Capsule Album Reviews: Haunting Oboe Music and Architektur

Haunting Oboe Music April/May/June

They clucked their tongues and said it couldn't be done, but Haunting Oboe Music is doing it. 2008 has these Austin indie-experimental stalwarts release an EP every single month of the damned year, but before you roll your eyes and dismiss them as overambitious twats, read this: they're knocking it out of the park. The production is fantastic, the ideas are as fresh as a tipsy Italian exchange student, and the songs - while maddeningly diverse - keep you guessing. In April, wonder at the capable layering of "The General", with it's acoustic fake-out, beneath too many vocals to list. Natch, "Stab You" is an acerbic rant with horns, an ambling Rhodes, dirty dialogue between two fuzzy guitars, and - god in heaven - a synth lead that bursts into the room like a drunken uncle. As May rolls around, things take a turn for the instrumental on the first four tracks, culminating in the Richard D. James acid freakout night terror of "While You're Running". Fortunately, a beautiful "Ghost" leads you back to your room before you jump off the balcony, with it's shoegazing vox lilting just above the floorboards. In June, check out the sprawling prog of "This Game Is On", it's the best track of four. The only issue we take with this entire endeavor is the use of so much paper and plastic. The good news is that what's been created is worth it, hippies.

[Haunting Oboe Music Myspace][Official]

Architektur Travelogue

If you're wondering what's going to be playing in the halls of the mothership when we're all forced to leave this planet due to inevitable Malthusian catastrophe - Wall-E style, mark our words - you're reading the right review. One can easily image deciding between food pod rations whilst tapping their anti-gravity space-shoes to the retro organs and disembodied voiceovers of "Urbahn (Underground)" as it wafts from the consumption depot speakers. Stroll down the promenade and gaze out into the depths of space as the eerie 1920s big band drowns in molten reverb before the leering percussion tears you away in "Misinformation." Finally, contemplate the ignominious fate of mankind at 3 a.m. some distant morning on your beige bunk in sector 4B, doomed to hurtle through the cosmos to the innocuous jazz pastiche and swirling detritus of closing track "Mantra." In short, this is an album to scare the pants off sci-fi enthusiasts, so pick up your favorite dystopian nightmare and shove these crazy jams in your ear.

[Architektur Myspace][Official]