Austinist Album Reviews: Bracken and Fu Manchu

Chris Adams (of Hood) puts forth his first solo effort in the form of Bracken’s We Know About The Need, out now on Anticon. Featuring plenty of lo-fi, down-tempo beats, the album is a montage of assorted sounds, ranging from dub-step to drum n’ bass, mixed and produced every which way. We Know About The Need is equal parts coherence (“Heathens”) and cacophony (“Evil Teeth”), while leaving room for some “normal” standards (“Back On The Calder Line”) at the end. Bracken has arrived at a futuristic, electronic bliss, comprised of intricately arranged textures; organs, horns, keys are all used appropriately to augment his laptop output. Adams evokes a wide range of relevant acts - there are traces of Tortoise, the Postal Service, AIR, maybe even later Radiohead (or Thom Yorke) in his work but his ingenuity separates his style from any of those. The result is a one of its kind, ethereal post-something-or-the-other album that clatters, drones, almost rocks n’ rolls.

[Bracken myspace]

Fu Manchu has been around for almost two decades, and We Must Obey takes them well into double digits in terms of releases. The new record continues in the California band’s usual vein of stoner metal. Scorching drums and grooving bass lines complement speeding guitars throughout as the band amps through a series of rockers. Scott Hill’s floating vocals envelop the verses, while anthemic, almost interchangeable choruses dominate the choice moments of the album. Highlights include the bludgeoning “Knew It All Along” and guitar-solo friendly “Lessons” while the calculated intro to “Shake It Loose” is only matched by the screeching guitars found later. The band has given us a few choice covers in the past (“Godzilla”!) and they oblige this time with a fuzz-filled version of the Cars’ “Moving in Stereo.” Fu Manchu has perfected the art of riff laden metal, and fans of the genre will attest to another solid effort by the band. However, if you’ve already enjoyed In Search Of.. and King of the Road way too much, this is going to sound like more of the same. But there’s still cowbell, and it still rocks.