San FranDisco: Tussle
Never having heard a full album and actually knowing very little about a band certainly does not exclude them from being The Greatest Band Of All Time. CERTAINLY NOT!! It's true. Tussle haven't even released their first album yet, and lord knows, I haven't ever seen them play live. What I do know is that my friend, Adam Forkner, played with them or saw them or something when he was staying in New York in the fall of 2002, and he returned with a 1" button of theirs. I love it when the first thing you know about a band is what their button looks like. Forkner also had a CDR they were selling at their show and boy was that baby bouncing. Tussle is an instrumental band. BLECHHH. Who likes instrumental bands!?!? They play a super danceable mix of dub, kraut, and funk with four dudes. One plays bass, one plays drumset, another plays a "weird" drumset made of weirdstuff like plastic and paper and garbage, and a guy who plays samplers and keys and noises and junk.
Some true Mission district dudes, the majority of the band considers themselves to be visual artists first or at least "before Tussle happened." Tussle is deeply entrenched in both the San Francisco rock (Erase Errata, Numbers, etc.) and the San Francisco electronic scene (Kid 606, Matmos, Blevin Blectum, etc.). Tussle has released two EPs so far on Troubleman Unlimited, and this is where Adam Forkner returns to the Tussle story. Adam is in a band called Yume Bitsu, who released an album called the Golden Vessyl of Sound, with some crazy fractal lazer cover. Both of the Tussle EPs have artwork by the very awesome Chris Johanson but both are really reminiscent of the Yume Bitsu art. Scope on this: Yume Bitsu's Golden Vessyl of Sound (2002) on the left, Tussle's Don't Stop EP (2004) on the right.
Tussle is music that I feel comfortable putting on all the time. Tussle is so so well crafted and so versatile that songs take on very different vibes. Sometimes a song will make you wanna dance, sometimes it will make you wanna read a book, and sometimes it will make you wanna sit on a couch and clothes your eyes. Tussle are destruction dub masters and kings of crunk rhythms and their first LP is coming out in September. Pick it up, because who wouldn't want to own the first LP of The Greatest Band of All Time.
the first time i heard tussle was in a tiny new york city bar where my newest friend in that fair city, devendra banhart and his bro will lemon were djing. devendra had just rocked a hard funk karl blau song into his set, then he puts on this tussle and i was all "whoa" and then he gave me the cdr right after it was done. then the next day i went and saw them at a huge chris johanson art opening where they played with the coachwhips in front of a huge johanson spinning sculpture of a boat on a mountain of blue plywood ocean. it was great. the joint was PACKED, mostly because cmj was that same weekend, the sculptures were taking up most of the space. they were great. i talked to them and they said it was their first time ever playing outside of the bay area. i told them they needed to come and record with me at dub narcotic and make a fucking record. they wrote down my info on the top of their merch box, i never talked to them again.
YEAH! Devendra is in one of their pictures on their website dancing onstage in some weird costume.
I saw this band play at Jack Handley gallery last year and I saw them play at SFMOMA, both shows were loud and amazing. I am waiting and waiting for the album, or some more releases from them or a tour soon. In the meantime, their website has some good downloads. Tussle Rocks.
Word.
tussl, rocked me to the ground tonight.
this is the best live percussion i've seen since i watched tyko drumming in the streets of osaka.
tussle is a must see for beat lovers.