There’s some rare pleasure in discovering a lost classic or an underground release by a band that failed to achieve the recognition it deserved at the time. And so it is with Family Fodder’s ‘Banana Monkey Kitchen’ from 1980, re-released here and supplemented on the CD version with no fewer than 10 tracks from EP and 7” single releases from 1981 and 1982, including the ‘Schizophrenia Party’ 12”. It’s impossible to pin a genre on the eclectic mix of songs here, and at times it’s all rather bewildering. Dub elements smash into the genre-colliding ’Symbols’; the J-pop of Savoir Fair’ is a world away from the cataclysm of ‘Wrong’ and ‘Bass Acid Bass’ is a full-on dub reggae grooveout.
There are moments of experimental silliness that don’t really work and are clearly of their time (take for example, ‘Monkey’ and ‘Banna’, lyrics from which give the album its absurd title and the whacky Bonzo-esque ‘Philosophy’ which incorporates wiggy saxes and a segment of the ‘hokey cokey’) but of course, that’s all part of the album’s charm and evidences the wild eclecticism of the band’s musical explorations.
|
‘Cold War’ sounds like early Pavement, it’s choppy guitars and the discordant middle wig-out at the end encapsulate precisely why the band are worthy of revisiting on account of the seminality of their sounds.
The band’s Wikipedia describes the single ‘Dinosaur Sex’ as a ‘post-punk classic’ and appearing as a bonus track here, it’s easy to hear why, a glorious, multi-movement epic, six songs rolled into one eight-minute monsterpiece.
Granted, Family Fodder remain active, and while this reissue will no doubt be welcomed by existing fans, it’s also a worthy introduction to a band whose influence massively outweighs their commercial success.
Family Fodder Online
|
