It’s not our own world in which “everyone’s talking ‘bout haircuts.” The world Foxygen inhabits – one of enigma, sudden shifts in the weather, triumph and desperation, doesn’t have time for the filler that peppers most of our lives. Here, each crescendo, synth layer, sha-bopped and aah’d harmony section are dropped with deft precision – like Jackson Pollock doing a covers set of Titian paintings.
The bursts and jaunts that erupt across the Take The Kids Off Broadway ep are economical, yet bombastic. Controlled chaos, there’s an order to the world of Foxygen. With influences that reference some of the Kinks oddest moments to Jonathan Richman and the aural decadence of one-time disco troubadour Maxine Nightingale, the ep’s flow is loose, yet one that never feels randomly slapped together from darts thrown at torn out pages of a diary. In this, their homespun world, everything must feel good – each beat, horn, and synth choice must be just so; every gap must be plugged with an experiment, a murmur, a whisper – not another rhythm guitarist; neighbors should be respected when vocals are recorded at night but fuck the neighbors when they’re all at their day jobs. We’ll scream and ooh and ahh as loud as we please. words/ b kramer
How’d you find these guys??
1 | Awesome May 4th, 2012 at 12:40 am“Controlled chaos” is a brilliant and accurate description. Flamgirlant turned me on to this a couple of months ago, and it’s been in rotation ever since.
http://flamgirlant.tumblr.com/post/18566191260/foxygen-make-it-known-this-is-just
2 | Eric May 4th, 2012 at 6:23 am“like Jackson Pollock doing a covers set of Titian paintings.”
Nice. I’ve been known to compare some of my baser works to Pollock.
Don’t ask.
3 | Dominic Biermann May 4th, 2012 at 1:09 pmHella cool!! There’s alot of different sounds going on here! Loving it
4 | Anonymous May 4th, 2012 at 3:45 pmThis almost sounds like Mick Jagger, that is, if he still made quality music.
5 | andy June 1st, 2012 at 9:38 pmMick Jagger comparisons are justified. Velvets too, it’s all there. And don’t worry Dominic Biermann, no one will.
Foxygen rule!
6 | Jel-P June 8th, 2012 at 11:23 pm[...] we first wrote about Foxygen, the band was on the verge of inking a label deal with Jagjaguwar (who recently re-released [...]
7 | Aquarium Drunkard » (Catching Up With ) Foxygen :: The AD Interview August 29th, 2012 at 9:01 am[...] Akron/Family as much as by childhood Jazz lessons. Friends and family of recently AD loved Foxygen, the aesthetic doesn’t stray between the bands – as many moments feel polished as [...]
8 | Aquarium Drunkard » Holy Komodo :: Magnetik Gak (EP) September 5th, 2012 at 12:33 pm[...] May ~ The Orwells ~ Tashaki Miyaki ~ Foxygen ~ Calvin Love ~ Rafiq Bhatia ~ Murals [...]
9 | Aquarium Drunkard » Aquarium Drunkard Presents: No Jacket Required – CMJ 2012 – October 16th – Mercury Lounge October 5th, 2012 at 6:15 am[...] and Magic of being a concept album. It’s as stylistically diverse, maddening and confident as the Take The Kids Off Broadway EP, yet feels ready to enter the primetime — a band confident that their set of skills will [...]
10 | Aquarium Drunkard » Foxygen :: We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic January 22nd, 2013 at 7:30 am