Oxes - Arab on Radar Split 10"
(Wantage USA)
Alongside Karp, The Fucking Champs, Arab on Radar, Lightning Bolt,
Landed, and C Average, Oxes have taken the most recent turn at pounding on
the corpse of rock, hoping to revive it to it's ideally passionate fury.
This newer class of bands adopt a uniquely abstract way to achieve the
chaos, tension, and release of heavy rock. Dissonance, noise, and (most
importantly) a heavy handed irony in it's classic riffs and licks
distance it from previous waves of rock music. Stripped of the majority
of classic rock's standard methods, it comes across as a reaction against
the rock bands it follows. Or it could just be that there are two
schools of rock which they are trying to combine: 1) Kiss/Black Sabbath
inspired bands, and 2) US Maple.
The Oxes are an instrumental, two guitar and drums band from Baltimore,
MD. Their songs have an intriguing mix of aggression, frantic bouts of
confusion, odd structuring, bizarre time signature/phrasing and, of
course, a good sense of humor. The "wireless" gimick they exploit, atop
the guitarist's pedestals, and the use of a cowbell on their first album--which
is mixed very high and only hit once or twice in unexpected places--are
both examples of their tendency to make the Oxes experience a fun/ny
one.
This 10" may very well be the best joke they've told yet. It's titled
"Arab on Radar" after the Rhode Island band of vaguely similar musical
leanings. The story is that they recorded some songs in tribute to Arab
on Radar for the B-side and have two standard Oxes songs on the A-side.
The A-side is standard fare for Oxes. Filled with brilliantly explosive
riffs coupled with off kilter drum decimation, they keep things
interesting with odd time shifts and a sense of making the unexpected
feel natural. "Say Something to Bees about the Lion in the Alley" is an
exploration of a quickly strummed guitar part that oddly approximates
what I would imagine a swarm of locusts to sound like. The similarly
titled "Say Something to Bees about not Praying and Don't Bothering" is a
heavier, more controlled chaos.
The B-side is the "Arab on Radar" side. The artwork for the record has
pictures of Oxes playing in a long hallway type room. Side A shows them
playing their wireless guitars and using their pedestals. Side B has
them without guitars. The drummer is standing next to the drums (he
looks like he's stumbling around, trying to find them), and the two
guitarists are both singing (that is, yelping) into microphones.
Presumably, this is their Arab on Radar picture. The Oxes do an
amazingly convincing impersonation of Arab on Radar. "Rough Gay at the
Office" (a play on the title of Arab on Radar's second album, "Rough Day
at the Office" on Load Records) has all the right elements, right down
to the high pitched vocals with the strange lift at the end of a
syllable, almost a squeal. In fact, all of the songs have a convincing
similarity to Arab on Radar (except maybe the reverbed vocals on
"Fallopian Boobs"). Oxes perfectly capture the guitar tones--the one
trebly lead guitar and one heavily overdriven low end guitar that
switches off and on between trebly lines and the low end parts that
ground their songs (sort of).
I would have never expected Oxes to do a concept record of any kind, so
once again, they prove I'm a fool. Arab on Radar are supposedly not
happy about this record, because it was done without their knowledge.
Whether time will see this 10" as an attempt to drum up publicity or a
genuine tribute to Arab on Radar, I think it's a perfect way to tribute a
band who thrives on chaos and confusion. All that aside, the songs hold
up well compared to their past output, which has been exciting to say the
least.
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