{"id":483,"date":"2011-04-05T05:19:12","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T10:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2025-12-08T07:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:17:19","slug":"album-review-the-fuzztones-preaching-to-the-perverted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/05\/album-review-the-fuzztones-preaching-to-the-perverted\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: the Fuzztones – Preaching to the Perverted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Some things can be counted on to never change. Other things do in fact change in basic ways, yet somehow remaining true to their original intent. In both those categories, paradoxically, we find the Fuzztones<\/strong>. The garage-revival group is fundamentally true to its original ethos, even though the group has gone through some dizzying changes.<\/p>\n

Lead Fuzztone Rudi Protrudi<\/strong> is still fronting the group, and their shockingly authentic garage delivery is intact. Modern production techniques are balanced nicely with vintage keyboard sounds and layers upon layers of fuzz (natch), and the songs are true to the garage aesthetic: short, snappy, propulsive, moody and hooky.<\/p>\n

But \u2013 to riff on an old saying — this isn\u2019t your older brother\u2019s Fuzztones. Originally based in New York City, the Fuzztones made a move several years ago\u2026to Germany. And longtime keyboardist Deb O\u2019Nair<\/strong> is gone, replaced \u2013 well, arguably more than simply replaced — by Lana Loveland<\/strong>. \u00a0She was formerly with Bonniwell Music Machine<\/strong>; more authentic garage-punk street cred than that is near impossible to imagine. Ms. Loveland has for all intents and purposes assumed the position of co-leader with Protrudi. She pens the lyrics* for the Fuzztones\u2019 original songs, and delivers a keyboard attack that\u2019s faithful to the past while moving in some subtle, nuanced directions. And in a move surprising for a group that\u2019s always delivered intelligent covers, their 2011 album Preaching to the Perverted<\/em> is a collection of all originals.<\/p>\n

As is the case with much modern garage, it can be fun to play spot-the-riff on Preaching to the Perverted<\/em>: the central riff of \u201cInvisible\u201d is straight outta The Dukes of Stratosphear<\/strong>\u2019s \u201c25 O\u2019clock,\u201d but then it\u2019s safe to assume Andy Partridge<\/strong> based his riff on something from 1965. This is music that chases its tail in the best possible way.<\/p>\n

Loveland\u2019s lyrics tread in \u201cmessage\u201d territory, which is a neat trick within the tight confines of garage-punk; you rarely get much more than two-minutes-fifty to make your point in a Fuzztones styled song, and there\u2019s gotta be room for those riffs to breathe. Yet the high wire act is largely successful.<\/p>\n

Normally modern production techniques work against the garage vibe, but here the Fuzztones make it work. This is music that sits comfortably alongside any of your old Sonics<\/strong>, Electric Prunes<\/strong> or Seeds<\/strong> LPs. Yet it\u2019s every bit as vital as music from artists trading in a more modern-minded style (say, the Black Angels<\/strong>). When the Fuzztones go for a sinister, moody vibe (such as on \u201cDon\u2019t Speak Ill of the Dead\u201d) the result is a shimmering, spooky number.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Game Called Girl\u201d aims for a Yardbirds<\/strong>-style raveup, and makes good on that lofty goal. The band plays with force and finesse. Loveland\u2019s ethereal organ work on \u201cLust Pavilion\u201d (there\u2019s a Fuzztones title for ya) blends nicely with some tasty slide guitar courtesy of Lenny Silver<\/strong> (Lana\u2019s brother, also formerly of Bonniwell\u2019s band). Fez Wrecker<\/strong>\u2019s bass lines are busy enough to be interesting all on their own, yet solid enough to anchor the songs in tandem with assured drum work. And the song\u2019s coda out-Doors the Doors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBound to Please\u201d is a real stylistic left turn for the Fuzztones. Loveland\u2019s electric piano, the melody and lilting arrangement are all shockingly out of place, but in a good way. Midway through, the song shifts gear \u2013 and jawdroppingly so — into a garage-punk pastiche of The Beatles\u2019<\/strong> \u201cThe End,\u201d and gives Lana Loveland a chance to take the lead vocal. It\u2019s amazing and clever beyond expectation.<\/p>\n

Preaching to the Perverted<\/em> wraps up with the deeply eerie \u201cCome to Me,\u201d a track that could easily serve as a soundtrack to a Herschell Gordon Lewis<\/strong> splatter-gore film. As a whole, the album displays more variety \u2013 and, importantly, room to grow — than previous Fuzztones releases. Who would have expected that the Fuzztones\u2019 2011 album would rank among their best and point the way forward for the group? Now, if they\u2019d just come play some live dates in the USA\u2026<\/p>\n

* Correction January 2013: Actually Rudi writes’ em. My mistake.<\/strong> — bk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some things can be counted on to never change. Other things do in fact change in basic ways, yet somehow remaining true to their original intent. In both those categories, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30527,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions\/30527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}