The Ink on Bricolage

OHO--"Bricolage"

(Ohomusic OM057, CD+DVD)

Baltimore based OHO doesn't put out a lot of product, but when they do, they do it right.  Their latest offering is a combo CD+DVD covering material from a 24 year period, although most of it seems to be of more recent vintage.  The core band is David Reeve (drums, keyboards, vocals) and Jay Graboski (guitars, keyboards, vocals), joined by numerous auxiliary singers and instrumentalists--the exacting credits are enumerated along with the CD lyrics in a clever "special feature" of the DVD.  For the most part this is hip, jangly folk-pop with a somewhat proggy feel; the compositions are superb, succinct and highly melodic, consisting of song-length ideas worked into intriguing arrangements in a number of styles--energized, jubilant and brilliant in many different ways.  The vocalists have commanding and powerful voices; the instrumental arrangements employed are colorful and supportive, featuring violin, sax/flute, a horn section, acoustic/electric and steel guitars, keyboards, tin whistle, harmonica, mandolin, hammer dulcimer, backing harmony vocals, theremin and more.  Folky at the core, their sound rocks, clearly borne of modern vintage, fresh and vital, and not retro in any way.  The 13 main tracks (those new to Bricolage) are supplemented by 7 additional bonus cuts mostly pulled forward from their 1990 self-titled disc, 2003's UP, and The Oriency Anthology.  The DVD contains 12 songs--videos and live performances culled mostly from material on those earlier discs, though often with different arrangements.  In all, Bricolage is a superb entry point and comes highly recommended."

--Peter Thelen, editor (Expose')

Reminds me of the 60's and 70's. Not dated but very UPDATED. Happy people would like this music. Excellent pace. Great vocals. Violin/fiddle whatever!! Smokin'. Drummer is nonstop.

James David Squirewell

 

“OHO sounds like Jefferson Airplane landing on top of Genesis and then taking a time machine ride with Fairport Convention to play at H.G. Wells’ birthday party.”                                                                                                         -Jeff Lindhholm (Dirty Linen #106)

“A positively contagious, very pleasing sort of west-coast sound with jangly guitars mixed with celtic/folk elements, updated with modern production.   There are many gems here, the overtly psychedelic Dream Lifted Up being a standout.  Fans of finely crafted female-fronted pop will surely enjoy UP.”

                                                                                    –Peter Thelen (editor, Expose #29)

“A romantic, lushly harmonic collection having a wary, acid-folk edginess and unpredictable lyrics, one of the best things about the OHO recordings is how good they sound...every element in their intricate arrangements shines.”

                                                                        –Geoffrey Himes (The Washington Post)

“OHO’s music makes you want to exclaim the band’s very name!  This is intelligent power pop for the new millennium.  Truly innovative, their sound is ‘BIG,’ having elements of pop, folk, celtic, jazz and rock, all with an alternative twist.   Rhythms are alternately flowing and funky and are set beneath daring and creative melodies, excellent instrumentation and fantastic female vocalization, ideally suited for OHO’s tendency to employ minor chords.  Even with their sometimes spooky sound, the feeling is upbeat.  There are also sparkling guitars, grumbling bass and thoughtful lyrics.  UP is an excellent CD.  OHO!”                                                             -Les Reynolds (Indie-Music.com)

“UP is a brightly melodic collection of 19 impeccably played tracks sung by 5 supremely emotive female singers.  Man, this stuff is FUN!”   –John Collinge (editor, Progression)

“The men and women of OHO have been creating outstanding progressive rock in a career spanning 30 years, and while lineups may change, the musical quality and talent of the band remain the same.  With UP OHO proves again that it can still deliver the musical goods.”                                                                    -Greg Yost (Music Monthly)

“An imaginative exploration of affecting acoustic guitars, head-expanding lyricism blending with hi-tech bravado and a liberal dose of some of the brightest vocal harmonies your ears will ever absorb.  There is joy in nearly every groove.  UP is a fine testament to a band in which to clearly believe.”                                     -J. Doug Gill (Maryland Musician)   

Ink on Darkside Anthology

Frank K

Ink on “Vitamin OHO”

“Now--of all things—is OKINAWA’s follow-up.  ‘Vitamin OHO’ is more acceptably prog-complex than its forerunner, but it still has enough screw-loose guitar, Canterbury-odd lyricism and genial psychedelic whatsis to make it a piece of a sonic puzzle that’s slowly coming together. Cool!”                           –Forced Exposure,USA

“Resplendent with progressive flourishes, OHO maintains a surprising contemporary relevance. ‘Vitamin’ recalls Renaissance, Jethro Tull, Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, and Yes—the really cool stuff back when progressive rock seemed a natural extension of psychedelia.”                                                                           –Raging Smoulder #13, USA

“OHO arranges melodic motives effortlessly, utilizing their talents to lay out the music in a way that captures so many variations of expression and orchestration.  This is, after all, what made 70s prog so great.  Those familiar with the likes of Cathedral, Surprise, Lift or Mirthrandir will have a very good idea of what to expect here.  There’s enough mellotron, synths, and Frippian guitar work to satisfy the most discerning prog-rock fan.  With all the classic moves, it’s actually very good. Give it a shot!”                                                                                                        –Expose, US)

