Tobacco- Fucked Up Friends (2008)

If you dig: Black Moth Super Rainbow, Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, Four Tet

I don't understand how anyone could honestly not like Tobacco's Fucked Up Friends. On the album, Black Moth Super Rainbow leader Tom Fec uses the psychedelic palette of bubblegum sounds that his band uses: the warbling flute lines, buzzing synths, spacey percussion, vocoders, etc. But Fucked Up Friends has a unique focus on rhythm, giving it a more hip-hop feel. Though much of Black Moth Super Rainbow's work has always featured impressive rhythmic and percussive background, Tobacco allows Fec the control to construct short variations based on brilliant blends of strange psychedelia and engaging beats. Fec's preference for analog devices gives the songs a mysterious vibe, sounding both futuristic and old and haunted at the same time. Fec described that the album is inspired partly by "fucked up" 80s workout videos and the songs' energy and weird sounds (along with its fantastic cover art, seen above) perfectly convey the "awful yet good and curious" Fec claims he is trying to achieve.

"Truck Sweat," my favorite off the album, starts with a crunchy snare beat and a foreboding ascending loop before exploding into a weaving mix of bouncing synths, flutes and warped vocals. "Berries That Burn" alternates between space age synths and hammering bass and drums. Right in the middle of the album there is an awesome feature by Aesop Rock, though I think Tobacco's stuff is ultimately better sans rapping. To me, the beats are just to compelling and layered to not pay attention to.

Tobacco To Drop Maniac Meat

Above you can see the predictably terrifying album artwork for Tobacco's new album, the similarly predictably titled Maniac Meat. Tobacco is the alias of Tom Fec, a member of the mysterious collective of bubblegum psych weirdos Black Moth Super Rainbow. Tobacco's work expands off the sugary psychedelic synths, vocoder vocals and general lo-fi weirdness that Black Moth Super Rainbow has become known for. But Tobacco's work owes more to hip-hop and dance than anything else the group has done. Tobacco's 2008 debut Fucked Up Friends is one of my favorite albums and is definitely an underrated 2008 gem.

No official tracks are available yet but we do know Beck will be featured on two tracks! Additionally, if you head over The Hairy Cult, which seems like it is run by someone closely affiliated or enamored with all things BMSR, you can find what I presume is some early demos from Maniac Meat. If your a fan of BMSR or Tobacco, definitely check out some of the other posts, the guy has uploaded a bunch of awesome rare tracks, demos and other cool stuff.

In other Black Moth news, I am currently listening to keyboardists The Seven Fields of Aphelion's debut solo album Periphery. Definitely not as compelling as Tobacco's work, but cool nonetheless.

Brightblack Morning Light- Motion To Rejoin (2008)

One album I thought went largely unnoticed in 2008 was Brightblack Morning Light’s Motion To Rejoin. Brightblack Morning Light is primarily the work of Nathan Shineywater and Rachael Hughes who specialize in jazzy psychedelic folk. After being discovered by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (with whom the band did a split record with in 2004), Shineywater and Hughes apparently abandoned civilization to live in tents in northern California. Not weird enough for you? Brightblack Morning Light also encourages their fans to bring crystals to their live shows. At its core, Motion To Rejoin (which was recorded using solar energy) is Shineywater on guitar and vocals and Hughes on keyboards, though the record boasts contributions from instrumentalists
who have played with TV On The Radio and Bob Dylan.

Motion To Rejoin is about as psychedelic and engulfing as the four feathers and vast ocean featured on its album art. “Introduction” starts off the record with a few sparse bursts of organ before moving into the album’s first track, “Hologram Buffalo.” “Hologram Buffalo” is a mix of snaking guitar lines, thunderous blasts of horns and bass, twinkling organ and Shineywater’s signature wispy vocals, this time significantly fortified by robust female backing vocals. The album sounds more jazzy than it does folky, with its use of repetitive song structure and smooth horn section. The record always seems to have a different effect on me. On one hand, it’s a bombastic, slow moving glacier of an album, with each shrill blare of trumpet or cryptic lyric giving it a more apocalyptic, haunting aura. On the other hand, Motion To Rejoin is a beautifully eclectic album that, despite the fact that the tracks are indistinguishable from one another, captures the listener’s attention from start to finish. What’s even better though, is that there is a message behind all the weirdness. “Nobody wants oppression, we don’t need oppression,” moans Shineywater over “Oppressions Each,” the band’s most concise track and best starting point. Shineywater explains the motives behind Motion To Rejoin on the Matador website:

“Previous to this recording, while BBML toured Europe, singer Naybob Shineywater sang each show with an arrowhead in his mouth. Why? To let his own sung words & breathe touch this stone before european ears could hear them. "I was not singing for war, but to engage the spirit of the maker of the arrowhead itself, to offer up Peace, that his warrior effort find a new respect, and to help my own warrior spirit sing in Peace," reveals Naybob. After returning from the european tour a chance to move in to an adobe on a secluded enchanted mesa came to Naybob. With only 4 solar panels, it matched his desire to live in a meager way while making the 2nd BBML LP. "Motion To Rejoin" is anti nuclear & coal, but also aligned with the phases of the sun. "With only 4 solar panels you are entirley dependent upon how much the sun is shining," informs Naybob.

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Marijuana is a native herb from North America & a progressive society should include it's legalization, this debate can only be renewed when lies about it have been answered with truths, by now we know that most responsible pot smokers are not criminal, to the contrary, they actually care about Peace & Unity in ways that help define true Freedom!"

Dude’s got the right idea. Check out Brightblack Morning Light on myspace or click the album artwork to sample Motion To Rejoin.

Recommended if you like: Six Organs Of Admittance- Luminous Night, Pocahaunted- Island Diamonds, Beach House- Devotion