Foot Village

Foot Village – Friendship Nation
8/10

http://www.dirtyzine.co.uk/content/view/545/42/

Foot Village are NOT hippies! I should point this out now – mainly because of the artwork, and mainly because they consist of four-drummers but this isn’t drum circle music!

‘Friendship Nation’ follows the band’s 2006 debut ‘Fuck The Future’ (making the cover art all the more apt, then!). ‘Fuck The Future’ was an insane racket, with all the songs named after countries or islands, except ‘Where Ever The Fuck Arnold Schwarzanegger Is From’ and ‘World Fantasy’. Apparently each song was about research into the country, to help Foot Village form their own country and ‘Friendship Nation’ is the cumulative result.

When listening to Foot Village, it’s almost impossible not to start thinking about the psyche of a drummer. Most people regard drummers as dim-witted people, happy with the primitive activity of ‘hitting things to make sounds’. Foot Village won’t change these people’s minds, I can guarantee that. But the liberal playfulness, violence and perfect chaos that the band exploit more than makes up for the lack of instruments – the band’s personality (channelled through their endless caterwauling) adds a hell of a lot of colour to the recording. With the humour though, sometimes, comes eery moments as snare hits sound like machine gun fire as if to soundtrack some unholy, barbaric, colonial invasion – complimented by, well, more screaming and caterwauling!

However, their inventiveness (you try to make an album comprising of just drums!), and ability to put a smile on your face can’t hide the fact that this is probably a band that would best be appreciated live than on record.
Craig Sharp