Always wanting to de-couple from the train of rock and roll sameness, mango experiment with sounds from the annals of rock history. The experimenting isn't focused on the use of varied instruments but more of the melding of musical styles of inde rock, folk music,classic rock, the blues, prog rock, acoustic rock and small dashes of electronica. influential recipe- Zepplin, Beck, Guided By Voices, Bread, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Tool, America, Pavement, two peeled mangos, put in blender, viola! Enjoy
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Faux Music/Shy Music
MANGO
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Reviewed by compgeekgirl Sept. 2003
www.southofmainstream.com
This is the second release received this week that immediately conjured up a resemblance to Archers of Loaf. Since several SOM reviewers are fans of Archers of Loaf, this certainly can't be construed as a bad thing.
Mango is made up of George Flores and Mike Kamoo, who, between the two of them, play guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and make a lot of other noises. While several of the lo-fi tunes on the disc definitely resemble Archers of Loaf both musically and vocally, the disc offers so much more, garnering some comparisons to Weezer and Beck.
"Prime Time Apocalypse" is a folky ballad with simple guitar and only a smattering of lo-fi discord. It's beautiful in it's simplicity and sincerity. The vocals, though gruff, are enchanting. "Uber Radio" has a Weezer-esque guitar sound in the same vein as much of the "blue" album, that builds into rockin' guitar noise, ending abruptly with canned applause. "She Wishes She Was A Hippo" makes heavy use of the moog, giving it a mid-90's moog revival feel. "Cactus" has a charming alt-country appeal. Their alt-country cover of "Jump Around" is silly and fun and sounds as if it might have been meant for a Beck album.
Artists who are willing to experiment with music often have it rough, as sometimes experimental is synonymous with unlistenable. Mango has successfully merged experimentation with solid musical standards to ensure listening is a pleasure as well as an experience. This is a disc that will almost certainly find itself a spot on my "play regularly" shelf.
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Review by Mary Montgomery for Hometown CDs
in the San Diego Reader. April, 2004.
"" (yes, this is the title of the opening track) starts things out on the lifeless side. However, tracks "Itching in a 1000 places at Once," "Prime Time Apocolypse," and "Trace" are among the most memorable. The hard-driving "Moving Now" and the deep grooves of
"Folk Fusion Blues" sound as if they were made for the live stage. Other, more energetic tracks all seem to fall into the category of either midtempo rockers or vintage acoustic numbers bordering on all things Zepplinesque.
Beyond the experimental rock aspect of Mango's music, the albums glitzy production quality hints at a repressed pop album lurking underneath. No cause for alarm, however, for the duo's mixing clearly surpasses anything done by the likes of Radiohead, Blur,
or Oasis. A number of the songs have a sad sonority that is offset by a beat that is slightly faster than the vocals of frontman George Flores. This added quirk might take some of the songs longer to get there, but overall, the CD is solid, with a diverse set.
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