Revenge may be a dish best served cold. But subversion, like medicine, goes down smoother when accompanied by even the smallest dash of sugar. Case in point: Serfs Up!, the third album from provocative London weirdos Fat White Family. Much has been made of how this release supposedly represents their most accomplished, expansive and musical work to date. And that’s true — if only because the misanthropic mischief-makers don’t seem to spend as much time and effort trying to actively alienate their audience as they did on 2016’s dark and demented Songs For Our Mothers. But make no mistake; these 10 tracks are still some of the most twisted tunes you’re likely to hear. Their songs drunkenly walk the line between synth-pop, easy listening and lounge music, venturing occasionally into glam, electro-funk, beach-pop and surf-twang. They are anchored by tinny drum machines, decorated with thin Casio keyboards and aggressively wonky guitars, and topped with haunting textures and sinister undermixed vocals that touch on everything from Kim Jong Un and Ted Kaczynski to vaginas with teeth. Somewhere between a far more menacing The Residents and The Beach Boys in the depths of a cough syrup binge, Serfs Up! takes your indie-pop pretensions, injects them with twisted malevolence and jams the bitter pill straight down your throat. Open wide.
