Pond
Hobo Rocket
Reviewed by: Stephen Krock
Pond is a lot like the Velvet Underground. Just a bunch of alternapop darlings dicking around on keyboards and guitars to make some noise. But some pretty good noise, it turns out. Now, I have no way of knowing the order or manner the record was written, but Hobo Rocket is a quintessential psychedelic jam session. Starting off with the experimental discordance in “Whatever Happened to the Million Head Collide” and “Xanman,” which are almost dreamlike. Albeit, very loud dreams. Then, after a hit of something groovy, the group performs some kind of Vulcan mind meld and comes together in a perfectly succinct and sumptuous track, “O Dharma.” The reverie is short lived, though, when it’s time to wail again in “Aloneaflameaflower.” Soon after, we’re treated to the flawless title track, which has an Andy Warhol flare to it, mixed it in a super fun hint of the Red Elvises without the silly accents
There’s a certain hippie reverence to Hobo Rocket, making the whole record feel like a trip that will change your life and wish for world peace. The thing with a trip, though, is that once it’s over, you’re left trying to remember what all those amazing revelations actually were. Which is to say, there aren’t really many earworms in Hobo Rocket to speak of. It’s great to listen to, but kind of goes in one ear and out the other. And that just means you’ll have to listen to it over and over again.
Rating: Bad-ass
