Consuming the whole of Oneida’s discography is a daunting task. They’ve been releasing music since 1997 and have humbly outlasted every trend in underground rock over the past three decades better than most of their peers from a gilded era in Brooklyn’s more ambitious Aughts art rock transmissions. People of remember them most as a cornerstones of that time, but their failure to keep up with Oneida in the present is a damn shame (guilty here admittedly, especially since 2005’s The Wedding and their 2009 triple LP peak, Rated O, are usual reference points, but it gets fuzzy thereafter.) They’re never the same band twice nonetheless, and drawing boundaries around their sound is impossible considering they’ve continued to rupture new facets through the worlds of psychedelics, noise rock, krautrock, no wave, and electronic in an ever-shape-shifting way. And yet, 17 albums in with their latest, the late-career recharge, Expensive Air, Kid Millions, Bobby Matador, Hanoi Jane, Shahin Motia, and Barry London reintroduce themselves in an umpteenth new lease on life that states a great case as to why the next gen of alternative listeners should bother digging into their form of rock sculpting that’s unorthodox even by experimental standards once this whole shoegaze and slowcore revival shakes out. This release makes for a perfect rediscovery point just as well for older heads. It’s compact and grounded — dare I say one of their most “traditional”-sounding efforts — opting to pummel dirt and visceral grit deep into sloshing synths, first cohesively in its early stages until they then remind you never to get too comfortable in those surroundings. Electric grooves are pushed to fray and Kid Millions’ drumming in hyperspeed remains an untethered force, bleeding songs into disorienting structures with static discharge. This is Oneida leading you down their uncanny path where even familiar terrain eventually becomes consumed into their rich, unrivaled soil.

Highlights: “Spill”, “Stranger”, “Salt”

Oneida’s Expensive Air is available now on Joyful Noise Recordings.

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