eMusic Review 0
In early 2005, there were rumors that Williamsburg, Brooklyn's oft-overlooked rock trio Oneida were preparing a three-LP set entitled Thank Your Parents. What followed instead was a heady run of mesmeric and lean folk-laced rock, like The Wedding and Happy New Year.
As it turns out, the calendar year of 2008 is when Oneida gets ambitious: they not only recast The Wedding as a multimedia presentation at New York's esteemed experimental venue the Kitchen, but let loose Preteen Weaponry, touted as “the first piece of the 'Thank Your Parents'triptych,” comprised of three extended, nearly wordless, Pangea-like jams.
The pummeling opening track reveals mosaic patterns of clean-tone guitars before devolving into fuzz-flecked sludge some 13 minutes in. That unidentified amoeba of sound grows in the mix, then spirals off on a new tangent. By the third track, the incessant modal rock that built Oneida's name (think “Sheets of Easter” or Secret Wars) rises to the fore. Sprawling yet precise, Preteen Weaponry suggests that wherever Oneida heads next, they'll take their sweet time getting there.