Fear 2 Stop - Dish It Out

Hear The Track Here

There isn't a lot for us old farts to do other than wallow in the past and - like many an old fogey - I like digging around in it. Sometimes I go looking for things that connect with hindsight and sometimes to see where I totally came a cropper. On a whim I went back searching in the back reviews for the first ever track I heard from Fear 2 Stop, a Houston TX based experimental electronica trio and was surprised to see Science Friction (January 2004) was it. I could have sworn F2S were one of the very first bands I reviewed on Soundclick but obviously that's not so. At the end of my review of Science Friction I wrote 'An artist who I am definitely going to hear from further methinks'

Little did I know what fate had in store for me.

Put it like this, they have 192 tracks on Soundclick and I've probably reviewed most of them by now. See, not only are they experimental, they are prolific with it. Now I know that can sometimes be a curse, as has proved to be the case once or twice with Fear 2 Stop but they - as usual - take a licking and keep on ticking. That's exactly why I like this band, and it's also why they have spent forever getting their particular sound down solid. So much so that, I think, I could probably tell a Fear 2 Stop track blindfold. Not that I advocate me trying it though because I'm bound to make a twat of myself...

There will be a repetitive, pumping bassline that both underpins whats going on and accentuates it, there will be the usual crash-crash drum sound that is oh so F2S, and there will be endless electronic doodlings and noodlings that put flesh on the bones. Mind you, having said that and slogged through the six minutes of this track more times than is good for a rational man, I am of the opinion that it could easily have lost a minute or so and been none the worse for it. Fear 2 Stop have always been a contentious listen, and in some ways, Dish It Out fills that bill but - to my ears anyway - it's a lot more musical than some of the tracks of late.

Extended experimental electronica workout. Highly Recommended if you like the genre.