专辑简介

The Silly Pillows began in 1986 as the home-recording concept of songwriter Jonathan Caws-Elwitt. By the late 1990's, the Silly Pillows had evolved into an "indie-pop" band which--like many others of the era--had earned a small following scattered from Manhattan clubs to U.S. college radio airwaves to northern European discos to Tokyo record shops. As a punk/new music/psychedelic-revival DJ at the Harvard radio station, Jonathan was part of an era that also included future Galaxie 500/Luna frontman Dean Wareham; future Harriet Records guru Tim Alborn; future Bullet LaVolta member Corey Brennan; and future record industry mover-shakers Geoffrey Weiss, Jim Barber, Kate Tews, and Patrick Amory. More an artist and listener than a music authority, Jonathan's direct involvement in the station was largely motivated by his romantic connection to music aficionado Hilary Caws (they have been together as a couple since 1983; they hyphenated their names in 1985). Unbeknownst at that time to Jonathan, this "lo-fi," home-recorded approach to underground pop--with its significant treatment of the home-cassette format as a vehicle for collections of finished recordings for a listener to enjoy (rather than just "demos" to sketch out song ideas for other musicians)--was becoming a widespread phenomenon. So was the Swingin'-London-meets-punk-flavored "tweepop" aesthetic (spawned chiefly by another recent favorite of Jonathan's, the Television Personalities), with which a hip listener might have identified the Silly Pillows sound (though Jonathan was ignorant of twee as a trend). 1998 saw the release of New Affections, the band's last album of new studio recordings for Little Teddy (the ambitious pop/punk label that released much of the Pillows' work). This disc represents the most fully-realized incarnation of the combined input of the group, both as arranger-performers and as writers, with Michael, Dave, and Charlie expressing themselves as Jonathan and Sam's full creative partners. The co-vocalist slot was now filled by Belinda Miller, a DJ at the legendary WFMU who had begun singing with the group in early '97. With a perky Belinda joining a manic Jonathan at the front of the stage (Time Out New York compared them to Mexican jumping beans), the Pillows continued to build their reputation as a fun NYC club act. New Affections brought the Pillows a slightly-elevated level of attention at U.S. college radio stations, along with continuing critical notice and even a brief moment in the spotlight on MTV. Their U.S. record sales and name-recognition were undoubtedly up a notch in 1998. But though the Silly Pillows continued gigging through 1999 and recording through 2000, the group had disbanded by fall of 2000.