Thinking Fellers Union Local 282

With such a longwinded moniker, it seems likely that Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 could be nothing but a bunch of pretentious art-school rejects. Fortunately, that's pretty far from the truth — their sound is a hybrid of art rock and punk rock, based on noodling on organs, electric banjos, mandolins and heavy, fuzzed-out guitar blasts. The group formed in 1987 in San Francisco and released their first album Wormed By Leonard on their own label Thwart a year later. In 1991, the group made the jump to the Matador label, where they released 1991's critically acclaimed Lovelyville, 1992's Mother Of All Saints and 1994's Strangers From the Universe. They moved to Ajax for the following year's Funeral Pudding and then to Communion for 1996's I Hope It Lands, where they remained on the roster for the rest of the '90s despite their lack of further releases. However, they continued to play sporadic, spontaneous dates and a new album was rumored for a 2001 release.