On Oni Pond

Indie Pop/experimental from Philadelphia. Wide variety of instrumentation focused mostly on piano and synths but with lots of percussion. Just about all tracks are fun and upbeat. Beats vary from jungle beats to easy clap-along songs but always percussive and usually syncopated. Some clever lyrics but vocals are mostly catchy and repetitive. Favorite tracks: 2, 4, 6, 9, 13

Doesn’t sound exactly like anything, but different songs reminiscent of: Battles, Gorillaz, Franz Ferdinand, tUnE-yArDs, David Bowie, Cansei de Ser Sexi (just backing vocals)


1. 0:39 Instrumental interlude, Lush, Strings and horn
2. 3:19 Started with strings, upbeat, synths, medium energy vocals, strained but melodic, kind of foreign pop female backing vocals
3. 4:12 Starts with percussion, very rhythmic, Marimba and synth, Vocals have some distortion, busy but light instrumentation, groovy horn part comes in, a few different mellow breakdowns
4. 4:23 Starts with a light syncopated string part (vaguely Gotye), minor dissonance, Catchy vocals, Slightly slower, walking bass line, french pop synth bridge, repetitive but fun
5. 5:07 FCC SHIT Heavier intro, focused on the beat, definitely a good groove, other instrumentation comes in for the chorus but mostly pretty sparse, spacey break down, catchy chorus, fake ending
6. 3:23 Beat and synths start all at once, pretty upbeat, nice low end, rhythmic and melodic vocals, female backing vox are back (think CSS), crazy instrumental breakdown with horns and who knows what else, vaguely Bowie (think Fame)
7. 3:02 FCC MOTHERFUCKER Starts with airy uke, raspy/reverby vocals, slightly slower and more melodic, bass and horns come in after about a minute but quickly leave again
8. 3:54 Starts with drums, another good groove but more light and syncopated, deeper chorus backing vocals, busy arrangement, gets a little donkey kong, guitar solo layered in the middle over some phasers, key change
9. 3:34 FCC GODDAMN Walking bassline with off-beat synths and smooth guitar melody, melodic vocals with harmonies and oohs, nice matching of vox and drums later on, relaxed groove but forward momentum, cool reverb “tick-tick” drop out
10. 3:50 Jungle beat, marimba synths, deeper vocals, more talk-y/whisper-y, horn break that sounds vaguely tUnE-yArDs especially with female vox later on
11. 5:37 Starts quieter than the rest, synths but has a slight vinyl sound at first, atmospheric intro, jungle beat comes in, distorted vocals, dark melody, kind of sounds like a spy movie, consistent groove but drags on a bit
12. 1:03 Starts with fun, poppy piano, vocals as well but no other instruments
13. 3:43 Fun, upbeat, again David Bowie vibe vocals (think Oh! You Pretty Things), Horn solo, palm-muted guitars layered, straight forward drums, one of my favorites