Oma Yang - From the Heart of Jumbo Malaria
(Slowdance)
There must be some sort of band factory in San Diego. It must be sort of
like the Leisure Suit Larry games where when one Larry got squashed, the
subterranean factory just took the next Larry off the line and sent him off
to finish the quest. The latest style of Larry to be sent off from San
Diego's subterranean labs is post-rock, creating such bands as Tristeza,
The Roots of Orchis, and now Oma Yang. Oma Yang is different from their
San Diego post-rock peers as they seem to be more influenced by the first wave
of post-rock (Slint, Polvo, etc.) than the second wave (Tortoise, etc.). As
such, there is a lot more rock to their sound, comparatively speaking.
Oma Yang's main strength exhibited on their debut album, From the Heart of
Jumbo Malaria, is their ability to mix hard (loud drums and rock guitars)
and soft (keyboard atmosphere and quiet guitar melodies) elements. Perhaps
this is just a natural occurrence considering Oma Yang is born out of the
scene that created Tristeza and the softer, keyboard-drenched take on
post-rock, but this quality of their sound is a definite high point and the
band's main chance at not becoming just another instrumental post-rock
band.
That chance is a tough one though as the elements of Oma Yang's sound are
taken straight from their influences. "The Roots of Orchis Drinks Cheap
Beer" starts with a long section of June of 44-style guitar progressions
mixed with interludes of Polvo-like Eastern guitar sounds, building and
then releasing, decomposing into quiet, spacey keyboard melodies. The
mixture of hard and soft works well, building through the Louisville-inspired
portion, then releasing into more Tristeza-like atmosphere, but all the
sounds here seem familiar. Other songs may sound more like Polvo
("There is no General Chow in Team"), The Shipping News ("The Moon in the
Cancer"), or Don Caballero--they are all decent enough songs--they just all
already seem familiar.
That's not the worst thing in the world though; God knows how happy I'd be
if there were suddenly twice as many June of 44 and Polvo records. Oma Yang
definitely have room to grow and this very decent album shows good signs of
where they are headed. Their strengths at mixing hard and soft elements should
only grow as they develop better and more original material. As it is now,
the hard parts could definitely be a bit harder, and the soft parts could
be a bit softer. Put a little more weight on its bones and a little more fluff
in its feathers, and this bird will seem a lot more like a duck than a pigeon.
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