Failure’s sixth album and third since their 2014 comeback is considerably scaled back compared to their previous outings. At just under forty minutes long, Wild Type Droid (Failure Recordings) is their shortest full-length since their debut, 1992’s Comfort, and a far cry from the hour-plus ventures that have come to define them since the classic Fantastic Planet. This setup suggests a more casual approach than usual but instead results in one of their most focused releases to date.
And so concludes a very interesting approach to releasing an album, one that, I believe has serious merit to it. Released in four instalments throughout the year as a quadrilogy of EP’s In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind (Failure Music/Pledge), Californian alternative rockers Failure has come up with a way to appeal to the immediacy of today’s playlist culture while also getting material to their fans as soon as it is ready, with no long lead-ins, no convoluted or extended marketing campaigns, just “here’s some new material” at regular intervals throughout the year.Continue reading