Oh No! Oh My! do Daytrotter

In these early days, on my own in the night, I find some strange things to put up for review. Here’s something new. Oh No! Oh My! hitting up the Daytrotter.com sessions.

So for those of you who don’t know Oh No! Oh My! are a trio of indie rockers from Austin, TX. who, for the past four years, have provided some good solid indie rock for the masses to enjoy, combining quirk with melody. Daytrotter on the other hand is a site that offers semi-live sessions of bands that pass on through their base in Illinois, for free, thrice a week.

This week, so far has seen Architecture in Helsinki on Monday, with a lovely semi-live version of Heart it Races being amongst the tracklisting, while today’s was Oh No! Oh My! which is obviously why I chose them over my favourite indie multi-piece.

 I’ll admit, from the outset, that I am no Oh No! Oh My! fan. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s more along the lines of I’ve never had the time for them much; so I was highly surprised when I got my hands on their Daytrotter Session today. I’ll keep it short and sweet, because, like a good poem, it deserves to be listened to, not read about:

The choice of songs compliment each other perfectly.
The choice of instruments that the band actually uses is beauty in itself.
My only problem is that the songs lose all lyrical meaning because I can, personally, never focus on squeaky vocals; blame that on it being semi-live.

Overall, it’s alright. Check it out if you’ve never heard them before; after all, what’s the harm. While you’re there, browse the archive. Some of the bands they’ve had are frankly amazing.

I’d have to give them a 6 out of 10, though. Not too shabby.

Vampire Weekend – Mansard Roof

Wow, we almost missed a day. That’s what happens when you have a co-writer whose internet connection is partially frazzled. I suppose I can’t blame him for technological mishaps, he tries.

So, as a last minute, totally unprepared piece of aural delight, I’m going to take that ‘Itunes Exclusive’ that’s now up by Vampire Weekend and plow through a quickie review.

Now, everyone is kicking up a big fuss about Vampire Weekend, and I don’t see what is so brilliant about them. In all honesty though, I’ve not heard much by them, so I shouldn’t judge so harshly based on this one single. In all frankness, I feel that I’m the one listening to it, so my opinions should be swayed by it, and they really struggle to fall on the side of good or bad.

The song, Mansard Roof, is a short piece of piffly indie pop that deserves no more mention than other short pieces of piffly indie pop. It’s like if you see a dog going for a walk, you don’t think “WOW!” everytime you see it; it’s routine. It’s not out of the ordinary. The song is, simply put, bland. It’s by no means terrible, but it sounds to me like a poor take off of bands like Beirut and, strangely, Panda Bear.

I say, as if my word is law on this one:

Get it if you must, but really, if this is Vampire Weekend, they are by no means special at all. I think all those bigwigs who said they’d be something big in 2008 should think again, and think about how many people would cope with this monotony for more than five consecutive plays.

I give it a mediocre 4 of 10.