///////////////// PRESS.........::Accolades for BRG005 the fun years / baby, it's cold inside:: ////BOOMKAT dot com - Record of the year for 2008!!! Ever wandered what a cross between GAS, Tim Hecker, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Stars of The Lid and Philip Jeck would sound like? If so, you're in luck, for this utterly incredible album from 'The Fun Years' ticks all the above boxes and emerges with a 50 minute listening experience that's left us gasping for breath. There's a dense crackle and frayed balance to these recordings that makes you feel like the whole thing could disintegrate at any moment, pulling you in to a sound-world formed by broken instruments, the crackle of battered, old vinyl, the edgy ambience of the great outdoors in the middle of the night and, quite suddenly, an amplified wall of sound playing tricks on your senses. Each of these tracks begins with the fizz and snap of looped and popped vinyl and ends with a devastated, tumultuous re-arrangement of sounds, but it's the process from A to B that's almost impossible to fathom in one sitting. These kinds of aural tricks that make use of manipulated found sounds, turntablism and affected acoustic instruments are hardly new, but 'The Fun Years' mark themselves out with a brilliant disregard for generic templates and accepted convention, imperceptibly realigning sonic boundaries in the process. That seemingly effortless transition from one sonic methodology to another is what makes this album so special, just listening to the opening track 'My Lowville' takes you from a Philip Jeck style crackle to a reverberating acoustic strum, towering processes reminiscent of Tim Hecker and finally an opaque catharsis transmitted from deep inside Wolfgang Voigt's famous forest. By the time you reach the end of the album you're left astonished at this band's ability to create a sound that's at once so gorgeously warm and familiar, yet so confidently removed from the confines of precedent. Definitely one of the albums of the year - an absolutely essential purchase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////FOXY DIGITALIS Far from what you might expect, ambient music is a tough sound to get right. Sure, it might sound like someone has just left the kettle boiling for too long, or merely looped the same sound for nigh on an hour, but there really is more to it than that. Brian Eno was only too well aware of this, and although he might have started a revolution with his slightly phased loops and twinkling pianos, it wasn't easy to repeat. That's not to say that there haven't been regular attempts at the style, but classic moments are punctuated blips in a mass of garbled waffle and embarrassing new-age hippy sentiment. Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project was one such blip, and in the mid to late 90s he influenced yet another wave of producers, desperate to create music which was beautiful yet never trite and relaxing without being lumped into the soiled world of post-club chill out music. The Fun Years are a duo from New England, and are very much a part of the post-Gas ambient sound. "Baby, It's Cold Inside" is their second effort for the Barge label, but where their first was merely a good crack at a good idea, this time around they get everything right. And I mean everything, it is a rare album that manages to do all the things it set out to do and it does it without ever losing a sense of identity, something all too easy to forget, especially in experimental music. Taking the shellac-laced ideas of Philip Jeck and blending them with a Gas-eous density and overlaying the kind of dreamy guitar that might usually be attributed to My Bloody Valentine the duo create a continuous forty minutes of bliss, an album which manages to be far more than the sum of its parts. Like Christian Fennesz before them, they manage to squeeze sounds out of the guitar which might have been difficult without a few lines of machine code, but Fennesz never used his powers to create ambient music. Through five index points we travel through a hazy world, where the line between samples and live instruments is blurred irreparably and where noise is approached in the most serene way possible. The noise that appears is like a frosty sprinkling on an ice-cold morning, serving to make the music even more beautiful than it already was. It never impedes on the enjoyment of the record, and the serenity, the gorgeous harmony is always subtly placed, always delicately handled. By the time we reach the tumultuous crash of the album's final piece (which possibly justifies the obligatory MBV references) you feel like just for a moment, you could have been dislocated from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and what would be more satisfying than that? Without a doubt the Fun Years have put together one of the finest works of 2008, don't let their relative obscurity put you off basking in their triumphant glow. 9/10 -- Dakota Block (26 November, 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////DAZED DIGITAL : DAZED AND CONFUSED DIGITAL MAGAZINE : ARTICLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////LEONARD'S LAIR Possibly the most ironically