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OCOAI

Experimental/Post Metal • United States


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Ocoai picture
Ocoai biography
Formed in the summer of 2006,instrumental post metal band OCOAI(pronounced
"O-Ko-EyE")have quickly garnered the praise of their peers as well as a devoted following of fans.

Guitarist(and engineer/producer )Travis Kammeyer and drummer,Tim Smith met in the small but immensely talented music scene of Johnson City,TN.

Upon discovering similar interests,the two formed their first band together,24 HOUR FRONT DESK in early 2005.After 24HFD dissolved, Kammeyer and Smith wanted to try something different.Kammeyer who had shared guitar and vocal duties in 24HFD, wanted to shift focus from vocals all together.Thus OCOAI was born with one mission:to be the loudest and heaviest band around.

Without a vocalist or for that matter a lyricist,the table was wide open for musical development.To complete the line up, guitarist Joe Armstrong and bassist Bo Dugger were brought on board.The varying musical influences of the individuals serve as a catalyst for developing songs that have a sort of push-and-pull effect on the audience.Ambient guitars swell into crunching riffs while sparse back beat rhythms develop into a tsunami-like driving force,until every accent is pounded into your brain.

After a year and half of playing shows and recording more than an albums worth of songs that were passed amongst friends,shared on social networking sites or self-packaged and sold at shows,OCOAI decided it was time to deliver a proper record.Recording in the winter and spring of 2008,OCOAI would assemble the seven songs that make up their first full-length record,"Breatherman" (comprising over 50 minutes worth of music).

If you enjoy PELICAN,MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT,MONO or MOGWAI you will love the music of OCOAI.Highly recommended.

Source: www.breatherman.com




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Discography:
Breatherman, studio album (2008)
...

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OCOAI discography


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OCOAI top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.83 | 14 ratings
Breatherman
2008
3.94 | 14 ratings
The Electric Hand
2011

OCOAI Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

OCOAI Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

OCOAI Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

OCOAI Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.00 | 2 ratings
Peacecreature
2009

OCOAI Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 The Electric Hand by OCOAI album cover Studio Album, 2011
3.94 | 14 ratings

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The Electric Hand
Ocoai Experimental/Post Metal

Review by J-Man
Prog Reviewer

4 stars In the promotional e-mail I received for the new Ocoai album, the band was described as "everything from post rock to doom metal to Pink Floyd killing a dinosaur". Surely unique enough to pique my curiosity, this tag actually turned out to be surprisingly accurate. The Electric Hand really does defy genre characterization enough to warrant such a description... well, maybe except the "killing a dinosaur" part. Ocoai's unique mix of genres, parred with some of the most stunning instrumental compositions I've heard in a long time, makes The Electric Hand an absolute winner in my book, and an essential purchase for any post metal fan.

Ocoai's The Electric Hand is difficult to pin down to genre tags. Post metal is clearly the best description I can think of, seeing that Ocoai borrows plenty of influence from post rock/metal, but they have an underlying Pink Floyd-ish tone that sets them apart from the genre's pioneers. Combine that with touches of ambient, doom metal, and traditional progressive rock, and you have an album unlike all others. The cello parts courtesy of Cody Ledford add an extra dose of melancholy in the mix, and really complete the compositions. The Electric Hand is anything but your standard instrumental post metal album, and should be further investigated by anyone who's tired of all the "clone bands" out there. Ocoai's one-of-a-kind sound, parred with stunningly beautiful compositions and technically astounding musicianship, makes this album a winner on nearly every front. I don't know if it's possible to listen to a song like "Grimpeur" without feeling the hair on the back of your neck stand up and noticing your arms covered in goosebumps. That track alone makes The Electric Hand well-worth the price of admission. The raw, yet still crisp and powerful, production also suits the music perfectly and sounds terrific.

The Electric Hand took a little while for me to fully appreciate, but it's definitely worth all the time it deserves. Seldom do I come across a post metal album with this much originality, sheer beauty, and convincing power - that alone makes this worth all the time in the world. Ocoai have really hit a home run this time around, and hopefully The Electric Hand gets all the attention it deserves in the post metal community. 4 stars are well-deserved here. I'm very curious to hear what these Tennessee juggernauts have up their sleeves next.

