Thing-One

Thing-One’s catalog unfolds like the work of multiple acts compressed into a single entity. The group began in 2003 as a live hip-hop unit that fused rap, rock, soul, and jazz, then gradually shifted toward an indie-rock sound marked by danceable accents. By the time the third album appeared, the music had come to resemble the output of Dismemberment Plan and Arcade Fire. At the outset, however, frontman Joey Palestina drew almost exclusively on rap, citing Nas, GZA, Biggie Smalls, and the lesser-known Esthero as primary touchstones. Together with Spencer Miles, he began improvising rhymes at a basement gathering in Glen Ridge, New Jersey; what began as an impromptu joke soon turned into a working project. The pair assembled a live hip-hop ensemble that included a female backing vocalist and issued the five-song EP Before the Road in 2004. Built on buoyant beats and emo-leaning lyrics that addressed teenage anxieties about breakups and the haze of post-college life, the EP was later expanded into the band’s debut full-length, ...Miles from the Road, in 2005. After relocating to Brooklyn, the musicians absorbed new influences from Ra Ra Riot, Mooney Suzuki, and Apes & Androids. Guitarist Adam Arcano joined the lineup alongside Joey Palestina, Spencer Miles, and drummer Tim Alworth, and the revised configuration delivered the 2008 album GhettoSkylineSuburbanFarmland.