titled group ever, The Fun Years represent the minimalist, melancholic end of post-rock. Since their first album was called ‘Now that’s what i call droning, volume 4′, the Californian duo of Ben Recht (Baritone guitar) and Isaac Sparks (turntables) have clearly always had a sense of humour. This doesn’t come across quite so well on record but that’s because The Fun Years drone like few other bands. ‘My Lowville’ kicks off the miserablism with ten minutes of slowly unwinding drone and guitar. ‘Auto Show Day Of The Dead’ is based around a downcast piano loop, gradually bringing in new elements such as static and a resonant guitar hook. These tracks are actually quite dramatic in comparison to the next two. ‘Fucking Milwaukee’s Been Hesher Forever’ ambles along in a pleasant but rather unexciting way whilst ’Re: We’re Again Buried Under’ threatens to turn into something quite horrible but forvever teeters on the edge of evil. That just leaves ‘The Surge Is Working’ where twin guitars and whooshing sonic effects create a gripping finale. ‘Baby, It’s Cold Inside’ is a subtle record; concerned with slight shifts in melody and mood but it’s one which hits its mark after a few listens. The sum effect is rather like listening to Labradford but with less emphasis on beauty and emotion and more on bleak atmosphere and chilling effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////HEATHEN HARVEST Very nice disc made up from such an imaginative and creative duo of Ben Recht and Isaac Sparks, which are working together in the experimental field and having gotten recognition due the way as focusing each release. They have arrived with their new album called “Baby, its cold inside” and what a more appropriated title for the music developed here. It’s like a long in deep work to the winter nights through desolated landscapes and having the sensation to be dominated by most melancholic obsessions and desperate visions. “Baby, its cold inside” contains 5 chapters in which the isolationism and perpetual darkness are developed in an almost perfect way. “My loveville” opens with an icy scraping texture and minimal tone that speaks volumes about loneliness and paranoid stillness. It wavers little and finds the effectiveness in that steady approach. This track contains such minimal sounds evolving all the time, and giving you some sensations as to be in another world due penetrating atmospheres which are handled in this one. Coming next is the second track called “Auto show day of the dead” built into repetitive piano passages, loops which still carries such melancholic atmosphere, evoking pure sadness and senses of vacuity. Through the third track “fucking milwake’s been thresher forever”, drone elements marks its presence generating dissonant harmonies through layers upon layers, but with diverse sounds wrapped in such repetitive based lines. Let’s go to experience the 4th composition called “Re: were again buried under” and from its own nature the repetitive sounds, loops and drone passages seems to be predominant aspects here. But this time, this duo worked in an alien/cosmic atmosphere so in deep and abrasive. The whole sounds seem to be abducted you to another parallel universe. at moments the whole music reminds me to ld 70’s ambient projects due the way as the track is developed here. An amazing composition, perhaps the best one due its seductive surrealism handled from start to finish. Closing this release is “the surge is working” it
starts with a very interesting acoustic guitar elements and suddenly
the track begin its own transformation into more rhythmic structures
and ambient sounds capes. In general the use of guitars by Ben
Recht and turntable handled by Isaac sparks, which are handled
in a balanced way with the rest of elements such as loops, piano,
and drones makes of this release a provocative experimental piece
of minimalism drone ambient music. With high moments in the whole
tracks. This release comes in a nice digipack wrapped into black
and colored designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////TEXTURA : FEATURE THE FUN YEARS - INTERVIEW WITH ISAAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This one has totally got me, I really don't know how to write everything down that I want to about this stunning album. How do I describe the way this duo manage to put everything around you on hold with their absurdly wonderful blend of turntable static tape loops and lush baritone guitar manipulations? I don't think I can do this one justice at all and I seem to recall thinking the same for last years debut. But still, I guess I can try, but I may as well say now it won't be enough, words can't describe things like this. The five tracks here somehow pick up where Life-sized Psychoses left off with opener My Lowville almost feeling like a real ending to that album with its huge sound that builds up and up and..... I really have no idea what the hell I am writing here. I can't write enough of what I want to write about this album, and I can't do it effectively enough. It's not that it's hard, it just wont work. Really, Barge Recordings have put out a stunner here. It radiates beauty but in the most distant and lonely