Boss Moxi’s aptly named “Oddball” is equal parts late 80s alt-rock, grungy art rock, gypsy jazz, and urban surf. Brayden Doig’s vocals are so eerily similar to Mike Patton’s lesser known acts like Mr. Bungle and Tomahawk, that the easy flow aesthetic and desert reverb make you think “what if Mike Patton and Nick Cave made an album with Christ Isaac on guitar?” That’s about as simple as any attempt to categorize this meander through dreamy saxophone tracks and fuzzed out bass lines could hope to be. In all cases “Oddball” is a singular experience, dragging song construction through the album as its one consistent thread. Honestly, you’ll miss track transitions easily, as rhythm refrains from previous songs will open new tracks without so much as a vocal cue. Tracks like #7 “Boribo” hearken back to their more stripped down gypsy stomp type numbers only now replete with synthesized guitar lines preempting fuzzed out background tones. This album is well constructed, evocative, and insanely well produced. It deserves a full uninterrupted listen. It’s the kind of album that conjures images of dark alley ways under the haze of your most recent strange encounter. For more on that, see track 10, “A Detail of Mystical Things to Come.”
As for your DJ use, stick with the recommended tracks and one’s immediately after. The rest are fairly fantastic but would be difficult to work into most sets without significant forethought. That said, this album has touches of David Lynch-esque undertones and horror-surf lines that beg to be integrated into your more exploratory romps.
Recommended If You Like: Gogol Bordello, A happier Mike Patton, Brian Eno making a punk album
Recommended Tracks: 3 (Moonlight Lime), 5 (Mark David Chapman), 9 (Ask Me to Dance)
Do Not Play: 8 (The Sentence), 11 (Nymphomaniac), 12 (Fuck The Man),
Written by Matthew Kay on 08/31/2015