AP Track Review:
Funny Face House exist in, cultivate their punky imaginings in San Jose, California pressing their hand stamped songs in the cement of their analog Tascam 488 and if I am not mistaken that both iconic, and bordering on vintage cassette, tape machine is an 8 track. There is something absolutely wonderful about recording with limitations because you have to get to the crux of the song as it makes things more easy, more organic, and way more punk. Besides ping-ponging can be a muther fucking bitch.
Their latest offering, This Town, starts. feels like a kind of drunken kids 70's TV show made by crazies like H.R Puff and Stuff (yeah, we know what they were puffing). The song falls head first into punk flavors in a kind of chaotic slam of guitars, bass, nice-nice drumming and warbled synths providing the bed for Adam's vox that have (in my opinion) the right combination of art rock imaginings and disdain. I poked around their latest EP BDIY-005: Tone Deaf that is a mixture of vintage punk (with many Dwyer-esque guitar tropes) to full on experimental proto punk sounds veering from the wierd punk psychedelia (listen to Lizard) to the stunning Magnolia that pulls post punk, neo romance strings in lovely ways (kind of like Silver Sun Pick Ups meets the Cure meets Alex G run through a blender - well, yeah). Vive la différence.
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Robb Donker
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM- PRESS NOTES:
There is a classic indie rock vibe to Funny Face House’s BDIY-005. Released this past August, BDIY is a hissing snap of four-track rock complete with weirdo melodies, scuzzy vocals, double-tracked guitar solos and warbly keyboards. Think Pavement debut Slanted and Enchanted, or Thee Oh Sees. It’s also an unabashedly fun record, taking no prisoners in its playfulness. The supremely Pavement-y “Lizard” asks the question “What am I?” then screams the answer: “A lizard!” Reptile or not, Funny Face House is a band to watch in SJ.
Tone Deaf finds Funny Face House continuing their self-recording ways and the Tascam 488 is the perfect device for capturing this do-it-yourself aesthetic. Laid down to tape in San Jose, CA, the project is still helmed by Szyndrowski and Petty, but the new effort finds the pair joined by Sean Colvin on drums and Mando Moreno on keyboards.
If Tone Deaf eschews the band’s punkish disdain for high fidelity, it comes in favor of a heavier, bass-driven approach. New cuts like “Kidney Thief” and “Lizard,” still shine on the merits of a devil-may-care attitude, but their more developed sound means they pack a heftier wallop. Additionally, Tone Deaf‘s expanded sonic palette allows for greater emotional nuance and that really comes thru on an album standout like “Magnolia.” Built around dusky low-end and the interplay between rollicking keys and guitar, this multi-tiered track features Szyndrowski’s impassioned delivery as well as the group’s playful vocal harmonies. Seeming to reflect back on the happier days of a maturing relationship, the song is emblematic of the band’s continued development as songwriters and it points towards their brightening future.
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