The Last Classed Blast [CD]

In my view, Dufus are possibly one of the most prolific, original and influential bands to emerge from the chaotic mash of the anti-Folk and experimental acoustic / rock genre in the last ten years. If You know anything of Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa, you need to know this band.

I've put together a few words that people who revewed this album have sent me. I Hope this helps:

"An incredible record which wears off-kilter, experimental song structures like a gleaming new suit" Mary Boyd, National Student Newspaper

"Songs like the cut-up Dawn Crusade and the interestingly titled Nenglich Phlarloosely keep the freak flag flying" Subba Culture

"A weird mix of folk, Beefheart and Zappa style avant-nuttiness"

Mark Rowland Penny Black Music

"Its dark, carnivale and a very special record" Skif, Vanity Project Review

"Leading lights of anti-folk deliver more utterly bonkers songs" Subba Culture

"Rightly respected as one of the most prolific, original and influential bands to emerge from the anti-folk scene and in their ten years of being have been criminally ignored by wider audiences" Mary Boyd, National Student Newspaper

Dufus The Last Classed Blast

Vanity Project Review

Emerging from New York's anti-folk scene, Dufus' music nonetheless circles socially within it, and whirls musically outside it., but looking in. `Dawn Crusade' is a perfect jaw-shakin' acoustic-pronk-funk opener, but they follow-it up with a coquettish klezmer-croon. Brilliant. Where they do meet up with the folk-crew is the beat-up sound they sometimes clout, and oft tease, from their guitars, but its by no means unambitious; `Heaven Is Waiting' crawls over the post-apocalyptic smouldering coals of psychedelic electric guitar bubbles and non-sequital crumble while `Nenglich Phlarlooselee' is a trash-can vaudeville slow waltz. It's dark, carnivale and a very special record. Skif.

Dufus The Last Classed Blast

Since leaving America for Israel, the one thing I've missed most about the US -- more than common human decency, civility and courtesy even -- is the ability to see my friend Seth Faergolzia of Dufus in the midst of the songwriting process, from initial composition through the debut of a new song live on stage. Indeed, Dufus has long been my favorite band, Seth my favorite musician, and Dufus' live performances the cornerstone of a musical diet that sustains me even in the most trying of times.

Hence, I quite literally jumped for joy when a half-dozen copies of Dufus' new album The Last Classed Blast arrived this week, satiating the urgent anticipation I've harbored since Seth first informed me of the album's forthcoming release. As I had only heard a handful of his new songs when I last saw Seth performing with Jeffrey Lewis in NYC this May, I was anxious to hear what he's been doing since I left our home in Ithaca in 2004. (Other than making babies! Mazal tov, you madman!)

I was nervous that the newest album, for some reason, wouldn't be up to snuff. It's near impossible to top 1:3:1, the album that quite literally changed my life by convincing me to quit my 9-5 job and devote myself to the pursuit of my passion. Wonderful as I found it, Dufus' last release, Ball Of Design, was certainly more accessible and commercially viable than 1:3:1, though for me it lacked the same level of intensity.

I am pleased to say that The Last Classed Blast is no disappointment -- it is passionate ("Disassemblement Hymn # Exponential"), powerful ("Dawn Crusade"), and best yet, the album reflects a maturation ("Lay Down Flat" and "Balloon Rocking Chair") that demonstrates a parallel growth between Dufus and its audience. Or at least between Seth and me. They've even got a couple pop tunes ("War Is Over" and "Tutu") of which listeners with even the most flavorless palates will find it difficult to disapprove.

Though they are still rough, raw and sloppy in all the right places, Dufus has nonetheless evolved into a work of a beauty -- an incredibly precise and articulate cohesion of sounds both eclectic and eccentric, exhibiting masterful musicianship, artistic ingenuity and a steadfast committment to pushing the limits of all that is considered possible musically and culturally.

For G-d's sake, go buy this album and blast it from the hilltops. Then call up your local radio station and demand they play it endlessly.

The world needs Dufus music.

Leading Lights of Anti-Folk Deliver More Utterly Bonkers Songs

Subba Cultcha

You either love anti-folk or you hate it. Its watchwords are eccentricity, chaos, neurosis and eclecticism. It's by no means radio-friendly music, though that late lamented maverick John Peel was once willing to let Dufus run riot in the studio for half an hour, and broadcast the resulting mayhem live on air.

Hardly surprisingly, its spiritual home is New York - though it's also gained a foothold in several other places where lunacy is celebrated - Melbourne, Brighton, even Aberdeen (the Scottish one). Dufus are from NYC, though, and their clipped east-coast psychosis sometimes recalls those other barmy innovators, Talking Heads.

Prime mover Seth Faergoalzia maintains a floating lineup of friends and collaborators both live and in the studio, and there's undeniable talent and imagination involved. However, the lack of structure or coherent intent makes them a difficult listen. Songs meander hither and thither, change tempo in midstream, feature inaudibly gabbled lyrics and laugh in the face of traditional song structure. There's something oddly theatrical about it, too, as though it were intended as the soundtrack for a slab of satirical performance art you hadn't actually seen.

It all gets about as accessible as it's going to on the slow strum Heaven is Waiting, half way between a 60s protest song and Jeff Buckley working something out on his 8-track. Elsewhere songs like the cut-up Dawn Crusade and the interestingly titled Nenglich Phlarloosely keep the freak flag flying. By Clare O'Brien

Hope this gives you some idea.

cheers

mark

Wibble, wibble, wibble is pretty much all I can make out on the opening track 'Dawn Crusade'. Back in the day we had special places for people who indulged in public gibberings of this ilk. We either locked them in asylums or transported them round the country encouraging small children to throw fruit at them. Better days.

Darlings of the anti-folk movement, a movement so far up its own behoochie, Dufus like to say things like they "wear experimental song structures" and that their music is "in constant jeopardy of hurtling out of control" as if this excuses them from writing a tune. Which explains the late John Peel championing them, as part of his campaign to destroy music. One day the truth will out.

Irritatingly enough, mainman, lyricist and singer Seth Faergoalza, sometimes slips up and lets a real song slip through as on 'Tutu'. But much of the rest is flim flam and jibber jabber.