In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.
Future Of The Left’s Andrew “Falco” Falkous has made no secret of his distaste for the business side of music, and for his band’s new album—How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident, released in October—he went down the increasingly common path of crowd funding to make it happen. The upsides to that move are speed—an album can be financed very quickly—and a sense of ownership for big fans who can feel like they’re part of their favorite band’s artistic process in some small way. The downside, for a lot of bands anyway, seems to be visibility: Whereas prior FOTL albums had a publicity and marketing push behind them, this one hasn’t exactly broken through the clatter. It’s hard to say whether that would make any difference, of course. Maybe an album as cutting, noisy, and fantastic simply as this one has a limited audience. One of my favorite tracks has a title (and grinding beat) that would keep it off mainstream radio anyway: “I Don’t Know What You Ketamine (But I Think I Love You)” is abrasive, funny, and true. It lumbers like its forebears in Shellac and The Jesus Lizard, carrying on a grand tradition of catchy cantankerousness. The first line—“One day soon / Let’s talk about love / Like we talk about food / Generously, and then, without irony”—sums it up nicely, and leaves room for the bass to rattle your bones while you think about what it means. Somebody—probably a fan who pitched in to the making of the record—make a psychedelic Mickey Mouse video to accompany the song on YouTube. It’s fitting.