Review: Reptar, Oblange Fizz Y’all
Reptar’s debut EP, Oblangle Fizz Y’All begins much like Tommy Pickles’s favorite dragon cartoon, Reptar would sing: grunting. Unlike the Rugrats theme song, however, instead of a nauseating xylophone pitter-pattering in the background, there lies a crescendo of mysterious synths. We hear aggressive opening vocals with melodic beats at the monster’s soft underbelly…but what is to come? A verbal attack so common in the battle of love, “I won’t call you if you don’t call me.” Graham Ulicny’s high-pitched and cuddle-able vocals may sound more like one of the Rugrat babies than their feared cartoon dinosaur, but the band’s compositional talent and undeniably catchy rhythms are just as vicious.
Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Reptar is a newbie on the scene of “afrobeat,” but the truth is that their music has so much detail andvariation within songs that they may have redefined this synthesized rock into a genre of afrobeat disco. In an interview with Eddie Argos of the band Art Brut, Argos described their summer tour support band as “a bunch of hippies.” However, these hippies put on a show with more energy than all the Dazed and Confused cast members combined. Shoes off, Michael Jackson portrait set on the stage, crowd-surfing stuffed whale at the ready, Reptar rocked Georgetown University’s Bulldog Alley and quite honestly, killed it. Very few of the students in attendance had heard their music prior to the Spring show, but no one could keep their bodies from grooving to tracks like “Context Clues” and “Stuck in my ID”—two tracks featured on the EP.
While the last track on the EP, “Phonetics” reveals the band’s present university age, the Oblange Fizz Y’all opening track name may more accurately describe Reptar’s future: “Blastoff!”
– Charlotte Japp
good review! i think the album is great. much like the rugrats theme which was written by a musical genius and a hero of our times