Jagjaguwar
Rated O, a 29-LP set, is the 75th installment in Oneidas 141-chapter Thank Your Parents series.
Naw – not really. I was just messin with ya. But now that youve choked on those numbers, a three-LP release thats chapter two of a Thank Your Parents triple-header isnt so overwhelming, is it? You just cant worry about those kinds of things with Oneida, anyway. Never mind the time and numbers and all that all things happen as theyre meant to.
The impatient listener might fast forward on some of Rated Os jams, wondering, Where is this thing going? Dont touch that dial though, folks: things are in constant motion in the world of Oneida and, more often than not, youll finding yourself saying, How did we get here? The last I knew, we were wallowing in a 440 Hz drone-out. Aye, laddie but were you paying attention to where the drums were taking things in the meantime? Or maybe while it seemed the beat was going to count out the same until the end of time, the keys or the guitars were waaayyyy over here, building up momentum for a complete and utter full-freak blast-off. (This is by no means an album full of plod, by the way; take for instance the muscular I Will Haunt You: this is what surf guitar music would sound like if crazy ol Dick Dale played all the instruments.)
Though the base of Oneidas sound might be cheesed-out vintage keyboards, there are sonic threads of all sorts woven through Rated O. Wait a minute – is that a sitar on O? Chanting monks (well, maybe they arent really monks) are overtaken by a roaring train full of San Fran acid rock on Luxury Travel. Saturday could even almost be Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac at its trippiest. Almost.
And an added bonus Iggy Pop makes a guest appearance on the slam-dancing It Was A War, roaring out the vocal until his entire respiratory system uproots and launches out of his mouth in the songs final seconds. (Naw not really. I was messin with ya again. It is that sort of a tune, though.)
Folk Wisdom, the albums closer, is just shy of 21 minutes worth of explosive groove; a performance that will leave anyone that tries to keep pace panting, sweating, and smiling. God damn, but these Oneida boys can play! youll yell at the sky once you get your breath back.
Thats how things happen sometimes in Oneidaland. You need to let them take the wheel and no matter how effed-up you think things are trust that theyre taking you somewhere. They always seem to on Rated O.