After Steve and I reviewed Fiddlefoxx's Invasion a while back, I decided to delve deeper into their eclectic canon and came up with UFO, their 2007 offering. Overall, I liked Invasion better, but I liked some of the individual tracks on UFO more than their individual counterparts on Fiddlefoxx's later album.
It takes until about the third track, "Boston Freeze," for Fiddlefoxx to really warm up and hit their stride between tradition and innovation. This specific track reminds me a bit of Notorious's "Ice Storm" on their self-titled album, but there's a lot more layering in effect.
It takes until about the third track, "Boston Freeze," for Fiddlefoxx to really warm up and hit their stride between tradition and innovation. This specific track reminds me a bit of Notorious's "Ice Storm" on their self-titled album, but there's a lot more layering in effect.
The titular track, "UFO," is slowed way down in comparison to its hyperactive predecessor, "Studio 54/Reverse Exploding Snowflake/Detached" and as such is almost ponderous. Its surreal, eerie fiddle stretches out over active beatboxing and combines both serene fiddle and excited rhythm until the very end of the track.
My favorite track on this album is "Ouzel Falls." It might be contra-able and is the most traditional-sounding track of the lot. The beatboxing here reminds me quite a bit of Appalachian clogging, and the fiddling here is really pretty. Similarly, I am fond of the track later on the album entitled "Mathieu."
"Mandofunk" is aptly named, as it seems to be equal parts mandolin (moonlighting here like a ukelele), fiddle, beatbox, and funk. This tune is also notable because it is actually square.
I couldn't do a review of this album without mentioning "Hippopotamus Giraffe Orangutan." If someone wants to go violate copyright law (unless they are members of Fiddlefoxx) and make a viral video, they should take this song, illustrate it with screenshots of the appropriate animals, and throw it up onto YouTube to join the ranks of "The Llama Song" and Weebl's "Kenya." (WARNING: "Kenya"'s default setting is to loop!) "Hippopotamus Giraffe Orangutan" earworms like crazy. The vocals reminded me vividly enough of They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man" that I actually had to double check to be sure I hadn't accidentally skipped to a TMBG album.
All in all, this is a rather diverse collection from the artists who put together the eclectic (though somewhat more polished) Invasion and show a rather cool collaboration between Tradition and beatboxing.
My favorite track on this album is "Ouzel Falls." It might be contra-able and is the most traditional-sounding track of the lot. The beatboxing here reminds me quite a bit of Appalachian clogging, and the fiddling here is really pretty. Similarly, I am fond of the track later on the album entitled "Mathieu."
"Mandofunk" is aptly named, as it seems to be equal parts mandolin (moonlighting here like a ukelele), fiddle, beatbox, and funk. This tune is also notable because it is actually square.
I couldn't do a review of this album without mentioning "Hippopotamus Giraffe Orangutan." If someone wants to go violate copyright law (unless they are members of Fiddlefoxx) and make a viral video, they should take this song, illustrate it with screenshots of the appropriate animals, and throw it up onto YouTube to join the ranks of "The Llama Song" and Weebl's "Kenya." (WARNING: "Kenya"'s default setting is to loop!) "Hippopotamus Giraffe Orangutan" earworms like crazy. The vocals reminded me vividly enough of They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man" that I actually had to double check to be sure I hadn't accidentally skipped to a TMBG album.
All in all, this is a rather diverse collection from the artists who put together the eclectic (though somewhat more polished) Invasion and show a rather cool collaboration between Tradition and beatboxing.
Fiddlefoxx is made up of Andy Reiner (who also plays in Firecloud and assorted other Tradition-based bands) and Steve Foxx. UFO is available for purchase as a CD or digital download at CDBaby and some of the tracks can be found on Fiddlefoxx's MySpace page.
