R.E.M. тобының "Chronic Town" EP-сінің жазбасы және шығуы

the film
Jangle pop
garage rock The band was uncertain at first if they would record with producer Mitch Easter (who had produced "Radio Free Europe"), but Easter managed to convince Holt and the band to let him produce it. In October 1981, R. E. M. spent a weekend at Easter's Drive In Studios recording the EP. Easter was a fan of the electronic band Kraftwerk, which inspired him to try various sonic experiments while recording. Easter incorporated tape loops and recorded singer Michael Stipe singing outdoors. "There were a lot of bugs out there," remembered Easter. "Whenever that 'house in order' part comes up, I think you can hear tons of crickets." At the time of R. E. M.'s stint at the Drive In, "the set up was really simple," Easter said in 1994. "I had almost nothing in the studio back then, except a tape machine and a console and two compressors and one delay device. We couldn't do any fancy stuff." Easter continued: "I remember Chronic Town completely fondly because it was so relaxed, and so open to cutting the tape up and putting pieces in backwards and stuff. There were some fireworks one night, so we went and sat on the roof for four hours and watched the fireworks instead of working on the record—because we could, you know?" However, the band's demo had caught the attention of I. R. S. Records. The label signed the group to a record deal, working it out of its contracts with Healy and Hib Tone, the indie label which released "Radio Free Europe". I. R. S. heads Jay Boberg and Miles Copeland III felt the proposed track listing was weakened by the song "Ages of You" and "Jazz Lips",

During his time in Athens, Michael Lachowski, of Pylon, ran an answerphone service known as the Athens Party Telephone. Its initialism, A. P. T., was used in the lyric to "Stumble".

The album's front cover features an image of the Stryge gargoyle from Notre Dame Cathedral.

I. R. S. released Chronic Town in August 1982 as its first American release. Reaction to the EP varied; one I. R. S. radio promoter said that many of his contacts at campus radio did not know what to make of the record, but added, "The Georgia stations and some of the more together college stations across the country jumped on it." The band filmed its first music video for "Wolves, Lower" to promote the record. The EP sold 20,000 copies in its first year.

I. R. S.'s Jay Boberg said of Chronic Town: "The thing that made me play the cassette again and again was that it kept getting better. It was not the kind of thing you listened to once or twice, casually, and said, 'Oh my God! This is tremendous!' It had a depth to it." Creem writer Robot A. Hull began his review saying, "This EP is so arcane that I had to play it six times in a row to get a handle on it – and even now, I'm still not sure." Hull praised the EP for "[evoking] the music of the late '60s without any pretensions, mingling past and present to shape both into concurrent moments." Hull concluded, "Despite its eccentricity, R. E. M.'s record is undoubtedly the sleeper EP of the year." Chronic Town ranked second in the EP category of the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll in 1982. For Record Store Day 2010, held on April 17 of that year, participating independent record stores sold a limited edition and individually numbered blue vinyl 12" reissue of the long out of print EP.