ØZWALD – Arthur Ingram
Genre: Lo-fi Rock
We’ve reviewed ØZWALD many times on this site. So often, in fact, that you’d think someone on the staff was dating someone from the band. We’ve always felt that sympathy is best handed out in small doses and enthusiasm kept on leash. However, we’ve also always believed that if there are two things with which you can’t argue, it’s a sick mind and a good song.
ØZWALD write pop like 1960s pop never went away, just became louder thanks to better musical equipment. They tread similar territory to Cage The Elephant, pop-rock troubadours, and melancholy-bound party-militia. This is the kind of music not out of place on a retro playlist, and that would not be out of favour at a major live festival.
Arthur Ingram, their first single from their 6th album, in fact, features Matt Shultz doppelganger vocals and a brooding, melodic song that recalls Melophobia. It’s anyone’s guess, however, who got here first. ØZWALD is a band that isn’t obsessed with replicating the past, but with concocting songs that get under people’s skin. They are potential hitmakers who aren’t casting their net far and wide. They know what they like. And, they’re busy perfecting it.
Man Or Astro-Man? – Tenth Planet
Genre: Surf Rock, Indie Rock
You have got to feel some measure of concern for bands that operate within the strict confines of a genre. When will they exhaust their ideas? What will they do then? Won’t they get bored of wearing the same sort of shoes for all their careers, and blasting out the same melodies.
The really good ones manage to joggle with the restrictions of playing music that appeals to a strict segment of the music-loving public. The good news about only being able to draw using three colours is that it helps develop an artist’s style based equally on rigid technique and on how much imagination they can summon from the repertoire that they’ve been given.
Man Or Astro-Man? are something bordering on revival surf-rock legends. Unlike some of their peers, their sonic adventures rarely occurred on top of big waves on Planet Earth but rather in outer space. Their latest single, Tenth Plane, feels like the soundtrack to the remake of a 1960s space-journey series where they decide to use all the old props. But, possible gimmicks aside, this is a band that has honed its chops. They sound good, and they’re just mining Dick Dale riffs for inspiration. This sounds like a love letter to A Flock of Seagulls done using shakey electric guitars. You might have never known surf, sci-fi comics, and Wolverine haircuts were these cool were it not for Man Or Astro-Man?