way, almost as if something is just waiting slowly for years and years for the one small moment of joy that is anticipated. Nothing moves too fast here, and yet nothing feels too long, I could (and probably should) say something about this being another ambient drone release, but I'm not going to, that couldn't do any justice. It isn't even ambient enough to say that, at times this is pure rousing punk rock, that is killing me to know what to write about. Even to the point where I received an email from the label asking about the review. That was a week or so ago now, and this is probably not the final draft anyway. Maybe it is. I don't know but one thing is for sure this album is not one to be pigeon-holed into some kind of genre that could include anything and still not be any closer to just what this record sounds like. And, I'm still rambling aimlessly, but maybe somehow I have put this album across in the right light. This isn't something to listen to and ignore, sure you can ignore but it still manages to grab you by the balls and scream (quietly) down your ear. Whatever, there are better reviews out there that quite probably describe this better than I ever could, but Barge have done it again that is for sure, I'm baffled and stunned. Speechless even. Title: The Fun Years - Baby, It's Cold Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////FOREST GOSPEL The Fun Years For the record, this is the third time that I have re-written this review. And I’m not talking about my average under-300-words reviews either. I’ve scrapped some pretty lengthy pieces on this thing. “Why all the effort?” you ask? That’s a good question. By now, if you’ve become familiar with us Forest Gosplitarians, you’ll have noticed that we have absolutely no problem publishing a hasty first draft full of descriptive vagaries and scattered with grammatical and spelling errors. To be honest, I can’t promise much more in reference to this review, but the conscious effort with which I attempt to overcome my intrinsic incapacities this time is not a random turn of heart in favor of the dignity of the English language, it’s an impassioned effort to do justice to what may very well be one of the most important records I have heard in years. I apologize for the dramatics. I actually have a well worn list of these important records (I think the last time I mentioned this list was in the review of this band’s previous album; coincidence?). I like to reference them and check on them and relive them over and over in the most respectable fashion possible. It is something of a distressing obsession for those who are most familiar with me, but alas, personal honesty is policy here. OK, I’ll stop trying to delay this: recently I stumbled across an album called Life-Sized Psychoses by The Fun Years, an experimental guitar/ turntable duo. The album was a late, inspired discovery of what is now one of my favourite albums to have been released in 2007 (well documented in both its review and the recent recap of my favourite albums that I missed from last year). So, I was certainly surprised when, after having only had few short months with their Barge debut, I received news from that wonderful label that The Fun Years were already finishing up their follow up titled, Baby, It’s Cold Inside. It snuck up so quick I barely had time to even think, let alone get excited. Well, regardless of the timing of its arrival, consider me completely floored. As hypnotic and pristine as I thought their debut was I would have never imagined that I would be able to, with complete honesty, crown Baby, It’s Cold Inside as such a massive improvement. The reason being, to me, Life-Sized Psychoses stood shoulder to shoulder with peak releases of everyone in the genre from William Basinski to Jan Jelinek to Tim Hecker to, well, everyone (we’re talking experimental ambient here); it’s that good. The difficulty I’m having is explaining why. The inherent vagaries built into minimalistic, drone based music make it hard enough to just describe what it is, let alone to make comparisons and even more, to explain why it is good. Heaven knows there is an immutable sea of ambient drone records out there that are, to put it simply, a waste of time. However, if you compared the description of an album from that middling sea and one from the afore to mentioned masters of the form the report would probably look close to identical and in some cases would only separated by the verdict of whether it was incredible or simply just there. Well, whatever that special ingredient is, The Fun Years have it and they must have used every last drop on Baby, It’s Cold Inside. The building blocks this time around are the same with Ben Recht on guitar and Isaac Sparks on turntables. Together they’ve produced another radiant, waterlogged mirage of warped vinyl and gentle guitars. Perhaps, one subtle difference between Baby, It’s Cold Inside and its predecessor is an injection of more recognizable composition. Undoubtedly, both albums have been meticulously composed, but something about the undercurrent pushing The Fun Years’ new record feels more controlled or mastered and elicits a greater sense of euphoria in its slow variations. And for