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A lot of material I cover here on Claremont Cometh, I have a hard time selling other people on. Some of it grows on people, or demands very targeted recommendation. None of that applies to the work of Franklin Bruno. Franklin has some of the most accessible, strong-first-impression music in the extended Shrimper scene. 

Franklin's solo material varies greatly in its scope and sound. On the louder end, you may also be here looking for his band Nothing Painted Blue.

Franklin also operated Jupa Records alongside Kyle Brodie. See the Jupa Records page for more on their output.

From Franklin's own website, a bio:

My name is Franklin Bruno. I write songs, and perform them with the Human Hearts and in other configurations. During the 1990s, I was one-third of the band Nothing Painted Blue, and have also released music under my own name, and in collaboration with various talented friends (Jenny Toomey, Wckr Spgt, The Mountain Goats). Some samples are available on the music page.

I also write criticism, poems, and academic work in philosophy and musicology. My two books are Armed Forces (criticism; Continuum Books [33 1/3 series], 2006), and The Accordion Repertoire (poetry; Edge Books, 2012). I am currently working on a book about bridges, middle eights, and breakdowns in (mostly American) popular music, to be published by Wesleyan University Press.

I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA, am currently a lecturer at SUNY Purchase, and have previously taught at Pomona College, Northwestern University, and Bard College.

I was born and raised in the Inland Empire of Southern California. I now live in Jackson Heights, Queens, with my partner, actress/singer/sheet music archivist Bree Benton. I am pianist and musical director for her vaudevillian alter ego Poor Baby Bree.

You'll find information for a few different things here in the Franklin Index:

(a note: while I wait for a copy, several links to Fayettenam release Local Currency: Solo 1992-1998 will send you to the 404 page. please enjoy the mspainted 404 gif until I can get a page up for the album.) 

Click the cover (or the hyperlinked text name provided for easy page searching) to view the info page for any album:

CDs: 

 

A Bedroom Community (Simple Machines, 1995)
Kiss Without Makeup (Absolutely Kosher, 2000)
A Cat May Look At A Queen (Absolutely Kosher, 2002)

The cassettes: 

Suggestion Box (Shrimper, 1990)
Etudes for Voice and Snackmaster (Shrimper, 1993)
Works from Home (Shrimper, 2017)

The 7"s: 

A Sand Dollar Relief Map (Shrimper, 1995)
Hermetic Geometry (Baby Huey, 1993)
The Irony Engine (Walt Records, 1993)
Zero Return (Fayettenam, 2009)

Just for fun, I've got some index pages here for one of Franklin's side projects, The Extra Glenns. They also released an album on Merge as The Extra Lens, but I'm omitting that because it's relatively new, easy to purchase, and Merge is a relatively big label. Read about the Infidelity 7" (Harriet Records, 1993) by clicking the left image, and Martial Arts Weekend (Absolutely Kosher, 2001) on the right.

 

Franklin's more recent work is with The Human Hearts. I'm waiting on a replacement copy of a 7" they did, so look forward to a page on that later this year. For now, here's a page on Another, the CD they put out on Shrimper in 2012: 

 

And like the Refrigerator index, here's a nice searchable table due to the sheer volume here (click the thumbnail of the cover art to open the page):

A Baby, A Blanket, A Packet of Seeds Nothing Painted Blue (Jupa Records, 1990)
The Bellyspeak E.P. Nothing Painted Blue (Jupa Records, 1990)
Suggestion Box: Home Recordings 1984-1990 Franklin Bruno (Shrimper, 1990)
Four Song EP Wckr Spgt (Jupa Records, 1991)
Few Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1991)
Big Bear Barn Shadow Giant Sand (Jupa Records, 1992)
Fortune Came Today Wckr Spgt (Jupa Records, 1992)
Swivelchair Nothing Painted Blue (Kokopop, 1992)
Hermetic Geometry Franklin Bruno (Baby Huey, 1993)
Infidelity The Extra Glenns (Harriet Records, 1993)
Sorely Tempted Nothing Painted Blue (Jupa Records, 1993)
Power Trips Down Lovers Lane Nothing Painted Blue (Kokopop, 1993)
Etudes for Voice and Snackmaster Franklin Bruno (Shrimper, 1993)
July Nothing Painted Blue (Simple Machines, 1993)
The Irony Engine Franklin Bruno (Walt Records, 1993)
After The House Warming Nothing Painted Blue (Anyway Records, 1994)
Biographer's Ruse Nothing Painted Blue (Car In Car Disco Product, 1994)
Placeholders Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1994)
Anti Nomination / Signal Nothing Painted Blue (Misha Records, 1995)
President Am I Nothing Painted Blue (Pottery Records, 1995)
The Future Of Communications Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1995)
A Sand Dollar Relief Map Franklin Bruno (Shrimper, 1995)
A Bedroom Community Franklin Bruno (Simple Machines, 1995)
Control Freak Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1996)
Emotional Discipline Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1997)
The Monte Carlo Method Nothing Painted Blue (Scat Records, 1998)
Kiss Without Makeup Franklin Bruno (Absolutely Kosher Records, 2000)
Martial Arts Weekend The Extra Glenns (Absolutely Kosher, 2001)
A Cat May Look At A Queen Franklin Bruno (Absolutely Kosher Records, 2002)
Taste the Flavor Nothing Painted Blue (Shrimper, 2006)
Local Currency: Solo 1992-1998 Franklin Bruno (Fayettenam, 2009)
Zero Return Franklin Bruno (Fayettenam Records, 2009)
Art Books The Human Hearts (Fayettenam, 2011)
Another The Human Hearts (Shrimper, 2012)
Works From Home: 1995 - 2005 Franklin Bruno (Shrimper, 2017)

any images, lyrics, song titles, etc are property of the original artists, where at all possible images are pulled from my own scanned copies and any found/submitted images are noted and credited. this is a fan site without ads, trackers, or even so much as one of those site counters from the late 90's. if you see your intellectual property here and want it removed, email away. thanks