Amped up on “lord knows what” and a garbled voice yelling “Body the pistol / He fire the pistol,” the opening track, titled “BODY THE PISTOL” of femtanyl’s debut album, “MAN BITES DOG,” marks the beginning of a techno-induced bender for 32 minutes over 10 songs.
“VIDEO NASTY” immediately following cements femtanyl’s commitment to a newfound sound. The pair behind the stagename, Noelle Stockwood and Juno Callender, took a hard pivot from their hit singles, such as “GIRL HELL 1999” and “KATAMARI,” blending their usual hyperpop tone with elements of breakcore, hardstyle and synthpunk. This track reaches so far, it resembles an instrumental the band Death Grips would utilize with its strobing synths and bassline.
“SICK OF IT” can only be described as an inescapable, chronically online pit of anguish reminiscent of Gamergate during the mid 2010s. The lyrics depict a deep rooted dissatisfaction and lack of control of one’s life, relaying, “It’s not my life / But I’ma live it how I please / Until I get just what I need.” All the while, the speaker is lashing out on shooter games they cannot stand but cannot pull away from, chanting, “I’m getting sick of it / It’s what I want.”
What the fourth track “HELLTARGET” lacks in comprehensible lyrics, it conveys in the intensity and sporadic instrumentation. The beat rapidly climbs, drops, speeds up, slows and switches.
For those that have never eavesdropped on someone’s inner monologue during a psychotic break, “CITY” presents an opportunity to do so. Its refrain, clearer the second time around, states “The people here to kill us, they look just like you and me / Nothing in the tower, they beside us on the street.” Paired with the erratic noise that is the music, the listener envisions a drug and paranoia-fueled mental decline in an overwhelming, fast-paced, jam-packed city.
At the halfway point, femtanyl ventured back into their hyperpop roots, minus some of the classic pitched up vocals, with “HEAD UP.” The “Mario Kart” start power up sound effect walked so “HEAD UP” could run on a slew of stimulants at a rave.
“MY HEAD HURTS” kept up the energy but featured a clear monologue as its only lyrics. It appears to be sampled from the character Aunt Martha in 1983 summer camp slasher “Sleepaway Camp.” Aunt Martha takes in a little boy with a head injury as her new daughter, the one she always wanted. The little transgender girl goes on to slaughter her campmates who bullied her. The significance of this sample lies with Stockwood, a transwoman herself. She may have opted to include the monologue as a way to channel the agonizing aspects of her womanhood in a climate that vehemently opposes it.
If “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People and the memes of cheerleaders dancing away as an athlete lies injured on the ground were to have a mentally ill, EDM baby, it would be named “SHOWS YOU THE WAY TO THE HIWAY.” The seventh track, brought in by a seamless transition, is a bass boosted bop, yet its lyrics reveal one speaker assisting the other in their suicide.
The title track, quite absurd in nature, returns the album to its synthpunk and hardstyle influences. Like the songs that came before and a multitude of singles in femtanyl’s discography, it is laced with choppy, distorted vocals and samples.
Incomprehensible intensity ends off the album. The few bellowed lyrics that can be made out in “IS THIS IT”— such as “You’re just another guy,” “Please get out of this / Get out of this okay” — along with the title and a Youtube community post by femtanyl reading, “AN ALBUM ABOUT A MAN I KNOW,” indicate the song may be about a sudden breakup experienced by one of the members.
Rife with richly complex compositions, niche references and samples along with a grandiose expedition outside of the sound fans were accustomed to, “MAN BITES DOG” sets a clear precedent femtanyl can deliver an elaborate masterpiece of an album in the infancy of their musical career. With two more big projects in the works, a femtanyl epidemic is sure to sweep the EDM scene.
