Remember the Night Parties

Oxford Collapse

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: October 10, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B000HT38RG
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,085 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hectic without being fast, Oxford Collapse's third album further enshrines the Brooklyn band's ramshackle ethos, favoring tweaked time signatures and jangly guitars over anything intentionally linear. Witness the crumbling percussion midway in "Return of / Burno," how it pulls the floor from the song, sending Michael Pace's guitar and Adam Rizer's bass into a call-and-response of feedback and melody restatements while the drums gradually rebuild the tune. It's a heart thing, Dan Fetherston's drums: they pump the blood on these 11 songs evenly and then with an arrhythmia, as if Pavement found their way to Brooklyn via Athens, Georgia. That's a stellar route, by the way, to a fine album. --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description

Taking cues from post-punk pioneers and genre-transcending bands like The Embarrassment, Mission Of Burma, or fIREHOSE, Oxford Collapse construct melodic art-pop packed full of chiming guitars and shout-along vocals. This CD is both restless/nervous and heartfelt, with time signatures that are as urgent as they are unpredictable. This is their Sub Pop debut after releasing two full-lengths and a handful of singles and EPs.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A transitional album?, January 25, 2007

By	John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Oxford Collapse's SubPop debut, and their third full-length CD, continues the frenetic, jittery delivery of their earlier records. It is not as drastic a departure from their previous work as blurbs assert. The first song shows the trio's able-- finally-- to quiet down and wander down calmer paths for rewarding beauty. But, most of these tunes continue in the college radio style of the 80s. I like Wire, The Fall, Mission of Burma, and The Minutemen. But I heard all of these bands when they appeared back then. The challenge for new bands influenced by old sounds is to reinterpret them and make them fresh. Oxford Collapse is getting there. Not there yet, but for the first time on record, the trio sounds as if they are applying more inventive studio touches and instrumental passages that seek to ground the band rather than chase their fragile, brittle sound as it leaps ahead of their grasp. It's fast music, and such a speed is best appreciated when you have a counter-force so you can measure the difference between velocity and steadiness. This tension is beginning to be explored on this album.

It's not as much of a departure from their earlier albums as the PR blurbs may proclaim. The style recalls for me the hyperactive jitters of The Feelies, XTC, and Volcano Suns as well as the bands mentioned above. The danger of this bouncy style is that it becomes, well, stylized quickly. Great in small lengths and brief songs, tiring and perhaps annoying over an album or two.

Oxford Collapse are moving in the right direction, aware of their ability to re-create and enjoy this stage of alt-rock, but they are also paying attention to production and arrangements that enrich the texture of their songs. This is needed to balance the higher-pitched vocals and frantic playing, and if the band wishes to leave its own distinctive mark on the music scene, this is an approach that should open up more daring records in their future on, I hope, SubPop. So, a transition towards originality?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, I really enjoyed this album, March 20, 2007

By	Henry Kleinschmidt "redsyrup" (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Tracks like 'please Visit Your National Parks' and 'Let's Vanish' are to me standout tracks the rest have their own merits but aren't as pleasing. I discovered this one on a SXSW artist mega sample and I'm so happy I did. Refreshing would be an understatement.