Posted on: October 31, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Imagine Jello Biafra being introduced to Atari Teenage Riot and Coal Chamber. Well, that is probably the least inaccurate comparison I could make for The Faux, so I guess we can keep it. Until the very digitized vocals of Jo come creeping into the track, I am personally not sure whether or not The Faux stole “Instrumental”, the second track, from a Nintendo game’s midi program. “Cold and Mechanical” is everything but that, the rich synth beat of the track is definitely catch and Jo’s vocals on the track actually move slightly away from the unabashed Jello Biafra-ripoff into having some form of melody. Continuing riding the wave of “Cold and Mechanical” into the next track, “Anonymous ID”, The Faux journey more into the digital hardcore of bands like Lolita Storm and the aforementioned Atari Teenage Riot. Rush comes out of the hole they’ve been hiding in since Vapor Trails fell off the Billboard charts to make a guest appearance on “Love Lust Lies”, a track which again morphs the paradigm in which the listener hears The Faux.

“Love Lust Lies” incorporates the Nintendo-style of synthesizer playing with a much more bottomed out, dirty-feeling set of lines. Jo’s vocals during this track are much more clear during this track and do not suffer as much from the nasal delivery of the previous songs. The breakdown during the last few seconds of “Love Lust Lies” is much too short : it is like a heroin addiction, each shot makes you want more. While synth-driven bands are becoming all the rage on the East Coast, the most interesting of these bands embrace the darker edges of all of their influences. Take The Flesh and The Faux as two of these bands. While The Faux might not be as dance-themed as The Flesh, The Faux create their own style of dance music with the incorporation of a late seventies/early eighties punk set of vocals and synth lines eerily reminiscent of Nintendo games.

Putting out product that is seemingly beyond their means (their website is nothing more than a page on a website for a dance club, and their e-mail is on yahoo), The Faux really make an EP that is catchy while not being too saccharine. This is truly dance music for The Matrix – dark, dank, connected all up with wires and plug-ins, driving beneath the constructed reality and creating their own. Fly on, Fauxers!

Top Tracks : Cold and Mechanical, Love Lust Lies

The Faux – Self-Titled / 5 Songs / 2003 Tarantulas Records / http://www.honeypump.net/thefaux/ / http://www.tarantulasrecords.com / Reviewed 28 July 2003 / Released 29 July 2003

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