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Comateens

Comateens

Comateens has been played on NTS in shows including No Weapon Is Absolute, featured first on 19 July 2017. Songs played include Pictures On A String, Get Off My Case and Ghosts.

This New York trio played a bouncy brand of dance rock rooted in chintzy '60s Farfisa organ pop and spooky horror- movie soundtrack music. The group first gained recognition in 1979 with a homemade single that featured a stripped- down version of Bowie's "TVC 15," which they re-recorded for their first LP. After a number of personnel changes, the lineup solidified at Lyn Byrd (keyboards), Oliver North (guitar, not international subterfuge), Nic North (bass) and synthetic drums. Comateens is a delightful distillation of the aforementioned influences, with neat contrasts between the thin-sounding synth fills and the chunky, rhythmic guitar. There's also a three-track 12-inch — on the same label — of the hypnotic "Ghosts," the pure pop "Late Night City" and the theme for TV's Munsters, which pretty much sums up the Comateens' music.

Signed to a major label, the Comateens made Pictures on a String, which diverges into rock quirkiness and danceable commercialism, pushing a powerful disco beat on "Get off My Case," "Cinnamon" and other numbers. The rock-oriented material, especially the Beatlesque "Comateens," with its awesome fuzz-blizzard guitar solo, and a weird overdrive cover of the oldie "Uptown," are more intriguing; the dance tracks don't really go anywhere.

With a guest drummer and veteran hitmaker Pete Solley producing, Deal With It sublimates the big beat into various styles, much the way Blondie often did. Rather than base tunes on rhythms, these songs explore widely differing pop modes, welded to strong, emphasized drum tracks, resulting in a fascinating mix full of unexpected, delightful juxtapositions. This is the album that finally and fully realizes the Comateens' hybridizing potential.

After Oliver North's death in 1987, Nic North and Lyn Byrd continued to work together, recording for French Virgin under the name of West & Byrd.

In 2006, Nic North (now Nicholas West) and Lyn Byrd launched an in-depth retrospective website- www.comateens.com -capturing not only their career, but also the personalities, vibe and aethectics of the 80's.

In 2007, after 26 years, the band reissued their self-titled debut album Comateens as a Limited Collectors Edition on their own label, ComaMom Discs. It is available through their website.

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Comateens

Comateens has been played on NTS in shows including No Weapon Is Absolute, featured first on 19 July 2017. Songs played include Pictures On A String, Get Off My Case and Ghosts.

This New York trio played a bouncy brand of dance rock rooted in chintzy '60s Farfisa organ pop and spooky horror- movie soundtrack music. The group first gained recognition in 1979 with a homemade single that featured a stripped- down version of Bowie's "TVC 15," which they re-recorded for their first LP. After a number of personnel changes, the lineup solidified at Lyn Byrd (keyboards), Oliver North (guitar, not international subterfuge), Nic North (bass) and synthetic drums. Comateens is a delightful distillation of the aforementioned influences, with neat contrasts between the thin-sounding synth fills and the chunky, rhythmic guitar. There's also a three-track 12-inch — on the same label — of the hypnotic "Ghosts," the pure pop "Late Night City" and the theme for TV's Munsters, which pretty much sums up the Comateens' music.

Signed to a major label, the Comateens made Pictures on a String, which diverges into rock quirkiness and danceable commercialism, pushing a powerful disco beat on "Get off My Case," "Cinnamon" and other numbers. The rock-oriented material, especially the Beatlesque "Comateens," with its awesome fuzz-blizzard guitar solo, and a weird overdrive cover of the oldie "Uptown," are more intriguing; the dance tracks don't really go anywhere.

With a guest drummer and veteran hitmaker Pete Solley producing, Deal With It sublimates the big beat into various styles, much the way Blondie often did. Rather than base tunes on rhythms, these songs explore widely differing pop modes, welded to strong, emphasized drum tracks, resulting in a fascinating mix full of unexpected, delightful juxtapositions. This is the album that finally and fully realizes the Comateens' hybridizing potential.

After Oliver North's death in 1987, Nic North and Lyn Byrd continued to work together, recording for French Virgin under the name of West & Byrd.

In 2006, Nic North (now Nicholas West) and Lyn Byrd launched an in-depth retrospective website- www.comateens.com -capturing not only their career, but also the personalities, vibe and aethectics of the 80's.

In 2007, after 26 years, the band reissued their self-titled debut album Comateens as a Limited Collectors Edition on their own label, ComaMom Discs. It is available through their website.

Original source Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Pictures On A String
Comateens
Jupiter Records1983
Get Off My Case
Comateens
Virgin1983
Ghosts
Comateens
Jupiter Records1981
Pictures On A String
Comateens
Virgin1983
Strangler
Comateens
Cachalot Records1981
Cold Eyes
Comateens
Jupiter Records1983
Get Off My Case
Comateens
Virgin1983