Cassette Review // Other Joliah "Other Joliah" (ERASED! Tapes)

 https://olliebecker.bandcamp.com/album/other-joliah

As the drum beats, everything comes in, all sound at once and it's heavy.    There are distorted parts in this which make it feel like sludge or grunge, but there are also a bit of math rock feels to this as well.   This is very complex rock, sometimes it can feel like it's over-complicated but not in a bad way.  If you think about some pop music that can seem very one dimensional and simple, it just feels like the opposite of that.   There is also a flute in here, which you can really hear at times, and I like that.

While this feels heavy, it's also intense.  The third song begins with this tapping of drum sticks and then drops into that distortion I love so much.  I can feel the flute fluttering in this as much as those big, chunky guitar riffs crushing like metal.   These songs remind me how you can have melodies within a song, just such that overall feeling of beauty, but also the entire vibe can just feel like the world is falling apart at the same time.  It's that beauty in the chaos, but with urgency as well.

The drum sticks keep their rhythm by the end of the third song and during that song I also liked how each instrument- including the flute- took a moment to showcase itself.   The next song gets into some heavy bass, which can once again make this feel like metal before picking back up to a lighter gallop.   Vocals come in now on the next song and I do enjoy that this doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before.  It's not just that it's this math rock meets heavy metal sound, but the flute also adds to that new sound.

On the end of the first side, the song "Sponge, walking" has this part where it gets quiet and the lyrics are whispered: "and fuck all those evade it unscathed / 'cause they're the ones who put it into place".   This does end on a big instrumental breakdown though, which I like because it just feels so powerful and takes us from the first to second side with a bang.

Slow bass lines, string scratches and whispers begin the second side of this.  This is an intro, but it feels rather ominous.   The next song is loud, with a steady groove and you can feel that flute right in there with everything else.   There is a familar sound in this song, as the lyrics ask "Isn't that what they told you?"  but I still can't quite put it with another exact sound.   The starts and stops make this feel dramatic, like we're on that rollercoaster ride with all the twists and turns.  

Into "Flight of Kumquat" now and it can really feel like a carnival ride.   This cassette is clunky, but not in a bad way.  It feels like you're hearing those guitar, bass and drum parts with a flute- which makes it unique- and then on top of that they're also just throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the sound.   An acoustic break down with just perfect vocals in harmony during "Apple" and given the name of the song "The Cold Splash of an Alien Consciousness" I want to start a rumor that you should play this cassette while watching the film "Bugonia".

Starts and stops can also make this feel like skramz.    The melody returns in "Everyone is John" and it has this purity about it, but also once can become driving chaos.   There is also an alto sax in here, which gives this all these overall experimental jazz vibes as well.  At times I do think of Trance Macabre.   The final song comes to an end as this cassette should- somewhat calmly but also with that same sense of destruction of the cloud which follows a nuclear blast.   This is definitely a cassette and a sound not to be missed, for fans of every genre.