The end of a year is hardcore backtracking time for any self-respecting music nerd. Lists start popping up everywhere and as much as you think you know about the current state of cutting-edge music, you will always find at least 50 albums (I swear) that you have never heard of, saw briefly on a blog and never checked it out, or hear about a lot but never bothered to listen to, which is exactly what happened to me. What happens next? Lots of myspacing and trying to listen to these bands so you can keep up with everyone else - being a music nerd (when it comes to modern music anyway; music nerds of the '60s-psychedelia sort and people like them do not count) is a lot like being in high school.
Anyway, I discovered quite a few great artists this way and as I played catch-up at the end of the year, I'll post about them now so I'm not TOO behind. January of the next year is close enough. One of these artists would be Tobacco. Technically, Tobacco isn't really "new," having been the frontman for Black Moth Super Rainbow for years, but you know what I mean. He released a self-titled album in October of last year through anticon. that did not get much applause (from me at least), but three months later, here I stand typing, ready to applaud.
The album, Fucked Up Friends, is basically the electronic psychedelica album that you would expect from the frontman for BMSR. If you don't mind practicing some SAT questions, then Black Moth Super Rainbow is to Radiohead as Tobacco's Fucked Up Friends is to Thom Yorke's The Eraser. Both albums by the frontmen are, in all honesty, pretty similar to the output from the bands that they are a part of, but are slightly different enough (Tobacco's is slightly more beat-centric, Thom's is slightly more minimalist and empty/lonesome-feeling). Both are solidly good albums though, examined by themselves and also examined relatives to their bands' albums, and we'll keep it at that.
