Trend Alert: Thee Oh Sees
The Magnetic Field’s Distortion distorted pop; the Raveonettes’ Lust Lust Lust distorted prog rock and rock; now Thee Oh Sees distorted early punk rock, they did it well… but… they are just the next band in line with this emerging trend.
Thee Oh See’s The Master Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In is definitely influenced by the 70’s garage punk rock scene. They have bantering male and female vocals that sound like similar dialogue of the B52s (having female and then one-line male interjection; think “Love Shack”).
The enjoyable and best part of the band and album is that heavy and steady drum beat. “Ghost In The Trees” is one of the stronger tracks with wailing guitars and Brigid Dawson’s peaking (shrieks) vocals. It’s a modern early punk, if that makes any sense. “Adult Acid” is that “gold-old-rock-n-roll” with a punch. The main disappointment is that I can’t pay attention to the lyrics because the distortion makes it very difficult to listen closely.
Overall, I hear and feel the early punk influences and the classic rock-folk missed with the distortion. And it is new twist on this often-overlooked musical era. However, heavy effects are obviously a trend this year, and Thee Oh Sees seem to be band-wagoning it.
Tracklisting:
1. Block Of Ice
2. Visit Colonel
3. Grease 2
4. Ghost In The Trees
5. Two Drummers Disappear
6. Graveyard Drug Party
7. The Master’s Bedroom
8. Grease
9. Adult Acid
10. The Coconut
11. Maria Stacks
12. Poison Finger
13. You Will See This Dog
14. Quadropazzed
Filed under: Album Reviews |
Tags: trend, Thee Oh Sees, The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In, Tomlab, Magnetic Fields, Distortion, Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust, garage rock, punk, b52s, Brigid Dawson, John Dwyer, Petey Dammit!, Mike Shoun, Adult Acid, ghost in the trees, block of ice
hey you ditnt link my blog yet!?!?
http://ohnoyouditnt.com
and where did magnetic fields get fuzz from? they’ve publicly discussed that “distortion” is derived from the jesus and mary chain.
not only that, but if you listen to the last 20 or so john dwyer (oh sees) albums, this certainly ISN’T the first one to be drenched in overdrive. in fact, i believe they all are.
also, when was punk NOT distorted?
get your facts straight before you start pointing the bandwagon finger.
punk was NOT distorted back in the day….don’t think of punk as starting with the Ramones or Sid Vicious…The Clash were barely distorted, The Talking Heads were barely distorted (if just not at all), and much of the B-52s stuff wasnt distorted…
I would say that shes pretty close with a description: think B-52s/Talking Heads with more reverb and distortion (trends that werent around during the early stages of punk)
the music of thee oh sees is, for the most part, john dwyer having fun playing music period; however, the lyrics are really intriguing and ambiguous in a good sort of way. the previous album, “sucks blood,” is really nothing like “the master’s…” and dwyer really creates new emotion in “masters” than the much darker “sucks blood.” as for the trend issue, i agree with siv in saying that distortion is nothing new for thee oh sees. this new album has john dwyer contently looking back at his earlier music career and displaying just how much he’s grown up.