Hanging out on the green grass with Hannah D'Amato of Fake Fruit; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Bay Area's amplified and electric artful dodgers Fake Fruit have become one of the most exciting and talked about local acts as of late. With much fanfare surrounding the arrival off their self-titled release via Sonny Smith's Rocks in Your Head Records; Hannah D'Amato leads the crew in a fantastical tour de force that offers an exhibition and update of the post-punk sound and aesthetic, elevated to a newer and higher echelon of immediacy. The connective formal attachments are cast aside on "No Mutuals" that showcases D'Amato's raw and primal delivery that works on howling scales of unbridled harmony. "Miscommunication" employs mathematical and minimal chords that roast the tight lipped and uptight set, tackling the long-standing housing shortage / cottage crisis with "No Space for Residence", all the attitude and more on the one minute wonder "Old Skin", to the boisterous "Stroke My Ego" that rocks in a revelry of the band's style and sound, to the chord cornucopia ode to inaccuracies, "Swing and a Miss". Hannah deflects the heckling projectors on "Don't Put It On Me", sweltering in the lusty heat of the prog-punk banger "Yolk", lampooning scummy backwards protectors of bad bastards on "Lying Legal Horror Lawyers", unleashing the heart and soul crushing melancholic beauty of "Keep You", ending on a curious and arty note named after the antiquated Americana icon of "Milkman". Experience what is poised to be one of 2021’s best albums and stay tuned for an exclusive curation courtesy of Hannah D’Amato:

Without further ado we present:

Fake Fruit’s Week in Pop according to Hannah D’Amato

My quarantine obsessions are all over the place and they come and go in waves. I tend to get a little obsessed with things and I play the hell out of a song or an album or a type of food for about a week and then do a 180 and go on to the next thing.

Wet Pets San Pablo commercial

There’s always one weird song stuck in my head that I sing throughout the day under my breath or in my head (if my boyfriend is lucky). First it was the Chili’s song, and now it’s The Wet Pets San Pablo commercial. It’s hilarious, it’s catchy and I genuinely love it.

Glenlivet Scotch by way of Tony Soprano

I have really vivid memories of my parents drinking wine and watching The Sopranos while I was working on homework at the kitchen table as a kid. They’d tell me not to watch, but I would for sure peek. Anyway, when quarantine started my boyfriend and I decided to watch all of the Sopranos and it definitely felt like a coming of age moment for me. Scotch and soda is Tony’s drink of choice, so we started having scotch and haven’t really stopped since.

Home cooking / Doof Magazine

My nickname is Ham because I’ve always been all about food. But, having a little more free time has given me room to experiment more, make my own recipes and start considering going to culinary school down the road. We eat like kings at home bc I chef it up hard and will put over 3 hours into a meal if that’s what it takes. I’ll get a craving for dumplings and I’ll make them from scratch and if you have dumplings then you’ll need noodles and scallion pancakes and dipping sauces to go with both, also why not throw in a smashed cucumber salad while you’re at it; we eat at like 9:30 regularly bc I get so carried away lol. Doof features new food people every week, and you get a glimpse into their everyday relationship with food and some techniques and recipes etc. Doof rules.

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Freak Comics

Pulled from their website:

Freak Comics puts out bi-monthly anthologies showcasing local and not so local comics artists. each issue, the founders switch off responsibility of curating, editing, and publishing the issue. It is a self sustaining project in which all profit from selling these issues goes into a freak fund which essentially pays for printing and paper costs for the next issue.

Seriously cool stuff, I highly recommend picking up some of their anthologies! They’ll make you experience a wide array of very human emotions every time you flip through, and I am lucky enough to call the founders my friends.

Freak Comics founders from left: Cristian Castelo, Miles Macdiarmid & Mara Ramirez; courtesy of Freak Comics.

Shower pickle

FFO showering, and a damn good pickle.

I read about the wonders of the shower citrus (an all sensory experience bc you’re peeling the orange, smelling the zest as you peel, eating it etc.) and became a fan years ago. Then I started branching out from there, shower coffee, shower beer, shower wine, shower scotch. One day I was in a hurry and decided to multi task by eating a snack and taking a shower; and the shower pickle was born. Now any shower without a pickle feels like it’s missing something. I’ll admit it’s not for everyone, but if you get it you get it. Try it and let me know what you think.

Fake Fruit’s self-titled album is available now via Rocks in Your Head Records.

The world according to Fake Fruit's Hannah D'Amato