Fog started out as the project name of
Andrew Broder, part of the continuum of bedroom-ensconced D.I.Y. savants making dense, loopy albums with a variety of electronic instruments. But in the course of the intervening half-decade,
Broder has slowly introduced more traditional instruments into his previously sample-based work, and after several albums balanced awkwardly between electronica, turntablism (among his other affiliations,
Broder is sort of an adjunct member of the
Anticon stable of underground hip-hoppers) and psychedelia,
Fog is now a full-on, old-fashioned indie rock trio. Finally recording with a stable lineup that includes bassist Mark Erickson and drummer
Tim Glenn,
Broder has turned Ditherer into a sort of summation of everything
Fog has been in the past, thereby clearing the decks for the trio's future. Tracks like "Inflatable Ape, Pt. 3," with its half-rapped vocal cadences, post-punk guitar shards and Motorik beat, are four-minute tours through
Broder's back catalog. Guests including
Alan Sparhawk and
Mimi Parker of
Low, similarly eclectic multi-instrumentalist
Andrew Bird and
Anticon's
Why? contribute to the album's general anything-goes sense, but the remarkable aspect of Ditherer is that all of this seemingly impenetrable mass of ideas has been streamlined into 11 relatively concise and surprisingly accessible pop songs. In many ways, it's like an Upper Midwest version of
Badly Drawn Boy's similarly polyglot aesthetic. ~ Stewart Mason