BABOON

This is the future of rock and roll-not necessarliy the band, though it’s one hard aggregration to beat, but the sound itself. Baboon is one ugly sounding band, neither metal nor punk because they’re far more talented than either label could imply. Baboon has established itself as one of the underground’s coolest hidden secrets - the sort of band Touch and Go would kill to have-what Jesus Lizard wants to be in their best of nightmares. - Music

Baboon is an experimental, undisciplined, aggravating, noisy rock band from Denton , Texas. That’s what the bio says. It’s rare for a press department to generate an accurate and honest description, but this one was pretty close. It’s feel good music for those of us who probably shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets - Music

Baboon, a band that have been around for a while, always skirting the fringes of widespread recognition and releasing several albums , to a certain degree of critical acclaim. Their live shows are purported to be a vigorous exercise in the heady pursuit of absolution from all that falls before ritual of an ink stamped admittance But how would we know? Well finally, baboon has been recorded live. Captured into the crystal sound via a 16 track recorder at two Texas sweatboxes early last year. the crowd bawl with a feverish expectancy sounding fine and loose on a pre-show tonic. As the show opens a definite and palpable sense of urgency is apparent, a whistle blows, the band kicks off and the crowd are let loose. baboon headlock and muscle their audiences through a slew of jump-cut, punk (ish) compositions that slop and rise. All present are tapped into the energy of the performance and proceed to lap it up without question. If Baboon’s intention was to provide a document proving their sure-fire capacity to put on a show then they have succeeded. Chuck Norris has an intense dislike for this band. Which, by the way of retarded logic, may persuade you to give it a chance. - Music

The title of Baboon's new album, Something Good is Going to Happen to You, is truth in advertising, so long as you crack the shrinkwrap and give it a few listens or, better yet, a few hundred. It would apply just as easily to the band, had someone said it to them a year or so ago, before they began recording at Last Beat's studio. Never before has the group made an album that's as versatile as it is volatile; 1997's Secret Robot Control and 1999's We Sing and Play EP had the pieces, but Something Good puts the puzzle together. The band--singer Andrew Huffstetler, guitarist Mike Rudnicki, bassist Mark Hughes and drummer Steve Barnett, now joined by ex-Toadie Mark Reznicek on percussion and keys--puts melody and malady in the same pot instead of merely the same plate, stroking one cheek and slapping the other. Over a dozen songs, Baboon fields every position like a skilled utilityman, whether they're killing you softly ("Son," a wobbly marionette on synthetic strings; the piano-bar pang of "Goodnight, Good-bye"), tightening a noose of noise ("Pig Latin"--and that's close enough to whatever's being said) or somewhere in between ("Carried," where quiet has a head-on collision with LOUD). Like Huffstetler sings on "Evil," Baboon's "got something on everyone." You only hope they didn't save the best for last. - Z Crain

Hard to believe this is the same band that once sounded like a drill press with an attitude problem. Here Baboon transcends their origins in the early-Nineties North Texas noise crowd (Johnboy, Brutal Juice) with a stunning album, at once tender and tenderizing. Something Good begins with a run of Weezer-reminiscent rockers that don't skimp on either melody or crunch and peaks with the harmony-laden, billowing chorus of "Carried" and pogo riff of "Evil." Meanwhile, "Son" opens things up into hazier BRMC territory, before "King of the Damned Laser Gag" splices queasy Farfisa into vein-bulging, Toadies-caliber venting. A time warp hits just in time for the skinny-tied "Leave Me Be," as singer Andrew Huffstetler channels Dexy's Midnight Runners in a successful bid for honorary membership in The Breakfast Club. "Secret Room" boosts a Cure-ish vocal and a jumpy six/eight rhythm into a full on Fugazi-style adrenaline rush. Only then does the band's punishing past come surging back, both on the frenetic "Vampirate" and Blues Explosion hysteria of "Pig Latin." Closer "Goodnight, Good-Bye," a stately benediction guided by piano and trumpet, offers yet another reminder that the band's melodic talents are now commensurate with their already formidable ability to rock your ass. Something good indeed happened to Baboon while making this album: They suddenly became one of the best bands south of the Red River. * * * *
- C Gray

This was a tough call, too. After all, The Polyphonic Spree had yet another good year and Hi-Fi Drowning got really good really fast. But in the end, you can't beat the classics. After last 2001's live album A Bum Note and Bead of Sweat, BABOON went back to work. Toiling away in the bowels of Deep Ellum's Last Beat Records Studio, the band seemed bent on perfection and that's exactly what they found. In late 2002, they released Something Good is Going to Happen to You and it did. No, it was better than just good. It was nirvana, the golden calf of musical goodness. Finally, an album worthy of one of the area's most talented and durable rock acts was on the shelves. The CD is full of top shelf numbers for the rocker in you. "Alright", "Carried", "Leave Me Be"...all instant classics. But Baboon's success in 2002 extends beyond the boundaries of their new album. They remained loyal to their audiences by maintaining a busy performance schedule throughout the Metroplex and even managed to add another member (former Toadies drummer Mark Reznicek). Now that's a full year. What lies ahead for BABOON? Who knows. But with a good label behind a great record put out by a legendary band, the possibilities are unlimited. - I Evans

These Dentonites, together continuously for more than a decade, have managed, incredibly, to outlast most of their
contemporaries among local indie-rock heavies -- the Toadies, the Grand Street Cryers, Spot, Course of Empire. And they've come a long, lonnnng way from the abrasive, post-industrial punk of 1997's Face Down in Turpentine. The first couple of times I listened to Baboon's latest, Something Good is Going to Happen to You, I thought, "Oh, Christ. Can't we have a moratorium on indie-rock bands that sound like Radiohead?" Then I tried turning it way up -- the better to hear the thick, heavy guitar blast from Michael Rudnicki's arsenal of axes -- and it worked better. Producer John Congleton (pAper chAse, Lucy Loves Schroeder, 90 Day Men) has done his usual yeoman service. Sure, there's still a lot of Britpop in the mix, starting with all those electronic textures and Andrew Huffstetler's melodramatic vocals. He leaves the trombone at home this time, though, perhaps not wanting to be mistaken for, uh, Cake or something. The '80s-as-nostalgia having arrived in full effect, there are even places where this disc reminds me of retro stuff like the Cars or the Ultravox of "I Want to Be a Machine" fame. The band crashes and thumps nicely, particularly the muscular rhythm section of drummer Steven Barrett and bassist Mark Hughes. What really makes this work, though, is the songcraft, with lotsa minor and diminished chords turning up in unexpected places amid the anthemic rockarama. There are a few surprises here, too, like "Too Handsome to Die," a brief acoustic interval with something that sounds like an oboe and a harmonium, or the faux-rockabilly intro to "Leave Me Be." You can even forgive 'em for including a song ("Evil") that previously appeared on 2001's live opus, A Bum Note and a Bead of Sweat. - Music