Condo Fucks - 'Fuckbook' [Album]

Matador

Sounding like something conjured up in your local Bull's Head, 'FuckBook' has a certain niche charm to it. It plods along with a dirty, gritty sound. The 'garage' sound is hard to get into at first, especially after listening to endless albums that are polished harder than Kate Winslet's oscar. It's kind of cool listening to something different, but that has been done for years, if that makes sense. Condo Fucks are two blokes and a bird banging out some covers in their mums garage, it has a certain 'don't give a shite to be honest' charm about it. Everything is smothered with a rusty fog of the-least-produced-album-imaginable but intertwined with something many a band could not pull off. This is the bottom of the barrel album, the essence of where a band originates. A small group of musicians getting together and playing covers, playing some of their own tunes in their way, the way they like it, not the big wigs of the world.

The band are slightly confusing , the more you read up on 'Condo Fucks' the more the name 'Yo La Tengo' appears. The only thing clearly established in written English is that 'Condo Fucks' are a "CT trio" consisting of band members Georgia Condo on the drums, Kid Condo playing guitar and James McNew on bass. As far as Wikipedia is concerned, 'Yo La Tengo' are 'Condo Fucks', having played under the name at Brooklyn's Magnetic Field and releasing this 'Fuckbook' album. That is information from Wikipedia though, no miss information can be held responsible to myself and Altsounds, read the small print.

'Fuckbook' is predominantly a covers album with a couple of their original material added in. The band hammer through songs by Beach Boys, Flaming Groovies, Slade, Electric Eels and more. The songs are original in their own right by Condo Fucks smashing their own unique gritty sound to the musical caboodle. Apparently there is a back story to the album, something about the band re-uniting last year and 'Fuckbook' is the recording of their rehearsal for the show. Again don't quote me on it.

'Fuckbook' doesn't really do much, it's a devilish live covers album, not really suitable for many occasions, or children. It takes a good few attempts to listen to the whole ear crunching 11 track album without switching over to the latest pop drivel from Lady Gagaggagaga. You could say Condo Fucks will have a very niche market, but if it works for them, then niche away chaps (and chappettes).