Yo La Tengo members release covers album as Condo Fucks
Some bands just never break out of their respective city’s scene, and the Condo Fucks are no exception. Or are they? According to legend, the New London, Connecticut band has tromped its way through the hearts of post-punk-starved adolescents yearning for the trashiest garage-rock they could find in the early 1990s.
The power-trio – consisting of singer/guitarist Kid Condo, drummer George Condo and bassist James McNew – was iconic to its musical community, but they never cut an official album and ultimately fell into obscurity.
Now, the Condo Fucks, hungry for a piece of today’s garage-rock scene, are ready to reunite and tour once again. Under the umbrella of an eclectic underground label, Matador records, the Condo Fucks have recorded and are poised to release their very first official rehearsal bootleg entitled “Fuckbook.”
Under normal circumstances this would be truly an epic endeavor; that is, if any of it were true.
In fact, Kid Condo and George Condo are aliases for Ira Kaplan and George Hubely, who along with James McNew make up the truly legendary band Yo La Tengo.
The album and band names are simply a ruse played out for the die-hard fans who search liner notes for inspiration (included in the liner notes for Yo La Tengo’s “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One” was a list of phony Matador bands including the Condo Fucks).
The album “Fuckbook” is, in fact, an homage to Yo La Tengo’s 1990 release “Fakebook,” which consists of ballad covers played acoustically.
“Fuckbook” mightily plows through covers of iconic 1960s and ‘70s bands The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Troggs, the Small Faces and the Electric Eels, creating a mean and powerful juxtaposition to its name-staking “Fakebook.” The entire album, staying true to its legend, is recorded on what sounds like a couple of microphones trying their hardest to pick up a live performance on quarter-inch analog tape.
At first listen, the album dances the razors edge of insufferability, but if you turn your stereo up loud enough, it’ll begin to take you over. It begins with the Small Faces tune “What’cha Gonna Do About It,” which they do an incredible justice, and though the guitar solo is reminiscent of a pair of dying brakes, the tone is simply set for the rest of the album.
After a nod to the Kinks and the Electric Eels, “Fuckbook” reaches its pinnacle with a set of Beach Boys covers: “Shut Down” and its reprisal “Shut Down Part 2.” By this point in the album, the poor sound quality actually adds a dirty patina to the iconic surf sound we are all used to. “Shut Down” contains wonderful Wilsonian harmonies along with a simple but poignant guitar solo.
Immediately following “Shut Down” is “Shut Down Part 2,” which disassembles the melody into a fiercely pulsating surf groove more evocative of Dick Dale than the Boys, creating a masterful synthesis of garage-rock and surf-guitar.
The album as a whole is a die-hard venture. Unless you’ve been awaiting the next great Yo La Tengo release it’s simply hard to understand. It took a lot of research for me to truly get into this album, but after the 10th listen it began to grow on me. It’s like your friend’s new band’s EP recorded on a four-track; there’s something in the simplicity that just makes it fun.
