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Newsletter No. 15: OXBOW A LA FLAMBE!!!
"His death was systematically manipulated in a way that transformed into an ascetic martyr a man who had literally been a pimp." - Robert Jay Lifton We're going to make this brief as right now our days and nights are jam-packed with all the important details of getting Planet OXBOW over to Europe complete with equipment, clean underwear, and a pharmacopia of "neck" medicine. What with all the concern regarding bearded men in dresses blowing up discos and whatnot, this is not as easy as it had once been and so it's requiring totally think-tank-like levels of genius just to figure out how to condense several bindles of heroin into an easily placed suppository that neither leaks nor breaks. So we're going to keep this brief. But butch. Especially as this might be the last letter you ever get from us. We're not being pessimists or anything BUT the likelihood, based on very reliable sources, is that we will, in the midst of demonstrating the defter points of our push-up techniques to their wives, be murdered by angry, knife-wielding husbands. It was nice to have shared this little bit of time with you and if one of you reading this in actual fact ends up being the one who stabs us to death, either singly or collectively, know that we did not die in vain but died because we were serving a higher love. |
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And on that NOTE:
THE DICK DIALOGUES PART ONE
Them: You don't have a super huge cock or anything do you? AFTER Pants Are Removed Them: Whew. Okay. No prob." PART TWO
You: Tell me about it. Consider: a cock or a canyon? PART THREE Him:
Dear OXBOW,
Why do you guys put up with all that sweaty psychotic staggering and dick whacking? If I was in a band with Eugene, I would insist that he keep his damn pants on. If people wanted to see some out of control purple anaconda whipping around like an untended firehose, they could go to the fucking zoo, for instance.
Love,
Steve
Us:
We'll alert Mr. Robinson to the dangers of trousersnakeritis and the deschanting effects of the traumobility of the wangle when danglerizing. It's important, we know.
Cheers,
OXBOW
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WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY YELLING?
MORE WORD ON THE LARGE SAC'D AND EIGHTH WONDER OF THE FUCKING MODERN WORLD:
OXBOW'S AN EVIL HEAT
If reading reviews bores the fuck out of you just skip down to the great
treatise on reasons to get/give an asskicking that follows.
"Oxbow make horrifying music. I don't mean scary like in the Black Metal "we wear white face paint and worship the devil" kind of horror shtick. I mean something really cerebral and to the gut….Now you are probably confused. The music isn't even all that fast and hard. Mostly, it's slow, creepy buildups that do explode, but take a long time to get there. Like a race that takes an hour of warming up and calisthenics just to spend it's course in 4 minutes, Oxbow's music takes it's time. Meanwhile, Eugene growls, screams (and not like Hardcore screams, but real screams of terror) and begs "Father
forgive me like you forgot me." The drumming is primal and repetitive and the guitar is sullen.The content of the lyrics are of depravity and sexuality in a way that most people are afraid to explore (and perhaps with good reason)." –James Squeaky
[AVERSIONLINE] wrote: "This is certainly one of the most bizarre records I've ever heard in mylife. Musically things sway from somewhat calm, jazzy improv sounding stuffto noisy guitar feedback with infrequent bursts of percussion and bass (ifnot complete noise altogether), to heavy math rock rhythms with nice thickgrooves and fucked up time changes. Odd keyboards play a little bit of arole as well. And the vocals? Lunacy, that's the only word for it. Theysound like the delusional ramblings of an intoxicated lunatic, sometimesspoken, sometimes screamed with no remorse, sometimes whispered, rarely sung, sometimes a layered blend of everything. Very bizarre shit. "
oxbow
out on neurot recordings, an evil heat features 9 tracks of this unique and excellent hybrid totaling over an hour and 15 minutes of music (the 9th track is a half hour long). the vocals are odd and weird, to go along with the eerie and moody music, which is downtuned and sounds droning but doesn't drone along like a boring record.fans of cable, neurosis, and thrones will definitely love this album. - calamityproject.com
Midheaven Mailorder
"thank you. GENIUS of OXBOW will ALWAYS remain uncaptured for me. why OXBOW during its long existence is still - as Aquarius called you - best kept secret? why not many people know about this almighty act? don't you think it's about time to tell the whole world that OXBOW is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE?
