Bristol’s Stolen Body Records have a real knack for unearthing a range of disparate bands and bringing them to our attention, with no genre shackles holding them down – early champions of acts like Al Lover and Ivan The Tolerable and in recent years being a big part of the rise of the likes of Karkara and, most obviously, Slift. Add another French band, the 6-piece Stuffed Foxes, to that list! This isn’t their first release but they’re new to me and definitely warrant attention..
It’s impossible to pin the album down as it constantly shifts styles and song structures – from the weighty shoegazey implosions of opener ‘Biting The Dawn’ and the title track, to the jerky twitching guitars of ‘Merry Xmas’ and ‘Pretend To Be A Dog’, and quite a few tracks that defy description and occupy a number of zones at once. The band seem to inhabit the same headspace as current noise makers such as Spectres and Sex Swing but also seminal post punk legends Wire and Gang Of Four but you can’t really define the record on that as there is also the occasional descent into crushing shoegaze soundscapes and on a number of tracks the ghosts of Steve Harley and ‘Hunky Dory’ era Bowie seem to pay a fleeting visit.
‘Standardized’ is an eclectic record, fresh and full of ideas; an agitated art punk experiment; a new wave of no wave…
Stuffed Foxes sound cerebral, weird and ever so slightly Wired and have got me intrigued…luckily they are heading to the UK for a handful of live dates in February 2025 so we’ll soon be able to see what they’re about!
Gary Powell December 2025
Standardized
Stolen Body Records
December 6th 2024
