O Voids is probably the 1st band outta Montreal I've heard this year. Their approach & sound seems pulled right outta 82-83 American post punk, not all that dissimilar to Mission Of Burma. I've no doubt there are certain masonic like devotees who believe that NO ONE could EVER deliver like MOB & that a mere comparison to Boston's most hallowed band of all time are the words of a heretic. Guilty as charged, bub. What can I say? O Voids remind me of Mission Of Burma & sometimes that's a good thing. Even on here.
June 7th, 2008 .. --> by Joe -->
O Voids -
Record On, Flying Pan // Emergency Broadcast System,
Lost and Found (Lost Space Records) 2008. Definitely one of the best new releases I have received here at the Last Days of Man on Earth World HQ. This 45, by the Montreal-based O Voids is LDoMoE approved. They seem to be channeling all kindsa cool shit on here. First of all, they are minimalists. The O Voids is a bass, drum and guitar combo and that is all. They also have no interest in verse/chorus song structures, which is good. None of the songs are over three minutes and two of them are under two. They are tuneful and hooky but not commercial. Approach wise, they are like the Urinals or 100 Flowers but they really don't sound much like those bands. I think they have an agenda but they aren't gonna let you know what it is. So listening to their music is like trying to solve a mystery. Except you keep getting distracted cuz its so damn hooky. So its like a minimalist musical mystery. Who are these guys? My search for clues leads me to their
myspace where they are described as '1 art school grad, 1 electrical engineer, 1 (other)'. Their influences check out but take a listen to these tunes before you look at them and see how many you can guess beforehand. I actually got quite a few. Finally, inquire about schwag at the myspace site. A+.
O Voids/Wicked Awesomes
split 7' EP
(Lost Space)
Wicked Awesomes get weird in a neat, mannered sorta way, kinda reminiscent of Sebadoh, back when all those 4-track tricks were more surprising than they are now. No midrange at all, it seems – guitars and vocals are arranged trebly, bass and synths are way down low, heavy with the drums. Hollow middle sounds ghostly (ghastly?) Has all the workings of a Blank Dogs or Dead Luke out on the teenline. O Voids come off rather punk on 'One Two,' but 'On Fire' settles into a darker style of UK postpunk, sort of in a Comsat Angels-style, and handles that level of emotional depth and boisterous, guarded choruses with the appropriate care. That song is great and I'll be remembering it for a while – that and both bands are Canadian, which is just crazy.
The Wicked Awesomes were mentioned the other day on
terminal boredom in the 'killed by myspace' thread and I went to check them out. The track Test Patterns is coming from a 60's garage/surf/rockabilly place, complete with heavy echo vocals turned way up, peaking out coming from both channels. It's reminding me of the Mummies.... that kind of band that blew me away. They existed in that in between time...building on previous sounds, bringing a weird contemporary feel to displace it. Anything that sounds like this also reminds me of my first intro to this sound...Deadbolt. Maybe this will take a few years after they broke up or evolved to be appreciated. But there's more than just reworking that The all treble reverb guitar is holding it all together creating the melody lines for everything to work behind. They're mashing a bunch of influences together here, velvet paintings, 80's video games, all under the guise of surf-horror-punk (?)....like their name suggests, this weird mess is classic...there's nothing like hearing a song about an 80 gig ipod sung in chorus in 50's surf rock fashion. Nothing like moving forward to the past...
'On Fire' by The O Voids brings us a little further into the present with a slowed down Husker Du sound...there's all the accessibility of somehow familiar melodies and great chorus with a removed slightly yelling vocal track a little off in the distance.
This will absolutely sound the best on vinyl and on a shitty one speaker, steel needle record player. It's a broken time machine.
Don't Hit Record!' Records out of my my favorite little touring spot, Memphis, TN, dropped off two EP's for me to peruse, one being the split 7' (take THAT, Mike Sniper!) squaring off my partners in crime from Chicago Daily Void with Montreal's newest dark and moody punk darlings The O-Voids.
Daily Void checks in with two tunes, including a reprise of their hit 'Devil's Gold Window' from earlier in the year. Having played shows, partied, and hung out with the DV boys ever since Horrible Fest #1 when they were still Functional Blackouts, I must say that this is not an act and these guys are one of the more unique combos going right now, and any chance I get to praise their work is more than welcome for me. The jerky robotic paranoid vibes you get here stem from a break from the Chicago 'cool kids' and an introspective look into a strange dystopian universe which I hope never comes, but I am always happy to hear songs about.
This happened to be the O-Voids first vinyl appearance at the time, and they did not disappoint. Apparently all the PCP and gorgeous girls in Montreal didn't stop them from keeping their songs moody and dissonant, worming the dubious 'noir punk' tag from some press releases and reviewers. Philip Marlowe this ain't, but it sounds just right to me with bleak tinges of Warsaw and I think it would make a more than suitable companion for lonely beers and window-staring or a drive in the rain to somewhere you don't want to go. There's a stripped-down post-punk clatter that works well with some heavy reverb on the vocals, but not too much to garner a chorus or render it unlistenable like some of their contemporaries who are much too busy checking Pitchfork for their names to bother with making memorable songs. Great first effort. 'Remote Control' would be the hit to me, and if these characters make it down here, this is a band I could see sharing a bill with Kim Phuc, who share a similar vibe.
