Formed in 1977 by multi-instrumentalists Reininger and Brown, then two students of electronic music at San Francisco City College, with technical assistance from video artist Tommy Tadlock, Tuxedomoon started playing salons and accompanying performances by The Angels of Light, a San Francisco based, radical theater troup. Brown's connections to local theater gave the band access to vocalists Gregory Cruikshank, Victoria Lowe, and, most frequently, Winston Tong. The band gained some level of recognition in 1978 when they opened for Devo. Michael Belfer, (guitarist), and Paul Zahl, (drummer) joined the band in time to help with the group's first EP, No Tears. Lowe left prior to the album's release in 1978. Soon afterward, Tong and Belfer left the group temporarily, and bassist Peter Principle joined the lineup. In 1979, the group signed to The Residents' Ralph Records, with whom they recorded their next two albums, Half-Mute in 1980 and Desire in 1981, after which the band relocated to Rotterdam for a small time and moved on to Brussels, believing their sound better fit the electronic scene in Europe.
The band soon created the score for a ballet by Maurice Bejart, which was released in 1982 as Divine. In 1983 Reininger left the group in order to pursue a solo career, and trumpeter Luc Van Lieshout joined. In 1985 Tuxedomoon had its largest success commercially with the international release of Holy Wars. Tong left the group again soon after its release and was replaced by Ivan Georgiev, who performed on the group's next two albums, 1986's Ship of Fools and 1987's You. The band remained inactive through most of the 1990s, although never technically broke up. On July 20, 2004 Tuxedomoon, complete again with founder Blaine L. Reininger, released a new studio album, Cabin in the Sky.
Tuxedomoon still perform and record and reside in Europe.
In 2008 Belgian author Isabelle Corbisier published their definitive biography, entitled "Music for Vagabonds - the Tuxedomoon Chronicles": http://www.music-for-vagabonds.com
Stand out tracks:
"everything you want" an early recording, later released on pinheads on the move
"no tears", from the 12" of the same name, available on desire
"special treatment for the family man" from the Scream With A View 12", and later on the Half-Mute/Scream With A View compilation
"loneliness" from half-mute
"again" from desire
"music #2" on suite en sous-sol
"bonjour tristesse" and "in a manner of speaking" from holy wars
"lowlands tone poem" from ship of fools
"the stranger" from pinheads on the move and various other releases
"diario di un egoista" from cabin in the sky
Tuxedomoon sites:
Official Tuxedomoon page (offline)
Blaine L. Reininger's Tuxedomoon page
Blain L. Reininger's own page
Tuxedomoon at Discogs.com
Second version:
Cult legends Tuxedomoon are a welcome exception in today's over-formatted musical world.
Born in 1977, in the heady atmosphere of San Francisco’s postpunk golden age, the band soon became a central part of New York's No Wave scene (as documented in the recent "Downtown 81" film, centered around Jean Michel Basquiat and featuring performances by Blondie, James Chance, DNA and Tuxedomoon). "No Tears", their 2nd single (1979), has remained an electro punk club classic to this day. The band went on to sign to The Residents' Ralph Records, and released two seminal albums, "Half Mute" (1980) and "Desire" (1981) which soon got them overseas exposure.
Fleeing Reagan's America, Tuxedomoon moved to Europe in the early '80s, and stayed there throughout the decade. Although their ability to crystallize a certain dark and romantic zeitgeist quickly turned them into one of the most influential bands around, their music transcended all genres and included impossibly wide parameters –rock, electronics, minimal music, classical, jazz, Gypsy music and pop were all simultaneously consumed and transmutated into a quasi-prescient blend.
After releasing a string of albums on CramBoy (the imprint they set up with Brussels-based label Crammed Discs), the band stopped recording together in 1988, and the various members pursued solo careers, becoming as disparate geographically as sonically, with Steven Brown (vocals, keyboard & saxophone) living in Mexico, Peter Principle (bass, electronics) in New York, Blaine L. Reininger (vocals, violin, guitar) in Greece, and Luc Van Lieshout (trumpet) & Bruce Geduldig (films/visuals) in Brussels.
Many years later, Tuxedomoon got back together to write and record the awesome "Cabin In The Sky" album (2004), which found them in absolute top form, as romantic, rebellious and boundlessly imaginative as they ever were. "Cabin" featured contributions by a carefully hand-picked selection of guests such as Tarwater, Tortoise's John McEntire, Nouvelle Vague's Marc Collin and DJ Hell.
Shortly after finishing "Cabin In The Sky", Tuxedomoon traveled back to San Francisco, the band's birthplace, in order to start writing material for their next album. But the local atmosphere had unexpected effects on them, and drove them to record a series of "spontaneous compositions" (as Mingus would have put it) instead, which soon formed the basis of a side project entitled "Bardo Hotel Soundtrack" loosely connected to Brion Gysin’s novel ‘The Bardo Hotel’ set in the Paris hotel where he and William Burroughs invented the radical cut-up/fold-in technique.
Both "Cabin…" and "Bardo Hotel…" were warmly welcomed, and a wildly eclectic array of references sprang from the pens of reviewers trying to describe Tuxedomoon's music (Charles Ives, Radiohead, Philip Glass, Miles Davis, German electronica, Tom Waits, John Cage, Kurt Weill, Tortoise, Can…).
