''Oddfellows'' is the fourth studio album by musical
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
Tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...
. The album is the first to feature new bass player
Trevor Dunn
Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, Dunn would dress similar to the ...
, who has replaced previous member
Kevin Rutmanis
Kevin Rutmanis (born October 17, 1958) is an American bass guitarist. He is of Latvian descent. Before getting into music, he was a student teacher. In late 1985, along with his younger brother Sandris Rutmanis, Thor Eisentrager, and then Jayh ...
. ''Oddfellows'' was recorded live in the Easy Eye Sound Studio in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, after a brief period of rehearsal. Guitarist
Duane Denison
Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk.
Biography
Denison began his musical career by studying c ...
favored the location as its cheaper studio costs allowed for longer periods of song-writing.
The album was released on January 29, 2013, through the record label
Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith No M ...
. The release of ''Oddfellows'' was preceded by a single, "Stone Letter", first released on November 23, 2012, as part of
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
's "Black Friday" event. Reviews for ''Oddfellows'' have been positive, and Dunn's presence has been seen by critics as a positive addition. The album reached chart positions in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium and the United States.
Production
Following the departure of previous bass player
Kevin Rutmanis
Kevin Rutmanis (born October 17, 1958) is an American bass guitarist. He is of Latvian descent. Before getting into music, he was a student teacher. In late 1985, along with his younger brother Sandris Rutmanis, Thor Eisentrager, and then Jayh ...
, ''Oddfellows'' features new band member
Trevor Dunn
Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, Dunn would dress similar to the ...
on bass. Dunn had previously worked with singer
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
in the bands
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...
and
Fantômas
Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914).
One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appear ...
.
The album was recorded over six days in Easy Eye Sound Studios in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, and produced by Collin Dupuis and the band. Dupuis had previously worked with the band
The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...
, whose singer
Dan Auerbach
Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...
owns Easy Eye Sound.
Cartoonist
Ivan Brunetti
Ivan Brunetti (born October 3, 1967) is an Italian and American cartoonist and comics scholar based in Chicago, Illinois.
Career
Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styl ...
has provided the album's cover artwork.
Drummer
John Stanier has described the band as "the absolute simplest, most professional ensemble I have ever been involved with, by far".
The band planned to meet and rehearse for a week before recording the album, but upon getting together again, Patton experienced a death in the family which resulted in him leaving for several days. The band eventually reconvened to rehearse for what Stanier recalls as "a day and a half".
Denison felt positively about the process of recording in Nashville, finding that the cheaper studio costs meant he could allow his compositions to "gestate" for longer during his writing process.
Fifteen tracks were recorded for the album,
thirteen of which were included on its release.
''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' magazine's Christopher R. Weingarten has described the record as featuring a mix of genres, including "groany, smoky,
Morricone-jazz" and "the types of epic, majestic choruses that Patton diehards might remember from the final
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...
LP, ''
Album of the Year''".
Denison has described the album's sound as just being that of "a rock band", adding "I think we’re a very clever, intense sort of spooked-out, dangerous rock band, but still a rock band".
Release
''Oddfellows'' was released on January 29, 2013, through
Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith No M ...
,
the label owned by Patton.
The album had been completed for several months by this point, but its release date was moved back as the band's members did not have time to promote an earlier release.
To support the album's release, the band played at the
Voodoo Experience
The Voodoo Music + Arts Experience (formerly The Voodoo Music Experience), commonly referred to as Voodoo or Voodoo Fest, is a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Voodoo Experience has hosted more t ...
music festival in
, Louisiana in October 2012;
and the
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
Fun Fun Fun Fest
Fun Fun Fun Fest (often abbreviated as "FFF" or "F3F") was an annual music and comedy festival held in Austin, Texas, United States. The festival was the only genre based festival in the United States, featuring stages that focused specifically ...
,
along with several tour dates in the United States in October and November.
The band initially announced the release of "Waratorium" as a
seven-inch record as part of
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
's "Black Friday" event on November 23, 2012;
eventually releasing "Stone Letter" instead. The single featured illustrations by Brunetti, and was released as a digital download on December 4, 2012. Its accompanying music video was directed by Vincent Forcier, using concert footage from Tomahawk's 2012 concerts.
