Cool / Dub

“Cool” and “Dub” were the flipsides of the first single by the Athens, Georgia band Pylon, contemporaries of R.E.M. and the B-52s. (Not that they sound like either of those, although R.E.M. did cover “Crazy.” Maybe a tiny bit like the B-52s, if the B-52s were being covered by Gang of Four. But anyway.)

I could swear I read once that when Pylon played NYC for the first time, they read a review of one of their shows that said, “Pylon eats dub for breakfast,” causing them to scratch their heads as to what this dub thing was, anyway. Hence “Dub,” with the lines “I don’t know what you’re talking about” and “We eat dub for breakfast.”

Can’t seem to find any corraboration of this online, but it sounds true and I would dearly love it to be.

Anyway, “Dub” is a great stubborn fight between scratching guitar, pounding toms, and guttural singing. But I really love those fat, gonging bass notes that anchor the whole thing. “Cool” is excellent, too, with its slow-burning signal fires and that “Everything is....” chorus.

• Pylon, “Dub”
• Pylon, “Cool”

Pylon broke up in the 1980s after three albums or so, but they’ve been playing intermittently in recent years, I think. Their official site is here. The record to get is the CD comp Hits, drawn from their first two albums, Gyrate and Chomp. However, I don’t think it’s in print. Their site says they’re working on a Gyrate reissue, though.