FAT HISTORY MONTH: F*CKING DESPAIR
VERDICT | EAR-CLIT CUNNILINGUS
LABEL | SOPHOMORE LOUNGE RECORDS
RELEASE | 8.20.11
FATHISTORYMONTH.BANDCAMP.COM
This year has seen a lot of great records surface from the local underground, but when Fat History Month finally released a vinyl all their own, it felt like a personal win.
Fucking Despair hit without warning, but the effect was nothing short of Christmas morning multiplied by discovering your chub for the first time.The chemistry between Mark (drums) and Sean (vox/guitar) puts most two-pieces to shame. The perfectly toned reverb is well set to a meticulous wave of drums and cymbal taps, creating a constant building and relieving of tension on the epic life lesson “You Can Pick Your Nose, You Can Pick Your Friend’s Nose, But You Can’t Escape Your Horrible Family.”
There is no other band like them right now, in our own backyard or anywhere, and the proof is Fucking Despair.
http://digboston.com/listen/2011/10/fat-history-month-fcking-despair/
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http://klyam.com/2011/09/14/concert-review-fat-history-month-ant-cellar/
Concert Review: Fat History Month @ Ant Cellar
09/14/2011 Leave a Comment
Artists: Fat History Month, Kitchen’s Floor, and The New Highway Hymnal
Venue: Ant Cellar, Lowell, MA
Date: Thursday, September 1, 2011
Comments:
Act I: Fat History Month- These fly cats are the real deal. You know when people say read between the lines, well Fat History Month is what lies between those lines. The band consists of one dude on vocals and guitar and his comrade working the drums. Together they create a mess of noises often drifting from completely fucked up, off kilter ramblings in the traditions of The Shaggs, Captain Beefheart, The Moldy Peaches, The Beets, The Maine Coons to garagey, instrumental jammin a la Vivian Girls- at least to this kid’s ears. In fact, if I had to pick just one band to compare FHM to, I’d pick the Coons, at least in terms of their personality. While the latter are far more pop based, FHM has moments of pop brilliance, but they often delve int the more sinister regions of the musical landscape. I will make note of the fact that this duo has made the rare feat of conquering my mental divide in terms of getting turned on to new music. I rarely see a band and think YESS I need to listen to this! Which is not to say I don’t come across good bands, more often than not I see quality acts, but they simply do not demand my attention like say these guys do. From the opening chords, I felt something, not necessarily good or bad, but it was something special and unique, it reminded me of the first time I saw the Box Elders- wow, I’m getting hard just thinking about that right now. An almost instantaneous wavelength. The Box Elders went on to become one of my favorite bands, now I can’t say that yet about Fat History Month, it’s only been one date, but perhaps we’ll get more intimate in the future. My friend said I have a good feeling about this. As, Lorraine Baines (McFly) says after her first kiss/dance with George McFly toward the end of Back to the Future (1985), “I have a feeling too.” In any case, I hope to see Fat History Month again in this time zone or any other.
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http://7inches.blogspot.com/2011/05/fat-history-month-on-bedroom-suck.html
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Fat History Month on Bedroom Suck Records
Jeff from Fat History Month sent me their single a couple weeks back now, and it's been blowing my mind all last night. I can't stop thinking about it...and it's not even specific melodies. I have to listen to it constantly because I can't recall them. The minimal safe pictured on the cover should have been a hint, it's understated, and maybe not the kind of safe you immediately think of. This is so concise, restrained and emotional, they get into the dynamics of Explosions in the Sky, those really beautiful little melodies and at the same time experimental and as complex as Jim O'Rourke and Gastr Del Sol. An amazing set of compositions from a duo out of Boston.
"Safe & Sound", on the A-Side just has an insane amount of dynamics, I love this quiet guitar that creeps out of nowhere, and picks up in bursts to this expansive melody. To get this range of sound on vinyl this perfectly silent at points is a feat in itself. The repetitive structures come across like June of '44 or Tortoise tracks, classically influenced, complex. The percussion right along with it equally as intricate, with valleys of slow... down to next to nothing, it's completely quiet.
They have this huge warm reverb on the guitar, bouncing all over everything...really a duo like this are the only combination this loose structure can work with, to be so inherently in tune with each other and getting these subtle changes, or giant transitions with a look. You just have to know what each other are about to do in a pretty telepathic way. I think that live it must allows for a more free-form performance, it doesn't always have to be about this military memorization in hours of rehearsal, with the two of them, I'd bet they could improvise (and have) an entire show.
The tiny piece of a verse, close mic'd and barely sung that leads into another plateau of guitar is like Slint. It's massive epic explosiveness and unnatural guitar, they aren't power chords, they aren't singing.
You get an idea of this from their bandcamp page, which has a track called just 'Safe', now I'm thinking this A-Side is actually two tracks? (I would say 99% it is- ed) Damn, that's good.
The B-Side, "Here Comes the Sun", starts with a single lonesome chord, repeated, waiting for the sound to completely disappear before hitting it again. I'm also getting a Harvey Milk tension...and the sound of this room, the scrape of the chords, the experimentation and minimalism, a hint at distortion, plucked harmonics. Are they still playing? It's always about to start, and end.
