| Far-Out Fangtooth — Borrowed Time (2013) |
Far-Out Fangtooth — Borrowed Time
» Philadelphia's fuzzed-out collective has drawn comparisons to Sonic Youth, the Cramps, and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Indie Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Noise-Rock
Album release: October 29, 2013
Record Label: Siltbreeze
Duration: 38:19
Tracks:
1 Bow Your Head 3:42
2 Mother Nature Fetish 4:20
3 Beyond Your Bones 4:51
4 Green Hands 4:23
5 Get Around 3:15
6 Admit It 4:32
7 Scalp 4:29
8 Girl (Like You) 3:22
9 Stretch/Lips 5:25
Far-Out Fangtooth is:
| Joseph Kusy: Guitar, Vocal, Percussion
| Nicholas Kulp: Guitar, Vocal, Synth
| Vincent Alvaré: Percussion, Vocal, Guitar, Keys
| Tania Mesterhazy: Bass
Photos by: Adam Wallacavage | Layout by Fangtooth.
» All Songs by Far-Out Fangtooth 2013
» Recorded in the Fall of 2012 @ Cobb Studio outside of Philadelphia, PA. Recorded on 16 track 2" Tape to Digital.
» Engineered by Paul Cobb. Produced By Justin Pittney.
» Mixed by Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording Studio, Philadelphia, PA.
» Mastered by Mark Trewella at Full Circle Mastering in Philadelphia, PA.
Album Moods: Detached Intense Sprawling Volatile Fiery Hypnotic Spooky Tense/Anxious Visceral Cathartic Eerie Enigmatic Elaborate Stylish Trippy
Themes: Hanging Out Introspection Late Night Maverick Night Driving Reflection Solitude
» Far-Out Fangtooth’s debut showed the promise of a band locked into a Sonic Youth-indebted raw 90’s rock. It was enjoyable but had room for the band to come into themselves as songwriters and that’s precisely what they do on the follow up Borrowed Time. Glossing up the production and graduating further into the folds of shoegaze and psychedelia, the album seethes with a dark current that rolls along the surface like fog. » They utilize a tightly wound clang and percussive rumble to propel the album’s storm of keys and guitars caught in a sonic mesh of feedback and swirl. The overall vicious growl of noise paired with the breathy intensity of their vocal delivery sets the tone for Borrowed Time to build its gothic-psych pillars to new heights. Ultimately the album ends up a rainy day necessity that often trembles with pent up energy and pays off well when it unleashes like a torrent on the listener.
Review by Heather Phares; Score: ****
» On Pure and Disinterested, Far-Out Fangtooth lived up to their debut album’s title: serving up doomy riffs and aloof guy-girl vocals, they were bored and bold in equal measure, like Bad Moon Rising-era Sonic Youth. While the band still has a fondness for Sonic Youth-like epics on Borrowed Time (particularly on the gorgeous “Green Hands”), they move beyond the grungy sounds that have only gotten more popular since Pure and Disinterested’s 2011 release. As on the Thorns EP, they’ve cleaned up their sound and done some trimming: Borrowed Time weighs in at nine tracks, none of which are as claustrophobically dense as those on their debut. However, this focus makes the vistas Far-Out Fangtooth explores even more vast and hypnotic; it’s immediately noticeable how much bigger, and more psychedelic, the album-opener “Bow Your Head” sounds with the space surrounding its serpentine guitar riff and distant vocals. The band also expands its musical range, borrowing from glossy post-punk on “Mother Nature Fetish,” melding stoner rock and shoegaze on “Beyond Your Bones,” and exploding in metal-like fury on “Admit It.” Still, some of Borrowed Time’s best moments occur when Far Out Fangtooth gets radically simple: the ominous garage love song “Girl (Like You)” — which includes the memorable lyric “these tears won’t shed themselves” — and “Get Around,” which rivals the Stooges in its brilliant stupidity and pounding pianos, are equal and opposite reactions to the elaborate sonics they craft elsewhere. This kind of range and balance reflects how much Far Out Fangtooth have grown into their sound and capabilities since the Pure and Disinterested days, and what an impressive leap forward Borrowed Time is for them.
