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Remember when you could actually dance to rock and roll music? The Fantastic Ooze obviously haven’t forgotten, as their debut CD Fusion Snakes contains some of the finest dance music I have heard in a long time. And this dance music doesn’t rely on computerized beats, synth swells, or ecstasy to put its listener into a booty-shaking trance. The guys in the Ooze wear their groove-heavy influences on their sleeve, as they bring to mind the brilliant UK dance-rock underground that gave us Primal Scream and the Stone Roses. They’re not even afraid to admit their unabashed love of disco, still a pretty daring move for any self-respecting rock band. They actually sound like a neo-garage band like the White Stripes being given dance lessons by David Bowie and Giorgio Moroeder (especially on the frenetic standout track “Radioactive!”). Even in their more atmospheric moments, such as both versions of the winding title track (sounds like Radiohead zapped with a go-go ray), the Fantastic Ooze never let up on their intent to get you out of your chair and move. The band also has style up its ever-shaking ass, from the ’80s-alternative guitar riffs and pounding bass to the intricate drum beats and frontman David Fransen’s hyper faux-British wails. It’s good to be reminded every once and a while that rock does indeed know more moves than the slamdance and the head-bang. With the ten infectious, addictive cuts on Fusion Snakes, the Fantastic Ooze may never let us forget again. - OffBeat Magazine
Discography
We have demo tracks. The songs are on Myspace and other places. The Fantastic Ooze (the former incarnation of this band) had released an album "Fusion Snakes" in 2005 and the EP "Razzle Dazzle" in 2007, some material from which still feature in Bang Crash Pow! sets. Both these latter releases can be found on iTunes and various other internet music-buying places.
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Bio
DAVID FRANSEN and JONATHAN CAMPO fell hard for noise-rock mayhem (Einstürzende Neubauten, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc.) at the same time as they were suckered in by danceable, rhythm-based music (from James Brown, Sly Stone, and A Tribe Called Quest to early 90s brit dance-house rock like the Happy Mondays and Primal Scream). They used to be in a band called The Fantastic Ooze. They rocked. Really hard. They were based in New Orleans. After being displaced by Katrina they moved to Brooklyn in 2005. DAVID and CAMPO had bigger dreams of making the band more of a large–primal–fluid-drenched–organic-electronic–percussive-jump up and down-dance machine (see "monstrosity") as opposed to the more subtle dance oriented garage-y rock they had been making. Hence they found more people to bang on stuff. ANDREW FRIEDMAN (aka SKINNY FRIEDMAN, an east coast based DJ who regularly tours with "Philadelphyinz") hopped in on drums and percussion, and NEAL BESSEN clearly fit the mold of mysterion, filling out the song textures on various synths, bass, guitar and epic cowbell.
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