The Pulsars made a rare NYC appearance opening for Wye Oak and Field Music (who canceled) at The Bellhouse in Brooklyn. I didn’t get “the skinny” on why The Pulsars showed up in NYC, but it seems that the show was for someone’s birthday, since The Pulsars and Wye Oak repeatedly mentioned it, saying things like “Thanks for having us out and Happy Birthday”. I wonder what it would be like to have the clout to say, “hey Pulsars dudes, its my Birthday, why don’t you come to NYC and play” and actually expect them to come out. That would be sweetness.
What is sweetness is when a true TSOI favorite like The Pulsars crosses streams with another TSOI favorite. In this case, The Pulsars covered The Magnetic Field’s Deep Sea Diving Suit, which is among the very best MF songs. The lyrics were muffed a bit in this cover, but nonetheless, a much welcomed bonus to an otherwise unexpected treat of a show.
Ed Note: The Magnetic Field’s have announced that they will drop another (what! what!) album, “Realism” in January 2010! HouseofTomorrow for deets.
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Download: Pulsars – Deep Sea Diving Suit (Live)
Last week I got a request for the entire show that I had recorded of The Pulsars playing at Silverlake Lounge. In exchange I got a .zip file full of rare Pulsars tracks including this one. Apparently this was one of the demos from the lost record that was recorded but got lost in their major label scuffle. When I saw them at the Silverlake Lounge they mentioned they were only playing songs from their first released record, I’m curious if they played anything from the unreleased record when they played The Troubadour a month or so later.
A couple of weeks ago I saw on a an e-mail that a band called “Pulsars!!!” was playing a show here in Los Angeles. I figured there was no chance that it was THE Pulsars from Chicago, that it had to be some band that had never heard of Pulsars when they chose their name. I had heard that the Trumfio brothers joined the singer from Earlimart at a concert and did a couple of Pulsars songs a few months ago, so I knew they were floating around Los Angeles, but I didn’t expect that they would be the opening band for a free show. I e-mailed the venue and confirmed that it in fact was THE Pulsars from Chicago and they were playing their first show in 10 years. I recorded the show which was comprised of all songs from their self-titled debut album on Alamo Records.
I’m in Chicago today, so what better way to celebrate than posting a song about Chicago by a band from Chicago. I was lucky enough to catch a The Pulsars performance before they were crushed by major label pressures. It’s too bad because they were awesome live. Hopefully some day I’ll come across a video of one of their shows.
The Pulsars were one of the many bands who were a casualty of signing to a major label and then having their record shelved. Comprised of two brothers, Dave and Harry Trumfio, along with the sequencer named “Theodore 9000,” they put out a couple of eps and one full length before their record label went under. They had a great 80′s synthpop sound, but this song which is found on the Teenage Nites 7″ is a stripped down, guitar driven version of a song that was later released on their major label debut.
