The first band on my random cd review list is Fox Jaws.
Label: Nevado Records
Price: 16.99
The album caught my eye in HMV a couple of days ago, maybe because it was mistakenly placed behind Death From Above 1979 which was the CD I went in for originally, but there was more to it than just a serendipitous find. The cover art was interesting, and the band name let me take a guess at what kinda music they are.
When I got home I popped the album in to be greeted by the genre I was expecting. Alt-country with loud twangy electric guitars. In the same vein as Rural Alberta Advantage, Hollerado, or Deer Tick.
The opening track, “Migrating Deer”, quickly grabbed my attention with a fast and heavy drum track, tempo changes, and a really fitting unpolished female vocalist. The song really takes off about two and half minutes in, with a quick tempo change and a brief change to a male vocalist. This song really got me excited to hear the rest of the album. Quite a good opener.
Unfortunately the next two songs didn’t grab me at all. The next song “Two By Two” (Which seems to be one of their most popular to songs on their myspace page) is incredibly dull. The music was very generic, nothing like the first track. And the biggest disappointment was that the girls vocals turned from meshing very well to downright annoying.
A couple of songs later “Youth Dance” kicks in with a completely different feel then anything else on the album. A snarly vocal that could be taken right out of an Against Me! song and a well chosen acoustic guitar chord strummed over a consistent drum beat creates an almost unplugged feeel. This stripped aesthetic was another different feel then anything that came up before, and really doesn’t come back up until the beginning of “Hunting Knives”.
My hopes of the album becoming more like “Youth Dance” were destroyed when “Drinking Fountains” started. The female vocalist was back in the spotlight, with a song about I don’t even know what? “Drinking Fountains”. This song is so boring. I don’t know whether it’s the annoying vocals, the repetitive unadventurous music or the ridiculous time and music change near the end of the song that It ushered in a new scale of dullness.
The boring music continues for a couple more songs until “Hunting Knives”, a much more traditional sounding country start to some grinding guitar then back to the traditional country sound. A duet this time, and it really works. About a minute into the song it slows down and you hear some harmonics. Then there is a sample….a sample that doesn’t fit at all. No where on the album is there another sample. A computerized voice goes “It’s learning Time”, and then there is a tempo change. If the tempo change didn’t usher in a fantastic new badass sounding guitar I’d say the song would be ruined. During “Learning Time”, the song speeds up with a grinding guitar and bass line and a really, well-done drum part. Other than the out of place computer voice this song was definitely the standout track of the album.
“I Am An Army” follows “Hunting Knives” by staying in the same vein of upbeat distortion drenched rock. This song strayed pretty far from the country that was so heavily intertwined in the previous songs. The ending of this song is nothing like anything else on the album. A guitar solo right out of radiorock and screaming vocals gave this song an exciting energy. The fact that this was the first time on the album that there were two songs in a row that were good really showed the problems with this band; absolutely no consistency. The feel of this album changes from song to song, going from fantastic to awful.
“The Enabler” comes up after and again it sounds completely different then anything else on the album and again really spotlighting how many different things this band has tried to do on this album. A synth is the driving force throughout this entire song. A lyrical chant about answering a phone and a very obvious chorus, but still really enjoyable, not nearly as good “Hunting Knives” or “I am An Army”, but at least this song wasn’t completely ignorable.
The last song of the album is called “Himmelfarb”. Yes….”Himmelfarb”. What a stupid song title. The song isn’t that special; a very very mellow generic closer.
I really really don’t know what to say about this album. There’s a lot of REALLY boring songs on it, but there’s also a lot of great songs. I’d never recommend it as a purchase. There are songs on here that are definitely worth listening too, but I say it’s hard to justify the 17 bucks I spent on this album. The first song leads you to believe that the album is completely different from what it actually is. There are some songs that manage to make this album seem exciting but there are more songs that bring it down to a point of sheer boredom.
As much as I may have made this sound like a negative review I really have to say I’m undecided on the album as a whole. The songs that are good, really are good. The songs that suck, really do suck. I’d say listen to (or iTunes purchase these individual songs) “Migrating Deer”, “Hunting Knives”, “Youth Dance” and the “Enabler”. If you treat it like an EP, it’s really fucking good.
Unlikely Awesome is, ironically, Likely to be Awesome.
Not gonna lie, this band is pretty weak. Migrating Deer is not on their myspace.
Why can’t bands today be more like sonic youth, and make noise that sounds like music, instead of music that sounds like noise.
Score one point for pretention.
A band that I haven’t seen live but heard they were alright.
For the record, their Radio3 page has a ton of songs streamable: http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/Fox-Jaws
Checked out a couple of tracks. Pretty rough – without much continuity. Nice album cover though.
This is a great concept for a music site. I hope this project unearths some happy accidents, but I have a feeling that you’ll end up with with some awful discoveries too.
Reminds me of that time I took a risk on a ’1997′ record.
fox jaw is a terrible band name
I’m not sure what I like least about this review, the immature/arrogant tone, the desire for alt. country from a band that doesn’t play alt. country, or the vague, silly criticisms of the songs. Their first album is more melodic/accessible, perhaps you ought to check out some songs from it.
“Drinking Fountains”, which sounds about 100 times more country than any of the songs you list as “alt. country”, is a song that you need to draw your own conclusions from. To me it’s about the uncertainty of growing up. It’s about feeling like you’re out on your own for the first time in your life (the desert) and the best times (the high school drinking fountains) are behind you and there’s no way to get back to them. Of course that’s not the case, but we’ve all felt like that from time to time.
It saddens me that some people just want everything spoon fed to them by the songwriters. Lyrics that let you reach your own conclusions are far more interesting. I mean look at lyrics like “With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row/And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go/And your gentleness now, which you just can’t help but show/Who among them do you think would employ you?” What the hell does that mean? Who cares? It’s beautiful and it makes sense on an emotional level.
Personally I don’t care for a review that states so-and-so song was so boring or what a stupid name for a song (it’s a German name by the way, though I don’t know if it has any meaningful connection to the song). It sort of makes you sound like a child. I read reviews to learn about the music not to hear someone say this song sucks or this song was boring. For it to be a successful review you need to tell me why you felt that way.
You also failed to mention what I consider to be the best song on the album, “Home & Native”. The music, vocals, and imagery come together perfectly to paint a beautiful, soulful ode to the landscape in a very personal way.
I think it’s a good thing the album has a diverse number of musical styles but then most of the artists I listen to have played different styles over time or even just from song to song. As long as its coherent it works that’s fine, and in my opinion ‘At Odds’ (which is a rather fitting title for an album that covers a lot of musical terrain) does have a unifying theme and therefore is coherent in my opinion.
Contrary to this long comment I’m not completely in love with this album. There are songs that I don’t care for but there are enough I like (including “Youth Dance” and “Hunting Knives”, I agree with you on those ones) and the album is coherent enough to work as a meaningful statement. By the way, that tempo change at the end of “Drinking Fountains” is the outro and, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful pieces of music on the album.
Anyhow, I’m off to listen to “Trout Mask Replica”…