I'm not usually a heavy metal/punk listener, but I do have a wide range to my taste in music. When one of my listeners requested I play the song "Commited" while I was broadcasting live I knew this was a band I needed to check out. Kimberly and her sole band mate and producer Jason Rufuss Sewell, better known to fans as Junior, have been delivering goth/horror inspired music that is truly a pleasure to listen to. All with a sense of humor.
The music they present ranges in tone, style, and lyrics to an amazing degree for a band that generally gets labeled as goth-punk. Granted, some of the songs are somewhat weak lyrically, and simple musically, but they somehow make it all work. Kimberly's guitar work, while far from masterful, is perfect for the material they put out. Junior provides the drum work, and anything else that the studio product requires.
The first OED album "Hole" has some of my favorite songs from the band. "Nudie Bar", a song about a lonely girl who's boyfriend has been spending too much time at said establishment to the point where she decides to do something about it... with propane tanks. "Hoochie Mamma", I love the lyrics to this song:
"You think I'm easy
Cause I wear these tight pants
You think it should be easy
To get in my pants
Well it took me five minutes
To pull these things on
I can hardly breathe
Let alone be turned on"
Fact is, I like every song on Hole. Even the silly, simplistic "I Love My Little Bus" is a joy to listen to.
I could go on and talk about every album they've come out with, "Monster", "Break", "Dirty", and Kimberly's "Sleep", but each of these albums is just as good as that first one. Instead let's hit the highlights. On "Monster" we have "Be My Friend", a song about how hard it is to win friendship when you're a serial killer. "Break" doesn't have any one song that stands above the others in my opinion, but if I had to pick one one song I'd have to go with "Cinderblock", a song of a child who finally turns the tables on her abusive father by taking a cinder block to his head while he's passed out from drinking.
OK... just had to download "Something About A Dragon" off of Amazon while writing this. One of the best OED songs was missing from my collection: "Because You're A Vampire". I'm not even going to try to describe this song. Here's the official video from Youtube:
Turn off Paragon Radio Gallifrey for a few minutes and enjoy.
Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Next up would be Kimberly's solo album, which is really only a solo album because the music doesn't quite work as OED material. Two songs stand out for me on this album,"Learn To Fly" and "Believe In Me". Both songs display Kimberly's voice at it's best.
Last, but far from least, is "Witches", a true concept album that came about while Kimberly did some reading up on the Salem witch trials. While this album may lack the sense of humor that earlier works reveled in, it is, in my option, OED's masterpiece. Simply put, if you're only going to buy one album from OED this would be the one I'd recommend. Every song on this album is above and beyond anything else previously recorded and released by this wonderful band. Musically, lyrically, it is simply inspired.
