Oneida - The Wedding [Jagjaguar, 2005]

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First of all, it has been established that they are the nicest dudes in rock. Just want to get that out of the way.

So the album The Wedding has been leaked, and I've given the first third of it a cursory listen late last night. Initial reaction is mixed, but I really want to like it a lot.

The big obvious difference that sets this album apart from their others is the strings. "The Eiger" reminded me of one of those cheesy symphonic cover version albums. "Lavender" reminds me of what I like them doing the most; big repetitive drums and weird, LOUD drones and staccato keyboards that peel the paint off the wall and make you tilt your head like a dog. Extra points for singing about pubic hair. "High Life" was tiny, poppy, stoned. Ween-esque, even. "Spirits" sounded tinkly and sped-up like "The Last Act, Every Time" off Secret Wars. But besides that brief look back it really seems that Oneida is mutating before our very ears. What they are becoming, I cannot say.

Opinions?

― ath, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Actually, I take back what I said about "High Life." That was a mistake. I only thought it was because I was remembering the line "the night you let me piss in Prospect Park / I will never tell a soul / that you finished my last bowl."

Anyway, it doesn't sound like Ween. Sorry.

― ath, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

very nice album, indeed

― Aerodynamic (Aerodynamic), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

I like this album a lot- Eiger, Charlemagne, and Know all have those thick, fantastic strings. On Charlemagne and Run Through My Hair especially, you can hear the musicbox-ish element that they were talking about on Jagjaguwar (apparently the band built the largest music box on the East coast).

― Kevin H (Kevin H), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

I was kind of excited about the Ween thing!

― Waking Up Onstage at Jumbo's (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

It's really good, but I don't hear anything that justifies the amount of time it took to make.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

Who do they have to justify it to? WTF?

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

You should bill them for the extra time you think they took.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

I'm just saying it doesn't sound like an album that should've taken a few years to make. That's all.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Consider me PUMPED UP!

Secret Wars was one of my favs of last year.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

It's really good, but I don't hear anything that justifies the amount of time it took to make.

They had an album out about a year ago. Am I missing something here?

― DJ Mencap0))), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 22:04 (twenty years ago)

They've been working on this one for the last four years, releasing other things in the meantime.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

The EP they just did on Ace Fu has the most inscrutible name imaginable.

Nice./Splittin' Peaches

That's "Nice," period, slash, "Splittin," apostrophe, "Peaches."

Caveat Fact-Checker.

― Christopher R. Weingarten (whineyg), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

I already love the two tracks that are on the Jagjaguar website.

― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

This could be my sleeper album of the year. High Life is a pop hit!

― Sam Hunt (robosam), Thursday, 12 May 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

Hmmm, I've given this a cursory listen and it's very nice. I still think Each One Teach One is their best though.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 12 May 2005 10:41 (twenty years ago)

We went to see them playing last night in a rather improbable venue among the mountains of Northern Italy. It was cold and rainy, but grappa and prosecco kept things pleasant.
They started with a blasting, take-no-prisoners, 20-min long jam and after that they proceeded dismantling the audience with a total aural assault. What a great concert.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:26 (twenty years ago)

I listened to this album and was very, very disappointed. Not what I hoped it was (goshdarn reviews leading me astray).

― Sean M (Sean M), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

hold off on yr dissin' of them boyz!

while i'll be the first to say 'the wedding' isn't the BEST oneida album, i think you have to take into account what it isn't- the same as the last one or even the same as any of they're other albums. i like the sounds on it, i don't however think they've broken any extraordinary new ground. though, the strings really do sound nice...

but, to come off slaggin, well, that's just silly! do people really want EOTO=part 2? or Secret Wars=Part 2? i don't. i just want the boys to do what they wanna do, and i'll see if i like it or not.

― eedd, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

This is my favourite album right now. At the moment I think it's better than E1T1 or Secret Wars. The songs are definitely more conventional in structure but their songwriting, singing, and production seem more accomplished. I was knocked out that they actually attempt and pull off the vocal harmonies on the album. Kind of like bizarro-world classic rock anthems with dissonant droney guitars under them. ("Antibiotics" might still be my favourite individual track by them though.)

It's a great album for driving. The songs and guitar sounds are quite diverse. What 70s hard rock band does "Did I Die" remind me of?

― Sundar (sundar), Sunday, 14 August 2005 03:45 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

This is really fucking good. I only wish the singing were a little better -- sounds like they couldn't be bothered to take a breath before putting their mouths to the mics.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 24 December 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

It's pretty damn good, and I wonder if in hindsight it will be a "transitional" album, but one of those transitional albums that's better than either of the two styles that the band is transitioning between.

― n/a (Nick A.), Saturday, 24 December 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

if i were the type of person to make best of lists, this would be on it. definitely one of their strongest albums, and certainly their most consistant.

― lauren (laurenp), Saturday, 24 December 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

High Life is sort of the stand-out "pop song" of the album for me -- the melody and lyrics are very central and I think they make it work pretty well, especially considering most of the album is such a swirling instrumental stew. I like the way they shift gears on "Did I Die" -- I'm also trying to place what band they sound like there. I think they manage to pull-off putting varied styles on an album very well -- sort of in the way that a mid-career Zeppelin album would do it (Zoso, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti).

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 24 December 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

Did I Die -- maybe it's a bit Sabbath?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Saturday, 24 December 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

What 70s hard rock band does "Did I Die" remind me of?
It's SOUNDGARDEN! Kid's vocals are pure Chris Cornell.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Are there other oneida songs in a similar vein to "did i die" ????

― grapple (grapple), Sunday, 2 April 2006 10:57 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

most underrated oneida?

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 06:00 (fifteen years ago)

some of the singing's a little dodgy, mostly on side 1, but just a little, and everything else is fantastic. love the relative gentleness of the sound, especially given that they apparently never stopped destroying the world live. i'd put the nine-album stretch from come on everybody, let's rock through rated O up as one one of the most astounding things any rock band's accomplished in the last decade, and i'm starting to think this is a high point along that path. ashamed to say that it didn't hit me at the time, and i'm not sure why. too delicate for my three-fingered caveman hands, i suppose...

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 06:14 (fifteen years ago)

fwiw, "did I die" always reminded me of "mississippi queen".

― original bgm, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 14:44 (fifteen years ago)

I really like this album, but parts of it make me feel, I dunno, kind of depressed for some reason? It's like stoner rock for the glum.

― What are you doing here? (dog latin), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 15:15 (fifteen years ago)

What 70s hard rock band does "Did I Die" remind me of?
It's SOUNDGARDEN! Kid's vocals are pure Chris Cornell.

― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 22:09 (4 years ago) Bookmark

OTM - I've been wondering who this reminds me of.

― What are you doing here? (dog latin), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 15:16 (fifteen years ago)

I think this album is significant in that it allowed Oneida to do whatever they wanted, or something.
Like, after this, Happy New Year (their least characteristic album imo) makes more sense.
I'm a big O head, this may not make sense.
I remember all the press taking their jokey statement (that they'd made the biggest music box in the world) seriously.
This is a BREAKTHROUGH performance.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

in that same press release: they had recorded an dub version of this album called "The Weeding."

― beta blog, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:01 (fifteen years ago)

^Seems like they have tons of material in the can, I wouldn't be surprised if they did, especially considering Kid's involvement in Jah Division.
I've always wanted to hear their soundtrack from the documentary film SPEEDO that wasn't used. I think they said it was like their Harmonia record, or something like that.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:07 (fifteen years ago)

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