Yes yes, more action painting, splurged DIY artpunk damage from these notorious critters, now on to their third long player (and not forgetting that four-song lathe for yours truly of course). The remit has not really changed from those earlier transmissions but then again, why should it when you’re this locked in on your particular interests? What Famous Mammals do is a very Bay Area coded version of a very specific period in British music history - aka just after punk with a few people hanging around from just before punk. Which essentially equates to that ‘is it artrock/is it post-punk? messthetics era that also brings in the related axis of Whaam, Recommended and It’s War Boys.. Yet this is no mere reverence. There’s something uniquely odd residing below the surface, a San Fran weirdness that sits deep in its topography, alongside that sense that its makers have listened to not just a lot of music but also to each other. It takes a lot understanding to make these kind of splattered, sharp witted half-broken down, half gleaming anti-pop earworms in a convincing manner, and that’s exactly what FM have done here, again. A properly astute act ideal for anyone who’s found wisdom in the overlapping words and worlds of Dan Treacy, Bruno Wizard and the Desperate Bicycles. Which means Fam Mams are for the smart kids.
FFO: The Homosexuals, Television Personalities, the Desperate Bicycles
