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Screw the mainstream if you really want to get your rocks off you have to go to the underground. That's just what we plan to do with this series, take some of the best emerging bands that are out blowing away hardcore fans on the underground music scene. 

Tub Ring – Zoo Hypothesis
Label: Invisible Records
Rating: 

I may have bitten off more than I can chew, when I decided to review Tub Ring, maybe I’m not as well versed in the indie world as I thought.  This sixteen-song escapade entitled Zoo Hypothesis clocks in just under forty minutes, but when you listen to this all the way through, you may need oxygen therapy afterwards.  There is no logical way to describe them, they defy every pop standard, and make up there own genre and sub genre in every song.  Just when I thought At the Drive In changed the face of punk, Tub Ring came and slapped me in my silly little face.

Zoo Hypothesis starts off with this little Oompa Loompa like lullaby, called “Tiny, Little.”  Funny vocals with crashing guitars and cute little bells sprinkle across the song, and can’t help but swing your head side to side to the rhythm.  Then stop and go style punk (I use the term punk loosely) fills the bulk of the album.  Oddball anthems like “I could never fall in love with you” “The night watch” and “ Return to me” are just some of the gems of Zoo Hypothesis.  Most of the songs are two minutes or less, but each song has so much substance in the music, and the vocals range from industrial screams to a sexy swinger “hey have another martini” kind of bravado.  The guitars, samples and keyboards all fight each other for space and time, the odd orchestrations makes the album have a dizzying effect but it is also what makes the listening enjoyable.

I liken Tub Ring to the children of Never Never land, that escaped and wanted to see what the real world was like, and are now trying to fight their way back to their childhood.  There is a juvenile quality to the songwriting, with a jaded view of suburban life, such as the case with the hard hitting, “We are the righteous,” and “The promise keeper.”  By the end of the journey the children finally come home with the fairytale “Vehicle,” a soothing sleepy time melody sends you off to dreamland.  “When we shed our minds and leave our vessels far behind, you’ll find a way, and we’ll be free,” this line sums up the albums thesis.  Listen to this album and you, yourself maybe free.
 

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