CASSETTE REVIEW: Dr. Duck & the Marigolds “Songs for Pep & Vigor” (OJC Recordings)

http://alligatorpeaches.bandcamp.com/

http://legrancapers.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-pep-vigor

            My first thoughts when listening to this cassette was that it came off sounding a lot like Hunx, but not with his Punx.  There are distorted waves and just that overall slower version of 1960’s era rock n roll and higher vocals than most.  I usually think of things as sounding like High Pop before Hunx, so this is really kind of both, but throughout the cassette and into the second side it does take a turn for the diverse.

            First off, a MIDI type of sound comes out near the end of Side A and that become manipulated quite well.  Into the second we start with a song called “Well I’ll” which I couldn’t place at first but then realized it was fairly close to something that Blind Melon might have made and for that I love it. 

            Onward through the second side we have hints of Flaming Lips (who kind of feed off the vibe of this entire cassette) and then we drift into a slower, guitar strumming type ballad that is somewhere between Against Me! and Foo Fighters.   As if that isn’t enough to veer you away from the Hunx notion back from when this first started, after your first listen you’ll hear this remarkable undertone of Neil Young throughout “Songs for Pep& Vigor”.

            So what might have felt like a Burger Records write off at first turned out to be a really solid rock cassette.  I know that OJC Recordings has a good track record (This is one of their three releases, both of the other two have been reviewed by me) and so I wasn’t expecting this to be a Hunx rip off or any other band rip off really and Dr. Duck (who I believe has a PhD in quacking me up) and the Marigolds have done well at honing this sound for themselves.