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Rock band from Columbus, Ohio From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments was a band from Columbus, Ohio active from 1989 to 2000.[1][2]
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments | |
|---|---|
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments in 1995 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Columbus, Ohio |
| Genres | Lo-fi music |
| Years active | 1989–2000 |
| Labels | |
| Past members |
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The band was formed in 1989 by Ron House, the former frontman of the band Great Plains.[3] The band is named after Thomas Jefferson's slave quarters at Monticello.[4] Soon after their formation, they released several 7"s in the Columbus area.[1] They followed these up with their debut album, Bait and Switch, which they recorded at a cost of $800,[5] and which was released in 1995 on American Recordings imprint Onion Records.[2] This album was followed by their second album, Straight to Video, which was released in 1997 on Anyway Records following Onion's closure.[3][6] Also in 1997, the band released a compilation album, You Lookin' for Treble,[7] which contained singles the band had released from 1990 to 1992, as well as songs from an EP released during that time.[8] Their third and last studio album, "No Old Guy Lo-Fi Cry", was released in 2000 on Rockathon Records, a label owned by Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard.[9]
While the band ended its initial run in 2000, they would continue to perform live in their native Ohio sporadically throughout the 2000s and 2010s.[10][11][12][13]
Guitarist Bob Petric died in April 2021.[14]
Bait and Switch received a favorable review from Entertainment Weekly's Ethan Smith, who wrote that the album was "short on polish, long on charm" and gave it a B+ rating.[15] Greg Kot also reviewed the album favorably, writing that there is "Nothing new here, just a clangorous, nasty good time courtesy of some saw-toothed riffs and a supremely estranged wit."[16] Robert Christgau gave Bait and Switch an A− rating, writing that the first five songs on the album "rush by in a perfect furious tunefest".[17] Another review of this album appeared in Spin, in which Eric Weisbard wrote that "House was right to reground his art, putting the way music flows and falls before singer-songwriterly commentary." He also said that on the album, House begins the process of doing something with noise, but that he does not go far enough.[18] In Billboard, David Sprague wrote that Bait and Switch "retain[s] the relaxed, lo-fi vibe" that was apparent on the band's early singles.[4]
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