Written by: Alex Green

Recorded back in 2000 by Jellyfish’s Jason Falkner and Roger Manning along with Brian Reitzell, TV Eyes’ debut is one of those rare recorded documents that’s unencumbered by worries about what’s trending in the sonic landscape. As a result, the band’s self-titled debut is an album that seems to exist both in and out of time–it had nothing in common with what was happening in music at start of 2000 and it has everything to do with what’s happened in music nearly fifteen years later.

A prescient batch of synth-laden breakdowns and complex techno grooves, TV Eyes may very well have unwittingly provided a blueprint for what was to come with both ’80s revivalists and the entire EDM movement.

A multi-media presentation (replete with obscure film clips), that was only actually presented during the three live performances the band ever gave, TV Eyes is rife with jittery social politics and urban fear, all amounting to a narrative that suggests a post-apocalyptic psychodrama along the lines of “Blade Runner,” “Brazil” and Brave New World.

The twitchy opener “Over The City” is where our story begins, with a euphoric, almost Icarus-like rush straight into the sun. From there, we get the psychedelic synth swirl of “Fascinating,” the dark cascading comedown of “The Party’s Over” and the heaving electropop of “What She Said.”

Jumpy, disturbed and bewildered by technology–check out the stunning “Mission: Submission”–this is a song sequence that sounds like New Order fronted by Phillip K. Dick.

Redolent with suspicion, heartache and a frenzied blend of doubt and mania, TV Eyes taps perfectly into the techno-jitters of Y2K and comes up with one of the most unusual and arresting albums of the decade.

Rescued from obscurity by Omnivore, this reissue contains liner notes from Jason Falkner as well as four bonus tracks.