those foreign to drone music, it’s accessible! This is pop ambience if I’ve ever heard it. There is no greater entry way into the genre if you have been wary of its investments in the past; just beware, you may never find anything this good again once you’ve been initiated. It simply must be heard to be believed; absolutely magical, just listen to the track below... -Mr. Thistle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////SOUND FIX - great record shop in Williamsburg Brooklyn The Fun Years’ Baby, It’s Cold Inside is one of the year’s finest electronic records. The second full-length from this experimental guitar-turtable duo builds on the promise of last year’s compelling Life-Sized Psychoses, delivering an album of five long tracks of dark, mysterious and often beautiful electronica, filled with synth swaths, minimalistic drone, field recordings and a warm melodicism rare in ambient music these days. Led by Ben Recht on guitar and Isaac Sparks on turntable, the group lets each track develop slowly, adding layers of sounds that give the music a rich emotional complexity. I read that these guys were inspired by Gas, and you’ll hear much of Wolgang Voigt’s use of space and sound, particularly in the lovely opening track, the 11-minute “My Lowville.” Fans of Mountains, Fennesz, William Basinski and music on the Type label will find much to admire in this lush, beautiful record. (James) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ////AQUARIUS RECORDS - the record shop that all others should strive to be.... By now, everyone must be aware of how
into turntables we are. The glitch, the crackle, the hiss. Similar
to how everything sounds better slow, or backwards, everything
definitely sounds better all wrapped in crackle and pop (how about
something backwards, slow and crackly!!!). Anyway, we discovered
The Fun Years a while back and were immediately smitten with their
unique line up, a duo of baritone guitar and turntable. The mix
proved perfection. The guitar providing most of the melody, the
turntable offering up most of the texture, but sometimes deftly
changing places. We played the heck out of that first record and were super excited
to discover there was a new full length in the pipe and it does
not disappoint. In fact, the new one is way heavier on the guitar,
in fact the opening track might just be the best thing we've heard
from these guys. As it was playing, Allan suggested it sounded
like Philip Jeck playing Nadja-lite. Which is in fact not that
far off the mark. The guitar is deep and resonant, unfurling a
lazy minor key riff, the turntables creak and crackle in the background,
offering up a stuttery staticky rhythm, the main riff has a bit
of twang to it, and reminds us a bit of recent Earth, but underpinned
by a subtle black swirl, a smoldering drone, eventually everything
begins to bliss out and get all woozy and gauzy, and get really
dense and heavy, the guitar and the turntable locked into a gloriously
hypnotic loop, eventually building to a truly explosive finale.
Man, once they lock in and the distortion begins to swell, we sort
of wished this was the only song on the record and was gonna go
on for another 30 or 40 minutes. But only until the next song started
up... The next track, not nearly as heavy, is just as darkly evocative,
a crackly skipped piano loop wreathed in soft effects, the guitar
offering up spidery melodic counterpoint, laced with super effected
streaks of distorted guitar, a gorgeously mesmerizing repetitive
loop that as far as we're concerned could go on forever. And so it goes, three more extended tracks, lumbering crackly loops,
simple moody guitar melodies, haunting effects, deep thick drones,
layers of hiss and fuzz, the final track a gorgeous post rock drift,
jangly clean guitar, a murky scraping turntable loop finishing
off with a sudden burst of what sounds like full on metal, blown
out, blissed out, psychedelic, super distorted, but also all glitchy
and damaged, hiccuping rhythms, the main riff throbbing beneath
all the buzz, so fucking awesome. Fading out just as quickly, leaving
just a a bit of needle in groove scratch and crackle as the disc
runs out... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It's reasonable to ask whether the world needs another ambient/drone outfit, seeing as this slice of the musical spectrum has been well mapped for quite a while. The Fun Years has released Baby It's Cold Inside as its latest contribution, however, so it's worth taking a look. Main's Dry Stone Feed was a landmark recording from 1992. Its utter austerity at times broken by only crackles and hums, the album paved the way for minimalist followers. The Fun Years continues in this vein to such an extent that this new album often sounds like Dry Stone Feed Part 2 to me. "Re: We're Again Buried Under" continues right where Feed leaves off. The second halves of "The Surge Is Working" and "Auto Show Day of the Dead" do embellish the approach with waves of nervous energy (in the form of - what? - distorted guitar? keyboards?). "Auto Show Day of the Dead" puts a Satie-like piano piece into the center of its disconcerting mood, along with the crackles and hums. Its slow build into the realm of