FM Bats – Everybody Out…Shark In The Water

FM Bats – Everybody Out…Shark In The Water / 2005 Vinyl Dog / 6 Tracks / http://www.vinyldogrecords.com / Reviewed 29 June 2005

FM Bats are not only like late-seventies/early-eighties Neil Young (listen to the soundtrack for Human Highway if you want to hear the similarities), but also to Stooges-era Iggy Pop and even the Velvet Underground. It is really hard to give the FM Bats a “punk” nametag, but rather they should be dubbed “experimentalists” in the greatest sense. The band is not afraid to take a slow, sedate stroll (“There’s Only 1 Captain On This Ship!”) or even go into the realm of the noise-punk bands (The Vines, Refused). It is during a track like “All You Do Is Jerk” that FM Bats are able to mesh together the early-seventies Neil Young sound with the punk style, really reflected in the grunge that surrounds the track.

With an angular sound, “Young Man’s Glory, Old Man’s Blues” shows the continually shifting influences and styles of the FM Bats. Each track only takes between one and two minutes to complete; much like the Some Girls EP (which had nearly the same length for the same amount of tracks), the music present is fantastic but is so fleeting that individuals just cannot get a proper grip on what the band is and what they are trying to accomplish. However, “Everybody Out” has tremendous replay value, not only for the fun, catchy sound of the FM Bats but the fact that each of the tracks contains so much crammed into such a short period of time that one listen will not show a listener all the band has to offer.

Even with the recording of the track being a mite bit noise, the FM Bats are able to keep listeners in their seats, mainly through the strong vocals of Todd. The final “track” (which is essentially the EP’s title repeated over and over) is perhaps the perfect track to place on this disc, although I’m a little stumped why it did not just begin instead of end the disc. Truly a furious, intense style of rock that moves beyond the “punk” orientation and simultaneously achieves parity with the political-rock of the late-sixties, the Detroit rock of the seventies, and the punk of the eighties to makes something that is vital in this current period.. The disc is only nine minutes long, but even the short run-time of “Everybody Out…Shark In The Water” is not something that should dissuade individuals from picking up this album.

Top Track: 18 is Dying

Rating: 6.2/10