CD-R/free download, D-trash Records, 2008
www.oxygenfad.com
Listening to Oxygenfad’s self-titled CD is like channel surfing at high speed with the picture off. There really is something for (almost) everyone here. You never know what you’re going to get next, and while in lesser hands the quick change from one genre to another (sometimes mid-track) could wear thin pretty quickly, Oxygenfad’s assured handling of the material shines through.
From the first part of the album, special mention must be made of “Fasttracker II,” a gabba beat with added whistles (somehow not as irritating as it sounds) and inspired use of the Sega theme, “I Need Love” (Erasure-style synthpop meets trance), the decidedly Utah Saints-flavoured “Ten Times Virgin” and “Find Your Own Identity” (the king-fu-tastic video of which can be viewed on Youtube, and is recommended for your amusement). The Twin Peaks-tinged “My Wife Is Japanese” marks the turning point into the somewhat darker side of the CD, leading as it does into the three-song hard-edged New Wave tangent that is “You Manipulate,” “Every Time I See Your Face” and “All You Ever Do”- it is hard at times to believe these tracks have been assembled by the same person.
With no song lasting over five minutes, the few poorer tracks – the plodding muddiness of “Montreal Indy Music Ipod American Apparel” or the whining irrelevance of closer “Rock Music” – are nothing more than a passing irritation, and with so much good stuff elsewhere you really can overlook the flaws.
Relentless, warped, brash, bitter, dirty, cartoonish and downright nasty at times, this is the CD for you if your music taste can best be described as “eclectic.” Narrow minds need not apply.
[8/10]
— Catherine C.