A selection of John Dwyer’s favourite songs
To witness an Osees or The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, OCS, Oh Sees gig live is notoriously known on the music circuit as an assault to the senses in every positive way possible. With two live drummers, guitar solos and amp feedback filling space the space in between and distortion settings dialled up to ten, their shows are a kaleidoscope of sonic textures that remind you of the limitless capabilities of live music performance.
Their experimental and uninhibited approach to live playing has informed their recorded catalogue, which is a melting pot of blues, psych-rock, and the occasional kraut rock. The band’s frontman, John Dwyer, has been lauded for their multifaceted artistic approach, and it begs the question, how encyclopedic must his list of references be to create such an artistic monster?
Speaking to Bandcamp, Dwyer reeled off a list of standout tracks that resonate with him on a deeper level, and the choices are as eclectic as you can expect. “If an old ’60s sci-fi pop novel could be a song, it would be this,” preceded a description of “beautiful, sci-fi synth-playing” on Robin Ogden’s ‘OGRE Sound’ project.
A self-described “self-confessed tape loop splicer”, Ogden scores video games and delivers an almost intergalactic landscape for his music to fit on. An other worldliness that is likely to attract the mind of Dwyer, who stated: “It’s futuristic music, but also at the same time meditational and a bit New Age” before saying, “It’s all over the spectrum of everything that made synthesizers cool, to begin with.”
Tracks like ‘Intercepted Message’ show Osees and Dwyer’s knack for blending sonic irreverence with alt-rock sensibilities to create a song that works within the loose structures Osees have set themselves as a band. This structure has allowed them to explore a plethora of varied sounds, which can often be sandwiched together to create a melodic mutt of post-modern genres.
But within their varied projects is an appreciation of expanse. Tracks like ‘Moon Bog’ see Dwyer layering their dense tonal sound on an expansive, monotoned backdrop. Understanding that side of the band allows understanding his selection of S.E.T.I. – ‘Sleep Environments for Interplanetary Travel’ – to make more sense. The track sounds like one continuous dream state in an expansive landscape, somewhere a mind like Dwyer’s could aptly flourish.
“This is the perfect long-haul jammer for any circumstance you find yourself in where you are fending off the darkness,” says Dwyer. “I was listening to it when we were coming back from England a while ago, and it certainly changed my perspective on weird-looking people walking down the tarmac,” he adds. “I was like, ‘This bug-eyed guy really fits with this song.’ No judgments, but you know what I mean.”
Whilst his previous two tracks verged on the appropriately bizarre, Dwyer’s next pick was one of a more relatable nature to the everyday music fan. Abuso De Poder’s ‘Vago Muerto’ caught Dwyer’s attention at a festival, and like many fans who felt compelled to approach Dwyer, he approached the band. “It’s weird to approach a relatively young Latino band as, like, a middle-aged white guy and be like, ‘I love what you do!’” but luckily for Dwyer, “The dude was like, ‘Give me a hug, bro!’”.
What came of that was an introduction to a record label that releases “lots of really weird, gnarly punk, and lots of really catchy punk. Not pop-punk, mind you, but aggressive shit that’s somehow real hooky.” It’s the sort of unknown nugget that a sponge-minded creative like Dwyer feeds off and recycles into his own creative process as he continues to push the boundaries of catchy, spacey and downright bizarre.
