Cassette Review: Black Fox "Exotic Trash"

[£5 // Edition of 250 // https://weareblackfox.bandcamp.com/album/exotic-trash]

I'm not really sure whether or not there is such a thing as a black fox, as most of them seem to be red/orange in color, but now I'm kind of curious to look into it because I do love animals.    It was only a few years back that I discovered the wonder of the red panda, and I know most people probably think pandas are only black and white, but wow do these little creatures rule.   So I won't rule out the possibility of there being an actual black fox.  (I googled it-- it does exist and kind of looks like a wolf, which is very cool)

The music on "Exotic Trash" is just all around rocking.    There is fuzz and it has this feel of The Strokes' "Last Night" mixed with the energy of an Andrew WK song.  Granted, it doesn't really sound that much like Andrew WK otherwise because I tend to feel like his songs all run together, a problem which Black Fox does not share.     Melodic vocals give this the feel of the Plain White T's first or second album (I didn't really listen to them after that) and also this combination of The Mr. T Experience and Buddy Holly.

Somewhere between the "Empire Records" soundtrack and that one song about Stacy's Mom this is just all around best played at maximum volume and yet doesn't sound exactly like anything I've heard before.   With some Tom Petty and even Replacements vibes this is just a whole lot of fun.    The choruses are full of hooks and while the general tone of the music feels upbeat the lyrics such as "Things won't change for us" seem to be the opposite.

So for one thing this does have that lyrics/music combination I've always wanted to create myself but simply don't have the time/talent to create.   On top of that, these are just some flat out rocking songs that will get you moving.   I think one of my biggest problems with a lot of the songs on the radio today is that they lack that sort of energy that gets you pumped, you know what I mean?   Bands on the radio when I was growing up had it, but this new scene is so boring and bland.

Black Fox has that sort of mass appeal to their music where they could be on the radio, and yet they have that something extra no radio band does right now.    If I had to look into a crystal ball and predict the future of Black Fox or at least create an example of how their music sounds, they remind me of a band who gets offered an opening slot on a tour with a much larger band (Again, going back to the likes of The Strokes), and then consequently gets kicked off the tour for reasons which never fully go explained but we all know that it is because the opener cannot rock harder than the headliner.