The Scene Is Now was a post no-wave jug band comprised of a loose collection of downtown New York City musicians. Throughout their half-decade career, the band had a revolving door policy with the only two permanent members being Chris Nelson and Philip Dray formerly of the avant-rock band Mofungo. Like many of their no-wave colleagues, the band avoided technicality, but unlike them TSIN had an affinity toward melodies and pop. The group is hard to pin down sonically, ranging from erratic and angular to smooth (even elegant) and melodic. Their sound could be (and has been) described as quirky off-kilter pop music with a rootsy slant. In a 2001 interview with Perfect Sound Forever, Dray explained that is wife referred to their music as “Swerve Music,” meaning that’s it’s like regular pop music but slightly off-kilter.
TSIN’s debut record, Burn All Your Records (Lost, 1985) sees the quartet dabbling with over half-a-dozen “instruments” including pots, pans, bicycle wheels, along with conventional guitars and keyboards. On first listen, the album can be somewhat inaccessible with a jamming brass section competing against smooth guitar lines and Chris Nelson’s oblique broken vocals. At times it sounds as if multiple bands are playing at the same time. However inaccessible Burn may be intitially, repeated satisfying listens draw forth catchy melodies and pop hooks from the volatile weirdness, while each sound finds its unique place within the compositions. The 20-track long player includes “Yellow Sarong” best known for being covered by Yo La Tengo on Fakebook and who have shared the stage with the ever-changing group. The liner notes on the LP’s back cover hint at Marxist art criticism and a borrowed lyric from Mao Tse-Tung, while the quartet stresses “Don’t buy fur.”
Two proper LP’s followed Burn, including 1986s Total Jive (Lost, Twin\Tone), which moved away from the avant-garde of the group’s previous recordings to more melodious and less complex pastures. In 1988, Pere Ubu bassist and ex-dB Will Rigby signed on for The Scene Is Now’s final official LP titled Tonight We Ride (Lost, Twin\Tone) in 1988. A cassette only release in 1990 (Shotgun Wedding) marked the final recorded material until 2005 when a re-united lineup dropped Songbirds Lie (Tongue Master). In 1995 Hoboken, NJ imprint Bar-None put together an extensive collection of TSIN material on the compilation The Oily Years (1983-1993).
As of February 2008, the re-united TSIN have been playing shows around New York City venues, including Cake Shop and Southpaw, as documented here by Bryan Bruchman. No word on if the band will be releasing new material, but rumors are that the three hard to find original albums will be re-issued later this year.
[MP3]: The Scene Is Now ”Bugged, Wigged Out”
Burn All Your Records, Lost Records; 1985
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