OOIOO
Issue #25
Gold & Green (Thrill Jockey)
By Chris Sherman
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 2:47pm
OOIOO is a delightful concatenation of noises and rhythms that spill out of your speakers with playfulness and serenity. Known mostly as the side project of Yoshimi P-We, the drummer of the notorious Boredoms (who have since metamorphosed into the jammy, trippy Vooredoms), OOIOO is plenty different from that band, building its sound from more subdued electronics, drumming, and guitar, as well as trumpet and other acoustic instruments.
Gold & Green is sweet and gently adventuresome. It’s expansive with a broad palette of sounds (at least in comparison to most rock bands) and a certain fondness for busy, at times triumphant, melodies. This is hardly prog-rock — for one thing, there is very little that rocks here.
The drumming is intuitive and loose, drawing from traditional rhythms and tones. The keyboards follow, swirling around the percussion without the emphasized downbeats of rock. Gold & Green shares with electronic and classical recordings a certain lack of visual presence through their sounds. OOIOO doesn’t conjure the image of people playing instruments as most rock recordings seem to (just try to listen to a Stooges album without envisioning Iggy Pop puking all over the mic). Instead, these wistful tunes take on a life of their own, like multiplying brooms in Disney's version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Gold & Green traces a satisfying arc through its 11 tracks, from the stately trumpet of "Moss Trumpeter" to the energetic peak of the boisterous "I'm a Song," only to mellow out and end up where it began with "Return to NOW!!!." It's a pleasant, exciting, and gratifying journey.
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OOIOO's offical Web site
OOIOO's Myspace page
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