This can be played so loud, trying to catch everything and when it picks up, it's natural. The vocals here eventually too are up close with another layer of yelling far off in the background, but it's this constantly shifting guitar work I'm completely into. The changing rhythms and melodies with perfectly balanced drums, from the subtle passages to crash fills. I think it comes from appreciating a straight guitar sound, letting everything breathe, actually paying attention to the instrument with a huge space. More than a really nice melody (they won't let it hang around long anyway) it's playing with the idea of the guitar being able to work as everything, an entire orchestra, and they pull it off.
It's coming as close to that complex, math, instrumental, indie rock as I've ever heard. A pitch perfect single with a xerox insert of the recording info and lots of shoutouts to all the friends that made it happen.
Initially I was worried that this was only available from the Australian label, BedroomSuck Records, but thank god you can get it from Fat History Month direct on their blog. Not that I don't think airmail from Australia isn't worth it. If you don't want this single after checking out the video...I don't know if we can still be friends.
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http://radvinylrecords.tumblr.com/page/2
Fat History Month- Gorilla EP 7” (Sweaters & Pearls Records)
buy it here: http://sweatersandpearls.com/
Gorilla by Fat History Month
Fat History Month, a Boston duo, have just released a 4 song EP 7” on Sweaters & Pearls. The Gorilla EP is appropriately pressed on banana yellow vinyl with a great sketch of a Gorilla for the jacket. The inside liner notes say the recordings date back to 2009 but they don’t sound out of place in 2011. Fat History Month take the slow dirge of Low and drench it with feedback and slowly strummed chords for the A sides “Gorilla” and “B”.” The moments of near silence are just as powerful as the songs at full force as the downer jams slowly meander in the best sort of way. The B side finds the band quickening the pace with “Heart Takes a Beating” which is a necessary distraction from the moody sadness provided by the A side. Track 4 caps things off instrumentally. From the liner notes and the title of the EP it sounds like the band favors “Gorilla” but for me it was “B” that grabbed me the most. Fat History Month provides a great soundtrack for all the mopey indie rockers out there and is worth checking out.
buy it here: http://sweatersandpearls.com/
Gorilla by Fat History Month
Fat History Month, a Boston duo, have just released a 4 song EP 7” on Sweaters & Pearls. The Gorilla EP is appropriately pressed on banana yellow vinyl with a great sketch of a Gorilla for the jacket. The inside liner notes say the recordings date back to 2009 but they don’t sound out of place in 2011. Fat History Month take the slow dirge of Low and drench it with feedback and slowly strummed chords for the A sides “Gorilla” and “B”.” The moments of near silence are just as powerful as the songs at full force as the downer jams slowly meander in the best sort of way. The B side finds the band quickening the pace with “Heart Takes a Beating” which is a necessary distraction from the moody sadness provided by the A side. Track 4 caps things off instrumentally. From the liner notes and the title of the EP it sounds like the band favors “Gorilla” but for me it was “B” that grabbed me the most. Fat History Month provides a great soundtrack for all the mopey indie rockers out there and is worth checking out.
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http://www.yellowgreenred.com/?p=3791
Fat History Month Fucking Despair LP (Sophomore Lounge)
Spoiler alert: There’s a crude drawing of a penis in a pear on the cover. Fucking Despair, am I right or am I right? This is like the Judd Apatow of indie rock albums, an intelligent-yet-crude set of songs that harken to a time when indie rock wasn’t the style of music most people liked. Reminds me of early Modest Mouse, that first Oneida single, Pavement in a grumpy mood, Wolf Colonel’s Vikings Of Mint, or plenty of other indie bands with members who’ve always had some college-educated career to fall back on if need be (or presumably in the case of Fat History Month, to supplement their musical endeavors). It’s a dense listen at times; for every minute-long breeze like “Old Lady Smokers”, there’s a track five to ten times as long, and Fat History Month don’t always hold your hand as they wander through it. They get downright drone-y at times, but that sort of looseness works in their favor, as I find myself trying to get past some of their WAH-wah humor and unlock the cynical code beneath. If this leads to a Fat Entertainment Television channel, I’m all for it.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://sippycupeverything.com/post/9121700876/fathistorymonth
Fat History Month is doin thangs. The modest two-piece is coming back to Boston after a national tour, playing Hen House on Saturday, PAs Lounge on 9/3, then going back out on another national tour. Oh, they’re releasing their full-length Fucking Dispair on vinyl Saturday too, and currently sharing a stream of Side A on their bandcamp.
When I wrote about the band’s tri-split with Arvid Noe and Skimask, I said, “All three specialize in some excellent messy rock, perfect for losing your shit to”. And based on the three quick rockers they contributed to the split (all under two minutes, all found on this LP), and their Allston basement shows, that is still accurate. That being said, Fucking Dispair has the ability to move more than your limbs.
Side A closer “Nature” is unapologetically grandiose without losing Fat History Month’s ramshackle sound. The downfall of most duos is the pressure to fill up all that sonic real estate, and the result can sometimes be a very tight but overly rigid feel. Fat History Month on the other hand, sounds loose; drums and guitars ebb and flow in a practiced but non-chalant unison, like they could perform in their sleep. The lyrics are an absolute treat too, often hilarious but masked by sincerity, but I’ve written enough. Grab these MP3s from bandcamp for five bucks, see them soon in Boston or in your part of the country, seriously.
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if you like what we do, go ahead and cast a vote for our continued existence here:http://fathistorymonth.bandcamp.com/
(y'know, buy some shit)
