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PULSARS Pulsars
( Damaged Disco )
A cult classic in every sense of the word , the eponymous 1997 debut and only album by the Chicago duo of brothers Pulsars never got the love it deserved the first time around . Finally getting the reissue treatment for both vinyl and streaming platforms this November , Pulsars remains a strikingly original piece of work deserving of a reassessment . Altogether forgoing the 1997 sounds du jour ( post-grunge , nu-metal & teen pop ruled the airwaves ) for a tasty blast from the new wave past , Pulsars captured brothers Dave and Harry Trumfio ’ s uncanny knack for crafting catchy pop nuggets . Signing to Almo Sounds ( a boutique label formed by Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss after selling their world-renowned A & M Records to Polygram in 1994 ), the brothers found themselves immediately thrown into the deep end , opening for Oasis , Blur , and Supergrass all within the span of months . Live on stage , the duo could create a massive sound with all sorts of triggered synth sounds ( dubbed Theodore 9000 , aka the third band member ), filling out the guitar and drum attack . When Pulsars was finally released in the Spring of 1997 , the record sounded simultaneously like the future and the past , which is quite the feat . Populated with robots , technology , rocket ships , aliens , and teenagers , the album was somewhat of an optimistic flip side to the dark and paranoid pre-millennial angst of Radiohead ’ s OK Computer . An embarrassment of riches , the sequencing is one of the strong suits of the record . The one-two punch of “ Wisconsin ” and “ Tunnel Song ” opens the album with a confidence rarely heard on a debut album , especially when the synth bass kicks in on “ Tunnel Song ,” an anthem about both physical and structural tunnels as well as the intangible ones we all go through in this life . Then you have “ Suffocation ,” a piece of pure pop bliss that
Continued on page 14 newreleases November 1
Autre Ne Veut Love , Guess Who ?? Du Blonde Sniff More Gritty Mount Eerie Night Palace OMBIIGIZI Shame Peter Perrett The Cleansing The Cure Songs Of A Lost World
November 8
Primal Scream Come Ahead State Champs State Champs The Body The Crying Out Of Things
November 15
070 Shake Petrichor Gwen Stefani Bouquet Linkin Park From Zero Mary J . Blige Gratitude Michael Kiwanuka Small Changes Poppy Negative Spaces Warmduscher TooColdToHold
November 22
Father John Misty Mahashmashana Kim Deal Nobody Loves You More U2 How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb
November 29
Juanita Stein The Weightless Hour
December 6
Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road Rosé rosie
State Champs
Kim Deal
10 illinoisentertainer . com november 2024