Austin Sound

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Artist: Haunting Oboe Music
Label: None
Genre: Experimental

If there is one act in town that’s going all out this year then it certainly has to be Haunting Oboe Music. They struck last month with the first effort in their EP-a-month quest for 2008, and despite a time crunch they have one now for February.

You’d think the HOboes would be busy enough writing and recording their monthly EP’s, but local website SwitchBurn caught their live set at the Parlor last week. SwitchBurn records Austin music “from a unique, panoramic, multi-camera perspective,” as they put it. The videos are like a more coherent form of that old Weezer video, and are best viewed, I’ve found, by staring at the center frame and taking in the peripheral shots (but don’t take my word for it). Check out “Slavery in Space” in all its panoramic glory here or in a much much smaller sized version below.

Last week, Haunting Oboe Music, who we had as our featured Sound Off artist way back in 2006, launched the first in their series of monthly EPs for 2008, titled “h.” If “h” is any indication, we can expect an impressive slew of music from the local sextet, and perhaps even an eventual “a-u-n-t-i-n-g-o-b-o-e”? HOM has always been progressive in the breadth of their sound, an ominous sweep that careens freely threw dark recesses, and the five songs on “h” display an impressively expansive flair and new directions shot off from their eponymous debut EP last year. Instrumental opener, “Behold, a Gremlin” winds through ferocious crests and troughs into the Radiohead-esque “Mano the Boy Soldier,” which the group has offered for download below. We’re going to be checking in with HOM each month as they work through the 12 EPs, seeing how the project is going and impacting the band throughout the year. They shot us back some typically hilarious replies to our email inquiries below, and you can catch HOM this Friday at Emo’s for the release of January’s EP alongside Ume, Camp X-Ray, and Prayer for Animals.

Haunting Oboe Music released today what would appear to be the first in a onslaught of EP’s this year. The band, taking ‘prolific’ to heart, had recently pledged a daunting “1 EP per Month in 2008.” It would seem the time has come to deliver (according to my calculator, they’re approximately 8.3% there). We’ll check in next month, but for now you can pick up this month’s EP at

Once more 2007 is shaping up to bring an impressive crop debut EP’s. Already this year has delivered Virgin of the Birds stellar Mixed Choir, the re-issue of Zookeeper’s debut, and White Demin’s chaotic assault upon the scene with Let’s Talk About It, to name but a few. Add these three newcomers into the mix as well, a full spectrum of excellent first offerings with the Dark Water Hymnal and former Sound Off featured band Haunting Oboe Music’s self-titled EP’s and Built By Snow’s Noise.

Our featured show of the week is an amazingly tight and complimenting lineup put together by the Mohawk. Haunting Oboe Music, our Sound Off artist of the week, will be dropping dark and heavy guitar rhythms coupled with awesome synth riffs and horn blasts that might be the only thing more unsettling than the erupting screams on the microphone.

Horse + Donkey manage to make the lineup for the second straight week, having been featured last week with Baby Robots. Now they will adding their cacophony, even more haungting than HOM’s, to a lineup fit for Halloween weekend.

Bello Ragazzo is one of the more interesting groups in town. As part of Jorge Balarezo’s Blue Noise Music project, it may be considered the musical outlet of the artist’s endeavors. Bello Ragazzo most closely follows the lines of instrumental electronic rock similar to the Album Leaf or Tristeza, but will undoubtedly be churning out some more sadistic fare considering the eerily inspired roster.

What better band to get us ready for Halloween than Haunting Oboe Music. We’re not sure exactly how the oboe fits into the picture, but we’ll certainly give them haunting. A song like “Hawkins” (on their Myspace) with its alternating whispers and screams can get downright nightmarish as it contorts a mellow Explosions in the Sky vibe into schizo-emo frequencies. But the group is at their best when their exploding heavy At the Drive In guitars with some synth-grooves and blaring horns thrown in for an added cacophony. HOM will be tearing down the Mohawk this Friday along with Horse + Donkey and Bello Ragazzo.

Haunting Oboe Music