The O.C.
Recently I got the chance to see a preview for the yet unreleased movie Ozark Cousins at Ms. Meow’s Talenza Bonanza. My mind was pretty much blown, so consider yourself warned before clicking on the link below.
Ozark Cousins is the name of a new Chicagoland band as well as a new “Urban Western” that is slated for release this July. The conception of this project was somewhat backwards, with the movie being made to fit it’s soundtrack. The album that is set to fill this roll was actually written & recorded before the movie was fully conceived. Ozark Cousins formed when members of Driftless Pony Club and May Or May Not teamed up to write & record an album of songs that Zaid Maxwell had rattling around his fecund temporal lobes. Only after the album was completed did the idea come about to film a movie for the album to soundtrack.
“New Moon” opens the album with warm synths that are soon overtaken by a creeping piano, inhuman howls and disembodied ahhs. “Basghetti Western” leads into “Cocaine City Teeth” which has the perfect pace and brightness for a third track. The ¾ up-tempo percussive strumming of an acoustic guitar hitting right when it’s needed. “Isn’t It Me” is, for my tastes, the highlight of the album’s first half. With it’s hauntingly lackadaisical vocal melody and the Brian Deck-esque percussion pieced together from the sounds of things falling. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, this song makes me forget about whatever it is, sometimes to dangerous effect on my extended bicycle rides.
“Crescent Moon” seems like where Side B would begin were this a vinyl rather than an online affair. This isn’t just because it’s track six of ten, but because it echoes the opener in both mood and in its slow crescendo. “Miniature Monsters” is unarguably the climax of the album. Through the first movement of the song Zaid Maxwell paints a portrait of the urban music scenester’s perspective before tension is built with nimble guitar interplay. Just when you think you know where the song might be going a completely out-of-nowhere change drops the bottom out and replaces it with sleigh bells and the hymnal harmony of Craig Benzine & Amelia Styer before woodwinds enter to add a breadth to the sound to make it all the more irresistible. “Full Moon” and “Security Tapes” gently bring us back to earth before taking off for one final finale that reprises the album in mood, if not in entirety. This project is a fantastic hybrid of two exciting bands on the Chicago scene.
P.S: It’s available for free download at www.ozarkcousins.com
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wow. well written. where dooooo you find the time? fecund temporal lobes. holy moses.
Liked the review a lot, looking forward to hearing the record. Not so much the movie. Too campy for me. And what is with that broad wearing a purple leather coat when the other guys look like cowpeople?
guy one: “So Joe and I will wear our cowperson outfits with our cowperson hats, and judy you can wear…”
broad: “yeah, and I can wear my new purple 70’s leather coat I got at unique last week.”
director: “there are some wardrobe conflicts with that coat, and I think…”
broad: “i’ll show you a video I made with my friend Sarah last week if you let me wear the coat.
director: “the coat stays in the picture.”
Frazer:
Many similarities to the pocket, don’t you think?
quirken
I second that this album is great. Plus, look at that trailer. Look at those mustaches!
Right? We were way ahead of our time. Plus our movie featured Radiohad music.
i have a postable version of the pocket on my mac at home. i’ll post it here later so YOU CAN BE THE JUDGE as to its similarities.
or at the very least, you can laugh at the acting abilities of quirken and I.
as for OzCo, i’m also into it. #s 7 and 8 are my faves, but i can’t remember what they’re called.
maybe one of us should let zaid, amelia and craig know they were just reviewed on the new hottness in blog town. i’d put a post on westwash, but i’m not sure what language those people communicate in on that blog. i think it’s an offshoot of swahili.
sir bunge posted on westwash for us, cause he’s fluent in westwashspeak.
hello westwashers. welcome to this blog. read it every day forever, okay?
Shikamoo,
Marahabaa,
The Hood Internet.
is rock transfer protocol the new media fix?
translated from westwash speak:
Will WWB posters treat this weblog the same way they treat leo’s lyrics?
“having fun guy 1? The most fun in the world!”
my lobes hurt