Tommy Keene: Crashing the Ether (2006)

 

     It sucks that I had never heard of Tommy Keene until he teamed up with Robert Pollard for their Keene Brothers album in 2006. It was released shortly after Tommy Keene's own fantastically jangly album, Crashing the Ether. The only time I ever saw Keene perform was as Pollard's side man in his band The Ascended Masters, which also included Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy. It was at St. Andrew's in Detroit, also in 2006. I dragged my pregnant wife to the show. There was no seating and people were smoking like chimneys. However, what annoyed her most was me not talking to Robert Pollard when he walked by us multiple times during the opener's set. I never know what to say. Sorry. My wife was a champ, but we did leave early. I'm not a monster. 

     Tommy Keene had been a solo artist since 1982 and had been in many bands, including The Nazz, before that. In 1984, he released a song called "Places That are Gone", that in an alternate stream of the Multiverse may have been a huge hit, but not ours. Ten years later, he performed that song on the Conan O'Brien Show, but there would be no Big Star style revisionism for his career. It took Robert Pollard introducing him to indie pop fans to finally generate some buzz for Keene. Crashing the Ether came out at this time and that's where I started my deep dive. 

     Tommy Keene, in retrospect, gets lumped in with power pop. In reality, he writes mostly guitar-driven indie pop. The most exquisite example is the second track from Crashing the Ether, "Warren in the '60s". It has a Gin Blossoms vibe. Keene's vocals are laid back and the guitars are jangly. "Wishing" is another strong guitar track with a great singalong chorus. "Eyes of Youth" is a rocker with great drum work that teases a hooky chorus, but takes off again instead. "Driving Down the Road in My Mind" is beautifully languid. He even makes an XTC reference about his senses working overtime. And the guitar runout is tremendous. The most muscular tracks in this set are "Alta Loma" and "I've Heard That Wind Blow Before". They are his most powerful vocals on the album and the guitar and drums are right in your face. There's not a bad song on this album.

     If you're interested in Tommy Keene, there was a 2 disc compilation released in 2010, Tommy Keene You Hear Me. which is a great sampler of his career up to 2009. He also put out an amazing covers album in 2013, Excitement at Your Feet. His cover of The Who's "Much Too Much" is worth checking it out. He also covered the excellent Guided by Voices song, "Choking Tara". Sadly, Tommy Keene passed in 2017, but he left behind an impressive catalog of songs. Peace.