wOg - wOg:we are wOg (Album)
The race riots in Sydney affected a lot of people within that city and the world, it polarized a nation, some began to speak out against it, others for it, other wrote books; Robbie and Ray(Hard-ons) started a band called wOg.
They describe themselves as avant-guarde for the masses (not to be confused with avant-guarde for bogans). Both Robbie and Ray are experienced musicians and know how to belt out catchy yet extreme tunes. This record is short, fast and loud, clocking in at about 15 minutes.
The tracks are rampant and vocals are rough, using a language yet to be mastered by them. Some would say it is a response to the ignorant masses only accepting English as the only language and ignoring their heritage. Ray might say that he was high, both are good answers. The vocal style fits well with the tracks, reminding me much of a Pixies type high pitched rampant alternative unknown language feel. By using only drum and bass these tracks are very bottom heavy, but are balanced well with the treble vocal and blurred recording style sounding almost live.
Every now and again you can hear the influences of their other bands such as Hard-ons and Nunchukka Superfly. But wOg should not be compared to such bands as they are in a league of their own. The jazz based drumming uses a lot of unconventional drum beats away from a typical rock drummer and towards some of their closer influences such as Mr Bungle and Fantomas. Dabbling in avant-guarde free jazz improvisation and high distortion and often the cowbell is even featured.
My favorite track of the whole CD is Track 6, 'Jewish Chicken Killers', it shows a really developed duo that know how to hold a simple yet very effective tune, with a lack of structure they shoot through this song with intensity that is often hard to compare. Closer to the end of the CD they remove a lot of the intense vocals and let their riffs speak for themselves, opening them up to another dimension of music.The beats and rhythms used are hard to get your head around at times, even when listening closely are very hard to follow, nothing is standard about this CD.
This CD is released through Chatterbox and is probably not the most accessible of their music boasting a lot of excellent musicians, but if you can wrap your head around extreme music then this CD wOg:we are wOg is right up there.
