by John Bear
Daily Lobo
It's called indie rock, and it's enjoying widespread popularity. Its latest addition is a band from North Jersey called Particle Zoo. The album was released some time ago, locally, and is now trickling down the pipes and showing up in strange places.
Indie rock is nothing new. Sure, Modest Mouse appeared on SNL last year, but I remember having their albums shoved in my face by smug hipsters for most of the last decade. They would bust it out and then sit in the corner and snicker wickedly when I confessed I kind of liked Weezer.
So now it's a big huge thing, just like rap metal was a big huge thing.
But sadly enough, it is just a rearrangement of standard rock'n'roll fare.
Indie rock comes into existence by kidnapping a ska band, all 37 members, and driving them out into the countryside. Once you have gotten a mile or two from any main thoroughfares, instruct the brass section to exit the vehicle. Then hunt them down like the filthy dogs they are, sparing one for re-education as a keyboardist, assuming they didn't already have one.
Round up the survivors and keep them sedated on a steady diet of high-fat foods and tranquilizer tablets. This will slow their tempo considerably. Threaten them with physical violence if they won't stop hopping around like idiots. Remind them that indie rockers must conduct themselves in a dignified manner.
Once they fall asleep, steal their checkered pants and fedoras and replace them with thick-rimmed glasses and indecently tight trousers.
VoilÖ, you've got your very own indie band, or slaves.
Particle Zoo's full-length Loneliness and Strangers sounds like the kidnapped ska band. The guitar work has that palm-muted, clipping feel widely employed by reggae bands and, yes, ska bands too. Occasionally, a little bit of riffing off into scales occurs, but mostly it retains the four quick upward strums repeated over and over.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The keyboarding is by far the most interesting element of the music. It will remind the listener somewhat of all that G-funk gangsta rap from the early '90s, with its wild up and down pitch bending. It is mildly disturbing to think of nerdy indie rockers drawing inspiration from old Dr. Dre albums, but it works fairly well. Once or twice it strays into dissonant church organ clichÇs, but for the most part, the gangster nerd pipes remain intact.
The vocals seem to be about nothing, just the esoteric musings of the lead singer spouted over the music. That's fine. I would rather not know.
The band possesses a strong penchant for harmonizing with three or four of them joining in for the choruses and even on some of the verses. It works well, adding a thick layer of somewhat high-pitched but admittedly pretty resonance over the instrumentation. A whole lot of nonsensical goofiness in the background, not unlike early Weezer, also pops up from time to time.
Overall, this is happy music - at times, almost too happy, bordering on silly. It might be a good idea for guys to keep stuff like this on hand when they want to show some poor unsuspecting girl how sensitive they are.
Yes, this is sensitive music for sensitive people.
On the other hand, this is also music for diabolical haters who want nothing more than the chance to point out that it just sounds like ska music slowed down a bit. Silly indie rockers. They thought we wouldn't notice.
