Spotlight On: Oxbow

Oxbow

In the grand lexicon of bands that you do not, under any circumstances, heckle, Oxbow probably ranks in the highest. Why? Maybe this picture will illuminate the answer:

Would you heckle that man? … I didn’t think so. But people do. Once. And then never again. This man is Eugene Robison. He is the vocalist of Oxbow. I use the term vocalist here, but really, “voice” might be a more accurate description. He doesn’t sing; he yowls, screams, grunts and scats, but in this case scatting probably sounds less like a Jazz interlude and more like a wildebeest having an epileptic fit. Listening to him makes you feel a little unstable and very uncomfortable. Couple that with Oxbow’s Noise Music explorations into realms both caustic and claustrophobic, and you’ve got something that sounds like The Jesus Lizard if they’d had a more eclectic springboard from which to jump.

Robinson even draws comparisons to David Yow, The Jesus Lizard’s caterwauling front man of legendary acclaim. But Yow was never this deranged and The Jesus Lizard’s music was always straight shooting enough for them to garner popularity beyond the cult level. Oxbow’s sound roots into the ground of Noise Rock but also incorporates influences of Metal, Post-Hardcore, Blues, Free Jazz and even Musique concrete. It’s an eclectic blend that has grown almost sophisticated over time, but Oxbow has an inherently scatological and frenzied nature that time and age will not tame.

I alluded earlier to the dangers of heckling Oxbow and especially Eugene Robinson, but I feel I should set the record straight. Some have inferred that Oxbow is merely a vehicle for the members of the quartet to assault their audience on a physical level. While Oxbow’s music is intended to (heavily) assault your eardrums, to assume that the band actually wishes you bodily harm isn’t true, according to Robinson himself. Will the band end the fight if someone starts one though? The answer is: without a doubt, yes. But to go into Oxbow’s music thinking that it’s just the soundtrack to your face being broken would cause you to miss the fact that the music is, you know, really good.

Another good comparison to make for Oxbow would be to imagine if Captain Beefheart had gone more rhythmic and Metal. But even that perhaps belies a kind of coherency that Oxbow’s music is in the business of rejecting. This is about as far from Pop music as you can get and still remain in the realm of structure. Oxbow’s music is very structured, but the Free Jazz influences add a level of looseness to the overall feeling that keeps things from getting too rigid. I should warn you though, if you’re a fan of verse/chorus/verse songs, you aren’t going to find any with Oxbow. What you will find is some of the strangest music you could possibly create with the bare minimum tools of Guitar, Bass, Drums and Voice.

So if you’re feeling daring and want to know where best to start with this band, check out their album The Narcotic Story which was released via Hydra Head in 2007. This is likely their easiest album to be initiated with and is certainly their most sophisticated. After that, work your way backwards through their discography. But do not fear if you’re listening to Oxbow and are scratching your head in bewilderment. Initially, I didn’t get Oxbow and it was a good two years between my first and second album of theirs and even then another month before I really felt like I got a grip on them. Even now I can’t fully claim to understand this band, but these days I don’t feel I have to, I just sit back and enjoy the pandemonium of sound. I hope you do too.

Recommended Listening:

An Evil Heat (2002, Neurot)

The Narcotic Story (2007, Hydra Head)

Tracklist:

01: “…The Stick”

02: “Time, Gentlemen, Time”

03: “A Winner Every Time”

04: “Stallkicker”

05: “Frankly Frank”