JoCo's "WIsh to Be Nautical"

Wish to Be Nautical is the third album by JoCo, and JoCo is the brainchild of one Jonathan O'Connor, a Fort Worth cat who also plays in a dubwise band called Drift Era. When I reviewed JoCo's previous release, A Troubling Noise, for the FW Weekly, I closed my spiel with what might have been construed as a rather backhanded comparison to Pink Floyd. And no fooling, this shiny silver disc will still elicit comparisons to Ummagumma or Meddle-era Floyd from listeners of a certain age, just as I'm sure it'll evoke Radiohead in the mind's eyes of listeners from Mr. O'Connor's own age cohort. But these are not bad things.

As it happens, I really like this music. Sub Oslo or Top Secret...Shhh it ain't, but this is more than the sound of some basement (or garage -- they don't build basements in North Central Texas) brats aping their influences; there's a palpable musical intelligence at work here. JoCo's use of lugubrious tempos, found sounds, static, keyboard drones, crunchy guitars, and feedback creates a heady ambience that's the perfect soundtrack for cogitating, contemplating 'n' philosophizing, or cleaning the house. In that regard, it's not unlike Brian Eno's work from back when he was still "rock" enough to employ badass axe-slingers like Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera to decorate his soundscapes.

Downloadable for free via Soundcloud (link above), or in corporeal form at Doc's Records in the Fort.