Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
-based
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band, formed in 1991 by brothers Bill and Jim Ferguson (bass guitar and guitar respectively), drummer Rob Youngberg, and vocalist/guitarist Tony Zajkowski.
Career
Lotion formed in New York City's East Village and released two seven-inch singles "Head" and "Tear" on Kokopop before releasing their debut album, ''
full Isaac
''full Isaac'' is the debut studio album by Lotion, released in 1994. The album was named in reference to ''The Love Boat''.
Critical reception
''Trouser Press'' wrote that "Lotion’s songwriting isn’t yet strong enough to connect the dots of ...
'', through
spinArt Records
SpinART Records was a New York City-based independent record label that released recordings by The Apples in Stereo, Clem Snide, Black Francis, Frank Black, and Michael Penn.
The label was started by Joel Morowitz and Jeff Price in 1991. SpinART ...
in 1994.
To promote the release of ''full Isaac'', Lotion toured America and Europe with Pavement,
Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects.
The group was original ...
Big Cat Records
Big Cat Records is a British independent record label. It launched around 1990 and originally specialized in industrial and noise-rock releases. Big Cat operated a US office in New York City for a few years. Integrated with V2 Records in 1996 ...
, with a second EP, '' The Agnew Funeral E.P.'', recorded the next year. In 1996, Lotion released their second album, '' Nobody's Cool'', with
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards.
Origin
Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
by
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...
. At the time, after "the press registered a fair amount of amazement" at this development, the ''New York'' magazine quoted Rob Youngberg as having said "We wanted him to do he liner notes so we kept hinting... Then he offered", and reported that "the story, told in ''The New Yorker'' and other places, is that Pynchon followed the band to a gig in Cincinnati, where he revealed himself backstage. And they all became friends." The same article however continued: "Some people wonder whether any of it is true, or just Pynchon pulling everybody's leg again, with the boys in the band in cahoots. 'As I understand it, the real story is that the father of one of the band members is Thomas Pynchon's personal banker', says a music reporter. 'But I can't prove it.'" In 2009, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
''- giving details of the original story including that Pynchon "had approached he bandafter a concert at a Cincinnati laundromat-cum-rock club; that he didn’t reveal his identity until months later, when he spotted a copy of his short-story collection lying around backstage"- stated this "hoax" story to be "mostly untrue", with the band at that time stating that "they had fed reporters at various outlets an account designed to be 'as Pynchonesque as possible'" and that Rob Youngberg's mother was Pynchon's accountant; having given him an advance copy of the band's album, "he liked it well enough; at any rate, he agreed to write the liner notes".
'' The Telephone Album'' followed in 1998. During the promotion for this album, the band made an appearance during an episode ''(
Phases
Phase or phases may refer to:
Science
*State of matter, or phase, one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist
*Phase (matter), a region of space throughout which all physical properties are essentially uniform
*Phase space, a mathematica ...
)'' of ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...
'' and toured the US with
Frank Black and the Catholics
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies (band), Pixies. Following th ...
.Lotion at AllMusic/ref>
In 2001, Lotion went unofficially "on hiatus" while they pursued their own interests. Tony Zajkowski has gone on to play bass and sing for Schizo Fun Addict and has joined with former Lotion bandmate Rob Youngberg to form Honeycomb. Zajkowski and Youngberg later recorded under the name Baby Spiders and have two EPs on Bandcamp available for download. The band next performed in 2011 at Royal Flush Festival, and 2012 at Mercury Lounge. In 2023, the band reunited to play DROM 30, the 30th anniversary of Dromedary Records, with additional shows at Mercury Lounge and Drag Music.
Discography
Albums
*1994 ''
full Isaac
''full Isaac'' is the debut studio album by Lotion, released in 1994. The album was named in reference to ''The Love Boat''.
Critical reception
''Trouser Press'' wrote that "Lotion’s songwriting isn’t yet strong enough to connect the dots of ...
*1993 ''Chairman of the Board: Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra'' ("
Fly Me to the Moon
"Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apo ...
")
*1997 ''Blatant Doom Trip'' ("Quality of Armor")