Quickly, as if they were recalled by something over there, Oneida turned to Thank Your Parents. There it was — their trilogy. Yes, with all its riffs and noise, its melodies running up and across, its attempt at something. It would grow moldy in basements, they thought; it would be destroyed. But what did that matter? Oneida asked themselves, taking up their guitars again. They looked at the studio; it was empty; they looked at Absolute II; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if they saw it clear for a second, they added a burst of feedback there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, they thought, laying down their instruments in extreme fatigue, we have had our vision.
—Virginia Woolf, To the Ocropolis
As Ms. Woolf predicted in her seminal novel, Oneida have at last completed Absolute II, the follow-up to 2009’s Rated O (TMT Review), which was itself a follow-up to 2008’s Preteen Weaponry (TMT Review), which was itself a (sort of) follow-up to the closing track off Happy New Year (TMT Review), “Thank Your Parents,” which is the collective name applied to the trilogy of releases that came after. Somehow I’ve made this all sound like it’s more complicated than The Silmarillion, but please understand that O’s epic rips harder than a Tolkien audiobook.
Most notable about this third and final chapter is the complete absence of Kid Millions’ drums, which have been the backbone of nearly every Oneida song to date. Surely some fans are disappointed with this news, likening it to Radiohead’s banning of Jonny Greenwood guitar solos, but to those fans I say go buy a fucking Chickenfoot record. Everyone else can take an audio peek at “Horizon” off the record over at the Chocolate Grinder. Absolute II will be released by Jagjaguwar (and the band’s own Brah sub-label) on June 7, so go back and listen to the first two parts and get pumped!
Other ways to get pumped include: a) seeing Oneida perform in Brooklyn in June; b) seeing Oneida perform ALL DAY in Asbury Park as part of the Portishead-curated “I’ll Be Your Mirror” ATP festival, with a rotating cast of guest musicians; and c) downloading a six-set Oneida improv concert that took place earlier this month as a benefit for Japan. (Note that you should/are required to donate to Shinji Masuko’s relief PayPal account to get those recordings.)
Absolute II tracklisting:
01. Pre-Human
02. Horizon
03. Gray Area
04. Absolute II
Tourdates:
06.17.11 - Brooklyn, NY - Monster Island Basement
06.18.11 - Brooklyn, NY - Monster Island Basement
06.19.11 - Brooklyn, NY - Monster Island Basement
10.01.11 - Asbury Park, NJ - Oneida Presents the Ocropolis III @ ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror
• Oneida: http://enemyhogs.com
• Brah: http://www.brahrecords.com
• Jagjaguwar: http://www.jagjaguwar.com
