Fanmail

Fanmail 2000 (Tooth & Nail)
by Scott Hefflon

Fanmail slid effortlessly between punk and rock a few seconds before the mass exodus, so I’ll give ’em props, whereas I’ll slam others for jumping the trend wagon. Simply put, Fanmail slip a couple tricks in here and there that the followers woulda never thought of, and that’s what makes the difference. And their cover of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it that Way” proves what anyone with a brain realized anyway — a lot of the songs we all “hate” are actually well-written songs, we just hate the performing monkeys, um, “artists” who’ve turned “pop” into a filthy word, something akin to glorified kareoke. And one petty note, this self-produced release is so in-your-face, with every aspect cranked to 11, the whole thing’s actually louder than most CDs. It’s all in the details…
(PO Box 12698 Seattle, WA 98111)