CD Reviews

Fang Wizard | Pure Hex

Teen Beat (2011)

By JONATHAN DONALDSON | December 14, 2011

3.5 Stars

Who really cares about evaluating the long-term importance of how a record fits into an artist's oeuvre? Sometimes, a good screw-off is exactly what the ears need. And Pure Hex is the perfect poison for anyone debating the pleasures and pitfalls of the crusty Lou Reed/Metallica pairing. The debut from the mysterious Fang Wizard (who could actually be Teen Beat's Mark Robinson in a lucha libre mask) was apparently six years in the making. What is more mysterious, though: that the record contains not a single lyric, or that it sounds like it was made by a kid genius on one rain-soaked Sunday afternoon? Like a number of other Teen Beat classics, Pure Hex has that perfect balance of incidental and elemental: ultra-strummy, homespun percussion, household noises clicking. In fact this is so right up Robinson's alley, that if this isn't actually him, it's a mix-tape devoted to his ethos. Need totally disposable and fluffy Casio pop? ("Mountain Goo.") A guitar jam that sounds like 13th Floor Elevators? ("Shorts Illustrated.") Or how about two-minutes of a delayed vocal sigh? ("Flunk Marshmallow.")

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