If anything, these two recent albums revealed that Tuxedomoon were never connected to a particular period: they had become '80s cult figures simply because that's the period in which they happened to develop and rise to fame… but the band have always been evolving in their own space, and their music is as relevant and fresh today as it was then. An impression to be further strengthened by their latest album "Vapour Trails" (2007), which appealed equally to fans of contemporary cutting-edge avant-rock, electronica and jazz.
To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, Crammed have released a limited-edition boxed set entitled 77o7 tm, which includes "Vapour Trails" along with a CD of previously-unreleased archives, a DVD containing 160 minutes of rare or previously-unreleased videos, and a live CD recorded in early 2007.
An Abridged Tuxedomoon Discography
2007 77o7 tm (the 30th Anniversary box)
2007 Vapour Trails | CramBoy
2006 Bardo Hotel Soundtrack | CramBoy
2004 Cabin In The Sky | CramBoy
2003 No Tears/What Use: Remixes & Originals | International Deejay Gigolo
2002 Live In St. Petersburg | Neo-Acustica
1992 Solve Et Coagula (Greatest Hits) | CramBoy
1991 The Ghost Sonata | LTM (reissued on CramBoy)
1988 Ten Years In One Night [live] | Play Boy
1987 You | CramBoy
1987 Suite En Sous-Sol/Time To Lose/Short Stories | CramBoy
1987 Pinheads On The Move | CramBoy
1986 Ship Of Fools | CramBoy
1985 Holy Wars | CramBoy
1982 Divine | Operation Twilight (reissued on CramBoy)
1981 Desire | Ralph (reissued on CramBoy)
1980 Half Mute | Ralph (reissued on CramBoy)
St. John
Tuxedomoon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I wait as life goes by
This life I live alone I view
As robbery of life
And so it is a constant death
With no way out at all
God hear me what I say is true
I do not want this life
What kind of life can I have
I pity me yet my fate is clear
I will keep up this lie
The fish taken from out the sea
Is not without reprieve
Its dying is a brief affair
And then it it brings relief
Yet what convulsive death
Can be as bad as my own life
I live yet do not live at all
I die yet do not die at all
The more I live the more I die
The more I live the more I die
I live yet do not die at all
I die yet do not live at all
The lyrics to Tuxedomoon's song St. John convey a sense of existential despair and a feeling of being trapped in an unfulfilling life. The singer expresses a deep sense of detachment from the world and a longing for something more than what is offered by their current existence. They view their life as a "constant death" and a "robbery of life," suggesting that they feel like they are merely going through the motions without truly experiencing anything significant.
The singer's sense of detachment is further emphasized by the repeated lines "I live yet do not live" and "I die yet do not die." These lines suggest a feeling of being caught between life and death, where the singer is neither fully alive nor completely dead. This may symbolize a sense of being stuck in a limbo-like existence, unable to find any real meaning or purpose in life.
Overall, the lyrics to St. John convey a deep sense of existential angst and a feeling of being trapped in a meaningless existence. The singer longs for something more, but seems to be unable to escape the cycle of life and death that they find themselves in.
Line by Line Meaning
I live yet do not live
My existence is only physical, lacking any sense of purpose or fulfillment.
I wait as life goes by
I am stagnant, uninvolved in my own life.
This life I live alone I view
I am isolated, detached from the world around me.
As robbery of life
My existence feels like a theft of true living.
And so it is a constant death
My life is equivalent to death, devoid of vitality or joy.
With no way out at all
I feel trapped, without any hope of escape.
God hear me what I say is true
I am seeking some form of divine intervention or recognition.
I do not want this life
I reject the existence that has been given to me.
I am so removed from you I say
I am distant from myself, disconnected from my own desires and feelings.
What kind of life can I have
I question the value or purpose of my existence.
I pity me yet my fate is clear
I feel sorry for myself, but I know my eventual outcome.
I will keep up this lie
I will continue to live a false, unfulfilling life.
The fish taken from out the sea
Even though I am alive, I feel a kinship with something that is dying.
Is not with reprieve
Its death is inevitable, and it does not receive mercy from its captors.
Its dying is a brief affair
The fish's suffering is short-lived.
And then it brings relief
Death provides the fish with an end to its pain and struggle.
Yet what convulsive death
I am questioning whether the fish's death is worse than my own circumstances.
Can be as bad as my own life
I am suffering greatly, with no end in sight.
I live yet do not live at all
I am surviving, but I am not truly experiencing my existence.
I die yet do not die at all
I am stagnant, without any real movement or progress in my life.
The more I live the more I die
The longer I exist, the more I feel like my life is slipping away.
The more I live the more I die
My continued existence feels like a slow, painful death.
I live yet do not die at all
I am stuck, powerless to change my own circumstances.
I die yet do not live at all
I am not truly alive, just managing to suffer through each day.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JEFFREY PIERCE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jason Basson
One of my favorite tracks of all times!!
simo momo
I'm like you, the same thing
Mario Marković
karl ove knausgard reviewed this song 😀
Sônia Cardoso
I'm here because of Karl Ove Knausgård too... amazing music... 👏🏻😊
Leslie Tucker
That's how I got here!
My name is not Jerome
Ok, I came here because I heard the wonderful In A Manner of Speaking, I'm starting to think the rest of their songs are garbage.
Patrick Laurent
i too didn't like them at first, but they are now one of my favorite musicians
George292Rainbow
You are simply at the wrong place... This is not obviously an easy listening band.
κυριάκος
this disc and the disk named desire are just a perfect mix of psychedelic and real rock sound. But it always depends on your music taste