Tom Fun Orchestra - You Will Land With A Thud

Tom Fun Orchestra's You Will Land With A Thud is interesting, and not interesting in the I don’t-want-to-say-anything-bad-about-them kind of way, but in a they're-really-really-unique-and-different kind of way. I've got a post in the works about the Glasvegas and Animal Collective albums, and while I liked those albums, they were both a little derivative (from every British band ever and Panda Bear’s Person Pitch respectively); and certainly, everything is a little derivative – in as far as all artists, I think, have music they're influenced/inspired by – but if you are looking for something truly unique the Tom Fun Orchestra is worth a listen.

From my point of view they're kind of a bizzare combo of Tom Waits and a big, bad ass version of an East Coast fiddle/rag time band. At first, for me at least, this blend of styles was a little bit of a tough sell - this could because I really don't care for Tom Waits (the theme from the Wire notwithstanding) - but it grew on me. And each time I've listened to the album over the last half-week or so, its got better to the point where the songs I enjoy most are where they slow down the music and really allow the vocals to do the heavy lifting.... whatever that means.

So, given my penchant for the Waits inspired vocals its probably unsurprising that the transition to the more sing-songy Eddie Vedder style vocals on "Marshall Applewhite" in particular were not met with much enthusiasm. In part, because the he sounds exactly like Eddie Vedder (at least as I remember him on Ten, Vitology, and that album with the sheep on the cover); and in part because it doesn't really seem to fit with the flow of the album... there's not really any reason for the switch, nor the switch back to Waits voice in the middle of "Last of the Curious Theives".

The moral of the story: if you're in for something completely different, the likes of which you have never heard, Tom Fun is what you should be listening to.

If you want to hear a couple songs:

[mp3] Tom Fun Orchestra - When You Were Mine
[mp3] Tom Fun Orchestra - Watchmaker

If you want to win their album (along with albums by Bruce Peninsula and The Darcys):

Allan has a contest
Bob has a contest....
and so does Jen.

If you want to see them live:

Jan 24 | Halifax | The Seahorse
Jan 25 | Fredericton | The Capital
Jan 28 | Montreal | Petite Campus
Jan 29 | Ottawa | The Heart & Crown (Byward)
Jan 30 | London | Call the Office
Jan 31 | Toronto | The Horseshoe Tavern
Feb 1 | Guelph | Vinyl
Feb 3 | Thunder Bay | Black Pirate's Pub
Feb 6 | Edmonton | The Pawn Shop
Feb 7 | Calgary | The Marquee Room
Feb 8 | Banff | Wild Bill's
Feb 9 | Banff | Wild Bill's
Feb 11 | Victoria | The Upstairs Cabaret
Feb 12 | Nanaimo | The Queen's
Feb 13 | Cumberland | The Waverly Hotel
Feb 14 | Vancouver | Pub 340
Feb 15| Kelowna | The Minstrel Cafe
Feb 17 | Nelson | The Spirit Bar
Feb 18 | Canmore | The Canmore Hotel
Feb 19 | Saskatoon | Lydia's
Feb 20 | Regina | The Exchange
Feb 21 | Winnipeg | King's Head Pub
Feb 24 | Quebec City | Le Cercle

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to get to the Toronto Show (w/the Bruce Peninsula and the Darcys), but I suppose we'll see what happens.

A note to readers of my blog: my pick of the week and (hopefully) the Burgeoning Metropolis HOT 5 will be up tomorrow.