TOULOUSE's second album is out now. Hear a sneak preview here:
Toulouse"Commuter Maquette"
“This is the sort of record that everyone would be talking about - about its unironic rock your slacks off, ecstatic, emphatic and panoramic TRUTH! - if everyone weren’t hard-wired by a mediocre, benignly corporate familiarity. Sorry, but this record is for everyone, whether or not they know it is good for them. TOULOUSE is VERY good for them and I hope they get it soon.” - J. Trimble, Generation Mag, Buffalo/Toronto, April 2001
Featuring the foxiest song titles around:
01 : commuter maquette
02 : every office every weekend
03 : distractions for money
04 : green light district
05 : broad and main
06 : schematic for new situations
07 : into l'avventura
08 : rhetoric of romance
09 : obrigado
10 : dancehall culture
Toulouse = Aden Kumler, Christopher Moisan,
Jamison Duffield, and Sarah Rentz.
Recorded and Mixed by David Auchenbach @
Pain and Pleasure in Providence, RI
Buy it here: Add
to Cart - GR023
(p.s.) credit card orders are $12 - more info @ catalog page.
THE TOULOUSE STORY, in "BIO"-FORM:
Toulouse formed in Chicago during the winter months of 1994 as a means
of keeping warm. Their first practice was held in a basement. Josh Klein
played a barely audible, portable drum kit. Aden Kumler purchased a shoddy
bass-guitar at a notoriously dangerous junk shop on the south side. Jamison
Duffield strummed a Fender Squier and sang through a Radio Shack microphone
plugged into a tin(n)y practice amp. It was a wonderful evening, and the
neighbors complained.
Zee Onuf joined the following year. Both Aden and Jamison felt it necessary
to introduce a keyboard to the Toulouse SOUND. Josh Klein said, "I
want to drum like a drum machine drums." It was then that Toulouse
first contemplated the sumptuous sounds of urban R&B.
In the following year, Tortoise released a record entitled "Millions
Now Living Will Never Die." It was 1996, and Zee declared Tortoise
to have hit the nail squarely on the head... at least with respect to
their album titles. "No doubt," observed Aden. "Millions
now living WILL never die." Very prescient.
Toulouse released a record entitled, "The Way the City Stretches",
on Chicago's Won't Go Flat that same year. It sounded a little like a
Dif Juz reissue, and the opening track referenced the Tom Tom Club's "Genius
of Love." Zee was a huge fan of Earwig and the Ecstasy of St. Theresa.
Aden was a Catholic.
Upon the album's release, Toulouse decided against promoting their efforts.
Zee decided to move to Europe. Josh found a job at The Onion. Aden and
Jamison moved to Boston. Their efforts went largely unappreciated.
Despite the defection of Josh and Zee, Aden and Jamison thought they should
continue Toulouse in Boston. Christopher Moisan said, "Although your
efforts have been largely unappreciated, I appreciate you largely."
Christopher had just graduated from RISD. He once played in a band called
EFFLUVIA. Jamison said, "EFFLUVIA sounds like XXX, don't you think?"
Christopher said, "I LOVE XXX!" Aden asked, "We also like
YYY. Do you like YYY?" Christopher said, "I LOVE YYY! I also
LOVE ZZZ. Do you love ZZZ?" Jamison smiled. Aden said, "I thought
you'd never ask." Christopher joined the Toulouse stalwarts.
Sarah Rentz was listening to this conversation from the next room. She
was in a band called SABERTOOTH. She had once played drums in EFFLUVIA.
She thought Toulouse sounded like DDD. She kept quiet on this point for
three months, but soon she could contain herself no longer. Walking into
a Toulouse practice, she said, "Songs in D maj demand beats bigger
than the Acetone Rhythm Ace." Aden was shocked. "And what do
you suggest?" she demanded. Sarah smiled. "Myself." And
thus Toulouse found a new drummer.
A WINDOW ONTO TOULOUSE'S SELF-CONGRATULATORY DEMEANOR: During their first
practice with Christopher and Sarah, Aden whispered to Jamison, "Christopher
sounds like Walt Wanderley." Not to be outdone, Christopher whispered
to Sarah, "Aden sounds like Astrud Gilberto." Jamison whispered
to Aden, "Well, Sarah sounds like Timbaland." Sarah whispered
to Christopher, "Jamison sounds like Paul Haig." Xs, Ys, Zs,
and Ds. Disgusting, no?
Toulouse remained in Boston for a year. They changed their name to KLEENEX
then to LILLIPUT and then back to TOULOUSE. They performed sporadically.
Christopher WORKED at a publishing firm, and Jamison and Aden TEMPED.
Sarah was an ART STUDENT, PRINTER, and many other things besides. Soon
the band grew disgusted with its LOT. The working/living dichotomy demanded
of each member was a great burden. They slowly repositioned their SOUND
to reflect the sad realities of late capitalism.
In 1998, Toulouse released a three song seven inch entitled "The
New Designers" on a Scottish label called Tinseltones. One of the
songs was called "Checks and Credit." It was about credit card
fraud.
Scotland is as good a place as any to release a record, particularly when
a band's members are dispersed far and wide. With band members strewn
about such locales as Toronto, New York, Boston, Chicago, New Paltz, Philadelphia,
and small places in Maine and Vermont - never in any given spot simultaneously
- rehearsals remain hypothetical at best. Despite Aden's best efforts,
such practical tasks have always been out of character for Toulouse. Regardless,
emails and voicemails and airplanes and car drives have been known to
reunite the quartet at a moment's notice for the occasional feverish live
show or recording session.
And now, by some glad stroke of Providence (good fortune, not Rhode Island!)
a second full-length is recorded and released, under the auspices of Grimsey
Records no less. It is called "NEW POINTS NEW LINES," and it
contains a variety of references to CITIES, ROMANCE, AND COMMERCE.
