Blitzen Trapper - Furr

Reviewed by Garrett

5 out of 5 Faces (Ratings)

Release Date: Sept 29, 2008

Label: Pop Records

I like experimental music, just not TOO experimental.  Like, I've been trying hard to get into Anathallo's new record "Canopy Glow."  Can't do it.  At least, not yet.  There still has to be a discernable melody underneath all the noise, meaning that I prefer my music to be on the Wilco side of experimental.  

That's where Blitzen Trapper's new record "Furr" comes in.  It sounds like Wilco!  At least, it does in places.  I know that's passe to the Pitchfork crowd, but I still dig the alt-country fuzz sound that Wilco pioneered 10+ years ago.  But check out "War on Machines," which is a Wilcoesque fire breather straight from "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" days.  The wonderful thing about this record, though, is that it incorporates so much more than just a Wilco ripoff.  For instances, the opening track "Sleepytime in the Western World," with its vague circus themes and pounding piano, makes me think of "Abbey Road"-era Beatles, and "Black River Killer"  smacks of vintage Beck.  "God & Suicide" sounds like the indie love child of Neil Young and Ralph Stanley.  Sup Pop's website trumpets that "there have been calls to coin a new genre" for Blitzen Trapper's sound.  I'm not sure it's that innovative, though; if it were, I probably wouldn't like it.  

Underneath everything, though, there's a country twang to this record, albeit warped in a different manner on each song.  The warping is what makes "Furr" so interesting.  Each song is unique and enjoyable on its own, but each song contributes to the album as a whole.  There's no filler, but at the same time, there are no songs that sound out of place.  It's the epitome of a well-constructed album.