Another music video was also made for the title track.
''Oddfellows'' debuted at number sixteen on the
UK Rock Chart
The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...
album countdown on February 9, 2013, spending one week in the chart.
In the United States, ''Oddfellows'' recorded positions in several of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine's charts—reaching a peak position of 69 on the
''Billboard'' 200, 12 on the
Alternative Albums
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...
listings, second place on the
Hard Rock Albums chart, and ninth on the
Independent Albums
The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...
chart.
[ Note: Use the drop-down selection to toggle individual charts.] ''Oddfellows'' also reached chart positions in Australia, Belgium and Finland. The album reached number 37 on the
ARIA Charts
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
,
137 in the
Ultratop
Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...
countdown,
and 26 in
The Official Finnish Charts
The Official Finnish Charts ( fi, Suomen virallinen lista; sv, Finlands officiella lista) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiell ...
.
Reception
''Oddfellows'' has received mostly positive reviews since its release. Review aggregation website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
lists the album as having an average rating of 79 out of 100, based on twenty reviews.
Writing for
AllRovi
RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publi ...
, Jason Lymangrover rated the album four stars out of five. Lymangrover praised both Dunn's bass playing and Patton's vocals, and felt that the album was "a welcome return to form", similar in sound to their 2001 debut album.
Jason Heller of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' awarded the album an "A−". Heller felt that ''Oddfellows'' featured "tighter songs and sturdier structures" than the band's previous work, which he considered comparable to that of a
jam band
A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational "jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often cr ...
.
Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
''D ...
's Kev Eddy scored ''Oddfellows'' eight out of ten, comparing it favorably to the work of Patton's earlier band
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...
. Eddy felt that the album was less experimental than previous Tomahawk records, but that its restraint was positive and accessible.
Paige Camisasca of ''
Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'' magazine scored the album four out of five, calling it a "surprising, thoroughly consistent return-to-form".
Camiscasca considered "Stone Letter", "Waratorium" and "I.O.U." to be the album's highlights, and earmarked it as "the first contender for hard-rock album of the year".
''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' magazine's Grayson Currin rated ''Oddfellows'' seven out of ten, finding that it "presents a tide of ideas, information, and intrigue".
Currin felt that the album attempted to blend both art rock and mainstream rock sounds, but was more successful when aiming solely for experimentation—finding "I Can Almost See Them" and "A Thousand Eyes" to be examples of this.
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
writer Len Comaratta awarded ''Oddfellows'' three stars out of five, finding that Dunn's bass playing improves the band's sound without altering it radically.
Comaratta felt that the album rewarded patient listeners but did not provide memorable hooks or melodies, and compared its "laid back" sound to that of
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...
.
Cole Waterman of
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
awarded the album a score of eight out of ten, finding the record to be the group's "most accessible by far".
Waterman described the album's composition as "catchy", finding it to be an appropriate response to the band's previous album ''Anonymous''; he also highlighted the "absurdist" tone of the record's lyrics—pointing out "South Paw" and "Waratorium" as particular examples of this.
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
's Paul Thompson scored ''Oddfellows'' 6.8 out of ten, considering it "Tomahawk's most straightforward, stripped-down release to date".
Thompson considered the group's main dynamic to consist of Denison's compositions and Patton's vocals, finding that bass player Dunn "hangs back here, ably holding down the low end without overasserting himself".
Thompson also debated the effect that the album's short germination period had on its overall composition, believing that the brief recording time lent the record "a feeling that, whenever you get these guys in the same room, this music
..just comes tearing out".
Track listing
All tracks written by
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
and
Duane Denison
Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk.
Biography
Denison began his musical career by studying c ...
.
Personnel
*
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
– vocals, keyboards
*
Trevor Dunn
Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, Dunn would dress similar to the ...
– bass guitar
*
Duane Denison
Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk.
Biography
Denison began his musical career by studying c ...
– guitars
*
John Stanier – drums
Chart performance
Footnotes
{{Authority control
Tomahawk (band) albums
2013 albums
Ipecac Recordings albums