Here's a prolific group of lads whose most recent output includes the Aetheists, Reconsider split EP with Liars and their sprawling (aren't they all?) double LP, Each One Teach One. They continue their organ-jittering, Blue Cheer-esque antics with such uber-confident aplomb, that I'm starting to think I can skip checking out all those old Suicide and MC5 records. And when it comes to the like-minded propulsive noise-mongers Japanther, I think I can leave Captain Beefheart alone as well. I guess what I'm saying is that Oneida is one of these great bands that come along and take all the interesting cues from the past and splashes them into something wholly more involving and well thought out. I realize I've bordered on blasphemy; it's not that I don't value the innovative and groundbreaking works of Captain Beefheart, I just think today’s smart musicians are taking the ground that was broken before them, and sprouting something miraculous.
That said, not every Oneida song is going to thrill you. Sometimes the band can become a little tepid (the plodding, Dead Meadow-ish "Wild Horses"), but songs like the majestically ear-piercing "The Winter Shaker" convey a compelling argument for clang and clamor on the streets. An insidiously impulsive sort of cacophony seems to be this band's main strength. It’s the kind of things achieved intuitively by groups like GoGoGo Airheart, Xiu Xiu, and Japanther (particularly the heady rollercoaster of piss and tape-hiss that is Dump The Body in Rikki Lake). These are eight rip-roaring, drag racing anthems mashed together with blood cakes and shards of bone. Secret Wars possesses a bit of that lyrical pretensions of The 90 Day Men’s Panda Park, but at the same time, sounds like the scarlet cloven soothsayeed of Abraxas. Nevertheless, this is a small complaint considering how well the strapping young psych-rockers of Oneida have come into their own sound. If you were on board with Butthole Surfers until "Pepper," look no further than Oneida.
The ace in the deck here is most definitely the triumphant rolling thunderclaps of the 14-minute finale "Changes in the City." Like "Mogwai Fear Satan," the great epic closer of Young Team, this number leaves you feeling so blown away that the cuts before it seem somehow insignificant. For Secret Wars, it's the secret weapon, laying waste to all god's creatures in its molten path. The repetition (definitely one of the group's calling cards) is basic, but then so is the one in "Mogwai Fear Satan." Where the mood of that one is the beauty of mass mutilation and death and the fields Fulkirk, "Changes in the City" zooms right in on the shredded muscle and shaved bones. It is Braveheart un-cut, capping off a truly potent pants-shitter of a noise record.
1. Treasure Plane
2. Caesar's Column
3. Capt. Bo Dignifies the Allegations with a Response
4. Wild Horses
5. $50 Tea
6. The Last Act, Every Time
7. The Winter Shaker
8. Changes in the City