This One Time, On Bandcamp: Ogopogo

Ogopogo — Melbourne, Australia

Ogopogo are a band. More than that, they're the best kind of band: the kind of band that make you instantly ask yourself, "What the fuck?" before following that thought up a few seconds later with a reflexive, "This. Is. Awesome."

Named for a cryptozoological wonder who would easily destroy both Champ and the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo — by design — don't easily fit into any simple pigeonhole, which makes my job both more difficult and more fun.

Take Crabs, the opening track on their debut self-titled EP, which was released last month. Kicking off with an infectious surf-rock vibe, the central refrain — Crabs! Shuffling, shuffling crabs! — dares the listener to dismiss the group's music as pure novelty, like a weirder, more experimental Nerf Herder, but there are legitimately impressive musical chops at the core of these unpredictable tunes.

(That innate musicianship shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, of course — the band does comprise members of other talented outfits, including The Seven Ups, 8Foot Felix, Mangelwurzel and Jaala.)

Crabs itself, for example, eschews its beachier vibes in favour of a sudden left turn into outright jazz fusion, the time-signature loosening and instrumentation switching from rock standard to loungy goodness, including sax and trumpet and haunting, floating vocals explaining, Crabs will find you; there's nothing you can do.

It finishes six miles and five-and-a-half minutes away from where it started, and it is a ride, friends. And that's just the first track. The songs that ensue follow similar metamorphoses, though to call them "similar" is a little disingenuous — in fact, these songs are nothing alike, save for the loose connection of being totally nuts and massively entertaining.

The horn-driven Rat Tsunami briefly detours into chaotic rap, the off-kilter, the keys-laden, expansive wonder of Derby Girl kicks off with a spot of a cappella, and closing effort Kitty Morphine descends into outright cacophony before introducing, apropos nothing, a minute-and-a-bit spoken-word sketch then creeping back in for its urgent finish.

Throughout it all, the group's lyrics dwell in absurdist realms while still being, somehow, perfect complements to their creative fusion of jazz, rock, comedy and the myriad other musical styles that the sextet have brought into their magnetic melange.

It's not just on record that this group stands out, either; their live shows are also a spectacle unto themselves, so be sure to keep an eye on their Facebook page for future event announcements, because Ogopogo are a band well worth your time and effort, especially given how much of theirs they've clearly poured into this enterprise.