Joan Crawford...I mean, COMATEENS has risen from the graaaaaave!
*Raps ruler on desk* OK, students--put away the GameBoys and the cellphones and pull those goofy iPod thingees out of yer ears, 'cause Dr. Pegritz has some science to drop on your asses! Long before many of y'all were born, in that gone-but-not-forgotten Golden Age of Music known as The '80s, when New Wave--obviously the greatest, most inclusive, and most inventive meta-genre of music ever produced--ruled the world...a small band was born in New York City whose awesomeness once shown forth like a bright pink and green neon sign. That band was The Comateens. Once, long ago, for but too brief a while...their genius lit up the Big Apple (and Europe), but then they sadly vanished, leaving behind only rare vinyl albums and scattered mysterious mp3s that intrepid '80s archeomusicologists such as myself could often find in the dark, forbidding depths of the Internet. Long have I prayed to the Other Gods that one day the stars would again be right and, like Mighty Cthulhu rising from the depths or Nyarlathotep emerging from the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, they would return to grace the world with their hyperenergetic funk....
And LO! They HAVE returned!
Witness their rebirth: Comateens.com!
Now, this isn't some random fan-site run by a Comateens fanboy such as myself--the band themselves has emerged from whatever primordial darkness they'd retreated into to bring forth a website so stuffed full of Comateens information, music, videos, and memorabilia that it's very clear their intent is nothing less than to summon their wonderful band out of relative obscurity for the delectation of modern audiences. And not a moment to soon! With the current New Wave Revival riding high in indie rock--what I like to call the Newer Wave--youngsters are rediscovering the wonderful music of the decade of their birth through the lens of literally hundreds of bands such as The Faint, Pulsars, Whitest Boy Alive, and so forth who have very consciously shaped their sound to accomodate the ever-abundant sounds of the first New Wave.
The Comateens are back in full force, and using the power of the IntarWebs to reach an audience that is finally ready for them. They have a MySpace page, of course, which features a rotation of their classic tracks, and they have both a CafePress shop offering t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, etc. emblazoned with Comateens logo freshness as well as a special, very limited edition CD pressing of their legendary first album--which has been out of print since...ohhh, 1981 or 1982. Expect a massive review of this CD shortly here on the Spacing Guild Guide to Good Music--but in the meantime, get thy ass over to the site and snatch that CD up wit da quickness. Depending on how well the limited first album sells...well, there may very well be more Comateens releases showing up on CD as well--FINALLY! But you gotta make it happen, people!
I also have a more extensive report on The Comateens' return to the music scene over at my primary blog, Pegritz.com, so check that out if you'd like to read a more detailed scoop.
But make no mistake, folks: for New Wave afficonados and historians, this is a big deal. We're talking Mega Big Deal here. Get on it!
