OBLONG BOYS at Le Privilege
by Deejay O

The air was thick with scenesters at Le Privilege as
four bright colored Oblong Boys took to the stage,
dressed to the eights in oddball cardboard hats and
construction paper suits. As they began to emit the
machinic sproings, boings, blips and bloops that are
the trademark of the obscure "zolo" movement, the
initial effect was more wacky high-school novelty band
than arty futurism. Compared to today's bass-heavy
popular music, the utter orthagonality of their treble-y
high-frequency synths made the outfit even more
unconventional than usual, even to a sympathetic
audience. It wasn't electronic rock...and certainly
not pop...so what was it? More weirdo than Devo, more
spazz than new wave. Soundtrack to clown school for
insects. By way of association, I remembered a
commercial from the distant past with robotic
fast-food employees warbling "Chickenburger round,
fishburger square" over and over. Does that help?

After 10 or so very white minutes, bass notes
that anchored the songs came through the oscillators
and the four zoloids hit their stride: skronky sax,
arty violin and zippy no-wave/disco beats. A
too-close-to-retro sensibility (for my tastes) was
nicely subverted by unironic energetic creativity.
Eyeballs grew big as cartoons and the singing got ever
more frenetic, but about what? Sasquatch,
apparently.

Towards the end of the set the non-linear
bug-out energies were getting intense, and there was
no guarantee that if you let this music take over your
life you might not be at home later pouring milk onto
your alarm clock and brushing your teeth with mustard
(and never be tempted to call the Red Hot Chili
Peppers "alternative" again!) When they blipped over
to a cover of the Munster's theme song, it sounded
like analog androids studying hot-rod music. Time to
go, back to reality, where there is much more concrete
than neon.