Wednesday 12 December 2018

FAKE OFF

BandFAKE OFF
GenresPunk / Post-Rock / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz / Skate Punk
Related artists?.
CountryLille FRANCE
Years Active2008?-present
Song: "Taïga"
Album: "Boréal"
Year: 2016
For fans ofShizune, Amber Daybreak, Daïtro, Massa Nera, Øjne, State Faults, Raein, Yarostan, Rainmaker, Shirokuma, Young Mountain, Viva Belgrado, Mira, Pettersson, They Sleep We Live, Marcovaldo, Randy, Adhesive, Nine ElevenShai Hulud, Touche Amore, Secret Arms, Pianos Become The Teeth, We Never Learned To Live, LKTDOV  and Sed Non Satiata aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Don't Trust The Hype Recordz  / Backpack Records / BG Records / Dingleberry Records / Dirty Slap Records / Emergence Records / I For Us Records / Inhumano Discos / Koepfen Records / KROD Records / Lonely Voyage Records / Mustard Mustache Records / Give Us A Chance
This post's artist is from the November 2018 Mix. This is track #5.
You can download: the December 2018 Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2019 Mix#12 here.

I only heard about FAKE OFF because of a trade that I did in 2017 with Dingleberry Records. I went through all their stuff and found a ton of amazing and unknown records, including the 'Boréal' 12"EP by France's FAKE OFF. After a very skate/hardcore punk influenced debut in 2009 the band came back hard in 2014 and again in 2016 with much more concentrated and grounded efforts, fitting somewhere in the melodic, post-hardcore, screamo spectrum of Shizune, Amber Daylight and Massa Nera.

The band's first recordings are the LP that is titled 'Appalling Options'. This has much more of a hyperactive hardcore, skate-punk feel complete with gang chants, speedy drumming and shouted vocals. It's almost like Adhesive mixed with Raised Fist and some early Randy without sounding redundant, as in the first three songs you've got an instrumental opener, a short romp and then a four-and-a-half minute journey. There is "A Moment Out Of Reality..." which is obviously much different and dips heavily into the screamy hardcore realm (sounding a tad like Shizune or maybe Secret Arms), it's also the shortest song on the record. It would be a shame to leave out the fact that this is also a very mathy record, with each song dipping in and out of some very technical shit, although the songs never quite have enough of any one thing in particular to bring me back.

'Climatic Accidents, Landscape​-​Making' was released half-a-decade later and it shows immediately, as opener "Initial Relief" shows a restrained band that comes together as one to create a huge, moving piece in the vein of Moving Mountains, Young Mountain and Sed Non Satiata. By the time I'm halfway through "Water Erosion" (that's only 45 seconds, by the way) I'm reminded heavily of Amber Daybreak and Shizune. In "Discordance Of Level" there's a swing at about 20 seconds that's fucking awesome and is the first of many a sick part in this quintessential FAKE OFF tune. This is definitely a record with a lot more substance and self-reflection. 100% worth checking out.

It was 2016's 'Boréal' that hooked me. I only picked up a single 12" to test out and see if I liked it before keeping it but I ended up selling it before I had the chance to delve in properly. The five songs are an excellent amalgamation of post-hardcore and screamo with the most obvious comparisons being Shizune and Young Mountain. Opener "Forest" shows the further maturation process of the band, finding the perfect time for transitions, amazing grooves, desperate screaming and the dense, collective unity lacking prior. "Prairie" is another song that soars with Swedish screamo friends Shirokuma and Rainmaker, utilizing some seriously permeating guitars. My personal favourite is sandwiched in the middle and is titled "Taïga", making me pronounce "tiger" the way Betty does in Kung Pao. After a dreamy, eerie guitar intro and beaming second section, the song first takes hold at 1:45 with a beautifully layered, throbbing build that brings amazing French screamo like Daïtro, Yarostan and Sed Non Sataita to mind. The climax at 2:14 and subsequent ridiculousness isn't far from a Massa Nera comparison, making this one hell of a track. "Tundra" and "Arctic" are both much more adventurous in the post-hardcore sense of the word, as they slow things down considerably but maintain a screamo approach to delivery that...wait for more band name drops...sounds like Pianos Become The Teeth and We Never Learned To Live.

In closing, I saw on the band's facebook page that they are writing new material and should have something out in 2019. Stoked!

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DISCOGRAPHY

2009 - Appalling Options cassette/cdLP (stream/donate/download here)

2014 - Climatic Accidents, Landscape​-​Making 12"LP (stream/donate/download here)

2016 - Boréal cassette/cd/12"EP (stream/donate/download here)

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(2016) FAKE OFF - "Taïga" (from 'Boréal')

(2016) FAKE OFF - "Forest" (from 'Boréal')

(2014) FAKE OFF - "Discordance of Level" (from 'Climatic Accidents, Landscape​-​Making')

(2014) FAKE OFF - "Cutting Edges" (from 'Climatic Accidents, Landscape​-​Making')

(2009) FAKE OFF - "A Moment Out Of Reality..." (from 'Appalling Options')

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FAKE OFF additional links
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