The Fun Years is one of the most misleading names I have heard in the last few months. What do you expect to get? Do I hear you think party music, electro-pop, dance music, techno, club? No way people, nothing like that is going on here. The Fun Years is the duo of Ben Recht & Isaac Sparks who create loop-based ambient and drone music. Ben Recht plays guitar paterns and melodies, Isaac Sparks plays the turntable, and probably both also work with effect pedals and boxes but that just isn’t mentioned anywhere. After several self-released cdr’s, some compilations tracks and one cd release Barge Recordings releases their second cd release Baby, it’s cold inside.
With just little research on the net it is easy to find out that their first proper cd was received very well in the media, and also among the group of ambient, post-rock and drone fans. Though, now I must be honest and tell that before I got this cd in my hand I had never heard their music before. Though, with high expectations I put the cd in the cd-player and I started listening. And, how these expectations are filled. This is really worth it.
Ben & Isaac are surprising us, as listener, from the start. Music is build up form small pulsating loops, guitar melodies, the scratching of vinyl records and at some points some field recordings seem to pop-up (which could easily be from those records of course). This might sound familiar to some of you, but these two guys really know how to twist the sound to something new. The music is weird and peculiar though easy accessible at the same time.
The use of the records is done in a very playful way, some of the sounds could easily be considered funny, for example some of the vocal sounds that appear here and there in itself are weird, but at the same time show some amazing good ear for sounds. Everything seems to be in the right place.
You can hear this duo has had fun with creating their music, but it is clear that they put lots of emotion in the whole. The general theme in the music is a depression and loneliness. Bleak sounds are talking control throughout the whole album. The song that drags me in most is probably Re: we’re again buried under that has soft vinyl scratches in a loop with pulsating tones over. These sounds combined hypnotize you, while in the background you hear sounds of people slamming doors and soft noises as if locked in the bathroom in a factory.
Baby, it’s cold inside is a highly recommended album which after several plays after still stays something interesting to hear with enough to discover. Specially recommend using headphones with this one, to hear all the very small details and background noises.
Go check it out.
Weblinks:
The Fun Years
Barge Recordings
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