ALBUM REVIEW: Fuzz Soup – Mud Spencer

It’s safe to say that this one is going to be pretty niche. Fuzz Soup is the debut album by MUD SPENCER, a one-man stoner rock band hailing from Indonesia and it’s a head trip, baby. It’s 46 minutes of mind-altering psychedelia, ambling sluggishly from one treacle-thick riff to the next and completely devoid of vocals. It’s a slow, dense record and it’s only going to appeal to a very select audience. If your room is covered in paisley rugs and your idea of a good night consists of watching the walls melt, say hello to a new favourite.

The project is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Sergio Garcia, who plays everything on here. Taking his key inspiration from late 60s/early 70s psychedelia, Garcia does a grand job turning back the clock. Fuzz Soup sounds like the kind of instrumental jam band that would have played free festivals protesting the Vietnam war and there’s a very definite vibe at play here. Ever wanted to know what “kick out the jams” means? Put this album on and you’ll get the idea.

This is an album that’s all about the atmosphere. Ride The Mammoth for instance is positively smothering. It’s a beefed-up, hard-rocking track that could have been written while dissolving slowly in the belly of a space slug. Tumulus starts off like a spaghetti Western soundtrack, then takes a detour when the Man With No Name accidentally eats a batch of bad mushrooms and wanders into a valley full of teleporting coyotes. And Argapura is a reverberating, low register beauty. Want to sit on a mountainside watching twin suns rise while blasting some fat riffs? MUD SPENCER have you covered.

This single-minded focus does however make Fuzz Soup more of a curio than an essential purchase. While it lasts, it’s strangely hypnotic; this is an album that curls around you like wispy tendrils of pot smoke and it’s easy to get lost in its otherworldly charms. You do have to be in a very specific frame of mind to play it though and the overall scope is limited.

Hats off to Garcia though, Fuzz Soup is clearly a very personal album and he’s put a lot of work into it. MUD SPENCER manage to avoid the danger of sounding like a band whose singer didn’t turn up to practice, these tracks feel like they were always intended to be instrumentals. If you’re about to re-read Dune or spend an evening on the DOWN tour bus it’s ideal, but if you’re going on a long drive and need to stay awake, maybe pick something else?

Rating: 6/10

Fuzz Soup is set for release on January 21st via Argonauta Records.

Like MUD SPENCER on Facebook.