Fat Dog
Woof.
Release Date: Sep 6, 2024
Genre(s): Electronic, Electronica, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Electronic, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Dance, Rave
Record label: Domino
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Album Review: Woof. by Fat Dog
Fairly Good, Based on 8 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
With ears pointed straight up and hairs on end, South London's Fat Dog have arrived, snarling yet ready to play. They know that ruin begets ruin, but in this mess, there's no time for hesitation; it's time to show some teeth and romp around in heat - Fat Dog commands us to dance! By dance, they mean twist and writhe like a tick torn from its host, frantically searching for a new life source and adrenaline bump. Fat Dog's debut record, Woof, provides this high in erratic doses, hits that consume us whole, only to projectile vomit us into an absurdist's oblivion where the only thing you can do is vibrate and contort to the hedonistic rhythms that fill the space.
Based on rating 4/5
'It's fucking Fat Dog, baby!' The South London outfit's debut album is a veritable Frankenstein's monster, stitching two-tone ska and 90s rave to a post-punk core. Fat Dog's ethos is pure hedonism, "the polar opposite of thinking music", says keyboardist Chris Hughes. Opener Vigilante double barrels biblical spoken word with Mortal Kombat soundtrack instrumental hits while Clowns brings the vocoder back from the dead on one of only two moments on the album that Fat Dog allow you to come up for air.
Based on rating 7.5/10
The so-called "UK post-punk scene," centered around the label Speedy Wunderground and the storied venue The Windmill, continues to churn out strikingly original and energetic rock bands. This year's crop includes the frenzied Brixton quintet Fat Dog, who make rousing electro-punk that almost always threatens to fly off the rails, and whose debut album seems designed specifically to make listeners foam at the mouth. WOOF.
Based on rating 3.5
A blindingly fun prospect that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this is music to dance to like the end of the world is nigh It’s fair to say that Fat Dog has been creating something of a stir recently, most particularly with their incendiary live shows. The Kennel (as their fanbase is lovingly known), are a rabid bunch who lap up every wild left-turn and thunderous beat with wild abandon. Fat Dog’s modus operandi is fairly plain from the outset of WOOF.
Based on rating 1/10
“It’s… fucking… Fat Dog, baby!” vocalist Joe Love bellows to kick off Fat Dog’s debut album, WOOF. What follows is “Vigilante”, a loud, bombastic song full of ominous synths and pulsing cymbal work from drummer Johnny Hutchinson. Love declares that he was there for momentous events from when the Earth was created through the present day.
Opinion: Absolutly essential
If you absolutely had to draw a comparison between furious Brixton post-rave-punks Fat Dog and another band, you might lean towards IDLES' vocal delivery or fellow chaotic live show outfit VLURE, but you'd only be marginally close to the perfect atypical vortex that highly anticipated debut full-length 'WOOF. ' delivers. Because where do you even start? There's the high-speed marching band brass section of 'Wither', the subversive auto-tuned build on 'Clowns', the ominous spoken word opening of 'Vigilante', the absolute choral absurdity laid out across seven-plus minutes on their debut single 'King Of The Slugs', and of course the bonkers decision to even release a seven-plus minute epic about slugs as your introduction to the world.
Opinion: Excellent
Years ago, your writer would often find himself assailed in his East Lancashire locale by the sorts of people who knew about things. Pep talks from working lads who paid their taxes, through which the silk-scarved, soft-shoed likes of me would finally be brought into the Real World. A particularly tiresome instance would regularly be doled out by a fellow who worked in the motor trade: "you see, the thing is," was his constant opening salvo.
Opinion: Excellent
For the past two years or so Fat Dog have rampaged their way round any venue that would have them (and some that were pretty doubtful from the outset) leaving delirious chaos and destruction in their wake . Sweaty, debauched, hilarious, and exhausting, each live show seemed to push both band and audience to the brink, pieces of outrageous audio theatre that were somehow disturbing and thrilling in equal measure. The problem of placing such deviant extravagance on record, though, has long tripped up other - some would say lesser - acts.
'Woof.'
is available now