“How much for the fruitbat?” “What fruitbat?” “Eric the fruitbat!” Like
the rest of the mysterious LunaticsWorks crew, we don’t know if Tha
Fruitbat (TF) out of Sacramento is named Eric, or even if he (she?) was
inspired by that classic Monty Python sketch but what we do know is what
kind of music is on this self-titled debut: Drum and bass. That’s right,
plain, unadulterated old-skool D and freakin’ B. Lots of skittery cymbals
over 160ish bpm drum patterns, funky breaks, odd vocal samples ? you know,
the good stuff. And lots of it, especially on “Zanuba,” which cranks
along for over 13 minutes (a slightly shorter version appears on Volume 3
of the Lunatics works sampler series, see our review of that disc as well)
and “Space Case” the 10 minute corker that closes the album with lots of
arcade-y sfx and Middle Eastern female vocals. Most of the rest of the
cuts on this disc stretch out to over six minutes as well, nice big bites
for those who like to chew for a while, two of them featuring Crackbaby,
who appears to be a nexus of the Sacramento underground scene.
It’s good to hear a fresh voice in this genre and these 10 tracks prove
there’s still plenty of niches to be expolored ? maybe a whole new style
called “trip and bass.” Here’s to more a dat ? and hopefully to finding
out more about tha ‘bat.
