Style: Prog Rock, Alternative, Pop Rock, Fun(k) (primarily clean vocals)
Recommended for Fans of: Twelve Foot Ninja, The Reign of Kindo, Faith No More, Flight of the Conchords, Thank You Scientist
Review by: Ryan
Country: Australia
Release date: September 4, 2023
Australia is no stranger to strange music and Brisbane (the same city that gave us The Stranger) is home to the strangely accessible – but definitively strange – Osaka Punch. Seven years after their last album and six years after the album’s first single, “How We Operate,” Osaka Punch have finally released their third full-length Mixed Ape.
Osaka Punch are a wacky bunch. They jump around from crunchy riffs to jazzy basslines to funky fills, all led by the chameleon vocals of frontman Jack Venables who manages to channel the vocal stylings of Mike Patton in Faith No More, Anthony Keidis from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Maynard James Keenan in Tool, and weirdly Adam Levine of Maroon 5. But despite their knack for whimsical genre-hopping and comedic lyrics, Osaka Punch are far from a novelty band. They manage to create an identity of their own within this aray of conflicting influences, where eventually it just sounds like Osaka Punch, rather than the sum of its parts. Within the first two minutes of Mixed Ape’s first track “Heat Death Ray,” Osaka Punch lay their foundation and manage expectations by moving from a capella to djent to funk to pop. And this doesn’t even begin to cover the upcoming experimentation.
“Hall of Shame” is almost a modern reimagining of a nu-metal song. A massive groove riff and a Kiedis-eque near-rap verse with an eccentric synth companion break the gates down to make way for a somewhat underwhelming chorus that just sort of meanders with a quieter near-whisper vocal style. Then the band brings a bridge straight out of a Tool song before warping back into the chorus in a way that breathes new life into it. Contextually, the previously bland chorus now works in an unexpected way.
The shapeshifting on display is simultaneously Mixed Ape’s greatest strength and weakness. Every time I find myself uninterested by a certain portion of a song or even think it’s derivative or cringey, Osaka Punch completely switch directions and suddenly I’m back on board and eager to hear what they do next. The elder song of the album “How We Operate” might be one of the most cohesive tracks here despite housing some of the silliest lyrics. “Who’s that guy with the funky hat? Is he smoking crack? Well fancy that.” The band begins the song with goofy lines like that and then immediately deliver one of the more passionate sequences on the back end of the track.
“Slink” serves as a bombastic instrumental interlude with heavy Meshuggah grooves, jazz brass and video game tones. “Kamikaze,” as the follow-up falls mostly flat. It’s a shorter track with similar verses that we’ve already heard and a chorus that is basically just the song’s name. Luckily, your friendly neighborhood “Simulate” swings in to save the day as possibly the most serious moment in all of Mixed Ape’s forty minutes. The beginning section is a Thank You Scientist ballad by way of The Reign of Kindo. It’s jazzy and layered and wears it’s heart on its sleeve, even venturing into Pain of Salvation territory at times. The solipsistic lyrics perfectly meld into the emotional instrumentation to create a strong emotional climax. Like “The Spider and The Fly” from previous album Death Monster Super Squad, “Simulate” is an intricate and emotional beast of a song where Osaka Punch show that they’re more than just a bunch of wacky dudes.
Whoever decided on the track order for Mixed Ape deserves some sort of award. The goofy but groovy “Too Old (For This Shit)” seeks to undo all the heavy weight of the previous number with a silly little ditty. A song about getting older after a life of partying, but is an entire party in itself. It includes, but not limited to, showtunes, Game of Thrones, old man impressions, breakdowns, gang-vocals, saxophone, and the word derierre. “Too Old” is just unbridled fun. O-Punch lean back into their Tool and Faith No More influences for “Drones” with a I Can’t Believe It’s Not Maynard chorus/bridge combo and parts where I’m just waiting for Jack to belt out “you want it all but you can’t have it.”
Mixed Ape’s penultimate song, “Under the Influence” follows “Kamikaze”’s lead as a mostly forgettable track that doesn’t steer far from some rap-rock that could have aired on FuseTV in the early 2000’s. However, the instrumental closer “Hekyll and Jive” comes through to end Mixed Ape on a high note (or rather many very low downtuned notes). It’s heavy, dark and spacey with classical piano and without words, manages to convey, “Hey, remember how much FUN we just had?”
And that’s the main take-away from Mixed Ape. While not every choice that Osaka Punch makes will resonate with every listener, they’ve crafted an undeniably fun and original record: earworm melodies that make you want to sing along without even knowing the lyrics, heavy riffs rife for headbanging, jaunty tunes that demand a little shimmy, funky bass licks endorsed by the StankFace™. Mixed Ape has a lot to offer (at times too much) and is well worth the listen.
Recommended Tracks: How We Operate, Simulate, Too Old (For This Shit)
You May Also Like: Moron Police, Hairy Soul Man, Lou Kelly
Final Verdict: 7/10
Related Links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook
Label: Self-Produced
Osaka Punch is:
Jack Venables – Vocals, Keyboard
Chrispy Town – Guitar
Brenton Page – Bass
Blair Hamilton – Drums
0 Comments