JACKET WEATHER & REPTILE HOUSE
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JACKET WEATHER
when shadows move: 1982-1984
NEW 2007 RELEASE!

24 song re-mastered CD with booklet

THE CD RELEASE IS SOLD OUT, BUT A FEW OF THE ORIGINAL 1983 VINYL EPS ARE STILL AVAILABLE ONLY THROUGH US HERE

ABOUT THE SOLD-OUT CD:
The original mimimalist-new wave-electro master tapes have finally been collected, digitally
re-mastered and assembled into the album that was meant to be heard 25 years ago. Now
the JACKET WEATHER album is ready, in this LIMITED EDITION CD with booklet AVAILBLE ONLY HERE!

Unearthed in the research for band tapes and materials was a very nice suprise: a small box of JACKET WEATHER's only vinyl release — a box of mint, original 1983 "When Shadows Move'" 7" vinyl EPs! This is the same rare minimalist-wave record that has fetched as much as $300 a copy on eBay...
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visit the band's MySpace page for songs, pics & video HERE!__________________________________________________________________________

“For kids in the 1960s, the moment of inspiration was when they heard The Beatles for the first time,” Jacket Weather frontman Timothy Gassen says. “For me, when I heard Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer Love’ for the first time in 1981, I was hooked on making pop sounds with synths.”

Gassen formed the pioneering minimalist-electro-wave act Jacket Weather in 1982, mixing dual Casiotone keyboards, real bass and drums – with the desolate  imagery of the Arizona desert. “I loved the contrast of the synths with human percussion and the sensual backdrop of the desert,” Gassen adds. “We thought the tension of my cold, distant vocals and synths with the bombastic rock rhythm section made our sound unique.”

Described in their day as a cross between Joy Division and Young Marble Giants, with some Wall Of Voodoo mixed in, Jacket Weather etched their own minimalist sound. Staccato, expressionistic vocals accent the snake-like mingling of the Casiotones, while a steady dance pulse backs the eerie mixture. Equally enraptured with Euro-synth, English post-punk and Los Angeles punk-wave, Jacket Weather found inspiration from such opposites as Our Daughter’s Wedding to the Suburban Lawns for their Casiotone symphonies.

The band recorded a cassette album in 1982, released a six-song vinyl EP in 1983 (titled “When Shadows Move”) and also recorded a complete album that remained unreleased – until now. The impossibly rare EP has been a long-time quest for indie record collectors, with copies fetching more than $300 each on eBay.

Original session producer Gassen (who has gone on to a career in indie rock and film) recently found all the master tapes – from early demos, to the EP tapes, to the unreleased album – and re-mastered and assembled them all into the album that has been unheard for close to 25 years.

As an extra bonus for the 2007 CD release, Gassen also found and mixed the six original songs recorded by Reptile House, the more traditional rock band that Jacket Weather became in 1984. These songs remained unmixed and unreleased until now, and give their own unique peek into the 1980s New Wave underground. They also bridge listeners to Gassen’s next two decades of record-making with garage-psych kingpins The Marshmallow Overcoat.

But it’s the dark and mysterious (Casio) tones of Jacket Weather that finally take center stage, a quarter-century since they first drifted through the Arizona night.
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Timothy Gassen: keyboards, percussion, vocals
Debra Dickey: keyboards

Drums: Howie Salmon
Bass: Lee Joseph (also lead vocals on “No Flowers”),
Chris Holiman, John Ganem
Sax: Tom Denny (on "Betrayal”)
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from the CD liner notes:

The Arizona Daily Star’s Jill Schensul called the band, “Dark, furtive and sort of specter-like. Jacket Weather’s two keyboardists — Timothy Gassen and Debra Dickey — weave together smooth, tentative phantoms of sound. My favorite is ‘Must Be West,’ one of the most distinctive songs, and also illustrative of JW’s sound: rolling, almost toylike keyboards; Gassen spitting out two or three-word sentences for a stream-of-consciousness effect, and nice breaks in rhythm for added interest. Gassen relies heavily on natural imagery: water, sand, snakes. Desolate, but not in an angry way — more wistful than despairing. This is a distinctive smart endeavor.”
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