Okay
Low Road, High Road (Absolutely Kosher Records)

Who is Okay? Are we Okay? Marty Anderson is Okay. Once front man for Dilute and collaborator in Howard Hello (with Kenseth Thibideau of Pinback and Rumah Sakhit), who also released other solo material under the moniker Jacques Kopstein, Anderson has developed a small but intense audience over the years. Now ill with a rare form of Crohn’s disease and essentially homebound, he is taking full advantage of his disadvantage by recording music, as evident in the release of not one but two records in 2005. Low Road and High Road, separately released but virtually indistinguishable, explore the world via intensely cerebral orchestrations of manipulated folk and/or blues songs, over which Anderson’s unique and indescribable vocal qualities send the listener to a strange new terrain balancing itself somewhere on the verge of the avant-garde. Experimentations with the traditional conventions of vocals and guitar take Okay’s songs to a new level of existence.The menagerie of sounds mutate into an intricate sound collage, like an alien broadcast intercepted with layers interference as the light years minutely but noticeably affect the pitch and speed. Dig through the opacity of sounds, the lyrics reveal themselves buried like a secret buried treasure bountiful with the secrets of humankind. Marty Anderson, no different than David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth or Peter Sellers in Being There, is an outsider in this world navigating with a clearer perspective on life than any insider. (Don Simpson)



OLLABELLE
Riverside Battle Songs
Verve
Weaving together country, bluegrass, Celtic, and blues into one seamless stylistic patchwork, Ollabelle is never short of ideas on their T-Bone Burnett-produced sophomore release. Whether adopting a funky reggae patois for a cover of “See Line Woman” or commandeering drones, glorious strings, and crystalline keyboards for the traditional “Troubles of the World,” the New York City sextet covers everything with well-manicured harmonies and a smooth professionalism that ensures that they make nary an awkward step. Slide guitar-draped back porch funk (“Fallback”), pedal steel-drenched spirituals (“Last Lullaby”), and spirited Celtic folk (“Dream the Fall”) – all are tackled with equal adeptness. That said, even though their stylistic mixing pop approach is admirable, like much of contemporary bluegrass, the core of their music considerably more polished than any of the rudiments they are appropriating. The final result is an album that is long on credibility but comparably short on spontaneity or spirit. – Matt Fink

ONE RING ZERO
Wake Them Up
Barbes
My humanities professor in college once asserted that there hasn’t been a single original thought since the end of the Roman Empire. His line of thinking was that Roman thinkers had solved life’s major questions but didn’t have the means to prove any of it. In retrospect, I realize he was talking about philosophical issues, because the Romans didn’t mention anything about Spaghetti-Os or Disney World or water-filled bras and they didn’t say a word about One Ring Zero. Imagine a supergroup comprised of They Might Be Giants, Camper Van Beethoven and the Residents under the direction of concertmaster Van Dyke Parks. The Romans couldn’t conceive of One Ring Zero, but Virginians-in-New-York Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp came up with the idea and beyond. For their debut album, As Smart As We Are, Hearst and Camp provided the music then asked authors like Dave Eggers, Margaret Atwood, Rick Moody, and Jonathan Lethem, among others, to provide the lyrics, prompting critics to anoint them as “lit-rock.” For ORZ’s new album, Wake Them Up, Hearst and Camp chose to keep all the writing in-house, but the songs are still funhouse mirror views of life and love and weirdness in the modern era as interpreted by instruments both contemporary and antique. As a result, Wake Them Up plays like the soundtrack to a Merchant/Ivory period piece with a David Lynch script, from the GBV-meets-CVB jaunt of “Here Come the Mannequins” to the TMBG-fueled pop of “Anywhere But Here” to the Twilight Zone circus lilt of “Robert Hunter’s Monster.” Wake Them Up is another fascinating album’s worth of songs from One Ring Zero, a band smarter than an entire empire.    --Brian Baker

The Onlys
Limbic System (Detach Records)

Limbic System is a sprawling record from the Austin-based band The Onlys, and it seems to show that the band is not fully aware of its strengths and weaknesses. There are some real standout songs among these sixteen tracks, but much of the record lacks enough melodic hooks and dynamics to hold interest. The track order is also a bit puzzling, as a listener has to wade through five very similar sounding songs before getting to "Tulsa part II" on which the band's sound starts to become compelling. The next track "Attica" is the best on the record and shows what the Onlys are capable of when they awaken from their down-tempo dreams. Later on come "Central" and the closer "ah Happiness" which find the band utilizing their best melodies and showing that when everything comes together, their potential is quite apparent. (Andy Smith)

OPPENHEIMER
Oppenheimer
bar/none
Wasn’t too long ago that electronica had become less employed as a pop-rock format. Either it had devolved into pure dancefloor fodder or had been elevated to the status of prog-rock. So, it is refreshing to discover Oppenheimer – two gents hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland viz. Rocky O’Reilly & Shaun Robinson – who have revitalized what has been a moribund rock genre with an album that is simply irresistible. This eponymous debut is chockfull of old school synthesizer effects, but stripped of all the gimmicks, the songs remain strong and would prove highly enjoyable in any arrangement, style, or approach. Tracks like the catchy “Breakfast in NYC,” the quirky “My Son, the Astronaut,” the fragile “When I Close My Eyes I Fall In Love,” and the smooth “Nine Words” demonstrate that O’Reilly and Robinson know their way around a melody. Trainspotters out there will be eager to note the references to Air, Grandaddy, ELO, Weezer and even the Get-Up Kids! Basically if you are into sophisticated indie-pop that is both intelligent and groovy then Oppenheimer is the one for you.   --Kevin Mathews

CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY
TRUE LOVE WAITS (ODYSSEY/SONY)