 Breatherman by OCOAI album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.83 | 14 ratings

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Breatherman
Ocoai Experimental/Post Metal

Review by Dim
Prog Reviewer

4 stars A pleasant surprise to say the least. This year has indeed been a real let down as far as the bigger post rock bands go, Cult of Luna, Kayo Dot, Russian Circles, but it seems that the post rock underground have a bunch of gems just springing up from the ground this year. Bands like Followed By Ghosts, pg.lost, and Occoai have really impressed me this year, especially when compared to the bigger bands.

What has been said about Occoai is true though, they are a Pelican clone, with a more atmospheric edge, and depending on who you ask, that could be a good or bad thing. Me, I like my Pelican rough and heavy, but it seems these guys can get away with writing some more post rocky songs, and hey, even pretty songs. Bottom line is, even though their approach is pretty unoriginal, they're able to soup up the music in a slightly original way.

The album starts off with a very energetic song O Bowen, this song kinda portrays a little bit of everything in the album, delayed guitars, ambient sections, and full on post metal brutality. This goes into the title song Breatherman, which is definitely the most Pelican rip offish, not a lot of digital effects whether it be on the guitars or not, just a driving, forceful, kick-in-the-teethe kind of song that another band is really good at playing, actually they're the best, Pelican... Occoai loses points here for unoriginality. It's okay cause they strike back with the excellent song Manifestent, an atmospheric song that resembles more Isis, or Cult of Luna than anything else, and they do an excellent job of sounding semi original! The Next song is what really makes the album a winner though, the second shortest track smack dab in the middle Pour Rever. A beautiful acoustic riff just melts in with some atmospherics, and percussion, but nothing that gets in the way, blissful track, I only wish it were longer. It's okay again though, cause this leads on to the best track on the album: Babble. A mix of their super Pelican influenced sound, with their atmospheric Isis-ish sound, to create the longest, most epic, and dare I say most progressive song this group has done yet! Instead of relying on recycled power chords, and vibrato picked drop D tuned sections, they use higher arpeggios to climax the song, and intense riffage to keep it heavy. If you're going to get this album, get it for Pour Rever, and Babble! The next song Lunoir is Occoai's attempt to make their own March into the sea, it's brutal, it's fast, and it's extremely climactic. A very good song, but you can just hear the Pelican just oozing out of it. The last track is a filler, and an excellent way to end any album, just a moody piano piece, nothing too melodramatic, or pretentious.

Occoai is a band that draws heavy influence, and obviously knows what their sound is, but just needs to utilize, and solidify it, and try and back down from their influences to make more captivating music. Really though, for a knock off album, it's pretty good, definitely better than most of the DT or Genesis clones that are all over the place. For originality, outside of originality, 4 stars.

 Breatherman by OCOAI album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.83 | 14 ratings

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Breatherman
Ocoai Experimental/Post Metal

Review by Prog-jester
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Another PELICAN wannabees? C'mon, these guys are clever enough not to follow someone else's steps THAT much!

'Breatherman' is like a monstrous 52-min long epic. It starts with noisy intro in 'O Bowen', then almost 15 minutes of typical PELICANish mid-tempo riff-based instrumental Post-Metal follow (second half of 'O Bowen' and the namesake track). And here, where you expect yet another crunchy massive riffing, you get 'Manifestant' - a VERY GY!BE-influenced track (beginning from the title and finishing with melody, that is seriously close to GY!BE's 'Sad Mafioso'). In the middle of the album 'Pour Rever' hides, almost ambient overture, which leads to two 10+ -min long epics, lighter and Post-Rocky 'Babble' and darker and heavier 'Lunoir'. It all ends with 2-min piano coda entitled 'Liberer le Piano'. Another album that springs to mind with such structure is THE PAX CECILIA's 'Blessed Are The Bonds', but I must admit, TPC are far more interesting and experimental band than OCOAI. Nevertheless, this is a solid good album, which differs in mood and groove from track to track, and it may be one of the first instrumental Post-Metal debut albums from 2008 that I heard. I believe OCOAI has something else to offer, and I'm looking forward to their further releases. 3.5 stars (OK, rounded to 4!) and recommended

Thanks to TheProgtologist for the artist addition.

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