The Bucks Stop Here

Pegasuses-XL Rocks The Boat And Offers Up Its Sounds For A Donation

originally published August 29, 2007

It's impossible to detach this release, or any Pegasuses-XL recordings, from the political and aesthetic circle the band has drawn around itself. Distributed for free via digital download, the five tracks contained on the local band's Third EP are a good value in that one only has to invest time and electronic devices, but there's a raw side to free goods, too. What happens, nearly always, when art is available on the super-cheap, is that it becomes devalued by not just the listener, but by the artist as well. Bands start to make recordings a little less-than, because, you know, it's free anyway.

This may or may not wind up being the case with Pegasuses-XL - Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark, Dark Meat), Joel Hatstat (ex-Cinemechanica) and Mark Dale (ex-Disband) - which, in the past, has made some truly awesome, heavy, dance-beat music. And anyway, it's an uncomfortable idea to connect a band's business model with the quality of its music. However, it's not as if the means of production and distribution have no aesthetic value.

The lead track, "Sunrises At Lake 2K7," which is more lighthearted than could be expected from a band that has rocked so hard in the past, literally acts as an instrumental introduction to the next track, "The Orchid," which is a full-bore rock/ hip-hop song. The focus here is on the lyrical content and musical arrangement. The broadly stroked keyboard fuzz is very cool and makes for a solid musical underpinning. Further, there are punctuated moments in the track where the vocals stop being barked in the traditional rap style and turn more traditionally chorus-like. With the rap-vocal being so confrontational and the sung lyrics being somewhat uplifting, the mix winds up being a fairly good match.

Although Pegasuses-XL's lyrics are hard to discern, one line in particular stands out. Jeff Tobias says, at one point, "The man in charge rolling toward the great regret / but with no ideas I ain't any better." But that doesn't matter: there's nothing about declaring an unacceptable situation to be such that requires the complainant to invent a different way of doing things. It's also untrue for Pegasuses-XL, which has found an alternative to the way music is traditionally distributed and traded. Tobias should give himself more credit.

"New Domestic Paradigm" is a 38-second blast of noise and screamed vocals that is more predictable. By far, though, the standout track on the EP is "Theme For AthFest" which was a submission to this year's AthFest CD compilation (although ultimately it wasn't selected for inclusion). The overall ballsiness of naming the track thusly and then having the song act basically as an introduction to the bandmembers and their studio is a perfect send-up.

The final track, "Every House Is Not A Homie," is the most straightforward song, which is an extremely relative term in this context, but its melody is solid and forward-moving and the mid-tempo keyboard work and sparse drums work to good effect here. There's a spot at around 2:45 seconds into the track, too, where some keyboard goofiness takes over slightly and it seems like the whole point was fun. Which is a good point to have and make.

The label which Pegasuses-XL has entrusted to distribute its music is Quote Unquote Records, run by Bomb The Music Industry! founder and occasional Pegasuses-XL contributor Jeff Rosenstock. "When I was recording the first Bomb The Music Industry! record, I was making it in my bedroom in New York," he says, "and Jeff Tobias was living in Athens and he came and visited me and told me about Pegasuses-XL and the stuff they were doing and how they were gonna make CD-Rs and give them away for free. We talked and decided it'd be good to put Pegasuses-XL on the free label and let it be accessible to the most people."

Tobias says of the band's intention, "It's really not that terribly high-minded. When we started the band, Mark Dale said everything should be free, and me and Joel Hatstat said, 'No problem'."

Asked about his radicalized vision of music distribution, completely free via a label supported completely by donations, Rosenstock says, "It comes off as really radical because people think it's a really weird thing to do. But the model that has been used for the past 50 or 60 years isn't working and the industry that exists behind the celebrity rock-star scene has turned being a musician into just another job - like being an accountant."

But challenging a model which is so entrenched as to be the default is radical. So far, Quote Unquote has done very well with people donating whatever they want, without requirement, via its website. No specifics are available, but Quote Unquote says it has received enough donations to finance the recording of several new projects.

The sustainability of the free-music model is suspect, but not the intention of the band or the label, and its effect on both listeners and art.

Gordon Lamb

All of Quote Unquote Records' by-donation releases are available for download at www.quoteunquoterecords.com.

WHO: Down With the Woo, Pegasuses-XL, Ice Cream Socialists, One Man Machine
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Friday, August 31
HOW MUCH: $5