Kalistan

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Jones Releases Nordhaus on KMI
Year long sojourn in Dundorf pays off artistically
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
January 8, 5714


Thomas Jones's Nordhaus synthesizes Dundorfic Music for Kalistani Art Scene

With Kaliburg Art rocker Thomas Jones, you learn to always expect the unexpected. Leaning heavily into synthesized music on his latest record, Jones has released his seventh record on KMI, continuing his long streak of unconventional rock. This album develops a more synthetic sound that (almost) leaves the alien, glam and art themes he has dealt with since the beginning of his career behind. Instead, Jones said he drew inspiration from the Dundorfic electronic music scene.

"This record was composed entirely in the Dundorfic city of Nordhaus," said Jones, who states that he had to leave Kalistan to sober up. "It was like going to rehabilitation treatment, to go to Dundorf. But here in the music industry, drugs and drug use is so prevalent. You really can't get anything done without using some substance or another. So I needed to separate myself from all that, to kind of remember what it was like to live a sober life. And what I discovered in Dundorf was some really interesting music." He said he had the opportunity to go to Luthori several times but noted that he didn't think their musicians had much for him: "I like Luthorian musicians, don't get me wrong, but its pretty conventional there. And I was looking for something different."

While cleaning up, he said he would wander the streets of Nordhaus, or take the train to Dunberg, late into the evening looking for new music clubs. "I really just immersed myself into the whole music culture," said Jones. "I don't speak Dundorfian at all, so I would wander, really until I heard music. And sometimes I'd find myself in a live music venue, sometimes a bar, sometimes a strip club. I met a lot of people, thankfully a lot of them spoke Luthorian and I was never without a friend, especially when I was occasionally recognized there for my work here in Kalistan. And I just soaked it all up: you could say it was like replacing a cocaine habit with a new music habit. I think I rediscovered what it is that I love about music, and after a while, I was no longer running from the drugs, but more running toward something, toward a different direction for my music."

He said he began writing Nordhaus last March, and had two Kalistani friends, Greg Kinnisson and Julian Oscar St. James join him in Nordhaus so they could begin writing together. "It's always good to have friends around when you are writing new music. I don't play the keyboards, but I knew I wanted that synthesized sound, like a heavy full on like old school synthesizer effect on my music. And so we experimented with different sound cards until we found ones we liked. St. James played rhythm and I mainly focused on melody, arrangement and lyrics. We recorded demos for the whole record, so we had some direction for when we all came back to Kaliburg in August and went into KMI studios in Kaliburg."

The result was a mish mash of Dundorfic-inspired art and synth-alternative. "Of course we're not going to sound exactly like the music we heard in Dundorf," said Jones. "The music of central Artania was heard through Kalistani ears. But I think what is important is that I can hear where I got all these elements, where each of them came from: this riff comes from this club, this synth progression comes from that bar. I met a lot of great artists there, and they all have their fingerprints all over this record, and I want to say, if the Dundorfian musicians I associated with there ever do listen to Nordhaus, they will hear my very sincere tribute to their influence."

In addition to providing vocals, producing, and composing the tracks, Jones features his main instrument, the tenor saxophone, on several records. "Yeah, all through my career, the tenor sax has been a part of much of my music," said Jones. "You don't notice it until you do. But I wanted to feature it on this record for sure. I think it can work as a lead instrument so well, if done well, and it adds a very human element to what could otherwise be a very machine like set of songs."

The album is a double album, and with its release, Jones also released two different singles simultaneously. "The label was against that," said Jones. "They told me these would compete with one another, but they are quite different, and in fact could even find themselves on different charts." The first A-Side, "Freiwilliger Zwei" (see below) is backed with the lush synth soul track "Sonic Sight" which nearly drowns a dreamy sunshiny classic rock riff in a sea of synthesized strings. The Second A-Side single, "Work it out" (see below) which is far more closer to the noise side of Art Rock than anything else on the record is backed by the B-Side "Believers" and is about talk radio DJs who are up late into the night espousing political or social views that range the entire political spectrum.

"The video for that was fun," said Jones. "We were at this club, and some guy in there recognized me, and it was this thing. Well, Greg (Kinnisson) was there with a camera, so we asked the bar if they wanted to be in some B reel for the video, this was the song we were working on at that time, and so we were like 'You guys want to shoot a music video with me? I am this almost cult like figure who has people listening to me on the radio, and its like a mix between the power of mass media and influence of people's minds. And the people in the bar, men and women, just had a great time. All that footage is in the video. It comprises much of the video actually, while the balance was shot in this college radio station at the local college there in Nordhaus when we had some lyrics locked down. The final version of the song sounds very different from what we had in mind then, so we had fun editing the two parts together."

Here are the double singles from Thomas Jones' 2 disc album Nordhaus, out now on KMI. The First one, "Freiwilliger Zwei: recently entered Radio 1's flag ship Top 40 at Number 22, while the second, "Work it out" entered just behind it at Number 24.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32m5BOvG5ng]
"Freiwilliger Zwei" from Thomas Jones' Nordhaus

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcOs70dZAw]
"Work it Out", a one man drag show, is the second single from Jones' double LP Nordhaus

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