If you're someone who likes to be challenged, who has to go back and listen until what you hear makes sense (or begins to make sense), look no further. "Eating Mantis" is "new" music that should be heard.
(Richad Kamins, Harford Courant)
ok|ok's "Eating Mantis" should prove a feast for listeners with a sense of adventure, a liking for the unpredictable and for compelling, visionary drama in music that expands the mind yet satisfies that basic craving for structure.
(Uncle Dave Lewis, music writer)
For all its eccentricity and oddball experimentation, Eating Mantis is a highly musical album...a promising and engaging effort from this New York City-based foursome.
(Alex Henderson, AllMusicGuide)
Hunt, the animated music video by PECKS and ok|ok won the Reel 13 Shorts competition on Thirteen/WNET. Hunt was aired on August 23rd, 2008 and August 24th, 2008.
Although vocalists ranging from Betty Carter to Ann Dyer to Kitty Brazelton have made exciting contributions to avant-garde jazz, the vast majority of avant-garde jazz recordings have been totally instrumental. So when a vocal-oriented CD that is relevant to avant-garde jazz comes along, one tends to take notice. Avant-garde jazz isn't the only ingredient on OK OK's vocal-oriented Eating Mantis; most of the material combines avant-garde jazz with avant-garde rock, and some fans of art rock and alternative rock are likely to take notice of this experimental recording. But avant-garde jazz is certainly a major part of the equation for OK OK, who have a major asset in lead singer Kyoko Kitamura. Singing primarily in English but occasionally detouring into Japanese, Kitamura is an expressive vocalist who knows how to be quirky and eccentric but is also quite musical. In fact, that is true of everyone in OK OK--not only Kitamura, but also, clarinetist Michael McGinnis, guitarist Khabu Doug Young and drummer Tony Moreno. For all its eccentricity and oddball experimentation, Eating Mantis is a highly musical album. An inside/outside perspective defines this 2006 session, which chooses melody and harmony over atonal chaos and is a long way from the type of harshness and claustrophobic density that some free jazz is known for. Anyone who expects this 45-minute CD to be a blistering vocal equivalent of Charles Gayle or post-1965 John Coltrane will be disappointed, but those who are looking for something along the lines of Dyer or Brazelton will find a lot to appreciate on Eating Mantis--which is a promising and engaging effort from this New York City-based foursome. - Alex Henderson (All Music Guide) (link to the article)
Please check out our new music video about the "Vampire Bankers". The guy who directed Madonna's first video directed this, too. We think it's a pretty funny tune and vid. Thanks for being our friend!
