OHN "SONG OF THE WEEK" Parker
Home /About Us / What's NewCatalogue / Disc A Month 
Cut-Out Bin / Artist Submissions / Tremens / Letters / Mailing List / Links / Contact
Radio IndepenDisc  / podcasts & radio streams / Radio Archives

IndepenDisc Logo
"Select" Independent Music.
                                 since 1998.

The Equation
© 2008 oxcartmusic

Secure online ordering provided by:
CCNow Logo
1-877-CCNOW-77
Now accepting PayPal
Checkout
View Shopping Cart

Oxcart
The Equation

The 2009 IndepenDisc of the Year!

Total Time: 55:21
Cost: $9.98 +s/h*

Click to order
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal

Read Our Review

STYLE: Metal-Prog

HOME TOWN: Portland, OR

1. Inception
2. Equation
3. Wishes
4. Office
5. Gambler, Pt. 1
6. Gambler, Pt. 2
7. Gambler's Lament
8. Desert
9. Explosions
10. Genesis
11. Tetherball
12. Lesson
13. Commencement

E-MAIL Oxcart

Visit the Oxcart WEB SITE
 & MySpace page.
Issue #117B                                 Apr. '09

Prog Rock: Progressive Rock, it was born out of the psychedelic/acid rock of the late ‘60s and evolved through the early ‘70s as bands/artists abandoned the standard 3-minute pop, verse-chorus style songs in favor of pursuing music on a grander scale. With Prog Rock, the artists would allow the song to progress more in manners usually embraced by Classical compositions (rigid structures with charted purpose) and improvisational freeform Jazz, where the instruments were allowed breathing room in whatever direction they saw fit. Combining these elements with song lyrics based upon Fantasy, Science Fiction, Medieval, Mystical, Magical, etc. themes usually held together in conceptual form, Prog Rockers established the 10-minute opus as a means of escapism through music without the commercial aspects normally associated with rock. Though considered to be short lived – in less than 10 years, Punk and Disco ousted Prog as the genre du jour – and by 1977 Prog was all but declared dead, but not really. The late ‘70s and early ‘80s yielded Prog Rock bands more sales than ever before, but only after they had scaled their overblown, pretentious, self-absorbed, technical and studio excessiveness back enough to fit mainstream popular radio. The ensuing decades have seen their fair share of Prog Rock bands carrying the torch, but it is almost regulated to an underground type of genre. A genre where those who revel in it are almost afraid to revel too loudly. A guilty pleasure perhaps? Not here at IndepenDisc. We’ve declared April 2009 Prog Rock Month and we’re featuring two Prog Bands for your enjoyment – guilty pleasure or not.

Oxcart
is a MetalProg band from Portland, OR. and Sky Picnic is a PsychProg band out of Queens, NY (We reviewed Sky Picnic last week 04-01-09, this week 04-08-09 we review Oxcart).

Welcome back my friends…

Oxcart, from the burgeoning music scene of Portland, OR gives us a Classic Prog release with The Equation – “A tale of tragic loss and questionable redemption.” This concept album works on every level of Prog brought forth through the years in such a precise manner that the only way to listen to it is as a whole. The quartet of: Alex Feletar “The Gambler” (drums, choir), Matt Jones “The Businessman” (keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar, vocals, choir), Ben Carey “The Politician” (bass, vocals, choir) and Jason Baker “The Religious Zealot” (guitar, vocals, choir) have crafted a Modern day Prog Rock Opera that has us name checking every pertinent band/album from Prog’s glory years stirred with the Hammer of the Gods metal influences of the ages. In no particular order we hear/find/feel, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Iron Butterfly, Genesis, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, Alan Parsons Project, The Decemberists, Marilyn Manson, The Who, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Yngwie Malmsteen and others that slip in and out so effortlessly.

Set in what comes across as 4 acts, the story leaves a lot to the listeners lyrical interpretation (a lyrical synopsis is printed in the liner notes, allowing a certain fraction of insight to the story), but as in true prog fashion, it is the music that gets the points across. As with any Classic Prog Album, if you can use the lyrics/tale as a secondary plot to the music, then the band has accomplished what they set out to do, and here, with The Equation, Oxcart has nailed it to the cross for all to hear. Bravo!

