The Wedding

This album's challenging: the first half-dozen times, I could not get into it, despite a love of recent Krautrock-inspired bands (Kinski, some Black Mountain, perhaps Acid Mothers Temple at times). This band in their earlier years has been described as liberal arts majors who pretended they were early 70s-metal. Now I guess they're more prog. Parts of this, such as the soaring opening "The Eiger," cascade memorably. Others, like the oddly Blue-Nile sounding "High Life," stumble. I have grown to like this album more, but it is very much the sound of intellectuals studying their 70s influences, rather than the fresh if naive efforts of those who take their forebears more seriously. It is not easy to love, however, but a bit chilly and detached. Still, if you like the newer space rock-meets-imitation prog done by former 90s post-grad alternative musicians seeking more ground to replow, this is a sensible purchase, and it should spark curiosity among any crowd you entertain.

Across the spectrum, drone, psychedelic, ambient, post-rock, and a little segment that fondly recalls Bon Scott-era AC/DC, all done with verve by real musicians! Buy it.

This is the kind of album that's hardest to describe -- it doesn't really fit cleanly into any available genre or comparison. Oneida experiments with a lot of different sounds, but doesn't go overboard and doesn't do 'weird-for-the-sake-of-weird' like some experimental rockers do. Some of their songs such as 'Run Through My Hair' and 'Lavender' are distinctly Velvet Underground influenced, some sound more like electronica, and one sounds like AC/DC. Every style they attempt -- they pull off. But the whole product seems somehow unsatisfying and unmemorable. It seems as if they started with the idea of exploring the range of their sonic palette, and ended up throwing in anything they could find that they thought sounded good. And it does sound good, but the closest it has to standout songs are 'Run Through My Hair' and 'Did I Die', the forementioned AC/DC-esque song. None of the songs particularly stand out, and the album lacks the unity and completeness it would need to really be a 'great' album.Hopefully in their next release, Oneida will mature as a group and learn as a result of 'The Wedding' what kind of musical style they really want to focus on. Then, they could produce a great album. 'The Wedding' is just good.

'The Wedding' tries to make sense of several musical styles, falling somewhere in between post-rock and the droning psych-rock of The Bevis Frond or early Mercury Rev, assimilating elements of both the Farfisa organ and orchestral strings. At it's most reflective, this album touches on acoustic folk, strings, mellow organs, and quirky Krautrock experimentation. At it's most intense, the sound is swirly and mystical, sonic guitar assaults, psychadelic period Floyd meets the canned thumping rhythms of Tortoise. The closest description I can come up with (without going into mix and match overkill) is an obscure band called Black Sun Ensemble. If that doesn't work for you, try The Flaming Lips meets Spacemen 3, occasionally dabbling in avant-garde orchestral rock.

This is basically a fantastic record marred by really half-assed singing. You guys sound out of breath - get in shape!Otherwise, always sonically interesting, varied, fits very much within the current wave of NYC indie-psych and post-punk stuff -- in fact Oneida seems to be very much an amalgam of several of the "hip" styles right now, but in the best way possible. Just wish the singing could match the band.

Ignore those other reviewer's spotty opinions. This is an all-around INCREDIBLE album!! If you're a fan of atmospheric jammies and relaxing folky space-outs, well light up my friend and start down the river....