Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments was a band from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

active from 1989 to 2000.

History

The band was formed in 1989 by Ron House, the former frontman of the band

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

. The band is named after

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

's slave quarters at

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

. Soon after their formation, they released several 7"s in the Columbus area. They followed these up with their debut album, ''Bait and Switch'', which they recorded at a cost of $800, and which was released in 1995 on American Recordings. This album was followed by their second album, ''Straight to Video'', in 1997 on

Anyway Records __NOTOC__ Anyway Records is an independent record label based in Columbus, Ohio, which specializes in a Columbus brand of indie rock. It was established in 1991 by Bela Koe-Krompecher, called an "indie stalwart" by '' Entertainment Weekly''. Dur ...

. Also in 1997, the band released a compilation album, ''You Lookin' for Treble'', which contained singles the band had released from 1990 to 1992, as well as songs from an EP released during that time. 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 Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. (born October 31, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices. In addition to his work with Guided by Voices, he continues to have a prol ...

. 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. Guitarist Bob Petric died in April 2021.

Critical reception

''Bait and Switch'' received a favorable review from ''Entertainment Weeklys Ethan Smith, who wrote that the album was "short on polish, long on charm" and gave it a B+ rating.

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the '' Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busine ...

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."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave ''Bait and Switch'' an A− rating, writing that the first five songs on the album "rush by in a perfect furious tunefest". Another review of this album appeared in ''Spin'', in which

Eric Weisbard Eric Weisbard is an American music critic known for founding the Pop Conference, which is hosted annually by the Museum of Pop Culture (formerly known as the EMP Museum). He also organized the conference for many years. Career Weisbard serves ...

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. In ''Billboard'', David Sprague wrote that ''Bait and Switch'' "retain the relaxed, lo-fi vibe" that was apparent on the band's early singles.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

Bait and Switch Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the a ...

'' ( American Recordings, 1995) *''Straight to Video'' (

Anyway Anyway may refer to: * ''Anyway'' (album) or the title song, by Family, 1970 * Anyway Records, an American record label * "Anyway" (CeeLo Green song), 2011 * "Anyway" (Chris Brown song), 2015 * "Anyway" (Duck Sauce song), 2009 * "Anyway" (Ge ...

, 1997) *''No Old Guy Lo-Fi Cry'' ( Rockathon, 2000)

Compilation albums

*''You Lookin' for Treble?'' (

Year Zero A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year is followed directly by year . However, the ...

/ Vinyl Retentive, 1997)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Columbus, Ohio Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 1989 establishments in Ohio 2000 disestablishments in Ohio Anyway Records artists