Limbo District

Limbo District

Carnival

Chunklet

In August 1982, Limbo District—percussionist Jerry Ayers, vocalist Craig Woodall, bass player Davey Stevenson, Farfisa player and vocalist Dominique Amet, and guitarist Tim Lacy—traveled from Athens, GA to Winston-Salem, NC to record at Mitch Easter’s Drive-In Studio. The session took place just two months after fellow Athens band R.E.M. had gone there to record their debut Chronic Town EP. With Easter, Limbo District recorded a five-song set of bewitching rhythms and guttural poetry, chants, and howls that culminated in a Dionysian, avant-garde pulse. These songs later accompanied photographer Marlys Cox’s images brought to life in Jim Herbert’s experimental film, “Carnival.” Aside from the few seconds of “Carnival” that appeared in Tony Gayton’s documentary “Athens, GA: Inside/Out,” Limbo District has remained unheard by anyone who wasn’t there to witness the band's powerful blend of music and performance art as it happened. Carnival offers a glimpse behind the curtain, revealing a contemporary of the B-52’s, Pylon, R.E.M., the Method Actors, Love Tractor, and more, and presents a thread to unravel a perfect mystery. Limbo District’s significance is matched only by its obscurity, and the complete Mitch Easter session has remained unreleased until now. "When I moved to Georgia in 1991, the only Athens band I was looking for was Limbo District. For decades, I remained empty handed. And now, the crown jewel of the Limbo story is unearthed: Carnival. Chunklet is proud to have excavated this apparition and it is now time to celebrate the band's delirious, cryptic and in-the-moment existence....

Limbo District

Bombay

Chunklet

Bombay Studios was an 8-track studio located in the sleepy backwoods village of Smyrna, Georgia which briefly operated from 1981 to 1983. During that time, Joe Perry, the proprietor of Bombay was a routine live sound engineer at venues sprinkled across Atlanta including the Agora Ballroom and 688. Most famously, he holds the distinction of recording the first studio session ever by R.E.M. (And no, that session has never been released.) As was often the case, other local bands would record there including Love Tractor, Keith and the Satellites (soon to be called The Georgia Satellites), DDT and Oh-OK. Amongst the littany of bands that’d come in for a day or two and commit their material to tape was the upstart Athens five-piece Limbo District. While looking through third guitarist Kelly Crow’s archive, I stumbled across an unmarked cassette tape of a three song session. Jump ahead to famed collector Lo Yo Yo’s Todd Ploharski who had the same session but on the J-card was written “Bombay.” And just like that, the band’s second recording session from the spring of 1982 had been unearthed. This session is, indeed, the band’s second line-up with Art In The Dark’s Tim Lacy on guitar who strengthened the band’s songwriting and performances. The three songs recorded “Fetish This,” “Daydreaming,” and “Two Of Screams” have more in common with the art damaged New York No Wave scene than any oblique pop, rock or jangle in the Classic City at the time. Not coincidentally, Limbo bassist...

Limbo District

Sin-Gles! (Plus Live)

Chunklet / Primordial Void

***Esoteric, yet oddly vivacious, Athens legends Limbo District never released any music during their 25 month career from April 1981 until their less-than-ceremonious dissolution in May 1983. They did several tours up and down the east coast in addition to playing local haunts like 688, TV Dinner, the I&I, the Last Resort, Tyrone’s and, of course, the 40 Watt. Over the past year, Chunklet has released four singles and restored the apparition of Limbo District to where the world can now experience their unique take on no-wave. Primordial Void, in tandem with Chunklet, is proud to release a cassette compilation of their singles along with never before heard live material from the Nitery in 1982. Love Tractor’s Mark Cline calls Limbo District “an art band’s art band.” Sin-Gles! (Plus Live) sheds a spotlight on an ignored (yet pivotal!) band from Athens’ golden-age. Cuts such as “Encased” and “Factory Margo” have a distinctly Beefheart-y, Branca-esque flavor to them, yet their murky take on the classic punk ethos, combined with their innovative visual elements (more on that below), frame Limbo District as early pioneers of a rather clever aesthetic later adopted by groups such as Hype Williams, Pocahaunted, and Immaterial Possession. Limbo District is also notable for some of its core members; vocalist/percussionist Jeremy Ayers was a member of Andy Warhol’s Factory (as “Sylva Thinn”) in the 1970s, a major, major scene staple in Athens, and a co-writer of songs by R.E.M. and the B-52s; Limbo’s bassist and arranger was Dublin,...

Limbo District

Rhythm Forward + 2

Chunklet

The B-52s, R.E.M., Pylon, Love Tractor... The roster of early Athens legends is quite distinguished, but one of their closest peers never so much as put a record out. That band is Limbo District. Active from April 1981 until their unceremonious disbanding in May 1983, there was a grand total of one movie made of them by Jim Herbert entitled "Carnival" while they existed. "They were the band's band," as Mark Cline from Love Tractor so eloquently put it on NPR. While the "Encased" track is on this, the band's first session in the summer/fall of 1981, two other tracks ("Knock Knock Lobo" and "Rhythm Forward") are included. The lyrics were written by vocalst Craig Woodall and songs were arranged and written by the band that included former Factory star Jerry Ayers (neé Jeremy Ayers, Silva Thin) on percussion, from northern France, Dominique Amet on Farfisa organ, Spaniard Margarita Bilbao on guitar and from Dublin, Georgia, Davey Stevenson on bass. This line up of the band existed no more than a few seasons and then went away to be reborn with Tim Lacy (later of Art in the Dark) and Kelly Crow both replacing Margarita on guitar in their own time. Behold the greatest ghost to ever haunt Athens, GA: Limbo District. Expect more. Much more. "Limbo District were an early 1980s Athens, Georgia band who never had any releases while they were around. Henry Owings has decided to rectify this situation. So here is their first release. Limbo...