the post-apocalyptic electronic drone, a la Skinny Puppy's "Download," cuts off rather abruptly, before the listener hits a saturation point. Movements within the tracks take on the organic naturalism that runs counter to the cold, alien soundscapes typical of space ambient. There's a passage that begins midway through the track "Fucking Milwaukee's Been Hesher Forever" (anyone care to explain that title?) that might have come from Seefeel, with its warm pulses of shapeshifting sound. Closer "My Lowville" dips its hand in the rivers of Flying Saucer Attack's noise, but only for a time. This album, though at times maybe a bit derivative, does feel like an escape into some other orbit, and that's what ambient does best. With ambient, some musicians just get it and do it well. Here's to hoping that The Fun Years gives us another CD to ponder. -David Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I would have to consider the title of this disc either a misnomer or an intentional joke. As a recording, it is definitely warm and inviting, and though almost entirely based on looped elements, has an organic feel unmatched by most similar projects. The album has a dark, earthy feel that is only enhanced by the layer of audio grime that is intentionally placed over almost every track here. Every piece has a layer of crackling like old vinyl surface noise or decaying tape that gives the entire work a well worn, familiar feeling. When I say “dark” I don’t mean in the scary or black metal sense, but more in the ambiguous, unclear sense. The layers of loops that build from track to track make each piece more disorienting, but never to the point of absolute chaos. Instead, restraint is exercised. Even though most of the tracks are built upon layered loops, the source of the loops is pretty much organic and is often guitar or piano. The opening “My Lowville” runs along with noisy analog elements and backward melodies, but the plaintive guitar loops above it provide a gentle counterpoint. As the layers of guitar and effects pile on, the track reaches a crescendo of chaos that rivals the best of the old shoegaze bands. “Auto Show Day of the Dead” follows a similar pattern, but leaning more on piano and tremolo guitar loops that begins to get more noisy towards the second half, but take on a digital sheen that is somewhat out of place with the remainder of the disc. The subtlety of “Fucking Milwaukee’s Been Hesher Forever” is contradicted by its title, because the piece is probably the most gentle of the ones here. It doesn’t build to the same chaotic climax as some of the others do, but stays more subtle throughout, focusing on the gentle guitar loops that make up the bulk of the mix. “Re: We’re Again Buried Under” is not really any more aggressive, but is more abstract, seemingly based more on synth and other electronic elements, thus giving it a more sci-fi feel that’s enhanced by the warbling noisier spots. The closing “The Surge Is Working” begins with guitar that has, of all things, a southern rock type vibe to it before the guitar gets louder and more chaotic than it did on any of the previous tracks. The entire piece has a more aggressive, forceful tone to it that culminates in some unexpected blasts of noise near the end, before retreating into the sounds of the vinyl surface noise that was omnipresent throughout. An odd amalgam of electronic drone, cut and paste abstraction, and post-rock experimentation, The Fun Years have put out an interesting record here that doesn’t sound like much else. The odd thing is, for all its uniqueness, the overall atmosphere is one of familiarity and comfort, even though there’s no easy comparisons to draw. Written by Creaig Dunton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘Baby, It’s Cold Inside’ Boston’s The Fun Years followed quickly on last year’s “Life-Sized Psychoses” with its second release on the Brooklyn-via-New Hampshire label Barge Recordings (one of the label’s founders is a native of the Lakes Region). With Ben Recht on baritone guitar and Isaac Sparks on turntable, the band is defined by the hazy crackling of slow motion turntables and their interaction with source material. The result is a warm ambience, reminiscent of Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas project or the work of turntablist Philip Jeck, as well as post-rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor (minus the drums). It makes the eyelids grow heavy and the lights glow brighter. For music that could be described as experimental, “Baby,
It’s Cold Inside” is an easy listen. Recht’s
guitar playing is fairly straightforward, particularly on the first
track, “My Lowville,” in which he softly strums an
Americana-sounding improvisation, keeping up the rhythm even while
Sparks’ lush textures swallow up his playing. Sounds continue
building layer upon layer as the song grows bigger, until the music
contracts and segues seamlessly into the opening piano notes of
track two, “Auto Show Day of the Dead.” It’s
quite an opener. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
////////OTHER PRESS//// BRG001 : INNATURE : VARIOUS ARTISTS BRG002 : THE FUN YEARS : LIFE-SIZED PSYCHOSES |
| BARGE RECORDINGS ©2009 |