Poem Rocket >> I am creating you to be with you

Poem Rocket - "Appeal To The Imagination"

(Atavistic Records, 2000)

This song wastes no time in grabbing one's attention with a simple, Stones-y riff and Michael Peters' unmistakable yelp.  Sandra Gardner contributes a killer bassline and spooky feline vocals, as always.  At about 1:55, the song shifts into high gear, with speed-metal drumming and more emphasis on bass.  At 2:40 the bass just takes over the song, and the guitar briefly disappears at 3:30.

Note: I'll be taking this song down and putting up an edited (shortened) version of it at some point.

Most bands don't understand how important it is to stumble onto a simple lyric and repeat it over and over in an unorthodox way, since people have short attention spans.  "Appeal to the imagination" is an evocative phrase on its own, but the way Peters sings it is jarring and very memorable, since he puts emphasis on syllables that are not expected to be emphasized.  Black Francis / Frank Black was quite good – okay, masterful – at this, which rescued a lot of so-so Pixies songs from lameness and made them into classics.  Ditto for David Byrne.

I have this promo poster

On October 3, 2000, a band called Radiohead released an album called Kid A and a band called Poem Rocket released an album called Psychogeography.  One was full of sterile electronic noodling and lyrics of Caucasian ennui, and one had quirky, catchy, knotty Songs with a capital S (plus, to be fair, plenty of difficult meandering).  Guess which one went on to be voted the best album of the decade by an array of "reputable" music publications?

Undated live photo of Sandra that I found on Tumblr. Anyone know where this is?

This mp3 was given away on eMusic.com and (I think) on Atavistic's website, so it's presumably Poem Rocket's best-known song, and it should've propelled them to godlike indie mafioso status.  It's the song that got me into P.R. in spring of 2003, when I joined eMusic.  (I had read about them in '97/'98 in Alternative Press, and probably in Magnet too, but never actually heard them.)  Hearing this song was one of those "Whoa, where has this band been all my life?" moments.

Amazingly, this song was not released as a single, and there was no video for it.  The only video from the album was for the moody and slow-burning masterpiece "Dirigible":

The album title refers to the study of how urban environments shape the psychological lives of their residents.  I recently snagged a book at a thrift store about this topic called The Image Of The City by Kevin Lynch (M.I.T. Press, 1960).  I have another in a similar vein called Architecture In A Crowded World by Lionel Brett (Schocken Books, 1971).  As a plant geek / grower, I'm more interested in the psychological impact of landscaping than of buildings; for example, I refer to palm trees as "green Prozac."

In addition to the above pic, I found this cool description of Poem Rocket by Melody Maker on Michael Peters' website: "...a band with guitars and more than one idea. If Poem Rocket were English they’d probably be Flying Saucer Attack... a dense sonic fog of apocalyptic drones... dig the atmospherics and the vibes, piano and cello that creep out and back in again like audio leprechauns..."  He also has lots of rare photos of Poem Rocket there.  (Including the black & white one that I bragged about being the first to upload last month... Oops.)  Check out the amazing Abbreviated Poem Rocket Press Kit.  It's by far the greatest .pdf ever.  I was kinda shocked to see my review from Cold Comfort in there amongst all the reviews from "real" publications... It also shows a review of Psychogeography from Pitchfork which I never knew existed.  I dunno why Pitchfork purged it from its archives; presumably to make room for Arcade Fire dating tips or a Kanye West Twitter feud timeline.

In late 2003, Atavistic was taking preorders for Poem Rocket's upcoming 3rd album, and early buyers were promised a free CDEP as a bonus.  So I sent in a check for $18.00 and waited.  A year went by and no album.  Okay, so my favorite band is a bunch of perfectionists, no big deal.  Another year went by, still no album.  Hurricane Katrina had happened and I had to move away from New Orleans, so I wrote a letter to Atavistic asking for my money back, since $18 would go a long way for someone in such a situation.  I still had every intention of buying the album the day it came out, of course.  They never sent my money back or even wrote me back.  This, combined with the fact that they did little to no promotion for the album, left me with some choice words that I wanted to say to them.  I guess I thought they'd be somewhat grateful that I'd done an interview with this particular band (well, with its singer), which would of course help to get the word out about said obscure band, but they treated me like I was nothing.  I guess my $18 was needed for Lydia Lunch's mascara budget or something.  No, I don't think that record labels owe us fans anything; we in fact owe them for financing the recording of albums by bands that aren't very commercially viable.  But, as the bike path signs in Jefferson Parish say, "Courtesy Is Contagious."  If we're all in this battle against lame corporate music (or in my case, against lame indie music), we should look out for one another every once in a while.

Well, I think it's safe to say this is a really mediocre and disjointed post, but at least the song is good.

Mon., Jan. 7: Saw the movie Life Of Pi in "RealD 3D," which was my first-ever 3D movie.  It was quite breathtaking at first, but the effect wears off as the movie goes on.  Then watched as Alabama won a 4th national title for smug cyborg Nick Satan.  Fuming mad all night over this.

Last night: Saw True Widow with D.O.C. (Disciples Of Christ) and Glish at the Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge, in the little upstairs "Green Room."

Planets with similar climates: Bright Channel - "Final Stretch" (2004), Pixies - "River Euphrates" (1988), Orbit - "Come Inside" (1995), Drop Nineteens - "Delaware" (1992), The Black Watch - "Come Inside" (1994), Swervedriver - "Rave Down" (1991), A.C. Temple - "Miss Sky" (1988), Moonshake - "Spaceship Earth" (1992), Catherine Wheel - "Chrome" (1993), Smashing Pumpkins - "Quiet" (1993).