Red Krayola

Mayo Thompson’s the Red Krayola is without a doubt one of the most under-appreciated bands in history. Once known as the Red Crayola (legalities changed the name), the former trio burst onto the Texas freak scene in 1966 and were known to sonically reduce audiences with entire sets of noise and feedback, interspersed with timeless psych-rock anthems. By 1968, the trio toned things down to create a sloppy, sparse, innocent sound that can since be heard in lo-fi champions Beat Happening, Sonic Youth, Young Marble Giants. Label problems provoked Mayo’s departure from music for most of the early ’70s, but full of political agendas, he returned to re-launch the Krayola in New York and then London, becoming part of the burgeoning pre-punk scene. From here on, no rolling stone was left unturned: political folk, jagged pre-punk, funky post-punk — the Mayo-led Krayola hit a groove that is still rocking and evolving today. Mayo even became a member of Pere Ubu for a few albums and released a trio of essential Rough Trade disco-punk singles, featuring members of the Raincoats, Essential Logic, Pere Ubu and Swell Maps. In the early ’90s, the band found a stable outlet in Drag City and the Chicago post-rock scene, even picking up sometime members in admirers Jim O’Rourke and John McEntire. This career-spanning singles collection gives you the gist of this enigmatic band’s purposefully spotty history on one packed disc.