What do John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Keaton Simons, Gavin DeGraw, Jack Johnson, Tyler Hilton and Oval Opus all have in common?
They're just a few of the many artists in 2004 who added to the genre of horrible, male-driven, guitar-schlock music.
Give 'em a six-string and a collaboration of poppy, pseudo-soulful musicians and voila! - they've got a band any girl who wears Abercrombie & Fitch will love.
And that's exactly where Oval Opus comes in.
The band is quoted on their press release as " ... rootsy Midwestern honesty, southern charm and northern industrialism." Or, in other words, it's music any die-hard country fan would seriously want to douse with gasoline and set on fire.
The major problem with Oval Opus is its similarity to every other acoustic-happy group out there.
In fact, their song "The Beautiful One that No One Knows" is so comparable to John Mayer's "No Such Thing," it's a wonder Mayer isn't suing Oval Opus over copyrighted materials - the beginning guitar riff and clicking drum sticks on the snare rim sound identical to the accompaniment to Mayer's "I want to run through the halls of my high school" theme.
Both, by the way, will induce vomiting if listened to for more than five seconds because, unfortunately, they're all talented: they can sing, play instruments and blend it all together - which is obvious, otherwise record labels wouldn't even give them a chance - but they conform to mainstream sound. Bad move on their parts.
Instead of creating new, interesting sounds, it's as if all these pop groups led by male vocalists scrumped in the back seat of their momma's Buick and decided the slimy offspring of each other would be cooler than trying on a new boot.
Well, music lovers have had enough.
Oval Opus isn't any different from all those listed groups up top. Their music has acoustic rhythm guitar on all of their songs, no lead solos, bright, lighthearted vocals and simple bass.
It's disgraceful.
Whatever happened to being different and trying out different sounds? Oval Opus is just another example of a band trying to make it big and ride the success waves of others.
Maybe if they would have tried something more daring and bold, the outcome would have been enjoyed, but since they walked the route Mayer, Simons and Johnson all have, they deserve to be shelved.
But if you still think you'd like to check this band out, they'll be playing at 9 p.m. today at Rick's American Café, 224 Abbott Road.
Suggested listening: Never.
If you liked this band, you might also like: Any other mainstream dude.
