Fog - "Ditherer"

Fog - Inflatable Ape pt. 3 (Lex 2007)

Fog – Ditherer / Lex

To be perfectly honest, I offered up this album to Patrick first and he respectfully declined for the same reason I offered it in the first place (if I wanted it myself I would have never even asked, muwhahaha): Andrew Broder’s Fog has never really struck a chord with either of us. Well that’s not completely true. I saw the trio (which is rounded out by drummer Tim Glenn and bassist Mark Erickson) perform at CMJ 2004 and still clearly remember the moving set. In particular, I remember a moment where the music stopped and Broder ached out a line about a dump trunk dropping 200 kittens on him. While obviously a bit on the weird side, it was also very moving, especially in the dank NYC club I witnessed it in (which was later covered in baby powder thanks to a certain Gary Wilson). Well that moment made me a fan, and I have checked out most of his discography since, but none of the recordings had that same lasting effect on me. So when Patrick turned down my offer, I figured at the very least I’d give it a curiosity spin, and I’ll be damned if I haven’t listened to it six times in the last two days. I have no idea why Fog’s upcoming release on Lex Records, Ditherer, is succeeding in my ears where the prior releases fell short, but I am glad to have an album to finally accompany that fond live memory.

The oddness of Fog’s sound is easily traced through the awkward path it took to develop. A Minneapolis, MN native (and I believe still resident), Broder made a number of different stylistic jumps while carving out his musical niche that vaguely followed the trail of punk rocker turned acclaimed hip-hop DJ turned 4-track experimenter turned bedroom singer/songwriter turned quirky avant-rocker. It may not be the most natural evolution, but the current product easily speaks for itself. After capturing the imagination of Adam Drucker (Doseone, Anticon) with his first self-produced release, Broder scored a deal with the U.K.’s Ninja Tune and repeatedly gained a following and then confused them endlessly with each subsequent release. By now though, the fan-base expects only the quirkiest from the now full-fledged trio (the Fog line-up went through a couple of different member changes and at one time included Martin Dosh, Michael Lewis and Jeremy Ylvisaker), and they delivered the goods with the acclaimed electro-pop leaning 2005 release 10th Avenue Freakout on their new home, the WARP offshoot turned independent buzz-maker Lex Records. Now two years later, Fog is an all-out rock band as Broder transcribes his endearingly absurd lyrics and avant-pop arrangements to anthemic hook-heavy pop-rock songs that excel greatly in their ability to tiptoe the line between accessibility and quirk.

I think the biggest difference between Ditherer and previous releases is its fully fleshed-out sound, which very well could be due to the stability of a band and the number of collaborators involved. Not that Broder wasn’t an able songwriter on his own, quite the opposite in fact, but the number of collaborating creative minds teamed with his own avant-pop sensibilities make for a much more refined sound. Though I don’t have the exact credits in front of me, all of the former Fog touring members contribute (Dosh, Lewis, Ylvisaker) along with Anticon members Pedestrian and Why? (Joanthan and Josiah Wolf, Doug McDiarmid), Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum, indie-popster Andrew Bird and Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. Broder does an amazing job of balancing his increasingly confident vocals, wonderfully oddly syncopated and typically multi-layered rhythms, accessible pop-rock guitar hooks, omnipresent background noise and seemingly spontaneous arrangements. It’s music that is both unpredictable and catchy as hell, which is the absolute mark of a masterful songwriter.

I think what is most surprising is the amount of pseudo-anthems strung throughout Ditherer, though to really sing along you have to master Broder’s idiosyncratic oddball lyrics. For Example, “I am smothered in glistening chicken fat on my mother’s bedspread” or “When the appendix burst dust blotted out the sun, we stood on the mountaintop with calendars and guns” or “A three-piece suit on me me, a tutu on you, in an empty airplane hangar at a table for two,” to name just a very few. While it may just seem weird on paper, it is absolutely infectious while listening to the album. Tracks like “Inflatable Age pt. 3” and “I Have Been Wronged” are absolutely irresistible near-anthems that will have your finger laying on the repeat button to go back and attempt to catch each and every hook. Later on, “The Last I Knew of You” sounds like a mix of Why? and Animal Collective, and “Ditherer” blends Drums and Guns-era Low with Kieran Hebden-leaning production and a Subtle-like mix of drum machine and strings. And honestly, I may be reaching with such comparisons, because it sounds so much in its own class.

So if you are like me and earlier Fog albums just didn’t quite strike that long-lasting chord with you, I urge you to give Broder and company this one more chance because I am near certain you will be sold. If you have always been on the Fog bandwagon, then my friend, you are in for a treat with Ditherer because it just keeps getting better and better. As for me, I think I will revisit their discography because perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mindset at the time; I just can’t believe that the transition would be as abrupt as it appears from my angle. Either way, Ditherer is a hell of an infectious album and I strongly recommended it if you are a fan of the avant-pop music.