SPLIT: ONQ / [minmae]
CD, Airborne Virus records
Obviously, these two – ONQ and minmae – have never attended seminars about selling, presentation or any other business-crash-course, where you learn “keep it short + simple” as a rule. That has nothing to do with laziness, but with being able to deliver your message in minimum time and effort with maximum effect. Very important in the real word.
Anyway, business has nothing to with art and the production of art on a level just like this, still I believe that there is some irony in that subtitle. The music might be laid-back and slow, but I don’t think that either one of the musicians could be called lazy or simple.
ONQ play mainly (accoustic) guitar-driven pop-songs, which tend to drag on a little. Not a bad thing, if you are in the right mood and have experienced your share of gothic world-weariness in your time. To me, there is a definite Robert-Smith-influence in here, but it is really very slightly and only to be found in the atmosphere of the songs. Some songs are almost upbeat in melody, but then again, The Cure had “Friday I’m in love”. Point.
Minmae is more lo-fi, more minimalistic. He uses simpler recording-techniques could be all there is to it, but the second part of the CD sounds older than the first. Every little town has at least on freak, who likes old psychedelic music, owns a guitar, a drum machine and a 4-track-recorder as well as lots of pepples-compilations. They live in a very hard world, usually because they have no original ideas and even less talent. Not true for minmae, who doesn’t break any new ground either, but is at least very convincing in what he does. More than that actually, if you give him some time to lay out his plans, he gets very good, adds some ideas of his own to his songs, uses his reocrding-possibilites to the maximum and comes over very interestingly and astonishingly. Especially the last song, “blasphemous rethorical statement”, with its on/off-mix, can make you quite quizzy and uncomfortable. Which is spectacular for the slow and easy way the first two thirds of the CD went on. Moreover he sings “I’m not talking just to say something” which is a good hint for lots of other singes (and writers).