Family of God - Family of God (Ochre)

Any private pressing that's described as intriguingly as "mystic disco" by the New York Times is definitely worth a listen in my book. Now that their debut LP gets a proper release on Ochre, I can try my own descriptions. 1) If The Doors had been lead by Beck, not Jim Morrison, tracks like the album's opener 'Goodnight Piccadilly' might have been released thirty years before Family of God had the idea. Or 2) Family of God sound just as if The Eels were an English sixties beat group.

Cool as these ideas are, there's no escaping the other key element on this LP: cheese, pure and unadulterated. When it works ('Moog Over Easy') it's easy to see why this duo have stormed New York clubs like the Elbow Room and the Luna Lounge. When it doesn't ('Moog River' and 'Teenage Beach Musical'), it's easy to see why the cheese craze in the UK transformed (fizzled out?!) so quickly. But with more serious tracks like 'Sabrina' it's easy to see why Family of God have become the darlings of both the NY club and gig scenes. I'll be stunned if this one doesn't turn up on the soundtrack to some US thriller movie in the very near future. Another wicked track is Black And White Universe, the sort of music we'd hear more of if just half the UK big beat artists could write lyrics. Then there's 'Babble' and 'Nirvana' the sort of tracks that only nuts in New York could record.

A strange, completely random double album which - dodgy religious connotations aside - is worth checking out for the two sublime tracks tucked away amongst 20-or-so others. 4/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine