Little Fyodor - Beneath The Uber-Putz mp3 album

LITTLE FYODOR has created a kind of myth surrounding himself which falls somewhere in the area between the Cretin Gabba Gabba of THE RAMONES, the pathetique of JILTED JOHN and mebbe even the anti-hero posturings of JOHN THE POSTMAN. So what might be the sum result of this self-invention? His style seems filtered through the geeky anglepoise contortions of EMO PHILLIPS - silly voices and deceptively simple songs which, when let loose and given their freedom can impress way beyond expectations - fer instance "Useless Shit" sounds strangely like the freaks who wandered through CHROME songs suddenly learning to play the very songs in which they live! There's a stripped-down Punk-era feel to many of these songs, a rough readiness hiding clever compositions and some decent musicianship. F'r instance the (comparitable) epic "I Can't Relax" sounds very much like the music PEELY played at the end of the Seventies / early Eighties. The musicianship - sharp metally guitar and lightweight drumming form skeletal bridges for FYODOR's distinctive out-of-control voice. Reminds me here of DALEK I, there of I JOG AND THE TRACKSUITS, and a couple of dozen other such people. Surprisingly tight and catchy, it's coloured here and there by organ, sax and other instruments, including bowed saw! As the titles suggest, there's reason to slap a Parental Guidance sticker on the album's cover, but overall this is an upbeat, good-natured journey through what I take to be a fictional world of Outsider / Loser attitudes and perspective. Originally reviewed for Metamorphic Journeyman.