Tom of England

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
My girlfriend keeps playing this guy in the car; I like the name - which is presumably an homage to the Finnish erotic drawings guy - and I like the music which is kinda weird and wonky shuffling stuff with strange noises drifting unexpectedly in and out that doesn't sound like much else in dance music to me although somehow it reminds me of that Liverpuddlian guitar band Clinic. Though I guess that, like them, it borders on the annoying and could really rub some of you up the wrong way....


 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
Thomas bullock was one of the guys in A.R.E. Weapons back in the early 00s, kind of electroclash/rock/sub-suicide duo who you could never tell if they were seriously fucked up druggies or performance art, same NYC crowd as fischerspooner. . he's been doing this more post-punk dance stuff as ToE for the last five years or so, I kind of like it in the same way I like paranoid London: derivative but a pretty decent homage born out of love for the genre. that LIES record is ok, "sex monk" is a total Alan Vega homage.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
ARE Weapons were very like Suicide... but although I liked the sound of them I could never quite get into them. All ok, I never disliked it, kinda thought if I kept digging there would be a great track but never found one really.
I don't hear the Vega thing so much in that one above though.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Didn't know he'd been doing this for five years though... last year or so the name keeps popping up though I really can't remember who first told me of him, I remember we definitely had an argu... debate about whether the name was inspired by Tom of Finland.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
yes, rub n tug and in with the DJ Harvey crowd. I sense that will immediately disqualify him in the dissensus mind's eye.

discogs lists the first ToE record in 2014, he probably djed under that name before. you're correct RE: ARE Weapons, mostly style with little substance. and I guess "sex monk" reminds me of Vega in the vocals

 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Rub n Tug seemed like such a departure from ARE Weapons it felt kinda cynical to me, just like "what else is cool, let's do that?". What I like about Tom of England is it definitely doesn't have that feel to it, unless there is a fashion I really know nothing at all about.
But - as an aside - you're right Harvey never gets mentioned in this place even though by some he's seen as almost a god. He played in Lux a few months back and we went and it was fine... it really wasn't anything special, I kinda wondered if that was down to the sort of impersonal superclub space but I've been a few times since and seen people absolutely tear it up so...
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
yeah, not quite sure about Harvey. never seen him live, some of the balearic stuff he spins could be really cool in the right situation but pretty bland in general. is it true love of the track or irony?

his locussolus solo stuff is pretty decent, and his map of Africa album has a few good tracks.

and ever hear his psych rock band?

 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I did kinda skip through that album when it came out I think. I don't think it is irony though, a lot of people say that when he nails it he can really elevate something that you thought was bad... maybe Lux was the wrong venue for him though. I mean it's a strange one when you make your name playing a sound that arguably isn't for large rooms (or most people) but you still get booked for them and (I guess) you want to make money and they are more lucrative.
 
G

grave

Well-known member
He was part of that Tonka HiFi crew with Harvey et al.

Saw him DJ once, great fun. He played Sharp Dressed Man and one middle-aged punter got so excited on the dancefloor he had to be calmed down by security.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
grave said:
He was part of that Tonka HiFi crew with Harvey et al.

Saw him DJ once, great fun. He played Sharp Dressed Man and one middle-aged punter got so excited on the dancefloor he had to be calmed down by security.
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wish I'd seen that! btw, I love it when someone who's only posted 50 times in 11 years pops in to comment. always wonder what prompts them to do it this time as opposed to the thousands of other opportunities. I find the arrival of a new or rarely heard voice to be intriguing, perhaps the chance for fresh insights and experiences to be shared in our little world. no pressure, though!
 
entertainment

entertainment

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
My girlfriend keeps playing this guy in the car; I like the name - which is presumably an homage to the Finnish erotic drawings guy - and I like the music which is kinda weird and wonky shuffling stuff with strange noises drifting unexpectedly in and out that doesn't sound like much else in dance music to me although somehow it reminds me of that Liverpuddlian guitar band Clinic. Though I guess that, like them, it borders on the annoying and could really rub some of you up the wrong way....


Click to expand...

is he sampling Steve Reich in both of those?
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Leo said:
wish I'd seen that! btw, I love it when someone who's only posted 50 times in 11 years pops in to comment. always wonder what prompts them to do it this time as opposed to the thousands of other opportunities. I find the arrival of a new or rarely heard voice to be intriguing, perhaps the chance for fresh insights and experiences to be shared in our little world. no pressure, though!
Click to expand...

I met grave! In the flesh! He's a cool dude
 
M

martin

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Leo said:
you're correct RE: ARE Weapons, mostly style with little substance.
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Can imagine most of you lot despising them, and I recall most online experts damning them as contrived hipster fakes at the time, but I thought Street Gang and Fuck You Pay Me were great.

They were at their best when blatantly ripping off Suicide, IMO. They got better as interest in them waned - the last things they did, the 12" with Alan Vega and the 'Darker Blue' LP (which is total Suicide worship), were the best.

I will investigate this other Tom of England stuff as soon as I'm done catching up on the entire recorded works of Cyclobe.
 
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