Album Reviews : Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt / Jxckxlz – Split EP

I like this genre of music quite a bit, and so it’s always nice to be introduced to bands not yet at the Chariot/Norma Jean/Dillinger level. I think it’s good to keep in mind that bands don’t just burst forth from the music-industry womb, fully formed and worrying about merch sales and taxes. They usually start as mewling babes, covered in the after-birth of EPs and shitty tours, and needing to suckle on the nourishing teat of word-of-mouth exposure, and I am terribly sorry for that metaphor.

This split EP is a fine example of new(er) bands smashing out some great noisey jams, in a way that I really got into. When both bands are hitting their hectic and discordant stride they’re unstoppable, and it takes a fair amount of will power not to flip out and smash whatever is nearby. I didn’t really like how sullen and introspective this split can get at times, where the riffs slow down and the drums get gloomy, but it never really gets as dreary and dour as it seems it could. I’m not sure if this a “thing” I didn’t know noisy bands did now, but I don’t care if it is because I don’t like it anyway, thing or not. It’s not nearly as egregious as bands putting the handbrake on a roaring, heavy track to squeeze a melodic chorus out of their anus, but it’s just not what I want to listen to when I listen to these bands. But maybe I’m missing the point; maybe that’s how these bands mainly sound, and it’s the dissonant noise which is the occasional flourish. In which case don’t put those riffs at the start of songs and get my hopes up.

Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt (a fantastically post-ironic self-referential band name worthy of its own wanky and unnecessary dissertation) sway between controlled chaos and spaced out jam, never too concerned with holding the listeners hand. The songs on this split (of which there are too few, in my opinion) show some really strong song writing ability, and a fantastic use of dynamics which no one would have blamed them for not including. It sounds like they’re having fun, which is always nice to listen to. Not that they’re not taking it seriously, just that it sounds like they still enjoy playing music, which unfortunately is something that doesn’t always come across these days.

Jxckxlz sound like the younger, angrier, shorter and stockier brother of FGWMWS, the fat kid playing footy who insists on growing a goatee in high school. The production is dirtier, the ambient sections more threatening, the playing more aggressive. It’s an awesome compliment. Never having listened to a lot of split EPs, I’m not sure if the bands are supposed to sound similar in production, but I really liked hearing an obvious difference between the two. Even under the fuzz, Jxckxlz can pump out an awesome melody that’s as heavy as it is memorable.

Both these bands are already excellent, but it’s exciting to think that they’ve not yet reached their potential. You should pick this split up for no other reason than giving you retrospective bragging rights about having their “earlier work.” And while you wait for it to appreciate it in social value, you’ll have an enjoyable split EP packed full of kick ass noisy music.

Band: Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt/Jxckxlz
Album: Split
Year: 2014
Genre: Hardcore/Math
Label: Art As Catharsis
Origin: NSW

Track list:
1. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt – Cicada/Grasshopper
2. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt – Carpenter Ant
3. Jxkcklz – Distractions From You
4. Jxkcklz – Solace
5. Jxkcklz – Trophic Level
6. Jxkcklz – Cause and Effect
7. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt feat. Boot – Husk (Special Circumstances Remix)