Astronauts of Antiquity

Rocket Science for Dummies

By: Nicole Gonder

Posted: 4/8/09

Urban. Electro. Organica. Vogue. OK, so only the first three are actually adjectives used by the band to describe themselves. The whole period. After. Every. Word. Just seems so Madonna-esque that I couldn't help myself.

Alright, so my first impression is that this is another one of those bands with multiple labels that don't make any sense and shouldn't be applied in the first place. I guess Astronauts of Antiquity is urban…? I'm not sure what an urban sound is since it can range from hip hop to guys banging on trash cans. In order to fully understand what "urban" sounds like, I started to look around on the Internet. I came across a couple of different record labels (all with bad 90s graphics) and even an Urban Institute. Basically, I have no idea how an urban sound applies to this record, so I'm just going to ignore it. Along that same thread, what is organica? Have I been out of the loop for too long? Or could this mean that the instruments are made from all natural corn products? Of course I don't believe they're playing with corn, but organica could take on any number of meanings.

The only thing I know for sure is that the term "electro" works for this band. They use a lot of synthesizers and heavy, techno beats, with a mix of jazz and lounge, of all things. The lead singer, India, has a nice, clear voice that isn't over the top and actually fits with this style of music. B. Rhyan (Brian in super secret disguise?) is the guitar and sometimes sitar player and he does a pretty good job, too.

So far AoA's second album "Rocket Science for Dummies" has received positive reviews from critics across the Internet. I won't say that the CD is bad, it is just not for me and probably not for other college students. It just sounds a little too jazzy, lounge-y, and electro-y for me, which somehow creates an overall adult contemporary feel to it. College students can enjoy these things separately for sure, but the combination feels a touch too old. B. Rhyan and India, husband and wife, by the way, are also a little older themselves, which again is fine. But, they do not bring any youth or energy to this album which makes it more difficult for a younger audience to connect with.

While I appreciate the effort to cram as many genres into music as possible, the songs feel a bit over-worked. I don't mean to bash the band, but they feel a bit overworked too. I mean, urban electro organic? India and B. Rhyan? And the song titles … "Sup a Soul," "Emo Healing," "Miss Caroline," "Sweet-tooth," and "Soup du Jour"? They're trying way too hard to be different, and the music suffers for it. All these names and random mix of songs don't really give me the overall idea of the band. Separately the songs are intriguing, but together, there isn't much of a point.

Overall Grade: C-. Skip it.