Oneida turns noise into an 'Anthem'

I heard them for the first time last October—in the Morse dining hall, of all places. Local screamo trio Jerome's Dream had roused me from my perpetual sleep-deprived haze with a 10-minute set of abrasive noise, and I was ready for some action. Oneida didn't disappoint. Keyboardist Hanoi Jane pumped out Ray-Manzarek-on-crack organ riffs on a pair of the trashiest vintage keyboards I've ever seen; vocalist/guitarist Papa Crazy let loose blasts of trebly, squealing feedback while shouting like crazy; bassist Fat Bobby held down a propulsive low end; and impressively bearded drummer Kid Millions beat his set to pieces in classic John Bonham style. I spent a thrilling half-hour banging my head and shaking my ass as the Oneida boys did their thing; then I went back to my dorm room to write a paper.

I didn't leave empty-handed, of course. The moment the set ended, I headed over to the merchandise table to score a copy of Enemy Hogs, the band's second album; before sitting down to write my paper, I tossed it into my stereo. At first I was disappointed. Enemy Hogs had some decent songs, but its drifting bad-trip jams didn't measure up to the concise pummeling I'd just been given. Eventually, as memories of their live show began to fade, I learned to appreciate the album on its own merits—the 10-minute drone epic "Whitey Fortress" can be pretty hypnotic under the right circumstances—but it couldn't substitute for the real thing.

A few months later, the band released the enticingly titled Come On Everybody Let's Rock. The guitar-heavy album was entertainingly over the top but lacked memorable songs. Without their signature keyboard hooks, Oneida sounded disappointingly like just another noisy indie band—although a mesmerizing NYC show in February confirmed that their live sound hadn't changed.

So is Anthem Of The Moon—the band's fourth full-length album, and their second in less than a year—the Oneida record I've been waiting for? "New Head," the concussive 90-second piece that opens the album, suggests that it might be."All Arounder," which follows, is a prime piece of rock attack driven by an insistent keyboard loop. The album slows down quickly, however, and we're back in the land of cracked garage pop and bad vibes, a new millennium nightmare take on the classic rock canon.

"Geometry" and "Rose And Licorice" filter the sound of forgotten Nuggets heroes—think "Talk Talk" or "Incense & Peppermints"—through clouds of ominous distortion; "Almagest," a dark, clattering psychedelic drone, cracks laid back Pink Floyd into a threatening haze. The eight-minute conclusion, "Double Lock Your Mind," even begins with a minute-long Eddie Van Halen impression before breaking into a high-velocity garage rock epic.

It's not the live show, but it'll do. Taken on its own merits, Anthem Of The Moon is a great record. Oneida are unique musicians, sincere in their affection for the past yet forward-thinking enough to avoid nostalgia or inanity—or if that's too deep for you, just consider them Deep Purple with less cocaine and fewer groupies. I still think they have it in them to capture the intensity of their live sound on record—the five-track Steel Rod EP was a successful push in that direction—but for now, I'm content with Anthem Of The Moon. (Jagjagwar)

—Nick Webb

Back to A&E...