Inception, introduces the story with a sound bite (possibly JFK?), explaining that with the development of the atom bomb, man has created the power of self-extinction. Inception continues with swirling synths underlining the tale of a lost soul searching for a better way, a better day, but to no avail. The Genesis style build sucks us into the tale - more sound bites – then, a theme statement “The world’s so full of fucked up people / I can’t tell whose good or evil.” Equation then launches us into full-blown Metal, as we’re chunka-chunka-ing down. Driving drums force the pace as the heavy chord slamming has all the glory of the afore-mentioned Metal Gods. Wishes comes out of left field, a bit funky but quickly morphs into a driving metal attack complete with a major, serious guitar solo and intense falsetto vocals that drive the action. Amazingly, the piano is introduced to clear out and end the song, which then bounces our wishes for a better life into Office. With the sax a wailin’ and the piano hesitantly pounding out a funky, smokey beat (wait a minute – weren’t these guys just Heavy Metal bastards? Now they’re tossing sophisticated Pink Floyd studio prog at us? Coooooool.), which evolves to the ending with another Metal assault.

Everything is so confusing / Everything is so amusing / All your words have left me shaken / Wondering if I’m mistaken

Act 2 is The Gambler Trilogy; Gambler, Pt. 1, Gambler, Pt. 2, and Gambler’s Lament, all show our (anti)Hero taking a gamble with his life. Pt. 1 starts in true Sabbath form - we’re pushed to the edge right from the start. A good old-fashioned song of rage from the genre that created it. Pt. 2 suddenly re-introduces the Alan Parsons style synths. Very slick production and layering, very ultra-modern psychedelic. Punching drums and vocal F/X continue the story as everything is lost. Very tight, Oxcart produces power even when they’re laying low, setting you up for the kill – “Give my father back his money NOW!!!!!!! Trippy piano runs and fuzz chords come in to lead the ensuing jam session. Reverb heavy piano chords guide us into Gambler’s Lament – “I have nothing else left” replete with excellent choir vocals evoking Pink Floyds The Great Gig In The Sky. Short wave bursts ends the trilogy (and Side A) on a down note.

We start Side B with the epic Desert. Again evoking Floyd – Welcome To The Machine – This monster drum and guitar build accentuates the mantra of “Start a new life” with the knowledge of how hard it is - that heavy weights need to be lifted - and it just might not happen. An Angelic choir feeds the desperation into an ominous lumbering beast that the Gilmour-esque lead soars through (Classic Prog at it’s finest). Explosions begins with a sound bite of a ranking German officer (or is this actually Hitler?) seemingly announcing the bombing of Berlin. The chatter of fighter pilots on a bombing raid confirms. This Led Zep Physical Graffiti inspired Metal classic is all summed up with an Iron Maiden vocal “I don’t wanna try / To fall in love again / Think I might explode.” The song Genesis then gets heavy Dark Side Of The Moon piano on us as we slide out of this self recovery. Nicely placed.

The final act moves us into self defeatist territory and strays a bit south with Tetherball, but not without underlying purpose, this is, after all, a concept album and if it were all laid out plainly why would we continue to listen and listen and listen to it again and again and again? Lesson attempts to explain what our protagonist has learns through all this, but the synth driven metal storm tells us otherwise. Roger Waters always had the knack for bringing the story into the mind of the subject, here Oxcart dives deep into that mind, this story really doesn’t have a happy ending. We know it, we hear it, we feel it and we are swept right into Commencement (the song segues throughout the album match the moods and needs of all the compositions). In what I can only describe as surreal (is this the same band?), this weird, delicate, definite cool down of angelic choir over Marvin Gaye does Detroit, wraps up one of the best Modern Metal Prog Rocks albums of this era. The Equation has been written…

Oxcart,
Welcome back my friends…

The Equation by Oxcart
Now available for: $9.98 +s/h*

 Click to order    View Shopping Cart  /  Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal

*Shipping & Handling charges:
USA - $3.00 for the first 2 CDs ordered,
                     Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the first CD ordered,
                          Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00 for the first CD ordered,
                                        Add $3.00 per each CD after.

OHN Go To Top Parker

Home /About Us / What's NewCatalogue / Disc A Month
Cut-Out Bin / Sounds / Tremens / Artist Submissions / Letters / Mailing List / Links / Contact
Radio IndepenDisc  / podcasts & radio streams / Radio Archives

gmv. contact: webmaster@independisc.com
Copyright © 1998-2009 IndepenDisc LLC. All rights reserved.
Last Revised: Jan. 05, 2010