Pulsars one lone album was released back in 1997 on the legendary but short lived Almo Sounds label, who won the bidding war to sign the band, who at the time were regularly supporting bands like Ween and Blur in the bands Mid-western homeland. Pulsars were David and Harry Trumfio with the album being engineered by Kenny Sluiter and Mike Hagler.
This album opens with a cool count off leading into the bands hymn of praise to Wisconsin there home state, amazingly this isn't just a list of Wisconsin cheeses, it's also all too brief to be a full on Wisconsin Death trip.
Tunnel Song celebrates a legendary Tunnel in Pittsburgh that goes under a mountain, who doesn't like going through tunnels under mountains or even better seas, this has a squelchy bass and louche indie feel to it, while they list a bunch of their favourite American tunnels, mainly on the east coast, making this a hymn for anyone who was ever described as being Bridge and tunnel.
Suffocation is how they feel being in love with this particular partner, she really has them struggling to breath, they are properly dizzy and this has a central bass line and clap along chorus for this sweet indie pop love song.
Owed To A Devil is the message they have received that they ought to be pop stars, the usual cautionary tale unfolds, over the laid-back indie pop, did they sign away their independence and life for a shot at getting Casey Kasem to talk about them.
Technology has been stripped of anything good, so they disagree with the Red Guitars, they mourn the tech they bought in 1993 that was already redundant a few short years later, how will things move on. As technology keeps taking more and more control.
Machine Talk is just that, the bands various machines making swooshing noises and other weird noises not specifically musical. Silicon Teens is in praise of those Indie pop under achievers who are clearly the bands heroes, they love the synths and tambourines approach, they want to party with them.
Save You has some cool sludge jazz backing for this upbeat jangle pop song of redemption and hope, let Pulsars be your saviour, join their tribe.
Lucky Day Part 1 sounds like a shaky demo that leads into Lucky Day Part 2 the fully realised indie pop ode to sloth and indifference, you stay under the sheets all day, with a great sing along chorus and slightly odd break down, into odd bass notes and back into the celebration of that Lucky Day.
My Pet Robot obviously has them glued to the TV watching the show of the same name, they just adore him to pieces, the synths have a decidedly robotic feel to them. Runway has them making like street thugs getting into rumbles on the Runway over one of those insistent guitar and synth riffs that won't let go, with what sounds like Angel Corpus Christi on accordion, it certainly sounds a bit like her Almo Sounds album in places.
Submission Song is getting down on your knees to give praise to the master, this sounds a lot more sinister in 2025 than it would have in the 90's, with it's breezy brass and laid back feel, they aren't prostrating themselves in front of an idiot god, rather laying down on a latex bed for some real deviant fun, in love with the Bluebells and Orange Juice.
Tales from Tomorrow hopes to predict the future, no they don't prophesize a 2025 comeback tour, or the AI takeover, but they are hoping for a better world than the one they live in where people still believe in fortune cookies and horoscopes.
Das Lifeboat wonders why you need to put on make-up before jumping in that lifeboat, the brass section and strings really elevate this into a chamber pop symphony.
The album closes with T9000 Walks The Moon that has the footsteps walking across the surface with spacey sounds, bleeps and a feeling of isolation in the lunar wilderness, before the outro goes a touch Spiritualized sonic landscape.
Find out more at https://linktr.ee/pulsars https://thepulsars.bandcamp.com/album/pulsars https://www.facebook.com/pulsarsofficial/
