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

Mando Diao

Ode to Ochrasy | Mute
By EMILY ZEMLER  |  May 8, 2007
2.0 2.0 Stars
inside_mando
The rollicking rock of Mando Diao’s previous album, Hurricane Bar, slotted the Swedish group somewhere among the Strokes, the Hives, and Franz Ferdinand. It was a decent start, but you couldn’t help hoping for a follow-up with a stronger sense of identity, with songs that would go beyond mere catchy garage-rock revivals. Hurricane Bar featured some memorable tracks (“God Knows,” “White Wall”) and gave the band perfect material for their live show, but it didn’t go anywhere new. Ode to Ochrasy is a little more energized, but Mando Diao still aren’t breaking fresh ground. “Long Before Rock ’N’ Roll,” the first single, apes the oft-imitated guitar riff from Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”; not even the catchy chorus, driven by dueling vocals, can compensate. And as if that weren’t enough of an Iggy connection, there’s “Tony Zoulias (Lustful Life),” a rhythmically fast-paced number, coming out of the same garage as “God Knows.” If the calmer tracks — the aching “Josephine,” the slow-building “Amsterdam” — are light on hooks, they at least reflect a more personal side of the band.

Mando Diao + Pop Levi + The Films | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge | May 19 | 617.492.BEAR
Related: Boston music news: November 3, 2006, The Strokes, VHS or Beta, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Iggy Pop, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand,  More more >
  • 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
Comments

[ 12/03 ]   Harvard Yiddish Operetta  @ Agassiz Theater
[ 12/03 ]   Calin Clark  @ St. John's Episcopal Church
[ 12/03 ]   "Evolution"  @ Good Life
[ 12/03 ]   DJ Mac Machine + DJ Boo Radley + DJ Dev/Null  @ Milky Way
ARTICLES BY EMILY ZEMLER
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MANDO DIAO  |  May 08, 2007
    The rollicking rock of Mando Diao’s Hurricane Bar , slotted the Swedish group somewhere among the Strokes, the Hives, and Franz Ferdinand.
  •   YOUTH GROUP  |  April 03, 2007
    It’s hard to nail down what makes Youth Group more compelling than other OC-approved mood merchants with guitars.
  •   THE BLUE VAN  |  January 02, 2007
    The new album from Denmark’s the Blue Van doesn’t just look like a remnant of the ’60s, with its black-and-white photos of the scruffy quartet and weathered-looking cover, but it actually sounds like someone dug it out of a box of old Kinks and Cream LPs someone found in an attic.

 See all articles by: EMILY ZEMLER

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 © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group