Love You Long Time

Love You Long Time's latest EP Party Till You're Pooped has five tracks that sound like recycled synth-pop/punk-driven electronica from the '80s resembling artists like Oingo Boingo and Missing Persons. The only flaw in this presumption is that all four members of the power pop group are too young to recall the music of the '80s, so the next logical explanation is that Love You Long Time has tapped into the youthful buoyancy and optimism that motivated synth-pop/dance-punk electronica in the past, something like being second cousins to the bands of the '80s.

Comprised of lead singer/synthesizer/guitarist Oz, his sister and keyboardist Sally, her husband and bass player Chains, and their friend Liam on drums, Love You Long Time make significant strides in being zany and positive with synth-flask punk, and the whole experience makes it uplifting to be around them. Love You Long Time take one giant step towards being happy with who you are, and inspiring the rest of the world to have that kind of confidence. It is the total opposite of Nirvana's music which was much more self deprecating and concentrated on the negative points of humans. They turn Nirvana's frown into a smiley face on Party Till You're Pooped.

Leading off with "Just Nonsense" on Party Till You're Pooped, Love You Long Time slide into a show tunes musical style familiar to Nurses with the rhythm section delivering a drop-kick punch. The vocals have a sound melodic texture that never loses its grip on the liveliness, whether Oz is pulling his vocals out or pulling them into the electro-pop folds. There is so much animation in the music and character in Oz' voice that it goes beyond whether you like synth-pop or not, the band scoops up their listeners and cups them into their zippy sonic mazes. Every track really has an infectious ring-tone. "Crazy Crush" whips up some catchy pop hooks ripe for beach parties, "Dreamkiller" is a mid-tempo tune that has a nursery rhyme vibe, "Showstopper" charts out electro-pop glitters, rhythmic lifts, and brisk keyboard dynamics with a carnival-punk propulsion, and "Song of Death" may have a gloomy title, but the synth-pop swigs and prancing vocals give off such positive rays and upsurges in the rhythmic movements that it does not feel gloomy at all.

Love You Long Time are a type of animal that likes interacting with others and inevitably brings a smile to every face. Love You Long Time are a social mammal that is infectiously positive. The band honed in on their positive urges in 2005 with their debut EP Don't Poop on My Party, and though their second EP Party Till You're Pooped can be viewed as a party pop album, it has more than just party pop tunes. The songs advocate a philosophy about life that encourages people to keep their heads facing up and their spirits uplifted. I don't know if the '80s bands did that but the next to inherit the throne of synth-pop like Love You Long Time certainly do. - Absolutepunk.net

I haven’t featured this band in this column yet—WTF? My bad. LYLT is the best thing since Flock of Seagulls’ hair. While they spend more time on the road than in Utah County, they’re one of the most amazing live neon-clothed (and neon-striped stage sets included) bands I’ve seen since Madonna was a fuller-figured woman rolling around onstage enveloped in tulle revealing her then-famous belly. There are plenty of tight, Devo-esque keyboard riffs to pantomime-dance to, and singer MC Oz has a voice that Thomas Dolby absolutely would be proud of. Love You Long Time opened up for Shiny Toy Guns at Great Saltair a few months ago for X96’s Nightmare Before X-Mas show, and no other band would had been more appropriate. - Salt Lake City Weekly

After a quick listen, you might think it’s just another pop band holding onto a mid-90’s sound. But, then it takes you over. After backing their lyrics with techno-beats and flirting with the sound of a 90’s pop band in songs “I Had You Wrong” and “Dream Killer”, Love You Long Time turns their sound into type of pop-rap on the track “Party Like I Used To.” The four person group, led by MC Oz, then blends the pop-rap and techno together on “The Power” which features the lyric “I got 99 problems, but my kicks aren’t one”. Overall, Love You Long time is a fun time, as the music seems purely created to dance to. And hey, how can you hate on a band that uses a Keytar? [By: Matt Breen] - Wonka Vision