Dear every single fan of The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed. Every last one of you, listen up.
Check out Thomas Comerford and his new CD Archive + Spiral, released on October 25, 2011. Comerford is a musician and filmmaker, a professor of film and punk history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (and that sounds like a seriously AWESOME subject!) and front man of the band Kaspar Hauser. In 2009, Comerford decided to start working on a solo project, which became his debut CD Archive + Spiral, released off of his own record label, Spacesuit Records.
When I started playing opening track, “Robert Bresson,” I thought to myself, “Wait. Where did Lou Reed come from? Did someone invite The Velvet Underground?” Thomas Comerford has the raw and avant-garde sound that The Velvet Underground channeled into so much of their work. Though his voice tends to have more twang to it than Reed, Comerford still effortlessly has captured the strangely comforting and hazy sound of The Velvet Underground.
Comerford must be aware of his Reed-like qualities, as he tips his hat to The Velvet Underground with his third track off of Archive + Spiral. Glancing through the track list, when I saw the title “Sunday Morning,” curiosity got the best of me, and I had to skip forward. Sure enough, Comerford pulled off his own rendition of The Velvet Underground’s 1966 single. The instrumentation behind this version is a unique twist and yet is entirely appropriate. Plus, Comerford’s voice suits the song as if Lou Reed were passing it onto Comerford himself.
Not only does he grace us with a fabulously rich voice, Comerford also busts out some mad acoustic guitar and harmonica skills, plus some serious hand clapping skills. If you’re still following me, you’re probably a Lou Reed fan or just looking for some new, good music. So check him out, look into the tracks I’ve previously mentioned and also check out “Dear Stephen Hauser” and “Sugar Baby.”
You can preview or purchase the album and see all the crazy and amazing things that this man is up to: http://www.thomascomerford.net/
