Defenestration - Defenestration mp3

This record is one of the more amazing records in the American alternative rock movement. This record was to Nirvana what Chuck Berry and the likes were to The Beatles. SPIN, OUT, AV Club, and Brooklyn Vegan have all recently referred to Tyson Meade as the Godfather of alternative rock music. Kurt Cobain is said to have cited Defenestration (beware there are at least three bands with that name) as an influence, and it is well-chronicled that Meade’s pop-glam follow-up band, Chainsaw Kittens, heavily influenced Smashing Pumpkins. Meade lives across the street from fellow alt-rocker Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, who covered one of Meade’s songs ‘She’s Gone Mad.’ While Defenestration’s second record, Dali Does Windows, is pretty easily obtainable, this EP is extremely rare. The songs are amazing. Here is a review I found, and I think it worthy that SOMETHING be written here about this incredibly important EP:

“Opening the album is Cut Your Soul In Half, a brooding song about being alienated in a crowd of friends. An odd choice to open an album, it is the darker side of a band that wasn't afraid to explore such subjects and it leaves a chilly resonance from the opening disjointed rhythm to the final abrupt ending. Nothing Lasts continues this feeling with a love-gone-wrong-song and how everything in life can change suddenly and irrevocably despite anything you would do to rectify the situation. After the first two numbers Feminism On Television, offers a fun poke at the women's movement that was prevalent at the time (the ERA was big then). Strangely this tune got a lot of airplay on Billboard's college chart of up and coming groups. Perhaps because the world wasn't so hyper-sensitive in those days or perhaps it was an early backlash to "political correctness," it hit a nerve and was popular with both genders.

Slaughterville, which starts off side two (back when there were sides) is a kick in the pants and is more indicative of the direction the band would head. A nice rocker in which Tyson displays the incredible range in his voice; from a clear high croon to a vocal cord shredding howl a'la John Lennon in "Twist And Shout." Next, Lovers Grow In The Park, is a hopeful love song that ends in disenchantment as reality intrudes when the honeymoon is over. Perhaps the most accessible song on the disc Heart Throb is an up tempo and catchy tune with a vague echo of "LA Woman" woven in. This features Tyson on rhythm guitar which makes for a nice full sound and would've been a good choice for the single off this collection. Tied now at three rock tunes and three rather dour tunes, Happy Cadillacs comes in as a tie-breaking toss-off just to show that the band does have a sense of humor and that it's not all gloom and doom.

All in all it is an unusual collection of songs especially for a debut. But what makes this EP a standout is the fact that the group never aims for the common denominator of sex, death and drugs. Of course it is full of alienation, loss, love, disenchantment and all the subjects that make for memorable themes in popular music but they never talk down to their audience and they never preach. One of their greatest strengths that they seemed to be able to do in an offhand way was approach these subjects in a serious vein without being prurient but still getting in a good hook. They made it look so easy.”