Friday, June 15, 2012

OH-OK, NEW WAVE AND JANGLE

I used to think that all of the non-hardcore music emanating from Athens, Georgia and the south in general in the early 80s was a variation on “jangle”, which is what we called the music of R.E.M., LET’S ACTIVE and their college rock ilk. I therefore found it easy to ignore PYLON, whose records I saw in bins all the time and found out later – way later - were a great post-punk art/dance group, and OH-OK, whom I condescendingly assumed back then to be a female-fronted R.E.M., given that they were sometimes helmed by Linda Stipe – Mike’s sister. Leave it to our pal Erika Elizabeth to right this wrong three decades later and introduce me to the outstanding childlike new-wavy pop art of the band and their recent collection “THE COMPLETE REISSUE” on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. Erika plays this thing almost every week on her show, and after a couple spins it totally sank in and I bought it. It’s great.

I know my tolerance for twee has increased dramatically this past decade, but this isn’t even that “twee” – it’s just a load of fun, with short pinpricks of wavoid bounce, weird chord patterns and off-beat fake harmonizing. Even the live stuff they threw on here is a blast – “Jumping” and “Here We Go” had me imagining 100 new waver haircuts pogoing their asses off at some sweaty college town bar. A guy we’ve both heard of, Matthew Sweet, was the guitarist in this band – I know he had a solo career of some renown after this; I just haven’t heard his stuff (see how easy it is for me to freeze out musical acts for years based on wrongheaded assumptions?). OH-OK were around from 1981 to 1984, and yes, this is their complete recordings. The early stuff is the more happy-go-lucky; the later stuff stretches out a bit to lengths greater than two minutes (!) and has a more melancholy feel along with gentle hooks aplenty. Try this track “Such n Such” that I’ve posted for you here and try to get up offa that thang whilst doing so.

Play OH-OK, “Such n Such”

Download OH-OK, “Such n Such”
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2 comments:

  1. Looking forward to some posts about the Bongos, dBs, Game Theory and Go-Betweens (et al.) I'm always pawing these albs in the shops - hell, I love Big Star, right? - but i get scared off when I think about any and all jangle-y university rock I've heard from the 80s. The problem is less what the jangle stands for than how the jangle sounds: the production on these records is always atrocious. I mean, perhaps things are mic'd well, but floor toms thru a chorus pedal are a bad scene. I'm douche enough that a bad snare alone sends me packing, which practically leaves only punk and hardcore (if that) from the 80s for me to dig. It also makes people like Spot seem like Phil Spector, which, I mean.... gah! Jesus Christ. This condition also scares me from late-80s UK alt that people have urged me to consider.

    And another thing, in case you've lumped this band with those bands and are considering checking them out: NEVER buy an LP by AZTEC CAMERA. I tell you without hyperbole, sir: that is the. worst. shit I've ever heard in my life.

    The OH-OK sounds killer, though. They dodged some generational bullets to be sure. Matthew Sweet has maybe 8 good songs - some really good - but no good albums. He tours these days with Velvet Crush, who to me kinda represent power-pop dudes' remembering that their popping was supposed to be "powered" by rock and raunch just like Big Star, Badfinger, Twilley and the Groovies. I suppose that tradition got lost with the Shoes, who I'd imagine are one of your 4 or 6 favorite-ever bands, so I'll just stop here...

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  2. I'm glad I turned you on to this one, Jay! If you (or anyone, really) haven't heard them yet, the Method Actors were another great '80s Athens-area band that opted for the angular post-punk side of the fence instead of the jangly R.E.M. one. So good! http://acuterecords.com/blog/?page_id=298

    Also highly recommended: The Side Effects, who put out one EP on DB Records that I can't seem to find much mention of on the internet, but I pulled the 12" out of the dollar bin at a record store I used to work it & it's one of my all-time favorite finds. Totally reminds me of an American Gang of Four, but way darker.

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