Weekly Release Spotlight: Fog

Posted on 8/02/2007

Fog

Ditherer

[Lex]

If there's one thing more incestuous than the Anticon Records family (home to such offbeat acts as Why?, Dosh, Sole, and Pedestrian), it's the Minnesota music scene. Both groups of musicians often contribute to each other's albums or magically appear to back each other up on bass or backing vocals at live shows. Now, Fog mastermind Andrew Broder is no stranger to either of these musical circles of collaborators and drinking buddies--he often has Martin Dosh help him out on drums at shows, who is both of the Minneapolis and Anticon variety, and he was previously involved in numerous local and kinda local projects, including Lateduster and Hymie's Basement. The new album, Ditherer, though, is a whole new level of interconnectedness.

While it's tempting to simply namedrop until your head hurts, getting into the intricate specifics of all the guests on this album seems insignificant when what's really most notable about the album is, rather generically put, how it sounds. If you're familiar with Broder's past efforts as Fog, you might know the act as introverted, slightly creepy, and off-putting. Yeah it was just one guy with a guitar, but the ominous feedbacked loops and mumbled cackles at the microphone weren't really, you know, soothing. His turntable-enhanced recorded material on Ninja Tune (2002's self-titled debut and 2003's Ether Teeth) was equally unnerving, yet admittedly intriguing. When he switched to the Lex label for 2005's 10^th Avenue Freakout, a transformation was hinted at but didn't come to total fruition. That record was still very much 100% Broder, but the expansive (yet still dirty) electronics and widespread anthemic choruses made it a very subversive sounding pop record.

Ditherer completes the transformation by turning the once nebulous and ambiguous Fog (like a you don't really understand why it's kinda foggy in your backyard kinda fog) into a menacing and towering Fog (like in the John Carpenter you better run kinda fog). And all Broder had to do was make Fog into a full-fledged rock band with Tim Glenn on drums and Mark Erickson on bass. "Wait a second, does this mean Broder's done being a cook-eyed freaky musician?" Haha of course not. The album is definitely not going to scare away your little brother, but it's got plenty of quirk and peculiar decorations to keep those bored with indie rock interested.

In fact, that's where the guests come in. One of the most memorable moments on the disc is during "Hallelujah Daddy" when Anticonists Why? and Pedestrian pitch in for a (you guessed it) gospel chorus that manages to be charming, uplifting, and weird all at the same time. Other highlights include Phil Elverum (of Microphones and Mt. Eerie fame) dropping his sexy baritone on the Lamchop-esque "You Did What You Thought," just before Broder adds deconstructing crackles and drum machine under a gorgeous piano melody. You might also recognize more traditionally calm indie backing vocals from Andrew Bird on the title track or Low's Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk on album closer "What's Up Freaks?" which is as close as the album gets to low-key. Oh well, so much for avoiding the namedropping. Hopefully it at least gets across the lengths that Broder went to in order to make the latest Fog record more than an Andrew Broder release--it's big and bold, but it's not full of itself. It wants to be inviting just as much as it wants to be slightly off the hinges, and that's what makes Fog an integral part of not only the Minnesota music scene, but to indie rock nationwide.