Old Time Relijun
Issue #25
2012 (K)
By Katerina Herodotou
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 12:50pm
Arrington de Dionyso, the indie prophet of the apocalypse, is back again with 2012, a kind of baptism for nuclear war. 2012 refers to the Mayan Long Count calendar date for the end of the world, and Old Time Relijun is offering the soundtrack. Beard handy, de Dionyso's folk-psych-blues-jazz-punk takes a dancier turn on this latest release for K. While he doesn't stray far from his well-known cackling, animal noises, violent coughs, and yelps, the trend for his band seems to be a slow waltz toward accessibility.
2012 still retains the off-key accordion blasts and almost painful saxophone interjections into Captain Beefheart-inspired blues, yet it overwhelming sounds like early Modest Mouse before they were fine-tuning weirdness into MTV2 hits. Spitting out prophecies and weaving myths, de Dionyso is far from mainstream, but with Modest Mouse's recent major-label success (without too much modification to their patent weirdness), he may not be too far.
While Old Time Relijun's quirkiness claws out of the vocal and instrumental tracks, the path de Dionyso has been following since Lost Light stays easier on the ears. "Chemical Factory" opens up the album with a toe-tapping dance throwback that could get any indie rocker swaying from side to side with the vocals blatantly channel early Nick Cave howls.
Old Time Relijun dunks your head in and out of the river water, like a conduit for demons instead of an exorcism, preaching to the empty air on street corners, in abandoned villages and under water.
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Old Time Relijun's official Web site
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