MFTJ is a collaboration between producer Scott Schorr and multi-instrumentalist, Mike Keneally.
Released: January 10th 2021
Label: Lazy Bones Recordings
Formats: Digital
Find me an album with a better collection of song titles than MFTJ’s My Moms Getting A Horse? What Wally Thinks, Hammy Crotchpong, Peeping Racoon, Shoe Trade Gone Bad and Lucy Has The Grip Of A Crop Duster all feature on MFTJ’s second album. Throughout My Moms Getting A Horse you will here fragmented beats, groovy basslines, heavy riffs, trip-hop stylings, a dash of jazz and a smattering of prog.
What Wally Thinks opens the album with a hip-hop style beat that you could imagine Jurassic 5 or Del Tha Funkee Homosapien offering bars to. Keneally’s improvised guitar links are spliced in amongst the music with the guitars getting gradually more prominent as the track grows, culminating in a solo from Frank Zappa’s former ‘stunt guitarist.’ The beats get muddier too; this is a wonderful blend of styles that has been concocted.
Mike Keneally’s guitar fires the start of I Remember When Candy Bars Were A Nickel. The song has a more traditional rock feel with a standard beat and synths adding texture. For the first time in the album, and definitely not the last, the bass guitar seeps out offering relentless groove. Soft Teeth sees the bass being the driving force as again, the relentless nature of the rhythm and groove move the track forward.
National Milk Day uses vocal samples in it’s rich tapestry with the bass sounding very eighties and the guitar again adding little licks throughout. There’s a kind of twisted funk to the piece. P-Funk this ain’t but funk is what you want it to be. See also Hammy Crotchpong for more funk flavourings and twisted guitars!
Trip-Hop comes to mind on Lucy Has The Grip Of A Crop Duster. The smoky beat and hammond sounding keys make for a sleazy affair, musically. The song gestates into something more urgent as it progresses with licks of classic prog and Steven Wilson stylings playing their part. Who Grooms Your Fur? feels like a darker affair. The off kilter drum beat and dark synths make for an uneasy beginning but the song flourishes again into funk by accident. MFTJ certainly know how to bring joy in their music.
Peeping Racoon feels very playful…not unlike what a peeping racoon might be like. Were the song titles devised before or after the music? That’s one to ponder whilst you listen. Mike Keneally’s guitar fires again in the song. Shoe Trade Gone Bad opens with a chiming bell; tolling the shoe trade gone bad. The song encapsulates the despair of someone who has been ripped off in their trading of brogues. Again, were the titles devised before or after the event?!
Donner Party Highlights and the title track close out the album. The former is another slice of funky prog. The beat is infectious and the groove doesn’t give up. The title track closes out the album in epic fashion with all the great elements of MFTJ in one big melting pot. The guitar solo in the title track has a certain Floydian quality.
MFTJ describe themselves as ‘instrumental prog soup flavoured with art-rock, hip-hop, hard rock and psychedelia.’ I would advise you take the trip into the world of MFTJ and see if you can come up with something better? My Moms Getting A Horse is a wonderfully fun album that will definitely bring a smile to your face.
Stay tuned to At The Barrier for an in depth interview with Mike Keneally, and a feature from Scott Schorr. Listen to MFTJ’s My Moms Getting A Horse below.
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Categories: Album Review, Featured
