Foot Foot
Ye Olde Pitchshift
The cover of Foot Foot’s latest looks like some sort of Mayan rave, while titles like “Mystical Jackass” sound like they were recorded in a bathroom. And yet somehow, this rehearsal-space aesthetic works. Ye Olde Pitchshift begins with a nursery rhyme slowed down, which leads into the woozy “AM Radio,” with its stretched-out guitars and slurred vocals. There’s the bizarre “Who Is Killing the Stuntmen,” with its carnivalesque cadence and singer Bryan Lawhorn playing the quivering madman. The fuzzy, steel-toed “Johnny Applesauce” is Butthole Surfers on scratched acid, all churning guitars and a frantic scream of “kill;” “Something to Think About” is a comedown of Barrettesque proportions. The sludgy reverse Sabbath of “Headed South” turns psychotronic in a web of fluttery vocals. The vocals of bassist Patti Lou Ryland on “Sugary” are just that, and the drone of “South 5th” takes the edge off the chaotic swirl of the middle of the album. There’s not a whole lot of cohesiveness here, but then Foot Foot gets off on disintegration. Highly recommended for those who keep a copy of Humpty Dumpty LSD next to their skull bong.
This article appears in July 7 • 2006.