Like the vivid designs on a coral snake that warn you to be on your guard, you can’t say that Okinawa Plane Crash don’t signpost that you are entering a strange sonic realm. The band’s attire on the cover, the excessive use of BLOCK CAPITALS, the track names, the band name even – before you get anywhere near listening to them, they have clearly warned us that their’s is no ordinary sonic world. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here?” Well, that might be a bit unfair as it is to bands such as this that we should look to break the monotony of complacency and comfort zones that modern music has become.
No, you couldn’t accuse Wizards of the West Side of being boring. OPC forge their songs out of punk fury and hardcore intensity, toilet humour-infused lyrics, and off-kilter creativity, all elements, when taken individually, are nothing new, but, as always, it is how they bring them all together that is the real joy here.
“SHAQ ATTAQ” runs, like a lot of their music, on groovy bass lines and driving beat, though that four-sting fury-funk is often buried under riotous riffs and squalling sonics, and “THERE’S A QT DOWN ON 28TH” is a growling collision of pop-punk propulsion and intricate hard rock grooves…only ramped up to the max, times by ten, then taken apart and put back together in new, anagramatical ways.
“SQUIDWARD BITE TRUCK” sounds like Rage Against The Machine writing songs for children’s shows that will never get used for fear of scaring the mental development of such innocent viewers.
It is hard to put a band and an album like this into words, at least into words that will make you understand. I know that is my job, but sometimes mere language fails you. The best thing to do is give the album a spin and make your own mind up. We can start a support group and argue about everything later.
Spotify
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
