Very few bands remind me at all, in any way, of my very favorite band, Oneida...even the usual ones that get trotted out, Can, the Boredoms, etc. don't seem all that closely related to me, or maybe related to one part of what I like about Oneida, without accounting for the rest. So, it's sort of an event when a band like Thank You evokes what I like about Oneida, and the Boredoms and OOIOO without copying them at all.
Here's my review in PopMatters.
Thank You
Terrible Two
(Thrill Jockey)
US release date: 22 April 2008
UK release date: 19 May 2008
by Jennifer Kelly
Thank You, a noise-spazzing trio out of Baltimore, rides an adrenaline-coursing wave. Rhythm dominates from the first tom-pounding bars of opener "Empty Legs" to the last tones of the organ-pulsing, cymbal slashing "Terrible Two". This is not music for the faint of heart or short of breath. It hauls you through a panting, heaving landscape of physical exertion. You'll be tired afterwards, possibly sweaty.
Consider, for instance, the gym-whistling, drum punishing first salvo, "Empty Legs". Tightly repetitive, manically pushed, it spatters short 4/4 patterns of drum and keyboard in ratatat machine gun bursts. Soccer-stadium blurts of "ha ha... ha ha" turn even human voices into rhythm instruments. Everything is staccato, clipped and aggressive, except for a dreamy haze of wordless vocals over top. The mix intoxicates and confounds, pummels and illuminates. It's a close cousin to the percussive epiphanies of the recent live Boredoms album or the sheer rhythmic abandon of OOIOO's Taiga.
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Thank You is really difficult to Google (though not as bad as The Band or The The)...so I'm not sure if there really isn't any audio available besides the MySpace, or I just can't find it.
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2 comments:
just found a stream of the lp (sounds bloody good!) & they had an lp out last year too...
Yes, I think you'd probably like this. Nice to have you back, BTW.
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