What a brilliant idea! O'Riley, a classical pianist who's also a fan of adventurous new music, heard in Radiohead a little something no one else has. Fascinated by the multiple lead instruments and the layers of textures, he set about arranging and composing a selection of tracks from OK Computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac for solo piano. Having already been disappointed by the dry, lifeless Strung Out on OK Computer string quartet album, I was apprehensive about this recording as well. I needn't have worried. In fact, it has supplanted Hail to the Thief as my most played item this summer. O'Riley not only has a true feel for the material, it's also obvious how much he's connected to it. The songs, picked and pasted completely out of their original context, have a wonderful flow to them, in a way that makes perfect sense. At low volume, True Love Waits is lovely as ambient music, but there's plenty of life in it as well. Plus, since one of the criticisms I've heard from Radiohead holdouts over the years (I was one myself, in the "Creep" era) is, "I like their music but I can't stand his voice," this disc is proof there really is something to their music, with or without Thom Yorke's vocals. (d.n.l)

Orange Park
Songs From the Unknown (Young American Recordings)

The first offering from the new Young American Recordings label is from Orange Park, which takes it name from its members hometown in the suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida, although if you are envisioning wild-eyed southern rock in the Van Zant brothers' tradition, you're living in the wrong decade. This is catchy pop-punk-emo-alterna-guitar rock painted pretty strictly by the numbers. This means that the band relies on its songwriting to lift it out of the morass of bands doing the same heartfelt approach, and that comes with decidedly mixed results with only three real winners ("Make Up Your Mind," "One Day," and "Wouldn't Change a Thing") out of the twelve tracks on the record. The band does sound like it could be a strong live act, but this record is too similar sounding and middle-of-the-road to really shine. They might have some luck pitching to the 16-24 demographic TV shows, though. --Andy Smith

!!!/OUT HUD
LABEL REMIX SERIES VOL. 2 SPLIT EP (ZUM/GOLD STANDARD LABORATORIES)

The world might be a much more pleasant place today if New Order and Gang of Four had released a split remix EP back in their day. !!! and Out Hud do their best to re-create that fictional moment. Now to compare !!! and Out Hud to the masters of their respective genres is not fair to anyone (even myself, who would probably be accused of lazy journalism). Out Hud's instrumental interpretations of a single track repeated several times definitely doesn't break any new ground, other than the new and exciting ways it bores its audience. The !!! (oh, how I loathe their name) track is vaguely more interesting, yet it finds itself stuck in the very same quagmire that most remixes do, way too much of the same (good?) thing for way, way, way too long. The first four or five minutes are worth a listen, at which time I recommend mixing it into a Gang of Four track (maybe a track from Solid Gold, any of which would be far superior) with a matching BPM. (Don Simpson)

OXFORD AMERICAN
SOUTHERN MUSIC ISSUE CD

OXFORD AMERICAN MAGAZINE Oxford American magazine has finally returned with its best-selling "Southern Music Issue CD." For those unfamiliar with this mag, a little introduction might in order. First, it's a magazine of the South. Second, it's a "Southern Magazine of Good Writing." That means the best and brightest writers nationwide write about everything and anything Southern. For this issue, it' s all about music with roots in the South - which covers about everything, doesn't it? OA was once based in Oxford, Mississippi, and bankrolled by best-selling author John Grisham. But last year, beleaguered by persistent financial woes, OA relocated to Little Rock, in search of a new publisher, which it found in At Home Media. During this crisis, OA couldn't published a music issue in 2002, the only time it failed to do so since 1997. Readers were alarmed, as were critics. "The Music Issue" is by far the most popular single-copy issue, typically selling nearly 100,000 copies. It includes a free CD and some of the best music writing around. The CD alone is worth the cover price of $8.50. The depth, the range, the historical perspective of the music - you won't find such a collection anywhere else. OA editors spend months putting the CD together. They gleaned 23 chestnuts by sifting discount bins, scouring Southern music festivals, relying on veteran writers' advice, or by happening on a poignant tune from an old movie. A plethora of genres, times, and tastes grace the CD this time. The Del McCoury Band, "the Beatles of Bluegrass," is featured. Linda Ronstadt aids the lovely chanteuse Ann Savoy, singing the Creole ditty "La Chanson d'une Fille de Quinze Ans (Song of a Fifteen Year Old Girl)." Brit folkie Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention) plays guitar on that number, and wrote the McCoury tune, too. The Blind Boys of Alabama are a natural fit, singing "Run on for a Long Time." Ester Phillips contributes a soulfully sorrowful rendition of "No Headstone on My Grave." The unsung female blues singer Memphis Millie gets her due with a cut Jerry Lee Lewis must've admired, "Killer Diller Blues." Little Milton, on "Grits Ain't Groceries," lays down some definitive R&B--gutsy, energetic, and perfect. R.L Burnside's "Miss Maybelle" is an interesting addition. OA chose the enhanced version that sports hip-hop ornaments, disc scratching, and the like. Critics decried the approach, claiming it tainted the hallowed blues. By including this version, OA sanctified the attempt of Fat Possum Records (Burnside's label) to make the blues current, relevant, and vibrant again, rather than merely an archeological curio. The CD goes beyond blues, though. There's "hillbilly hoodoo," courtesy of the Delmore Brothers. There's the 60s pop of the Yo-Yo's and 70s pop of Chris Bell, a member of seminal band Big Star. My Morning Jacket, the most contemporary band here, adds their country rock. Willie Nelson sings old-timey jump blues with "Columbus (Ga.) Stockade Blues." The biggest surprise of the CD is the appearance of Marilyn Monroe. She sings "Little Girl from Little Rock" with Jane Russell, a tune from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's a sweet number and nice timing, too. OA got the rights to "Little Girl" just after arriving in Little Rock. (John Stoehr)

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