Mojo Waves - 7x7 single

The more observant among you may recall Mojo Waves who featured in this blog a couple of years ago back when posts came a lot more regularly. For a memory refresher read the album review here.

The band have released a single with a new album entitled "All The Right Parts Fit The Wrong Way" due out on May 11th this year.




Download the single.

Mojo Waves - "Lo and Behold"

 

 Regular blog readers may remember the Finnish trio, Mojo Waves 3 song EP, which was reviewed here. The band was young and had their chops together.  The vocal  still sound like helium balloons were sucked seconds before the recording process but it definitely gives these guys a cool and not often-heard sound.  On their facebook page Mojo Waves describe themselves as a garagedelic rock band and honestly, that's about the size of it as they combine straight up no-nonsense garage rock with 70's style psychedelic hard rock.

There's weighty fuzzed out riffs and the energy isn't as frantic as the 3-song EP but it's still there only a little more stripped back which carries more weight in the band's longer outing.   In the past review, I stated that the vocals may be a weakness on a full length but they definitely make the band stand out from all of the cookie cutter rock and metal crowd.

"Mousetrap" is an appropriately named highlight.  The vocals resemble a screaming rodent and there's a steady garage rock stomp with a little fuzzed out guitar.  You cross your fingers while you wish on the fate of the mouth.   "Flowers" has a Byrds style harmony and combined with the no-bullshit rock and roll, there's a dirty sweetness that will appeal more to those who like a rawness to their music.

A few of the riffs here and there are familiar but often the reason many things in music are cliched is only because they are good. As Mojo Waves bandcamp states this is, "Music that is clear and fuzzy but at the same time clear and peculiar."   It will be interesting to see what this trio does next.

Check the album out for yourself on the  Mojo Waves bandcamp site.

4/5

Mojo Waves -

I don't usually bother checking my spam folder but last night I had the strange urge to see how many squillion pounds I could collect if I stepped on the long haul flight to London to meet a Nigerian prince who possesses a free email account coupled with poor spelling and grammar. To my surprise there actually was a submission to the blog from Finland.

Here's what the band say about themselves: "
Mojo Waves is a power-trio rock group based in Helsinki, Finland. The band was formed in late 2011 but the musicians have been playing together for some years.

Mojo Waves' sound is something that you wouldn't expect to come from Finland. These days most of the Finnish rock bands play over-produced, safe and highly predictable music that lacks the attitude and the spirit of what rock music used to be in the past. Mojo Waves is the opposite of the common rock band. It's unpredictable, personal and energetic. Although influenced by vast amount of bands, its sound is unique, and its music doesn't fit in any one category.

Although the band feels some sort of spiritual connection with the rock music of the past, it doesn't try to copy its influences. The main goal of the band is to make their own personal songs that they can be proud of and play as many gigs as possible. Live music is what music has always been about, and that's what the band loves most, too. It isn't easy to describe the music of Mojo Waves, so you should listen to our demos "Introducing Mojo Waves" and "Enjoy, Don't Destroy". The demo was recorded by ourselves in the spirit of garage rock, and it gives some perspective to our music.

The members of Mojo Waves have their ambitions and goals set high, so we are always looking for something new."

The band definitely have a garage rock approach and some of the weirdest yet accessible vocals I've heard in a while. The vocal style has a smilar Donald Duck breathing out helium characteristic to Ween's "Push th' Little Daisies. This material has the energy of a toddler that has digested a box of energy drinks and is just as noisy and into the cupboards due to expirimenting. Though this is a youthful band, Mojo Waves have a mature sound. The vocals may be a weakness when it comes to releasing an albums worth of material but they work well enough on the 3-song format.

3/5

You can check the band's two demo recordings out here.




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