What the CL Music Team is spinning this fine Monday to rocket launch us into the work week… To check out previous entries, click here.
Ray – Reptar, Obangle Fizz Y'all EP (2011)
One of my favorite finds at this year's Antiwarpt Festival (Loud Valley left a big impression on me, too), this Athens, Ga.-based outfit turned the Local 662 into a bona fide dance party. Frontman Graham Ulicny is an odd performer and his strange demeanor serves him very, very well. Dressed in some short swim trunks — and in possession of some the wackiest stage moves I've ever seen — he led his band through one of the most captivating sets at the fest.
Reptar's debut EP — Obangle Fizz Y'all — will be released tomorrow (via Vagrant), and the five-track effort serves as a great sonic reminder of their 1 a.m. set at Antiwarpt. Rife with indie ass-shakers, songs like "Stuck In My Id" and "Rainbounce" instantly put a smile on my face when I hear their random samples, thumping drums, and Ulicny's sometimes indecipherable vocals. Some critics has charged Obangle with being too busy and an unfocused mess of noise, but they've probably just got sticks up their asses because all I saw at Antiwarpt were smiles on faces in the crowd. In fact this lyric from "Context Clues" sums up my takeaway perfectly: "To see the good things," Ulicny sings over triumphant drums, happy synth, horns, and what sounds like a cricket-noise sample, "you came to see the good things." I didn't know what I came to see on Saturday night, but every second of what I witnessed — and every second of the new EP — is good indeed. Listen to "Context Clues" after the jump and check out the rest of this week's entries.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2011.