Ripe & Majestic

The power of a scrapbook is that it takes little pieces that might have been swept under the rug and unites them into their own impressive tapestry. Tom Fec, aka Tobacco, has created his own sonic scrapbook. His newest album, Ripe & Majestic, is a 24-track collection of outtakes and rarities. One thing should be clarified immediately: These aren’t just random scraps—one of the pieces features the almighty Beck, who makes a featured appearance on “Grape Aerosmith.” Some things might sound familiar to Tobacco fans, like “Higher Kind of Thing,” which comes from a Tobacco remix by Junip, or the opener, “Spirits of Perversion,” which was from the intro of the band’s Fucked Up Friends DVD. But then there are songs like “Out the Dunes,” an outtake that shows Fec’s flawless maneuvering of synths, blending buoyant treble undertones and a delicate hook, all moving together seamlessly. Lucky for us, he didn’t actually scrap these things.