Strangers from the Universe is an album by the American band Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, released in 1994 through Matador Records.[1][2] The band supported the album by touring with Live.[3]Strangers from the Universe was a moderate commercial success.[4] Mark Davies used an Optigan keyboard on some of the tracks.[5]
Trouser Press wrote: "Berserk rhythms are presented with deadpan simplicity, like the sickly funk riff of 'Socket' that keeps sticking a banana peel in its own path."[12]Spin opined that "for once the Thinking Fellers have made an album that you can comfortably hear straight through, and its dark mood deepens along the way."[13]
The Washington Post determined that the album "can be elusive, but much of it deserves the title the band bestowed on the closing track, 'Noble Experiment'."[14]The Santa Fe New Mexican noted that "sometimes stringed instruments, such as banjo or mandolin, are used as rhythm instruments, or to create a throbbing drone ... It's usually unsettling, but sometimes beautiful."[15]