“The feverish dream of madmen/genii, OHO’s music maneuvers, folds and turns on itself exactly where it should...fascinating!”                                 -Music Connection, LA, USA

“A colorful collision between Henry Cow and Henry VIII, adventurous and futuristic jazz-flecked elemental chamber music fusing psychedelic and progressive moves into one fascinating whole. A near-perfect mastering job and enough liner notes to keep you amused through the boring bits, which consist mostly of the gaps between tracks.”                                                                                                         -Ptolemaic Terrascope, UK

“Intriguing and memorable, releasing this album now makes it sound more progressive than when originally recorded.  I mean, what is one to make of titles like ‘Hyphenate Ice-less’ and ‘Tinker’s Damn?’  ‘Vitamin’ recalls the days when albums were miniature cerebral universes you’d listen to late at night, when the only MTV was a black light, a hearty spleef and your imagination.  Every song is an epic of multiple time changes, classical allusions, mannered singing and obtuse pontification.”

                                                                                                                         –ROX, USA

“OHO are a highly competent progressive band with hints of King Crimson, Yes, Grobschnitt...a very un-American sound—and like contemporaries Happy the Man, they are inventive, with accents on complex structures, unusual time changes, dynamics and exceptional interplay among the musicians.  The music is so lively, hyperactive even, that it (Vitamin OHO) works really well as an album.”

                                                                                                            -Audion #22, UK

“An imaginative exploration of affecting acoustic guitars, head-expanding lyricism blending with hi-tech bravado, and a liberal dose of some of the brightest vocal harmonies your ears will ever absorb.  There is joy in nearly every groove.  Audition is a fine testament to a band in which to clearly believe.”                                                                                                –Music Monthly

“OHO’s music maneuvers, folds and turns on itself exactly where it should…fascinating!”

                                                                                                                           -Music Connection

“A romantic, post-acoustic, lushly harmonic collection, Audition has a wary, acid-folk edginess and often unpredictable lyrics.”                                                                           -Washington Post

Editors’ choice favorite selection.  “Melodic and thoughtful power pop on this Maryland quintet’s debut.”                                                                                                                 -CD Review

“Generating an irresistible urge to dance and sing, this album is a tight mesh of modern, melodic, crisp, groove rock with vocals that are clear, strong, and seamless, amazing guitar work, and songs that are contagious.  Watch out!”                                                          –University Reporter

“Imagine a modern Gentle Giant fused with Fleetwood Mac.”                     -Progression

“OHO have the measurable parameters of success with stellar, unwavering vocals, crystalline production of the material and J. P. Graboski’s award winning songs, which encompass elements of rock, pop, AC, and his own assiduous imagination.”                                                    -Rhythm

“OHO sneaks around the conventions that have mummified so many others.  For OHO the time is NOW!”                                                                       -J.D. Considine (famous music journalist)

The Ink on OHO’s OKINAWA 

“OKINAWA is astonishingly full of weirdness that falls somewhere in Syd Barret-era Floydland: some psychedelia, some art noise, some bizarre theatrics—but all around inventive and well-crafted.”   -Ira Robbins, The Trouser Press Record Guide, USA

“OKINAWA is a weird pastiche of post-Zappa logic and Christopher Milk-like Anglo worship. The music is a combo of home-prog, dada-confused psych, and pot-stroked weirdness.  It’s a great album!”                      -Byron, Forced Exposure      

                                                                #18, USA

“An album of immense proportions.  There is a plethora of great music here.

There are jams in the progressive vein that really get up there in high gear, loads of analog keys, horn sections and most of all, complete zaniness.  It’s an excellent album really, so fascinating and extreme.”        -Mike McLatchey, Expose, USA

“An hour of this and you’ll be ready to be carried away to the tangerine jungle of marshmallow madness.”                               -Greg Shaw, BOMP! USA

“OKINAWA is ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ for the advanced listener.  Recommended to all who can release themselves from common sound structures and lend their ears to fantastic, almost avant-garde, progressive, varied and inspired ‘70’s music.  Dare to enjoy and take part in it!  Put it down as the best achievement of ’95.  Honor those who deserve to be honored.  OHO get the gold!”            -Hanf!, Germany

“OKINAWA features, amongst other delights, a monumental ‘piece’ entitled ‘The Plague’ (after the Camus book).”                      -Ptolemaic Terrascope, UK

“Just when you think you’ve heard and seen it all, here comes OHO with a collection of bona-fide weirdness from 1974.  The band thrives on irreverence in an off-kilter style borrowing from the likes of Genesis, Gentle Giant, Zappa, the Allman Brothers and Jack Bruce (if you can imagine that).  Then it’s all tossed together in a willy-nilly, slap-dash fashion that melds the best of spontaneous garage-rock with a Grateful Dead we-don’t-know-where-we’re-going-next sensibility.  Of course, it’s all in good fun, it’s got to be.  Definitely, one of a kind.”

–John Collinge, Progression, USA

“Best 70’s group of all!”              -Rolf Niemeier, Bucketful of Brains #3, UK

 “More than a rock group, 70’s OHO were an intellectual and artistic concept that smothered in the provincialism of the North American Hinterland.  The musicianship: top class, the music: penetrating, overdosed, blasphemous, oversexed, and progressive with genuine poetry as a fundamental cell of their mellifluous melodies.”                                      -Little Wing Promo Copy, 1991