ALEKS AND
THE RAMPS present PISCES VS AQUARIUS
Pisces Vs Aquarius, the charming and disorienting debut album by Aleks
and the Ramps, was recorded a pebble's toss from the violent shores of
the Southern Ocean, in a state of seascape-like grandeur with a sizeable
dose of cabin fever.
Deadpanning salubrious songs of misanthropic romance, Aleks and the Ramps
zigzag lightning-fast between disparate constellation points of delicate
banjo melodies, death-metal worthy speed mash-ups, pretty glockenspiels,
basketball singlets, five part vocal harmonies and genital flossing.
Since mid 2005, the band have gained in notoriety in their hometown of
Melbourne, Australia and increasingly further afield, for their debonair
onstage riot of formation dance moves and hair's-breadth near-collisions.
Aleks' lyrics tell of an improbable world filled with the unpeachy confessions
of a reptilian scoundrel, some sweet talk between car crash fetishists,
the confusion of a man who wakes up to find his girlfriend unperturbed
by the fact that he is dead, a hallucinogenic scene of domestic suffocation,
an awkward infatuation plaguing a prison escapee, and a bad Spanish translation
of a Roxette number.
The Ramps are Aleks' rogue minstrels: a fancy guitarist (Flying Simon),
a theatrical bassist (Acidtoothraptorqueen), a dancing percussionist (Captain
Rad) and a screaming keyboardist/miscellaneous instrument player (Extreme
Wheeze).
The delicious rock (soap) opera that is Pisces Vs Aquarius features several
guest Ramps -- Baron Samadhi's Matt Dixon and James Marshall (trombone
and trumpet), Hugo Tremby (Potential Falcon - piano and string arrangements),
cellist Emily Williams and violinist Gabe Lewis (Three Month Sunset).
The result is a gorgeous cacophony of banjo, glocks, strings, piano and
synths and fantastic guitar noise.
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