ALBUM REVIEW: Fatso Jetson - "Idle Hands"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/10/2016
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds

Desert Rock debonaires Fatso Jetson fry up riffs and hand out grooves supreme on their sixth album.

“Idle Hands” CD//DD//LP track listing:

track list Vinyl:

A 1 Wire Wheels and Robots
A 2 Portugese Dream
A 3 Royal Family
A 4 The Vincent Letter
A 5 Then and Now
B 1 Last of the Good Times
B 2 Nervous Eater
B 3 48 Hours
B 4 Idle Hands

track list CD:

1 Wire Wheels and Robots
2 Portugese Dream
3 Royal Family
4 Nervous Eater
5 Seroquel
6 Idle Hands
7 Last of the Good Times
8 Then and Now
9 The Vincent Letter
10 48 Hours
11 Dream Homes

The Review:

Desert Rock debonaires Fatso Jetson fry up riffs and hand out grooves supreme on their sixth album. It goes by the name “Idle Hands,” but where the band got this name from is anybody’s guess. It certainly has nothing to do with how Mario and his son Dino twist and turn their way up and down the fret board. Let alone the amazing drum work of the ever present Tony Tornay or how Mario’s cousin, Larry (it’s a family affair), effortlessly handles the four string. If there’s anything to say about this album, it’s that the hands used to craft these songs were anything but idle.

At eleven songs long, the album flirts with the one hour mark. It’s a long sit but it’s one that’s as interesting as it is entertaining. Album opener “Wire, Wheels and Robots” digs its claws in deep with how the guitars spin around each other in chaotic unison. Tornay jumps out of the speakers in “Portugeuse Dreams” until Mario flies off the handle, ranting in his lonesome about hanging out in a cave where he inadvertently ends up summoning demons. He breaks down in such a way that it’s hard not to look. Good thing, too, because at this point we’re only two songs in.

The rest of the album follows suit. At times its temperament is boiling over, at others the songs are inviting you stare out into the serene night sky. There’s a Queens of the Stone Age vibe felt throughout – or do Queens have a Fatso vibe? – but Fatso Jetson own this by staying true to their underground. By doing so, Mario and his family are allowed to drift off into strange tangents without needing to ask themselves the question “will Clear Channel Radio still wanna play this?” Luckily, we here at The Sludgelord don’t give a shit about mainstream radio, either. In fact, we love getting on board with these bizarre statements of artistic freedom that we hold up albums like “Idle Hands” as our freak flag and we let it fly proud.

“Idle Hands” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp