The Van Pelt‘s Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves (1996) and Sultans Of Sentiment (1997), in hindsight, provided a number of significant indie-rock mile markers. The band was led by Ted’s brother, Chris Leo; Stealing recorded by Alap Momin (ex-Dälek); bassist Toko Yasuda went back and forth between TVP and Blonde Redhead after that record; and both albums saw the light of day via cult label Gern Blandsten. After being out of print since the turn of the century, the original tapes have been mined for reissue treatment by Spain’s La Castanya, allowing listeners to trace the band from its gorgeously melodic and incendiary, post-hardcore beginnings a la the Jazz June and Texas Is The Reason to a more subdued, Slint-like bent with Leo’s increasingly spoken-word vocal style by the time the last notes ring out on Sultans. Leo will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Leo: I’m involved in the wine trade where everyone always waxes poetic about Signore X and his beautiful wife Signora Y who own their bucolic estate complete with olive trees, a couple donkeys they treat like kids, and of course you’re invited over for dinner whenever you may be passing through. Yeah great. But I’ve also tasted and fallen in love with food and wine (and music and … ) made by the world’s most awful people. Though I wish the key word were love, the key word is really passion—be it in the form of love or hate. Don’t believe me? Take a trip to Pizza Town USA in N.J. and enjoy the most delicious slice of pie while the owner berates you and everyone else in her field of vision.
