Foot Foot
Everything Cool Has Been Canceled (Bunkhaus)Drawing on a brain-addling bouillabaisse of serrated psych-punk and surreal freak-folk, Foot Foot’s strange emanations make easy relations of their International Artists and Trance Syndicate forbears. With their third album, the Austin quartet builds up their own brand of rib-sticking iconoclasm. Beefed-up production helps, but sharpened songwriting is key. Guitarist Bryan Lawhorn’s opening salvo, “Alien Nightmare World,” lives up to its harrowing title with taut, anxiety-fueled bursts of hold-and-release fuzz-pop. “I Have Been a Fool” has the faraway veneer of an obscure juke joint tearjerker reimagined by Galaxie 500. Bassist Patti Lou Ryland – Lawhorn’s wife and granddaughter of John Henry Faulk – lays the sludge hammer down on “Tearing My Mind Apart.” Think Black Sabbath on a Half Japanese budget. Then drummer Justin Andrews’ vocals on “Charred Torso” taps a harrowing acoustic wisp reminiscent of Skip Spence’s Oar. If you only know about Foot Foot from Pong’s name-check, it’s time for a closer look.
This article appears in February 8 • 2008.
