anticon. records

artist info

Tobacco sometimes runs with a group called Black Moth Super Rainbow. On Fucked Up Friends, his latest mission, he works alone.

Tobacco's tools are analog synths, tape machines, and deformed incantations from throats unknown. His music is a wash of distortion and melody over jagged beats. It amalgamates hypnotic, cosmopolitan pop, gritty, propulsive hip-hop and a night full of fevered dreams. It buoys the spirit, braces the nerves, and smuggles disoriented paranoia deep into the subconscious. These are anxiously driven, effortlessly smooth and unapologetically badass sounds of inner nature.

Fucked Up Friends is a collection of boombox rockers that sidestep lazy nominalizations as they weave their cryptic inferences. "Hairy Candy"echoes the summer-fixated celebrations of BMSR, but with a dark, fevered perimeter. "Hawker Boat" and "Dirt (Instrumental Version)" strain stadium-rock grandeur through a dirty filter and serve it with rocks and salt. "Side 8 (Big Gums Version)," "Backwoods Altar" and "Get My Nails Did" expose a deep menace beneath their enticing rhythms - they get stuck in your head like sinister get-rick-quick schemes.

As a whole, the album establishes a one-man genre. Even with the latest tape-to-tape dubbing technology, Fucked Up Friends can't be duplicated.

Tobacco hails from rural Pennsylvania. He does not desire contact with the public at large.

(permanent link)

photos

related releases

Fucked Up Friends
abr0089

complete discography

artist news

December 08, 2009

Pitchfork has debuted a new remix by Tobacco, who takes on Anti-Pop Consortium's "Get Lite." Check it out here.

October 29, 2009

Tobacco too has brought Anticon a brand new podcast, and it's spooky as hell. "TOBACCO's Orgy Drills 1: Devil's Night 2009" includes songs by Duchess Says, Eric Copeland, and Jandek, and yes, the first 60 seconds are from an actual cell phone interception. Download via iTunes or here.

September 18, 2009

Tobacco has remixed HEALTH's recent stunner of a single, "Die Slow." Download it via My Old Kentucky Blog.

-----

June 13, 2009

Tobacco's Bonnaroo performance yesterday was twice lauded (both before and after) by Rolling Stone writer Kevin O'Donnell. Read the flattering preview, which puts the Black Moth Super Rainbow mastermind in good company, here. Then check out the wrap-up, where O'Donnell calls Tobacco's the best set of the night.

February 17, 2009

Tobacco's "Dirt" from his recent Anticon release, Fucked Up Friends, is included in the annual "best of" 2CD set put out by venerable Brit indie institution, Rough Trade (available here). The song features Aesop Rock and appears on Counter Culture 08 alongside such notables as Department Of Eagles, Lucky Dragons, HEALTH, and Flying Lotus.

Also, Tobacco has just announced a new album from his band, Black Moth Super Rainbow. Eating Us will be released May 26 and feature production by Dave Fridmann, famous for his work with Flaming Lips. You can hear a medley of clips on the BMSR MySpace page.

-----

February 05, 2009

Restiform's TV Loves You Back garnered a little belated ink from The A.V. Club, who highlighted that record and Tobacco's Fucked Up Friends in their "Stuff We Missed '08" series. Read the former here, and the latter here.