OOBERMAN "Carried Away"
A little something special for you today to make up for my exile in Wellfleet. I tend to gravitate to the underdog, the underrated. I'm a Cubs fan. No one I ever vote for, for president, ever wins. It's a sickness that one day I hope to conquer. One day I'll jump on bandwagons or ride a wave long enough to see the shore. Sigh.
Not today, though. When I think of Britpop bands that shoulda-coulda, I think of Ooberman. Their stock was very high when they signed to Independiente (UK label famous for Travis, etc.). Soon after, they released the quite fantastic, Magic Treehouse album. Timing, luck, due to whatever arbitrary events and despite the meteoric rise of their single "Blossoms Falling", the Oobs didn't sell many records. I attribute this to the soulful beauty and cosmic hippiness of their music. It's parts Beethoven, parts crunchy Ash-esque rock, boy/girl vocals, mini soundtracks to imaginary animated movies.
I released the Running Girl mini-album in the US (full disclosure) in 2001. Dan and Sophie even came over to play an unforgettable March Records' anniversary show at Brownie's in NYC. When they got home, they released, Hey Petrunko in the UK, no US release. It was a masterpiece, the kind of record you put on and you dream up a movie in your head. It was also a strange, perhaps difficult album, peppered with soaring orchestrated melodies, little instrumentals, intros and outros, people probably didn't get it. I did.
The band announced their break up in 2003. I can't say I was surprised, but I was definitely shocked. Recently though, they've had a change of heart. Maybe they've realized they could exist outside the whole music biz thing after all. Good for us. Below you'll find links for a new song from "Carried Away" as well as a track from "Hey Petrunko", "Running Girl", and their debut LP "The Magic Treehouse". I haven't seen any blog action on them, so spread the word if you are a believer.
THE BEAUTY OF YOUR SOUL (from Carried Away)
SUMMER NIGHTS IN JUNE (from Hey Petrunko)
RUNNING GIRL (Phantom 309 remix) (from Running Girl mini-album)
BLOSSOMS FALLING (from The Magic Treehouse)
4 comments:
My neighbor in Chicago LOVED this band and inctoduced me to their stuff. I really liked it and this brings it all back now. Thanks!
I was at that show. I think that might have been the first time I met you in person (as opposed to this whole Internet thingy). I meant to ask you how the new Ooberman was, and now I don't have to. thanks for the mp3s. they are uber (or Oober) great.
Heather
I discovered Ooberman in their live performance, opening for Blur 's 13 tour. It was 6 or 7 years ago, in Paris.
It was really cool, it was hard to find The Magic Treehouse in stores but i did find it.
It's cool they're back. Thanks for letting us know!!
You're right. I mean almost every word you wrote about Ooberman is right. I loved them right from the single "Shorley Walls", but thought that the "Running Girl"-LP was their masterpiece. Thank you for putting them on the agenda again. They deserve to be noticed at last.
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