Schizo Fun Addict first appeared in 2008 on a single (the first to be released on Fruits de Mer) with an interpretation of George Martin’s ‘Theme One’, originally popularised by Van Der Graaf Generator backed with a cover of the title track from The Small Faces “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake”. There followed a cover of Goblin’s ‘Theme from Suspiria’ on a 2014 EP and many original numbers mostly taken from their “The Sun Yard” album (on FdM 2013 on CD & 2018 on LP) and “Love Your Enemies” (2023) LPs; these are all included on the 17-track first CD of this impending release, along with a cover of ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ from the Led Zeppelin’s 1973 album “Houses of the Holy”, and a version of ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’ that is both respectful and debonair. It is hard not to be enchanted by the retro organ, brass sounds, energetic drumming and sound-samples that deviate from the VDGG version into a more sci-fi direction, backed by a heavy take on some classic Small Faces that loses none of the impact of the original; indeed it might be argued that it advances it or at least takes it in a slightly different direction; ditto with a shimmering version of Goblin’s ‘Suspiria’, with a lot going on in its 4 minutes. Of the originals each one has special interest, with the deeply trippy and psychedelic atmosphere of ‘Galactic Joke Part D’, all 11 minutes of it from the FdM “Head Music 3” triple LP from 2020, especially alluring as a starting point if you need one to see how far Schizo Fun Addict can go, even if it is not that representative, as the charming, light-hearted song ‘Fate Chaser’ from a 10” lathe-cut record on FdM in 2022 demonstrates. In other words, Schizo Fun Addict music is difficult to define, but the hybridity of their approach only adds to their appeal.
CD two features their 2020 LP “The Last Wave” and tracks from “El Shoegaze Bossa Nova” (2018) released on Sugarbush Records originally, along with various rarities from their long if sporadic musical career. ‘Crossing Over’ from “The Last Wave” is a classic specimen of inventive psychedelic shoegaze with ethereal vocals. ‘Sun Daze’ has a pastoral Velvet Underground vibe, a Nico influenced vocal perhaps, with twittering birds to enhance the atmosphere; the ode to ‘Whiskey’ is a change of direction with howling harmonica, and ‘In This Station’ has a soupçon of country rock: the craftsmanship of the songs is admirable and ‘Shadow Mantra’ with its echoing guitar reveals the trippy experimental side of the band. There are another 19 tracks on CD 2. making three dozen in total, quite a lot to get one’s head around. “El Shoegaze Bossa Nova”, a different kind of album, is an unlikely fusion of shoegaze and bossa nova; reverberated trumpet being one of the many musical conjuring tricks Schizo Fun Addict bring to the table. The cover of the original Nirvana’s ‘Rainbow Chaser’ is risky but they just about get away with it; this is an eclectic band that lives on the outskirts!
This introduction to this legendary New Jersey band is a very important one, not just because of their unlikely foundation, by Jet Wintzer and Jayne Gabriel in Taunton, England on 1st January, 2000 (so the story goes) and their imaginative and idiosyncratic take on music - Uncut magazine once described them as “on the edge between cohesion and collapse” (the latter never really happens) and like “Brian Wilson writing for The Jesus and Mary Chain”- but because they are a well-kept secret ripe for re-discovery – surely any band attracting such comments is well worth checking out? Personally, at their best, I would put them up there with the Stereolabs, Pavements and Sonic Youths of this world. Meanwhile, this double CD is ideal for delving into and discovering an astonishingly eclectic and creative group.
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