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
» Pure & Disinterested Philadelphia's fuzzed-out indie-psych outfit Far Out Fangtooth features guitarists/vocalists Joesph Kusy and Nick Kulp, percussionist/vocalist Vincent Alvaré, and bassist Tania Mesterhazy. An early version of the band began in 2009, when Kusy and Alvaré began recording songs that ranged from jangly pop to expansive noise jams at home on cassettes. They gave one of these tapes to Kulp, who soon joined the fold along with Mesterhazy. After self-releasing a cassette album, the band released a limited-edition 7" single on the local Ian! label. Meanwhile, they were also working on demos for what would become their debut album, Pure and Disinterested, which they recorded with Philly scene fixtures Damien Taylor (the Sounds of Kaleidoscope) and Gerhardt Koerner (Lilys). Released in 2011 via Siltbreeze, the album's grungy, moody, expansive feel drew comparisons to the Cramps and Sonic Youth. Far Out Fangtooth followed it with the Hozac-released EP Thorns in 2012, which they recorded with producer Justin Pittney. For their second album, 2013's expansive-yet-streamlined Borrowed Time, the band reunited with Pittney and worked at Philadelphia's Cobb Studio.
Website: http://faroutfangtooth.com/
Bandcamp: http://faroutfangtooth.bandcamp.com/
PRESS:
PITCHFORK
» ”Far-Out Fangtooth are a fuzzy Philadelphia collective, though their hometown and fidelity don’t quite place them in the same sonic realm as Purling Hiss or Spacin’. Instead of blown out and ballsy rock music, there’s a quiet romanticism to “Mother Nature Fetish”, the lead single from their sophomore LP Borrowed Time (out October 29 via Siltbreeze). The track’s guitar sound features a shoegazing buoyancy, and its pair of vocals are delivered in a stacked, octave-separated unison for an effect that’s both satisfying and mildly unsettling.
» Occasionally, they turn up the power for some loudly distorted power chords and a more hamfisted drum attack. But really, Far-Out Fangtooth’s sound exists somewhere in a murky, psychedelic middle ground between a gentle Jesus & Mary Chain jangle and all-out raw power. Throughout this track’s four minutes and 20 seconds — a timestamp that I cannot believe to be a coincidence — they harness that vibe quite nicely.”
NORMAN RECORDS
» "Always a treat to get some new records in from HoZac. We’ve got four this week and too much to review but Phil’s letting me write about this one anyway as a kind of token gesture. I already enjoyed these guys’s LP but this single seems to distil their hazy, churning summer garage pop psychedelia into something even better!The first side comes across like Comets on Fire after taking a whole heap of chill pills, with great trails of psychedelic lead guitar and lazy-bump grooves, and the second side has two more songs in the same hot, fuzzy style. Maybe touches of The Heads in their blown out tones but the laid back kind of Carlton Meltony soft stoner vibes take the edge off and these guys have their own way of delivering this warm fuzzy psychedelia which is totally smooth and likeable. Indulgently enjoyable stuff. ”
IMPOSE
» "Far-Out Fangtooth, based out of Philadelphia, create battering and incessant dirges. » Their music rings out for the dead and ramshackle bones that fill cemeteries late at night. After an LP on Siltbreeze last year, Far Out-Fangtooth cement their guttural style with a new EP on Hozac. Title track "The Thorns" utilizes a bracing and keen understanding of tension, which feels more and more demented as each faded cry dissolves into screeching feedback. "Occasion of Sin" sounds like a possessed Spacemen 3, as death drags a bag of stolen souls along rusted, abandoned train tracks. » If "Occasion of Sin" is a portrait of the grim reaper, then "Patience" is the listener’s own encounter with him, nearing the dreadful end. From there, Far-Out Fangtooth have lured their listeners into the dark, leaving nothing but the thirst of blood to survive. You can listen to The Thorns below, and get the EP”
THE DELI MAGAZINE — PHILADELPHIA
» ”Sometimes in order to beat the summer heat, it is best to just embrace the haze (well, all this predicted rain might help too). Far-Out Fangtooth offers just the right amount of hazy, psychedelic sounds to get lost in. Ambient with gothic tendencies, the four-piece has really evolved to become a must-see in the local music community. Their scuzzy guitar riffs recall the early days of punk, but the addition of echoing, distant vocals creates a cross-genre sound unique to today’s airwaves.”
» "There will always be a subculture of society disgruntled by the world around them. » Far-Out Fangtooth’ Pure & Disinterested has provided a new soundtrack echoing the disenchantment of a generation who was promised more, but unfortunately was given less (or at least that’s what they have perceived)."
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| Far-Out Fangtooth — Borrowed Time (2013) |