"I finally picked up An Evil Heat, and it's very good. This is the first OXBOW record for me, and I will say that it is not what I expected, I've heard different reviews, one in Metal Maniacs about the Beyond the Pale fest calling you something along the lines of experimental hardcore (automatically I thought of Converge or Today Is the Day) then I read a couple of reviews with Jesus Lizard comparisons (some of the vocals on your video tracks on the site reminded me of David Yow so I could see the comparison. When Ilistened to An Evil Heat, I came upon a totally different sound, free from teen-aged-like angst and anger akin to many hardcore bands and much too rich in influence to be labeled just a "if you like jesus lizard...then you'll like" band. I think it's track seven that is my favorite. The rhythm is so intense and pulverizing. Any way, I just wanted to say I really dig it, and I've never heard a vocalist that approaches the mic in the way that you do, so it's going to take some getting-used-to, but that is a good thing. Just figured I'd tell you what I thought because you're a pretty obscure band and I don't know how much positive feedback you get. Probably not enough. cheers, and hopefully you'll make it to the east coast before too long. - Adam Morosky
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REASONS TO GIVE/GET AN ASS-KICKING
GIVE
GET |
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COME ON DOWN AND JOIN THE OXBOW FIGHT CLUB!!!
That's right. Fans of the Grappling Arts should contact us at ox_bow@hotmail.com if you're interested in meeting, greeting and learning the greater art of grappling from OXBOW's own Eugene Robinson. This isn't actually bullshit. If you want to pay for the privilege of being beaten under the guise of grappling please plan on showing up (and leave the erections at home). This is a traveling show so be prepared to travel (either to the Peninsula or San Francisco). |
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WHEN WE GET THAT FEELING, WE WANT SEXUAL HEALING
Hi Eugene, I'm Russ at Southern records. I work with Albini. I want to know why does every answer you give, have to do w/ sex. not that there's anything wrong w/ that, i enjoy sex and sexual things myself, it just seems a bit one-sided sometimes. That led me to think about it a little more, and i finally became more curious as to what it would take to really threaten you - or to put you in a situation where your reply, your reaction couldn't be sexual, but rather you'd have to rely on some other facet of your instincts. Eugene Responds: Very well put. and say hi to Albini for me when next you meet. He remains one of my favorite people, though I'm sure he'd be surprised to hear you say that. But Steve LOVES us. However I believe he distrusts ME. Which is a wise move, as far as I can see. Now to your points as best I remember them. My awareness of threat is constant and continual and moreover quite wide-ranging. I recall Bukowski speaking about a guy very much like me -- weight-lifting, martial arts taking, overly identified with his masculinity -- and Bukowski's dismissive comment was "more afraid to die than the rest of us." and that's for damned sure. (i'm threatened by airplanes, large groups of people -- no risk being in Oxbow on that one-- death, imprisonment, anal rape, you know, the usual). But, like I've said these other grand confinements -- honor, love, duty, respect -- these fucking strictures have, in actual fact, NO weight for me. No presence and therefore NO reality. But a blow job is indisputably a blow job. Humans seem to have very few instincts, however the instinct to get inside other humans seems to be an incredibly complex and subtle one that does not change, wither, or fail. Cheers, Eugene PS I lost my virginity at 15. In a memorial church, actually (though NOT to a priest, it should be noted). |
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END NOTE:
Well we leave tomorrow for Europe. For real. Niko and Eugene are doing some acoustic simon and garfunkelesque OXBOW-tonic unplugged bullshit on Viva TV as soon as we get there. Eugene, who is hosting the show (AND performing) due to the incredible success of his EUGENE ROBINSON SHOW on Viva TV's Wah Wah, has said that he plans to do the best job he can especially given the fact that he'll "be fucking liquored up and high on LIFE!" There's also talk of OXBOW playing the DOUR Festival in Belgium in July. This is a huge festival and will feature the likes of other bands that people REALLY like. In any case this will all be moot because we are ardently imagining we're going to die over there. Really. Spitting blood in the streets of Gent while Turks with knives unbuckle their pants. Don't laugh. It could happen. Especially if you hang around with us and especially if you think Eugene in any way resembles a Turk. IF we don't die we're back on May 26th. We do nothing for June except build our new studio. July we MAY play the Dour Festival (one day over, one day back). August we try to have some kind of fucking record release party locally, which in very typical OXBOW fashion is FIVE months after the record release. Also IF we don't die, we MAY play Beyond the Pale 2002 (though in actual fact no one's asked us) and we may go back to Southern Europe in the fall. IF we don't die. IF we don't die you'll read our tour diaries next month and read all about how we played to crazy crowds of 10. You'll read about the ptomaine poisoning. You'll read about the bronchitis, the runs, and the reams. IF we don't die. IF. REMEMBER THIS though IF we DIE: NO one loves you like OXBOW loves you.
THANK YOU ALL for buying our goddamned record. And if any of you inner circle types (those on the Newsletter mailing list) come to a show, come up and say HI. IF we're not dead. Or liquored up. Or high on life, we'll chat convivially for a few minutes before asking you if you've got any cash. (Under no circumstances should you ever answer this question.)
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