DAILY VOID, THE / 0 VOIDS, THE:
Split: 7"
Wow! This is a really good split record. The Daily Void are art damaged
post punk with minimal rhythms, creaking and distorted guitars, and a
bass that moves it all forward. The vocals have an effect on
them—something I usually detest—but here it works. “D.G.W. #2” is the
song of this side, while “Untitled #1” is the disjointed instrumental.
The Daily Void reside in a world somewhere between Metal Urbain and
Chrome. 0 Voids are slightly more traditional post punk. The songs have
a dark side and are catchy at the same time. I really like the guitar
tone these guys have. Totally pulls you in and creates the mood. A
little melancholy and gray. “Scratch Test” is short and quick, while
“Remote Control” is a bit longer. Hope to hear more from both these
bands. –Matt Average (DHRR)
www.razorcake.org
'Canadian Post Punk meets Art Punk in the style of A-FRAMES'
PTrash
Duo d’abord fondé par deux gradués de la Concordia Art School en 2003, The O Voids devient en 2005
un trio, alors Nick, batteur, et Peter, bassiste et chanteur, accueillent en leur sein l’ingénieur électrique
et surtout guitariste et chanteur Christian. Bien que versant dans d’autres mediums artistiques, Peter
(il est peintre) ne considère pas le rock’n’roll, ou la musique populaire plus largement, comme un art
mineur. The O Voids devient ainsi le prétexte parfait pour collaborer avec d’autres artistes, par exemple
en ce qui a trait à la conception des pochettes de ses disques (vinyles, of course) ou au choix des groupes
avec qui il partagera un split. La seule condition présidant à la sélection de ces groupes est le partage de
sensibilités semblables, sensibilités qui les amèneront à lancer des split 7” avec les Daily Void de Chicago
en février prochain, avec les Wicked Awesomes! d’Edmonton en mars prochain et avec les Schizophrenic
Housewives d’Espagne cet été. Après cette série de lancements, The O Voids devrait s’investir dans
la création d’un album complet dont la parution est prévue pour cet automne. Le groupe ferait une
première concession au cd avec cet effort, bien qu’il serait également disponible sur vinyle. Décrivant le
son d’O Voids comme du punk non conventionnel (unconventional punk) et se réclamant de l’héritage
des Joy Division et The Fall, le trio se produira bientôt avec Cheveu, influente formation française
d’après Peter, et avec les plus tonitruants montréalais de Starvin Hungry. On promet des performances
puissantes et mélodiques. (Dominic Tardif)
Bang Bang Mort Magazine
Canada is usually not a dissapointment when it comes to music and these guys don't dissapoint me. Wicked Awesomes plays a careful type of 60's inspired garagerock with a little bit of surfrock feeling. There is a shyness and a sneaky playfulness in the songs and the second song, "Fighting the wolf spirit", is nothing short of a masterpieces. Whoooo
The other side houses the well known band O voids, who with a sleepy and confident voice, hit straight home. Both songs the band has to offer are similar. They sound like the band just woke up and it makes you wonder if you have the right setting on the turntable. Even the driving, shouting singing style sounds tired when it is only heard in hold. Listen to both "On fire" and "One two", but be aware of the risk that you will love it unconditionally.
http://www.lukinzine.se/I'm not going to say that Montreal's O Voids sound a huge amount like
The Urinals or Flipper, but there's a certain similarity to the
aesthetic impulse of those two combos in their yowly punk blurt.
They've garnered some art-punk comparisons to Wire and Mission of
Burma, and I immediately thought they should play with The
Suppositories if they ever come back through town
..
http://natcaprock.blogspot.com/2009/05/sphere-of-darkness.html
If The O Voids had been active 30 years ago they'd probably be on a
Messthetics compilation today. They have a sort of post-punk sound I
associate with dwindling British industrial towns and bands like Swell
Maps or very early Wire (back when Howard Devoto was a member).
Brief
yet tasty. I bought their LP on Troubleman Unlimited and may actually
find the time to listen to it this weekend (I've been busy, eh?)
..
http://natcaprock.blogspot.com/2009/05/sphere-of-darkness.htmlV/A Daily Void/The O-Voids split 7”
If you haven’t heard Daily Void, they realize in sound the act of
working in a pencil factory under the guise of sadistic overseers and
it sounds sort of like the A-Frames possessed by the spirit of hokey
macabre displayed on Rudimentary Peni’s “Cacophony” album. Weird
herky-jerk mechanical boogie a la Crass type punk that people can dance
to like robots maybe? Good live band. I think their first offering
“D.G.W. #2” is released elsewhere, but this sounds like a rougher,
slower demo version or something, documenting them working the kinks
out of the track perhaps. Second track – “Untitled #1” – is some brush
work displaying their sonic components of lazer sounds and cacophonous,
evil sounding guitar wienering and shit. The O Voids’ side is a bit
more conventional punk musics throwing brooding drives in with dynamic
post-punk stop-starts sliding into the realm of British discord. Daily
Void wins by a shnoz. (BG)
(“Don’t Hit Record!” Records // myspace.com/dhrrecords)