King Tuff
Black Moon Spell
Sub Pop Records, 2014

Fuzzy, punk-y, lo-fi-esque glam rocker jams. King Tuff’s head-bopping, toe-tapping melodies contrast with frequently cliché and macabre subject matter. Unpolished, grungy and often tongue-in-cheek, this is quite a fun album to listen to.

FCCs: 6, 8

***1. (4:53) Title track. Highly repetitive (melodically and lyrically), but sooooo catchy. Electric guitar has loads of fun during the bridge/post-bridge. Play, play, play!
2. (2:10) Whiny vox, haywire guitar, very solid track albeit likely being the weakest on the album.
**3. (3:25) Lots of reverbed vox. Psychedelic vibe. Feels like it’s backed with a little 70s groove.
4. (3:28) A bit of that angry, 90s grunge influence. More guitar solos, a bit slower paced than earlier songs. “Bang your little head” will be stuck in your head for ages.
***5. (2:39) Beach-y little tune (Beach Boys-esque), as cute as the album is capable of getting. Upbeat, with some nice harmonies and rhythmic clapping, whistling, etc.
6. (1:02) Makes me think of The Moldy Peaches! Simplest little melody, just a strumming guitar and lo-fi-filtered vox. Transitionary tune. FCC: “you look like shit”
7. (2:58) Psychedelic background “ahh”-ing—really nice touch. Slower tune but kind of tense, like there’s something just under the surface. Reminiscent of late 60s/early 70s rock.
***8. (2:55) Emphasis on the the details: loving the bass here (“bum-ba-dum-dum”), the driving clapping beat, jangling little tambourine, “ah-la-la-la”s. One of the best of the album, unfortunate FCC: “batshit insane”, “that shit that fucks me up”
*9. (1:30) Fast, fast song. Punctuated by well-placed claps and wails. Interesting warped, wailing, echoed guitar.
10. (1:53) FUN (albeit slightly disconcerting) vocal effects: layered/filtered/reverbed “GO!” at the chorus. Has the effect of sounding a bit spacey/dreamy/robotic, even.
11. (1:18) “Dun-dun-dun-dun” synth comes into play (80s influence, for sure). Echoed, distant, dramatic opening vox. Rhythmless lo-fi guitar comes in to mess with the simple/spacey vibe.
**12. (4:15) Upbeat, acoustic opening, lightest/least lo-fi song on the album. Smoothly transitions to some messier, whirring guitar in the later half. Very hippie vibe.
***13. (4:47) Weird opening montage of sounds (ten secs), eventually empties out to a yearning, ballad-y acoustic track that culminates in a sped-up whirlwind of symbols and drums (chorus). Some background harmonizing comes into play in the last minute or so. Really beautiful song.
**14. (3:50) Upbeat, assertive, classically rock n’ roll. Dance, head bop, clap or sing along to the “oooh”s and “aaahh”s—it’s a fun song.