Scratch, CD
"Green Eyed Lady", live, on Return to Sender
1996, Normal, CD
"Every Day" on You Gan't Boar Like An Eabla When You Work With Turkrys
1996, Amarillo, CD
DOWNLOADABLE! "The Kids Are In The Mud" (2600 KB) / "Broken Bones" (900 KB)
1996, Japan Overseas, 7". Collector David Pille was kind enough to digitize this very rare single, and TFUL282 was kind enough to let me post it. Guest reviewer Mark Davies opines:
They're sort of a mixture between skewed pop and
noise pastiche, I guess.  A Side is based on a tape loop,
with vocals about a satanic neighborhood pool party over it,
while B Side has viola and keyboard and another loop and
has been described as a "shanty tune".
I would describe it as a beach party conducted in a kettle of live eels, but now you can DECIDE FOR YOURSELF!
Despite the heavy burden of his union organizing and critical duties, Mark Davies has also managed to put out a solo 10" called "The White Shark" on the Nuf Sed label, which I'm sure is worth every penny of your overextended trust fund.
Use up those great "Endangered Species" stamps writing to the addresses below.
Ajax Records
PO Box 805293
Chicago, IL 60680-4114

Amarillo Records
5714 Folsom Blvd. Suite 300
Sacramento CA 95819 USA

Bananafish Magazine
c/o Tedium House Publications
PO Box 424762
San Francisco CA 94142-4762

Big Cat
Radio City Station
PO Box 855
NY, NY 10101-0855

Brinkman Records
Vlietberg 5-45
6576 JB Ooy
The Netherlands

The Communion Label
2525 16th Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA, 94013
phone 415-241-2426; email revolver@midheaven.com

ESD
530 North Third Street
Minneapolis MN 55401

Fear of Pop Music
3871 Piedmont Ave.
Box 312
Oakland, CA 94611

Homestead Records/Chemical Imbalance magazine.
Manufactured & distributed by Dutch East India
PO Box 800
Rockville Centre, NY 11571-0800

Japan Overseas
6-1-21 Ueshio Tennoji-Ku
Osaka 543 JAPAN
email jos@gol.com

Komotion International
PO Box 410502
San Francisco CA 94141-0502

Matador Records
676 Broadway
NY, NY 10012

No Life Records
PO Box 2194
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Normal Mail Order
Bonner Talweg 276
53129 Bonn
Germany

Nuf Sed
Box 591075
San Francisco, CA 94159

Revolver USA
290-C Napolean
San Francisco CA 94124

Runt Records
Viale E. Duse 16/A
50137-Firenze
Italy

Scratch Records
317 Cambie St.
Vancouver, BC V6B 2N4
Canada

Thwart Productions
PO Box 2827
Oakland, CA 94609

20-20 Sound
Box 7772
Olympia WA 98507

Vaccination Records
PO Box 3995
Long Beach CA 90803

Copyright 2000 Ray Davis, except for music samples from Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, whose copyright remains with the band