Restaurnaut - FAHF 2
(2013 Kerchow)
For the
second day in a row, here’s another taste of California DIY, and like the zine
I reviewed yesterday, Restaurnaut’s new tape, FAHF 2, more closely resembles Olympia, Washington’s off-kilter
twee vibe than the crunchy garage-punk that California has been churning out
lately. It’s pretty evident that frontman Nick Dolezal looks to Calvin Johnson’s
many music projects for insight; both of the songwriters have a penchant for
clunkily played, twangy guitars, and each delivers lyrics in an overly forceful
tone, slowly sounding out each syllable with booming force. What sets
Restaurnaut apart from Calvin and the K Records scene is his use of synths and
samples. While just about every iconic K Records band limited themselves to
guitar and drums, Dolezal is rather creative with his arrangements without
sacrificing his lo-fi ethic. His tracks on FAHF
2 include clanging keyboards like those on “Don’t Feel Lonely Like The Rest”
and gravelly noise loops on “Into The Star World”. He even mixes his vocals differently
on each track. They’re especially abrasive on the closing track, “Arrow”, which
happens to be my favorite of the 5 included on the tape. Not only does the song
include some of Restaurnaut’s best lyricism, (“I’ll treat you like the last
Egyptian Pharaoh”), but it also veers into some sonically adventurous
territory. It spans four and a half minutes, an unheard of amount of time for
the lo-fi genre, and features blasts of distortion in its chorus. In Beach
Boys-eque fashion, a sample of an archer pulling back his bowstring accompanies
the word “arrow” in the song’s second verse. The McDonald’s yellow cassette
includes a good 15 minutes worth of old-school DIY, and it’s in a limited
edition of 25 so don’t pass up your chance to get one!
