Andrew Broder puts forth his message

Fog, aka Andrew Broder, opens his second full length Ether Teeth, with a song that makes you feel like something important is about to happen. "Plumb Dumb," begins with samples of Hawaiian-like twangs over barely audible voices; over the unique samples are Fog's signature scratches and an acoustic guitar that builds tension that never gets released. Never gets released in the track, that is. You hold your breath for the next song, the album's single, and you find that it is undeniably dancey, with lyrics that cry "I declare today to be What-a-Day Day!" in a nonsensical and unbelievably catchy way.\nFog is the electronic version of the acoustic guitar solo act that is so popular these days. His voice is an intimate whine that perfectly complements his electronic soundscape. He sings much more on this record than on his self-titled debut album, and the music has mellowed out some. On this second full-length he is trying less to prove himself as a DJ and a musician; rather, he creates an album that showcases both his talents as a singer/songwriter and as a DJ who can manipulate samples and beats to create catchy and meaningful songs. Ether Teeth sounds more like a big-band project than a solo record; Fog's presence is large, yet at the same time his sound is cozy and warm. \nMany tracks feature samples of birds' songs. Whether the track is dancey or dark makes no difference; this theme is present not only in the lyrics but in the album art as well. Fog has created a theme album, but ignoring the implied metaphor of the bird, what with it's beautiful song and steadfast against-all-odds migration, one can see in this theme Fog's increased sophistication as a musician. Fog sings more on this album, has more live instrumentation and deftly ties the whole album together with birds' songs in all the right places. \nBecause Fog does so much singing on this album, it is going to be hard to resist comparing him to Radiohead. His voice is not as pure and clear as Thom Yorke's, but the yearning whine they both share and the obvious similarities in the way they both make music warrants the comparison. But Fog is no Radiohead wannabe; rather, he is more like the rowdy cousin that shows up to family affairs with his brother's girlfriend and takes her out in Radiohead's car and then wrecks it tryin to do donuts in the parking lot. \nThe metaphor translated: Fog is subversive in his diverse use of instruments. A cello, trumpet, clarinet and sleigh bells are all featured in the album, and samples of birds, ukuleles and overly-happy women singing the latter part of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" all make for a record that never placates the listener. Using the electronic music with live instrumentation and overlaying it all with his voice, full of emotion, singing lines like, "I'm a total wreck when you don't call/Fancy me a brand new Newton sitting/Under an anvil tree…" Fog creates an album that is actually fun to listen to, electronic music that you pay attention to rather than use to fall asleep -- which nobody can deny.