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Album Review: Fog – Ditherer

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By: Charbarred | in: Music |

fog.jpg

Trying to track down Fog’s history is a strange task. Formed in 1999 by Andrew Border, Fog has given birth to Beck-like Hip Hop, electronic musings and strange experimental folk. With its current reincarnation as a 3-piece band, Fog has finally managed to pull it all together and produce the ultimate…well…rock album.

It’s not very often that an album manages to smack you square in the face with so many worthy tunes. As the second track “Inflatable Ape Pt. 3” hits you, you know you’re in for a thrilling ride. The term experimental rock has been frequently abused, but in this case the Minneapolis trio go beyond shear experimentalism and deliver on their promise repeatedly. “I Have Been Wronged” begins with a Sonic Youth like intro and quickly jumps into a beautiful composition with rich imagery. Hallelujah Daddy follows it with a gusty prog-rock feel while the short and sweet “The Last I Knew of You” is fuses pop and noise together incredibly.

Fog – Inflatable Ape Pt. 3

Leaving the 70’s tinged Zappa-esque rock behind, the chilled out title track benefits from Border’s years of experience in making electronics sound like real music and not just a bunch of beeps strewn in together. “Your Beef is Mine” encompasses an insane number of strange descriptions like “Drinking his own urine in executive wash rooms”. And just in case you might think the band managed to leave a genre behind, Ditherer closes with a charming country song called “What’s Up Freaks?”.

Fog – Your Beef is Mine

Weird, refreshing, lyrically challenging, Ditherer is a true gem. You can’t go wrong with fusing all the right elements together, and Fog has certainly proven they are the right guys for the job. I can’t recommend it highly enough; this is what music is all about. And did I mention all the guests? How about Low, Why?, Phil Elverum, Andrew Bird, Pedestrian and Dosh…convinced?

Bottom line: Truly one of the best albums of the year so far. Buy it!

Check out Fog in their own words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=harC5qzZKK0

Fog – Official Site
Fog on MySpace


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Posted on September 8, 2007

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