The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
Best-2010-extended-voting

The Oohlas

Best Stop Pop | Stolen Transmission
By SHARON STEEL  |  November 7, 2006
2.0 2.0 Stars
The Oohlas are a blogger’s band, and not just in the traditional sense. They’ve been pushed and promoted by one blogger in particular: Sarah Lewitinn, a former Spin writer and VH1 commentator best known by her hipster DJ handle Ultragrrrl. She now co-runs and handles A&R for Stolen Transmission, a new Island imprint, and the Oohlas, an LA quartet, are relatively new as well, having written songs together for only some two years. Yes, guitarist Greg Elklund used to drum for Everclear, and what with the marketable schoolgirl-chic look sported by co-vocalist/guitarist Ollie Stone, it’s no shocker that the Oohlas (named after slang for a chick so hot the only way to describe her is through onomatopœia) were courted by majors and major minor labels alike from day one. They signed with Stolen Transmission and have been fed to the readers of Lewitinn’s blog for months. Early MySpace tracks garnered more 20,000 plays and sounded promising. And their return to dirty-yet-accessible ’90s alt-rock seemed refreshing too. Yet despite all of Lewitinn’s flyers and fan-girl pyrotechnics, Best Stop Pop doesn’t shake things up much. The album is catchy and pretty in spots, thanks to the opening sunny jangler (“Gone”), Stone’s sexy, clipped vocals, which are ideal for a boy-hazing gem like “Small Parts,” and the wall-of-sound closer (“The Rapid”). But it’s nowhere near as groundbreaking as Lewitinn would like it to be.
  Topics: CD Reviews , Sarah Lewitinn
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

[ 03/15 ]   Dropkick Murphys + Swingin Utters + Cocked & Loaded  @ House of Blues
[ 03/15 ]   Big Shug  @ Wonder Bar
[ 03/15 ]   "World of Christian Wolff"  @ Williams Hall at New England Conservatory
[ 03/15 ]   Hamilton College Choir  @ Old South Church
[ 03/15 ]   Puscifer  @ Berklee Performance Center
ARTICLES BY SHARON STEEL
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   INTERVIEW: LEANNE SHAPTON  |  March 24, 2009
    There are many end-of-relationship rituals.
  •   INTERVIEW: JOSS WHEDON  |  February 09, 2009
    When I first reach Joss Whedon — the director, writer, and producer who is perhaps best known as the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — at his office at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, it's about 9 am his time, and it sounds as if I'd caught him before his coffee had kicked in.
  •   REVIEW: DOLLHOUSE  |  February 09, 2009
    Joss Whedon continues to fight the darkness
  •   FAKING IT  |  January 06, 2009
    if you were Whitney Port, the colt-legged, honey-haired, cow-eyed star of The City , you might not think that what Herman Rosenblat did was so terrible.
  •   BAD GIRLS  |  October 29, 2008
    One of the accepted truths of the fashion world is that it’s utterly bizarre.  

 See all articles by: SHARON STEEL

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group