Oh No! Oh My!
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Oh No! Oh My!

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The best kept secret in music

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"Artist at a Glance: Oh No! Oh My!"

Once upon a time, not too long ago, I heard a song called “Walk In The Park” by the fresh band Oh No! Oh My! Now, it should be known that a good song may have multiple effects on the listener. Some of these effects may include but are not limited to: making one smile, making one happy, making one tap feet/bob head, making one dance, making one yearn for more music by the artist. When you hear a song that makes you do all of the above, you know you’ve heard something great.

Along with some other blogging citizens, I was introduced to a “Walk In The Park” a few months back and was so impressed I scoured the corners of the internet looking for more music by them. After receiving their previous album and a pre-release of their upcoming album (coming out later this month), I became happier than a priest at a day care center. These guys exceeded all and any expectations I could’ve possibly held them too. They're more contagious than the Bubonic Plague and nearly as lethal. Sporting the classic three-piece band instruments they also use a banjo, accordion, wurlitzer, keyboard, xylophone, flute, shakers, tambourine, and hand claps that are only going get you clapping with them…Trust me, I do a lot. Their Modest Mouse like ability to create unique melodies with appealing vocals is a talent that they can only build upon. I can’t praise them enough, and even had a hell of a time picking my favorite tracks, because they're all great. So just give them a listen. - iguessimfloating.blogspot.com


"Oh No! Oh My!"

Oh No! Oh My! are one of the latest string of bands to get up all in our faces with some badass exclamation marks. Following in the footsteps of !!!, Die! Die! Die!, Thunderbirds Are Now! and The Go! Team, Oh No! Oh My! seem to think that they need a name that packs as much of a punch as their music. I have to say though, I think it brings a lot of unwanted pressure to these young lads. It doesn't matter how many gigs you've sold out or how many killer shows you've played, if you play one flat song then there's always going to be some jerk at the back of the room complaining to his girlfriend 'you know I'm not really sure they deserve that exclamation mark'.

I have to say though, that I think these guys are very exclamation mark-worthy, albeit a big fluffy one. Oh No! Oh My! seem like the kind of guys that invite you over to their house, and when you get there they're just really happy to see you for some reason. And you go into their room and you see that they still have Care Bears on their beds, and their mum makes you celery sticks, and your thinking 'wow these guys grew up on the sunny side of lollypop lane'. But then as you're leaving you find a note in their desk drawer that has a list of the top ten ways they would like to disembowel a cat, complete with diagrams. But before you leap out of the nearest window you just kind of shake it off, assuming you're going a bit crazy cos you've been over-exposed to niceness. Kind of like sun stroke.

No better example is the glorious pop gem that is 'Walk In The Park'. The whole song is just an ode to what a wonderful day it is, complete with a singalong chorus of 'ba da bup bup ba da ba da'. It's just tailor made for a tampon commercial or something. But then on my 40th listen to the song, I realised that amongst all those fluffy lyrics, they sing "Nice day for a driiiiive by shooting" and I was thinking 'what the fuck? Did they just say...?'. But before i could finish that question they were bup bup bup-ing away and I was like 'yeah cool shooting whatever. Mmm guns.'

It's funny how if there's happy music you just go with the flow. Like in Reservoir Dogs when Michael Madsen is cutting that dudes ear off and 'Stuck In The Middle With You' comes on. You don't get grossed out at all. All that happens is that while you dance around the living room with an invisible partner you just wish your girlfriend would get home early so you could cut her face. Even the Benny Hill Show was seriously fucked up if you took away the funny music. Every sketch was based on a big fat guy running around trying to grab girls boobs. And you're thinking 'that's statutory rape', but then the saxophones start up and you're like 'Get her Benny! She's under the bed!'

So basically I think that Oh No! Oh My! are a bunch of fucked up individuals who are trying to infiltrate our minds until we kill each other. But you know what - I'm all for it, cos they can write some really great tunes!

And remember I warned you about them beforehand. Listening to their music is going to make you want to skip through the park until you find a lost puppy. And then you'll just want to hug it and squeeze it. Tighter. And tighter. And tighter... - the-sandwich-club.blogspot.com


"Let's Ride Bikes Into The Sea..."

I've posted on Austin's Oh No! Oh My! a couple times, but I just cannot get enough of this record. I posted way back when that this was the best cd of all time that can be had for $1.50, and now I can pretty much guarantee that it will end up somewhere pretty high on my best of '06 list. My point is, you know how I feel about it, so I thought I'd let my boy (and your host) Garrison Reid from Indie Interviews.com share his thoughts. So here you go:

"Just the other day I was telling a friend that the most deluded and sterile comparison a modern music critic can make is comparing anything to Neutral Milk Hotel or namedropping Mangum in their review. This is something I learned working for a college radio station, which surely receives more mail recalling Jeff Mangum than Merge. So I write this post with caution and simultaneously, with overwhelming sincerity.

