OKComputer1016
07/06/08, 01:54 PM
Pegasuses-XL - The Antiphon
Record Label: Ernest Jenning Records
Release Date: February 26, 2008
A supergroup of sorts, Pegasuses-XL features Mark Dale (Disband), Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark/Dark Meat), Joel Hatstat (Cinemechanica), and Jeff Rosenstock (Arrogant Sons of Bitches/Bomb the Music Industry!) doing their best to create music as different as possible from their original groups. With six bands in the mix, the listener can assume this album is going to either sound like some benefit hair metal gold or ... something incredibly weird.
Pegasuses-XL go for the latter with The Antiphon, their full-length debut for Ernest Jenning Records. White man rap, white man dance, and space-out electronics fill the album; it’s like this group of guys has set out to show the world just how uncool they could be, with really cool results. The old Beck formula still works.
Right off the bat, one piece of technological enhancement struck me in listening to this album, and I’m sure there are many who would share this sentiment: I can’t not cringe when I hear a vocoder. Even in the context of good songs, like how it shows up here (“Drugs For Change” and “Walking Life” utilize it heavily), it’s a little too Hellogoodbye-ish to pick up any credibility points. If that was a last-minute production move, it was a pretty terrible one.
A better, purposely-cheesy effect is the ridiculous-for-the-sake-of-being-ridiculous gameboy keyboards that Zelda-fy tracks like “Special Times With Sandwiches in Lumicolourland”. Horse The Band would be jealous of the heights of nerdism Pegasuses-XL have stumbled upon. I guess basing an album on irony is an artform as delicate as they come.
You could argue that the album moves all over the place a little too much, but it’s pretty cool to have some variety. If the disc were just a block of Sonic The Hedgehog music, that’s already been done and it was lame ("The Advantage"). Logically, a band as experimental as this one has got the right to move wherever they please, as long as they keep the output entertaining, which they do.
The obvious single on the album is “Marathon Mansion,” with its Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against The Machine) meets Adrock (Beastie Boys) verse rapping over Ben Kweller piano. But the group are at their best when they’re making you feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud/listening to Add N to [X] – specifically the awesomely titled “Atmospheric Skull,” which subtly samples everyone’s favorite annoying Simpsons moment: “DENTAL PLAN!” If you can fit that into your song, then I can fit you into my iTunes.
Really, this is the kind of music where you’ll have a hard time pinpointing why you like it, but no matter what you end up telling your friends, you’ll love it. Pegasuses-XL have proven it’s hip to be square, and by those rules this has got to be the hippest album of 2008.
Add N to [X], Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head, Moby
myspace.com/pegasuses (http://www.myspace.com/pegasuses)
Record Label: Ernest Jenning Records
Release Date: February 26, 2008
A supergroup of sorts, Pegasuses-XL features Mark Dale (Disband), Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark/Dark Meat), Joel Hatstat (Cinemechanica), and Jeff Rosenstock (Arrogant Sons of Bitches/Bomb the Music Industry!) doing their best to create music as different as possible from their original groups. With six bands in the mix, the listener can assume this album is going to either sound like some benefit hair metal gold or ... something incredibly weird.
Pegasuses-XL go for the latter with The Antiphon, their full-length debut for Ernest Jenning Records. White man rap, white man dance, and space-out electronics fill the album; it’s like this group of guys has set out to show the world just how uncool they could be, with really cool results. The old Beck formula still works.
Right off the bat, one piece of technological enhancement struck me in listening to this album, and I’m sure there are many who would share this sentiment: I can’t not cringe when I hear a vocoder. Even in the context of good songs, like how it shows up here (“Drugs For Change” and “Walking Life” utilize it heavily), it’s a little too Hellogoodbye-ish to pick up any credibility points. If that was a last-minute production move, it was a pretty terrible one.
A better, purposely-cheesy effect is the ridiculous-for-the-sake-of-being-ridiculous gameboy keyboards that Zelda-fy tracks like “Special Times With Sandwiches in Lumicolourland”. Horse The Band would be jealous of the heights of nerdism Pegasuses-XL have stumbled upon. I guess basing an album on irony is an artform as delicate as they come.
You could argue that the album moves all over the place a little too much, but it’s pretty cool to have some variety. If the disc were just a block of Sonic The Hedgehog music, that’s already been done and it was lame ("The Advantage"). Logically, a band as experimental as this one has got the right to move wherever they please, as long as they keep the output entertaining, which they do.
The obvious single on the album is “Marathon Mansion,” with its Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against The Machine) meets Adrock (Beastie Boys) verse rapping over Ben Kweller piano. But the group are at their best when they’re making you feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud/listening to Add N to [X] – specifically the awesomely titled “Atmospheric Skull,” which subtly samples everyone’s favorite annoying Simpsons moment: “DENTAL PLAN!” If you can fit that into your song, then I can fit you into my iTunes.
Really, this is the kind of music where you’ll have a hard time pinpointing why you like it, but no matter what you end up telling your friends, you’ll love it. Pegasuses-XL have proven it’s hip to be square, and by those rules this has got to be the hippest album of 2008.
Add N to [X], Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head, Moby
myspace.com/pegasuses (http://www.myspace.com/pegasuses)