FOOT VILLAGE "Fuck the Future II"

Do you ever have those "objective moments" where you suddenly take a step back and see yourself as someone else would right then? This album gave me a few of those, where I would flash back to high school and one of my parents stepping into my bedroom while I'm listening to some of my music. How would this sound to them as they walked into the middle of it? Without a doubt, the bulk of this album would elicit a "What in the world are you listening to? Is this music?!"

This is a quality that I love about Foot Village, the willingness to be, in many ways, completely absurd. This band of 4 drummer/shouters and no other instruments is like one of those crazy weekend concept bands that might form and play one show and be forgotten because it was ridiculous to begin with. Well, that's what I would do on weekends. In fact, I feel like I've been in several bands something like Foot Village, but none of them have been carried to the point that FV have, with national and international tours and several albums, for which I wholeheartedly support them and cheer them on. At the same time, I often think "I can't believe anyone besides me likes this band!" Even the band themselves apparently have these "objective moments" because at the very end of the track "Race Till the End of Food" one of the band members says "I cannot believe this is our song."

That track, as well as a few others here, actually takes the form of a comedy sketch, with a character called "Hungee Bear" and other forest creatures having a race, till the end of food apparently. After a "ready, set, go," the bulk of the 10-minute track is a cacophony of drum flailing, with the levels way in the red and sounding like total square-wave harsh noise. Again, a willingness to be completely absurd.

This is a b-side collection (well, actually compiling non-album tracks from a variety of splits and limited releases, but I call these b-side collections), and b-side albums are almost always my favorite albums by bands. The Jesus & Mary Chain's "Barbed Wire Kisses," Royal Trux's "Singles Live Unreleased." You just get a much wider variety of music for your money. And here we get some rougher early material, some remixes, some singles, and a couple more noise-based experimental tracks. The "singles" - which I think portray Foot Village doing what they do best, are my favorites, like "Clubtraxxx I-III" and "Bones." The remixes are my least favorite because they largely just sound like an original song by the "remixer" which samples Foot Village. "Crow Call" sounds like an Anavan song with Foot Village vocals and "The Power of HEALTH" largely sounds like a remix of the band HEALTH (which I'm guessing it also is) with a few Foot Village drums and vocals. On the other hand, the Jason Forrest remix of "Narc Party" keeps most of the elements of the original in place, and the track "3840 Ticks of the Soul" with Captain Ahab seems like it's genuinely some kind of remixing of the original.

This album seems to put the tracks in chronological order, with the remixes mostly stacked at the end, and that seems like a weird way to listen to me. I prefer the songs mixed up like those previously mentioned b-side examples. But hey, that's what this shuffle function is for I guess. In fact, I shuffled the album just now and got a playlist I like so much, I think I'm going to edit the mp3 tags and make this my new official listening order! That "Narc Party" remix came first, and the "Race Till the end of food" was placed last, which works perfectly. In case you want to do the same, here's my recommended listening order:

1. Narc Party (Jason Forrest Remix)
2. Chicken and Cheese 2
3. Napaj
4. Follow Your Heart (Featuring Eco Morti)
5. Iceland
6. Clubtraxxx I-III
7. The Power of HEALTH (Captain Ahab Remix)
8. Comparable Love in the Time of development
9. Crow Call (Anavan Remix)
10. 3840 Ticks of the Soul (Featuring Captain Ahab)
11. Psychic Connection
12. 420 (National Holiday)
13. Bones
14. Race Till the End of Food

CD available from Gilgongo Records

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http://www.gilgongorecords.com