Grapthar's Song of the Day: Oingo Boingo 'Imposter'
Oingo Boingo - Imposter
Oingo Boingo is a band
that I was SO into for a few years, and just recently got back into. I forgot just how incredibly original they were, and since I was listening to this album in the car today, I figured this would be a great song of the day! Oingo Boingo was the creation of Richard Elfman, brother of Danny Elfman, the famous Tim Burton composerin the early '70s, although they were more of a performance art sort of group. When Danny took over, after a few years, they had completely transitioned into being a rock band, and this album, Only a Lad was their debut full length. It's strange and dark, but still upbeat, using really complex rhythmic structures and odd instrumentation to make for a really creative album. While they were always called a "New Wave" band, they were MUCH more experimental than other bands in that genre.
Listen to Imposter by Oingo Boingo here.
This song is the 2nd to last
track on the album, and is a really interesting tune. The rhythm is awesome, utilizing some odd meters mixed in with a straight 4, which gives it a jumpy, off kilter sort of feeling, especially with vocals on top of it. The general timbre of the instruments is also interesting, we have some super gainy, '80s hair metal sort of lead tones, but then there is the palm-muted sort of gritty tone, which mixed with the synths and the bass just sounds so cool. The vocals are equally weird, using a strange annunciation to his words, and sounding rather crazed at points.
I hope you enjoy the song, and thanks for checking out my blog!!
||| EP 1 - Bandcamp | EP 2 - Bandcamp | EP 3 - Bandcamp |||
||| EP 4 - Bandcamp | EP 5 - Bandcamp | EP 6- Bandcamp |||
Danny Elfman's music for the movies has been really particularly good stuff. They always inspire me when I see those films.
I haven't been exposed to much Oingo Boingo, but I do like Devo, and I hear a similarity. They also have guitars and synth, and quirky time signatures and vocals. Thanks for sharing this!
They're definitely kind of DEVO-esque for sure. Less digital/future-weirdo music? If that makes sense? Definitely sort of similar though. Check out the Oingo Boingo song Nasty Habits. It's very reminiscent of the Simpsons theme song, which Danny Elfman wrote years later.