This is the best musical recording Rjyan Kidwell has ever taken part in. Collaborating with seven other players including both members of Nice Nice, Actual Fucking is an achievement. Unfortunately the lyrics and singing get so bad sometimes they're painful to my ears.
The albm consists of eight songs, all of which named for cities where either Rjyan Kidwell or each of the eight players have most likely lived at some point. The title, Actual Fucking seems to be a reverse euphamism: explicit sexual words used to describe something non sexual. The musicians engage in playing with each other, moving together in rhythm, making sounds they wouldn't be making alone. Live drumming, live guitar playing and digital manipulation jam on tunes which are both far from cliché and fun to listen to. The music grooves from the first minute and during the instrumental breaks the musicians break into some hot action.
For me, the route chosen on Being Ridden would have been great, as I would love to hear an instrumental version. I don't like the spoken/singing that Kidwell is doing on nearly all the songs and whoever the girl is singing on "Denton" is bordering on unbearable. The string sounds and acoustic guitar interplay on "Chapel Hill" is gorgeous while the lone instrumentation of a multitracked guitar on "Ybor City" after the phone message is endearing. "Covington" opens the second half of the record and grooves like a top notch Nice Nice track and Rjyan's vocals and lyrics are enjoyable, but not sing alongable nor memorable. While he's both rapped and sung in the past, he's proven himself capable of words both amusing and catchy. When the lyrics are simplified, like on "Chicago," with repeated refrains and direct melodies and muliple singers, the execution is a bit too show-offy. It's like everybody involved wanted to make an LCD Soundsystem record but didn't quite achieve effective results. A stunning instrumental, "Tucumcari," closes the album on a beat-less Moon and the Melodies-ish (Cocteau Twins clearly -with- Harold Budd) feel, and if this is purely the work of Cex, then I'm eagerly waiting the forthcoming release on Temporary Residence. If it's the work of the rest of the lineup then I'm gonna start a letter campaign to get all the players together again.
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