Exploring "Tribute Summon" by Trust Fund Ozu

Tribute Summon is the new album from the media universe that is Trust Fund Ozu. This is the third in this series created by Ashbury Park based producer, drummer, rapper and 3D artist, Faye Fadem. It’s the first to me though and the amount of content I could catch up on is daunting but nothing that’s left me unimpressed yet between the music or the part-animated, part-live action, part-lyric video music videos and that’s just what I’ve dived into so far. Prior to hearing this record all I knew about it was that it had a J.K. Rowling diss as I saw Fadem herself advertise it as such in a thread on Twitter and was curious about the album that it was attached to.

I already knew by the end of the album intro, “Busy Signal,” that this was a special release. The track goes back and forth between a beautiful piano piece that sounds like it would be at home in the main menu of an RPG and something like what you think a hyperpop intro is. There will be whole passages where it seamlessly goes from one to the other and gets really spacey before playing an actual busy signal with a bit of injected humor. So, at the minute and a half mark I had already been impressed with the crossover of sound and influences, the mindful production and even the ending of the track sounding like it would que a live show. Adding yet another layer of production and foresight.

The first full song, “Succubus,” has impressive production as well. There is a constant dynamic shift between these two moods presented here. For the most part the verses have this peaceful and euphoric atmosphere with the chaos just barely seeping through on certain lines. For example during the line;

“Bullet wounds, guts out and I don’t give a fuck.”

Fadem’s voice gives way to the illusion of Heaven starting to break by pitch shifting up just eerily enough. Every drop shows what is behind that illusion in full force and sounds like total chaos. The whole mood of the track flips on a dime to match its appropriate vibe. That and the vocal chopping is used exceptionally here. The inflection on “apologize” or “baptized” really gets its mileage but never gets old. The cut up giggling and laughing that’s in the background at certain times really adds to the Hellish side of the track. I also have to admire the sketch incorporation toward the midway point. A lot of in-song sketches to me always feel like something that’s novelty will wear off on future listens but this is as important to the overarching track as anything else.

We get even more displayed versatility on “Tits of Glass,” which has two instrumental breaks that are pretty diverse. The first is an almost disco section with an intricate bassline and dance portions and the second is another hard electronic drop. “What My Angels See in Me” also takes that danceability and stretches it into having its own holistic experience. Lyrically and thematically too I have to admire the the celebration of friendship and found family that we even have the humor turned off to appreciate.

We arrive at the track that drew me here, the “J.K. ROWLING DISS TRACK (aka the little mermaid).” Unsurprisingly I could pull a novel of quotes out of this that unlike Rowling’s novels are concise in making their mark and getting a real point across as Fadom is in full-form rapping-wise. The hook is incredible as well as lines like;

“Open my mouth and I’m scared as Hell, should I go quiet like Ariel? Nah it’s not my fault that my shit’s in reverse.”

Not only demonstrates her complete disregard of everyone else to be totally herself but has a heat of passion against Rowling, which, don’t we all have? Production wise it is incredible that even when Fadem is trying to be simplistic she’s still so in depth. The beat is just bare enough to totally center her lyricism and yet the key patterns are so intricate and little details like the birds chirping didn’t even hit me till a few listens in.

Fadem continues to be in top form rapping wise on “Peppermint.” Here instead of dissing she’s going through a pretty inspiring look into her own life and years she’s lost but is now spending making up for. Similar to the track before it has a production that’s more of a frame for the vocal work but this one does have a rather nice guitar solo section.

I’m not sure if “In Light of Recent Events…” is supposed to be an interlude or a track on its own but it works as either or. Hyperpop and noise pop, or whatever you want to call this genre, does have clear routes in heavy music but this is almost a straight up crabcore song. It has really intense synth passages, especially one that goes particularly wild at the very end. It also shares an anime sample right at the end with the next track; “Poison Ivy.” This track sort of blends the serious and introspective nature that some of the tracks have with the comedy presented on the whole thing as Fadem describes what can only be described as a full on breakdown. The track itself has, what I think, are the best composed hook, cutaways (see that “wow” and the production behind it) and one liners on the whole record;

“Tell me boy am I still cute? When I mix my coke with powerviolence and you tell me to be quiet? No way. I refuse.”

That and there’s only one chorus on here but when it kicks in, it’s huge and it hits hard.

“Our Winter” has the barest production on the record but serves the track just fine. Once again Fadem is celebrating the people who have supported her in her life only this time it's more targeted and very clearly about one individual who helped a great deal. It’s a beautiful closer overall.

I think aside from all the sonic highpoints what I end up wanting to come back to over and over again is Faye Fadem’s personality, humor as well as her celebration of herself and her encouragement of others to be totally themselves. Don’t get me wrong though, the great songs, the versatility, all of these things are major components as well. I would feel completely confident calling this the first great album of 2022. The record is short, the songs are fairly short yet they all demonstrate so much all at once.

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