What everyone loves about Neutral Milk Hotel is this unsettling sense -- that there is hope in that which is ghastly. Oh No! Oh My! have recaptured that sense throughout their self-titled record and especially on the track "I Have No Sister". The discussion of relationships and death are processed in such an uplifting manner (full of handclaps and an addictive keyboard element) that the listener blissfully bypasses the point that they aren't in this traditional "letter-jacket exchange" relationship.

Mangum's following should skip the old demos and look ahead to bands like this."

--Garrison Reid - gorillavsbear.net


"Walk in the Park | Oh No! Oh My!"

I fell in love last night. He's sweet, genuine, unique and insanely attractive. Sounds like the perfect man right? Too bad it's a song. Or maybe not.

Chris (gorillavsbear.net) has been posting about Austin's Oh No! Oh My! for awhile now, and if you remember correctly, I enjoyed their track "I Love You All The Time". But it wasn't until I heard "Walk In The Park" that I fell utterly in love.

Fans of The Shins, listen up. You will love this song. And as Chris put it "Someone tell me, why isn't this song already in like, a Volkswagen or a Toyota commercial or something?" It's so commercially appealing in the post-Garden State world we live in, but that doesn't make it any less wonderful. The rest of the tracks by this interesting band are just that: interesting. Each one is just a bit different than the last forcing me to be constantly on the edge of my seat. I hear their debut album is top-notch. I can't wait to hear.
- theunderrated.blogspot.com


"Jane is Fat - Oh No! Oh My!"

And sometimes it's one pure thing in a song that slays me, so go figure: in this case it's the way vocalist/guitarist/bassist/etc. Greg Barkley unaccountably, idiosyncratically, and yet irrestistibly stretches out the last syllable at the end of the first line of the verse by ricocheting a fifth up and down and up and down. Against that crisp strumming background it's oddly brilliant. Then notice (well really how will you not notice?) how at the end of the verse (balancing out the bouncing?) he holds just one note far longer than might be expected, or even otherwise desired, given the shrillness of his upper register. The song teeters dangerously on the edge of lo-fi purgatory during what appears to be the chorus, with its unintelligible, sloppy-gang call-and-response and tweeting synthesizer, but, no worries, it holds together thanks largely to the sharp dynamism of the acoustic guitar. There's an extra payoff in the coda following the second chorus, in which Barkley's warbly tenor reveals an unexpected depth and poignancy, against a spaghetti-western guitar line. Don't ask, but it works. Oh No! Oh My! is a trio from Austin, but two of them appear to be living in Nashville now, and they only just recently changed their name from the Jolly Rogers (decidedly less '00s/indie-sounding, huh?). "Jane is Fat" is from a nine-song self-produced CD made available this past October when they were still the Jolly Rogers; the MP3 is available through their as-yet still-pirate-ish web site. Apparently a full-fledged CD is in the works and will be released soon. Thanks to Catbirdseat for the lead. - fingertipsmusic.com


"Uh Oh, Oh No! Oh My! Comes to Town"

Unsigned Nashville act Oh No! Oh My! have a debut full-length on the way, and right now are offering the disc at a discounted pre-release price here. The record was mastered by Ryland of The Robot Ate Me. Label-less the band may be, but these days that doesn't really mean anything, and if you're craving some fresh, odd pop music--post Clap Your Hands Say Yeah--then grab a couple tracks in the Downloads section.
- http://www.silentuproar.com


"Oh No! Oh My! Full Length Review"

I don’t claim to have my finger on the pulse of the music business or the indie scene. I don’t claim to be able to spot natural talent from a mile away. For these reasons, among others, I hesitate to use the phrase “next big thing”; it’s dangerous territory, and overhyping a record can seriously damage it’s reception (see Harmonium’s own “Don’t Believe the Hype ‘05”). However, I’m going to risk my journalistic integrity here and say Oh No! Oh My!’s (name taken from The Robot Ate Me, whose Ryland Bouchard mastered the record) self-titled debut could very well be 2006’s “it” record.

ON! OM!’s debut record (to be fair, ON! OM!’s members have previously released work as The Jolly Rogers) has no home. Like last year’s breakout Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah!, it is being entirely self-released by the group’s three members, Greg Barkley, Daniel Hoxmeier and Joel Calvin. Each member plays a variety of instruments, and the record is rife with guitars, banjos, hand claps, accordions, wurlitzers, flutes, shakers, tambourines and some programmed noise, all of which are used to create glimmering, breathtaking pop music.

The record opens with “Skip the Foreplay,” a Simon and Garfunkel-esque gem, where Barkley sweetly sings about a couple having a baby, and the trials that surround it, like telling the girl’s father (“It was strange, ‘cause he was glad”). In this track, and throughout most of the album, Barkley’s vocals, though processed-sounding, are pristine, clear and perfect for the sunny pop music ON! OM! creates here.

