Tobacco: Fucked Up Friends

Label: Anticon

Damn, this guy’s good. Tom Fec of the fabulous Black Moth Super Rainbow (a.k.a., Tobacco) releases his first solo album, and it’s a gas from start to finish. The music certainly dabbles in the dreamy psychedelic pop of Black Moth, but Fucked Up goes beyond in new directions, delivering some highly stylized, trippy lounge music, with heavy, fuzzy, funky beats and great grooves and riffs. And there’s no bachelor-pad cheesiness here; on Fucked Up Friends Tobacco has made a serious party record, endlessly creative in its use of sound and rhythms, with mellotrons, crackling tapes and some nostalgic nods to 70s soundtracks. He also employs the great Aesop Rock to rap on a few tracks. Fun, fun, fun. Oh, by the way: check out “Hawker Boat” and other Tobacco clips on YouTube. Delicious. (James)