Monday, September 19, 2011

Human Television - demos (200?)

I've wanted to do an entry on Human Television probably as long as I've been doing Wilfully Obscure.  The thing is, their meager catalog is still in print, digitally and otherwise, which means I didn't want to ruffle any feathers.  I do however have this collection of demos and rough mixes for their All Songs By Human Television ep, which I'm assuming I'm at liberty to distribute.  Apparently on hiatus at the moment, Human Television were a bunch of Florida transplants that relocated to New York and Philadelphia.  Cutting their jangly, noise-pop teeth during their mid-aughts tenure, HTV struck a happy (not to mention irresistible) medium of C86 era hanger-ons Wedding Present, with the sprite, post-punk revivalist sheik of The Strokes.  Not a bad formula to lay the foundation with if you ask me.  In addition to the All Songs... ep, there was a preceding CD single, and an excellent 2006 full length, Look at Who You're Talking To.  I don't have the titles to the particularly raw first two tracks, which so far as I can tell weren't re-recorded for commercial release.  Nonetheless, there are flourishes of clangy brilliance here.  Enjoy (or not).  Nice lengthy article on them here.

01. Such A Trip
02. Tonight's The Night
03. Yeah Right
04. Automobile
05. Tell Me What You Want
06. I Forgot
07. Saw You Walking By
08. Cars Are Weird
09. Tell Me What You Want (alt vers)
10. Automobile (alt vers)

Hear

3 comments:

topomodesto said...

thanks for this! the first two tracks made their way onto Look At Who You're Talking To. I think they sorta called it quits (or at least indefinite hiatus) around 2006, and that last album collected unreleased songs such as those 2, as well as "I'm Moving On," which was the first song they wrote.

here's the tracklist:
01. Such A Trip
02. Tonight's The Night
03. Yeah Right
04. Automobile
05. Tell Me What You Want
06. I Forgot
07. Say You Walking By
08. Cars Are Weird
09. Tell Me What You Want (alternate)
10. Automobile (alternate)

spavid said...

Thanks for informing me of those first two titles topomodesto. Probably should have caught that myself as I have the album you mentioned, but then again these were pretty rough versions.

Ana Windmill said...

I love the "I'm Moving On" song. I thin it is the best on the album in spite of the fact that I can't understand the lyrics. DO you happen to know what they are? Would love to get to perceive this song as a... whole...