Dave Trumfio operated a lesser-known yet impressive studio, Kingsize Soundlabs, just as Chicago's alt-rock boom took place. As the city's insular music scene became the focus of outsized attention which couldn't possibly meet the needs of a trend-hungry exploitation eternally, Dave put his nose to the grindstone, catering to a small group of outsiders - British visitors such as The Mekons and Stuart Moxham, a number of Icelandic artists, as well as future stars of the embryonic alt-country scene, such as Wilco and Neko Case . . . and quite a lot of madness besides. One rare day off, Dave rang his drummer brother, Harry, and the pair recorded nine songs in a single afternoon. The first outsider to hear the results was a friend from Atlantic who flew the band's 'emergency fill-in' manager to New York, where a deal was put on the table within an hour. While in shock at the speed of it all - the duo had yet to play a real gig - Pulsars were mistakenly asked to open a gig for Oasis, then at the peak of their fame. The dozen major label reps who attended the show fostered a six-month bidding war. But at the end of the day, it was Herb Alpert's surprise doubling of their monetary demands that led to the band's deal with Almo Sounds. Success was immediate in Japan, though in America the label foundered and collapsed . .. but undercover, the band managed to record some three hundred songs. Due to their clever inclusion of a contractual clause allowing reversion of master rights if statements were missed for two reporting periods, the band regained the entirety of their recorded catalogue from Universal's tape storage facilities . . . just weeks before fire destroyed the warehouse. Recently, the self-titled Pulsars was name one of the 40 Greatest One-Album Wonders by Rolling Stone, alongside The Sex Pistols, The Modern Lovers and Lauryn Hill: "One of the gems of the mid-Nineties alt-rock gold rush, the lone album by the brotherly duo the Pulsars is a shimmering collection of blissed-out synth-pop peppered with...
