After five years of silence from OK Go, they finally release a creative, trippy album, Of The Blue Colour of the Sky . OK Go is best known for their hit single, released in 2006, “Here It Goes Again.” Rather than being the same dance, pop-punk as Oh No was, this album is more artistic and combines multiple genres of music emphasizing synthesizers to create magical beats. Through this album, it’s clear that Prince’s vocals, along with other musicians’ styles, were influences. Needless to say, there wasn’t one specific style or idea for this album.
Starting off with a song titled, WTF?, which was released as their first single from the album last November, the album starts off kind of grungy and loud. Damian Kulash Jr., lead vocals, softens the grunge with his high-pitched singing (not to mention the cowbells). Lyrically, it’s a song that pretty much is asking the question in the title. “WTF is happening? Whatcha do with my head?” Towards the very end of the song, we finally are reintroduced to Kulash’s “Here It Goes Again” voice.
Conan O’Brien accepted OK Go on The Tonight Show, January 8, to perform track 2 on the album, “This Too Shall Pass” with backup vocals from a gospel choir. The song provides distinct bass guitar from Tim Nordwind, and aggressive drumming from Dan Konopka. Yes, the gospel choir did add a motivational feel to emphasize the fact that hard times won’t last.
Eventually, the album loses its originality and OK Go ends up putting a creative spin on other artists’ music. Personally I find the majority of the songs enjoyable, but awfully closely related to MGMT, Daft Punk, Band of Horses, and Prince, all of which are bands I enjoy listening to.
The best track to move to, “White Knuckles” is a combination of Prince’s voice and Daft Punk’s electronic beats. Yes, an interesting combination, but no, not a bad thing. The beat is intense and enticing, while the voice is just as fitting. There are some Prince-like spastic screaming and some mind activating lyrics. “But couldn’t good be good enough, cause nothing ever doesn’t change but nothing changes much.”
The album slows tempo, and mellows the synthpop for “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” which was featured on the new 90210 series last year. Slower than the other songs, it still is a song that everyone can dance to, like most of the tracks on the album. Kulash has the same Prince-like voice until the next track.
“While You Were Asleep” seems creepy for the first 30 seconds, but as soon as Kulash comes in, the creepiness diminishes and it sounds like a beautiful, wind chime, lullaby. Halfway through, there is a drum roll to prepare for Konopka to pick the beat up. Although it was peaceful and meditating for two minutes, the creepiness picks up at the end to provide is with a dungeon, nightmare feel.
The title of the Album comes from a book by General A. J. Pleasonton, The Influence of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky. The album can be found on iTunes for $9.99, and in other stores now. If you want a CD that contains a little bit of everything, with a synthpop vibe to it, then here it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment