Jane Dowe and Hank Hofler
For the State Championship in debate my senior year, we had to go to Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal. During our off-time we walked around downtown Normal, looking for something to do, a place to eat, something. It was then that I concluded that Normal, Illinois had to be an absolute pit. I think there were two bars, and a pizza place that had to have the worst pizza I've ever eaten. Ugh. Boo to piss-ant college towns, from which nothing good can come.
Apparently I was wrong, because married duo Oh Astro hails from Normal, and they're pretty on the mark. Using software written by Dowe, the band's album Champions of Wonder is composed largely of altered audio from other sources, and the result is pretty dope. Unlike other sample based musicians, Oh Astro alters their samples to a point where the source material is something far divorced from the product. Indeed, you've gotta listen hard to catch the strains of Lionel Richie's "Hello" in Oh Astro's "Hello Fuji Boy"
Some of the songs on Champions of Wonder don't really subscribe to the conventional pop forms used in a lot of electronica; it just seems like Hofler and Dowe were having as much with the software as possible. Like their cover of "Xanadu" from, you guessed it, Xanadu; or the tracks where they just fuck with their children's voices. Even when the result isn't something with a bridge and a chorus, it's still pretty interesting to listen to. Genuine sonic expedition like the kind that Oh Astro is churning out on this album is both satisfying and hard to come by, so you should get it while you can.
1 comment:
I was looking for the video of you performing Fuck the Pain Away and I think I just found a new favorite blog instead.
Post a Comment