The Ostrich
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The Ostrich

Band Rock Punk

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"7" Review"

Calgary is going through another boom cycle (thank you, oh holy oil!), and this is the perfect soundtrack to the increasingly claustrophobic feelings that many long time Calgarians are harbouring right now. The cover art depicts the cranes that litter the skyline of the city, working tirelessly to build new skyscrapers and condos as fast as possible. The cranes are manipulated to look somewhat demonic, and I see this is as fitting statement.

With all the built up tensions of a small city turning into a metropolis seemingly overnight, The Ostrich make perfect sense. Musically, I am reminded of early B-52?fs or Talking Heads, mixed up with some Joy Division (at least in tone), and also the darker side of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. The production is just perfect, really doing a nice job of capturing the energy of the music with the dark, garage-like production.

This 7" is limited to 300, and you can try contacting the band directly at thee_ostrich@yahoo.ca to get one of these, which I would of course recommend.

This is the best Canadian 7" I have heard this year.

http://sevententwelve.com/
- Sevententwelve


"Gig Review"

"the Ostrich nearly burned the place down with their smarmy, messy post-punk. Though their sound is hard to pin-down, these guys are armed with some face-melting garage riffs and a lead singer who eerily channels Jim Morrison into some sort of violent punk hero. Unsettling in a good way..."

http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=121&csid2=33&fid1=31162 - Exclaim


"1st 7" Review"

http://smashintransistors.blogspot.com/

Back in Lou Reed's wannabe Brill Building days he wrote and recorded a song aimed for the dancefloors called "The Ostrich". Then a few years later ol' Creepy uncle Lou then had that album credit of Ostrich guitar going on too. There's also a saying that has been credited to a hundred different people along the lines that "The Velvet Underground didn't sell a lot of records but everyone that bought one started a band." No matter who actually said it-hardly any truer words have been spoken. As the years have gone on a billion bands that were influenced by the Velvets may have not sold many records but have inspired who knows how many others to follow chase the same kind of monochromic shadows and figures of bright lights.
Is this band from Calgary, Alberta aware of such early and obscure VU references their name would possibly bring up when someone who uses too many words hear's the record? Dunno. Has this band listened to it's share of the Velvet Underground? Probably, what band worth at least giving a shot hasn't? Is it likely though that much more of the Ostrich's influence came from bands that grabbed something from the Velvet tackle box and ran in different directions with it. Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd novella's condense down two three minutes, John Foxx era Ultravox avant primate electronic dance grooves, Mark E. Smithism abounds, weird for the weird of it Pere Ubu bits, spidery flanged whirls and whines as if later generations of Bauhaus fans didn't trade it all in for a bunch of stupid keyboards and an effects rack and instead spent their free time listening to the Modern Lovers & Killing Joke (before they bought too many stupid keyboards and effects racks, of course) and thick and stuffy steam rising from an icy landscape because demon's are stoking fires beneath it. More than just something like an Interpol died black hair pouting on the dancefloor fest though-the Ostrich have found their own dodge-n-sway form of the sound where they can now snatch it and go in their own direction too.
- Smashin' Transistors


Discography

The Ostrich have released two four 7" records and are in the process of lating a 10".

The first charted as high as #4 on CJSW (University of Calgary radio station) and remained in the top twenty for five weeks. It also stormed the airwaves of far away towns like Vancouver, Victoria, Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto, Guelph, Halifax, and Flint (MI).

As a side note, we've just secured online distribution through Florida's Dying (Black Lips, CPC Gangbangs, Carbonas...). Our records should be available there by late June (http://www.floridasdying.com).

Photos

Bio

The band is brought together by a mutual love of great outsider rock and roll. We have been performing live for approximately two years and have garnered praise for our incendiary live show and novel sound. Reference points range from classic 60s garage/psych acts like the Sonics, Love, the Stooges, and Les Rallizes Denudes to 70s groups like Joy Division, Chrome, Swell Maps, Wire, and the Stranglers. Like minded contemporary bands might include the Mutators, the Black Lips, or Blank Dogs.