Fops - For Centuries

by Andy Cassidy

published: 11 / 9 / 2011

Label: Monotreme Records
Format: CD

Unorthodox lo-fi electronica on latest EP from San Francisco duo Fops , which is being released digitally and also on limited edition cassette

Review

I was very excited when I read about this release, as I am, above all, a hopeless nostalgic. As well as the now-universal digital release, Fops have opted to release a limited CASSETTE version of this EP. When I read about this, I didn’t care what was on it - I had to have it. Fortunately when I came to play the digital version (I wouldn’t want to risk the cassette by actually playing it, after all), I wasn’t disappointed. Fops is a collaboration between Chadwick Donald Bidwell (lyrics) and Dee Kesler (vocals). They describe this EP as “mostly bedroom pop,” which I, personally, found was rather downplaying some of the material. 'Cheater Carolina', for instance, sounds like a forgotten Tubeway Army track, while 'I Shot a Parakeet' has a curiously industrial feel to it. There is a depth to the production which seems to me much more than the doodlings of someone on a laptop. 'Fops on Tour' is a particularly interesting track, with its refrain bearing more than a passing resemblance to Duran Duran’s 'Girls on Film'. The rest of the track, however, is a riot of synths and percussion, with layer upon layer of texture elevating the simple initial loop to a dizzying climax. The centrepiece of the EP is, for me, the twenty-plus minute ''Ronald Wilson Reagan, a slow-building cybersuite, made up of electronic textures and what sound like eerie, atmospheric feedback loops. It has to be said, though, not much happens – it’s basically twenty minutes of ambient posturing which may not be to everyone’s taste. I really enjoyed this EP, and on the back of listening to it, I have bought the band’s first album 'Yeth Yeth Yeth' (the sessions for which yielded many of the songs on this EP). The gimmick of the cassette just added to it for me – it’s refreshing to see a band doing something a little unusual, in a marketing sense as well as musically.