The following song is one of the album’s highlights, “Walk in the Park.” This song is perfect for glowing summer afternoons and, well, walks in the park. A gentle guitar progression and a jaunty bassline carry this song, and then the song breaks to shimmering keys. At first listen, the lyrics may seem a bit too cutesy, but ON! OM! sneak in darker lines, like “nice day for a walk in the dark / nice day for a drive-by shooting.” It reminds me of Beulah’s in the way serene pop sensibility is interrupted by almost morbid lyrics, and it certainly doesn’t detract from the song’s sheer fun-factor. “I Have No Sister” hops on some really dance-worthy drums and echoing vocals, and contains some really clever and interesting lyrics, as well as a magnificent chorus, which includes another of those sweetly intoned, yet morbid lines – “you’re uneasy and you say you’re scared / but if I die then at least you’ll die too.”

Not every song is glistening sheen and adorableness. “Farewell to All My Friends” is exactly what the title claims, a goodbye to people you love, painted by country-laced instrumentation. It takes a more serious turn than some of the album’s other tracks, which include references to Audrey Hepburn’s attractiveness (“I Have No Sister”) and lines like “I love you all the time / except when you drink wine” (“I Love You All the Time”). “Lisa, Make Love! (It’s okay!)” is a folky song, utilizing banjo and flute in a gentle, downtempo way to plead to Lisa, a girl with low self-esteem who is unable to recognize her worth. Songs like these give the album enough contrast to avoid making the tracks run into one another and becoming easily forgettable.

Another of the album’s high points is “On the Town.” Dual vocals shudder along a slow melody and a sauntering bass. When the song reaches the point where the voices sing unison “I’m always on the run…” the track pauses and cascades swiftly into a prickly banjo and harmonizing. There always seems to be a good deal going on during ON! OM!’s songs, and it creates a really textured sound. Because of this, the penultimate track “The Backseat” feels sparse at first, with only guitar and choral vocals sustaining us to about the minute and half mark, when it is joined by drums, electric guitar, and beeping programmed sound. It doesn’t really harm the song, it’s still beautiful and calm.

The album isn’t without its missteps. There are a couple of tracks that center around one line, chanted repetitively. The first of these is “Reeks and Seeks.” Musically, this track is actually one of the most catchy, with a very Nintendo-sounding riff harmonized throughout. As the song progresses, new instruments join in every few measures until the song is a raucous chant of words that make almost no sense by about one minute in, those being “My mind it reeks and seeks all night,” where the only thing that changes about the sentence is the pronoun that begins it. The song isn’t bad, but knowing that ON! OM! can write some splendid lyrics when they want to, the song is still sort of a disappointment, especially considering how fun and catchy the music is. The second track of this type is closer “Women are Born in Love,” which just so happens to be the only words in the two and half minute song. Again, the music is catchy, all plucked guitar and electronic hum, accompanied by steady clapping/stomping. The problem is that the song really doesn’t change enough to be compelling, and closes the record with a little bit of a whisper instead of bang.

These transgressions are slight, as the majority of the album is fun, undeniably catchy, and oozing with 60s style pop melody. Like I said before, I’m no expert. If I ran a record label, there’s no telling how quickly I would drive it into the ground. Still, Oh No! Oh My!’s gorgeous self-titled debut is the kind of record you’ll want to play as you shake the doldrums of winter from your shoulders. It’s about time for some sunshine. - Harmonium Music


Discography

Walk in the Park/The Party Punch - 7" Single, Brikabrak

Oh No! Oh My! - Self Released 2006

The Jolly Rogers EP - Self Released 2005

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

From the minds of songwriters Greg Barkley and Daniel Hoxmeier comes a catchy post-pop band that loves themselves a tasty melody. Both Greg and Daniel were home schooled through high school and, for lack of anything better to do, learned to play the guitar and any other useful instruments they could get their collective hands on.

Teaming up with Joel Calvin (drums), they formed the band (poor) yorik, an experimental rock band, which after 8 months they decided was a much too depressing style of music. The trio spent a month in deep meditation and self reflection (during which Joel found inner peace), and it was decided that they would from then on be called The Jolly Rogers. However, upon discovery of several pop-punk bands from Nebraska and Florida, and a group that frequents renaissance festivals dressed in pirate garb, the band decided it was time for another name change. They chose Oh No! Oh My!, named for a song by The Robot Ate Me.

In early 2005, the band began work on a brand new collection of songs after a demo from the year prior was met with a strong response over the internet. Their first self released album has just been mastered by Ryland from The Robot Ate Me, and is being released officially through the band's website, and Insound.com on May 2nd, 2006.

Oh No! Oh My! will also release a 7" single in the UK on Brikabrak Records, with the songs "Walk In The Park", and "The Party Punch".