STRANGERS FROM THE UNIVERSE

A crazed, fun, rocking record from your Local 282. Here, we have a very rock oriented oddity, with the guitars and mandolin sometimes being made to sound like sitar as well. And of course, as quirky and hilarious as ever with the lyrics and singing. "My Pal The Tortoise" and "February" particularly stick out from the weird, euphoric soundscape. In fact, "February" has to stand as the best track, with the sitar sounding mandolin and the ever rocky guitar playing to their fullest amongst complex craziness and a bit of noise. "Socket" and "Pull My Pants Up Tight" are also stellar, the latter being a calmer, quieter respite. And "Cup of Dreams" has an intro that is either eighty years old, or some dour electronics, before some more great rock-via-sitar. All of this is performed brilliantly by our band, especially Hageman pulling off the sitar-out-of-mandolin playing. Very energetic and enjoyable, and as odd as can be expected from a quirky avant prog band with way too much skill and time. Highly recommended, just excellent.