Distaster

w/ Sleepy Horses, Fancie and 8-Track Gorilla

Monday, November 27 @ Tasty World

originally published November 22, 2006

Local musician Jon Lester has been around the Athens music block many times. Throughout the last 17 years or so, he’s been involved in furiously creative bands, including Refuse Factory, Autoscope, Broom Room Annex and Radio:Tahiti. None of these bands, however, ever made him anything close to a household name. It’s not so much that his music is inaccessible but that his sense of creativity is so utterly singular that it can make it difficult for people to really get a handle on what he’s doing. And music fans are nearly never as free-thinking as they like to picture themselves, so anything not easily grasped often isn't even considered.

His most recent project is probably the one closest to his heart, however. With Distaster, Lester has opened the doors to his life-long muse which, after a listen, can be decisively identified as British musician Gary Numan. His newest recorded release, A Very Lester Xmas, is, however, a tuneful and humorous departure from the gloom-heavy sound Distaster has so far been producing.

Practically an Athens superstar recording, the EP feature vocals by Dave Marr (ex-Star Room Boys) on “Essie, The Aussie Swimdancer” and Clay Leverett (Lona, Now It's Overhead) on “Hamburger Xmas Eve.” Always a tech-head, Lester has so far made this release available only online. And once upon a time, he even released a single on a 3.5” floppy disk. Lester was a fixture upstairs at the old Hoyt Street North in the early '90s, doing massive amounts of pre-show cassette-tape dubbing. Basically, Lester works at his own pace and, thus far, his pace has been a few steps ahead of most other folks. Here’s to everyone trying to keep up.