Opposite Day

Let it never be said that Opposite Day are slacking in any respect. Since 2008 they have released a string of recordings that have honed their “math-pop” sound to a fine edge. What, you might ask, is “math-pop”? It’s a lot like math-rock only more melodic than your average practitioner, so you have complex metric structures, interlocking lines on the bass and guitar, and precise coordination between all the parts. But on top of that you have Sam Arnold’s great voice belting out catchy melodies with interesting lyrics. All of this is packed into concise songs, none of which tops five minutes in length, and it never really tips into metal territory in spite of the flashy guitar work. There’s a relentless energy that can leave a listener longing for a little break, but no, they dive right back into another crazy riff with sixteenth notes on the guitar, with only brief sections of relative peace. Greg Yancey’s bass is fluid and funky, meshed precisely with Pat Kennedy’s drums, and they always know where the one is, even if the listener gets lost. Arnold’s guitar parts are all over the place, with arpeggios, countermelodies, tapping, wild solos, and effects, and how he manages to sing and play such parts at the same time is beyond me. For this studio recording, he’s also overdubbed a lot of extra guitar and vocal parts, and Yancey adds some keyboards, further beefing up the sound and adding some variety. In a few places, there are guest players as well, contributing brass, woodwinds, strings, piano, and mallet percussion. Their take on Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” brings the iconic song into their idiom, though it is somewhat less frenetic than the average Opposite Day original. Very wisely, they end the set with a short arrangement of Ravel’s famous “Bolero,” which is by far the least complicated thing they do, building the familiar melody over the course of four minutes to its big climax. I Calculate Great is an impressive album from start to finish — just don’t expect to get any time to breathe while listening.

by Henry Schneider, 2017-10-27:

Austin’s Sam Arnold and Opposite Day are back with a vengeance on their new album, I Calculate Great, their tenth album. Looking at the cover art, I surmise that a couple of panda astronauts in an alternative universe made some wrong calculations with their “Panda Formula,” developed a “Radar Face” by staring at the screens too long while suffering from scurvy and trying to answer the question is there “Life on Mars?” subsequently landing on the wrong planet in their Mercury capsule in the middle of a tornado and getting stuck in a tree. The pandas then investigate the “Noise Noise” heard on entry and assess “All of Our Mission” by walking in a field of poppies and carrying a six-pack Igloo cooler. But perhaps I am reading too much into this. Coming from a different angle, I Calculate Great presents eight new original songs and two cover tracks that blend heavy bass riffing ala Les Claypool, rapid aggressive drumming, strong progressive guitar work, and the Tornadorchestra (mallet percussion, piano, cellos, woodwinds, violins, violas, and trombone). Opposite Day’s new drummer Eoghan McColskey is excellent and full of energy. And of course Sam Arnold on guitar and Greg Yancey on bass continue to push the envelope. The guests, The Tornadorhestra, include members of other bands in the Austin community such as Stop Motion Orchestra, The Invincible Czars, and Sam Arnold and the Secret Keepers. The two cover tunes, for me, are the album highlights. It is very brave of Opposite Day to cover David Bowie, especially one of his iconic tunes “Life on Mars?” Opposite Day have actually reinterpreted this song using their distinct sound. In fact, you don’t even recognize the song until Sam’s voice enters with the lyrics. They have created an excellent and wonderful heavy prog-metal version. And the album closer, which is arguably the best track on the disc and could be the best Opposite Day tune ever, is their superb rendition of Ravel’s “Bolero” that showcases each band members’ strong chops, be it on drums, bass, or lead guitar. Sam’s multi-layered guitar shows a true appreciation for this well known classical music piece. And just like an orchestral performance, Opposite Day slowly builds to a bombastic climax and essentially a “mic drop” to close the disc. Opposite Day are on tour during October 2017, so if you happen to live in Austin,TX, Denton, TX, Kansas City, MO, Lawrence, KS, or Tulsa, OK make it a point of hearing them live. - Expose

Opposite Day's 10th album – and last with Roland V-Drums national champion Pat Kennedy – rewires neural pathways through sheer musical force. Kennedy's kick drum serves as fulcrum while guitarist/vocalist Sam Arnold and bassist Greg Yancey construct increasingly intricate spirals that fuse Lee Ritenour to Iron Maiden. In doing so, they navigate past labyrinthine intellectual stimulation into pure gape-mouthed joy. By never letting superlative prowess with tightly wound time changes overwhelm the feel and intent of the songs, the trio avoids prog rock's eternal hobble. Whether he's crash-landing pandas on a distant planet or making tornadoes, Arnold's sci-fi lyrical bent befits sonic complexities like the exotic string arrangement at the coda of "Do Over Utopia." A cover of David Bowie's "Life on Mars" sneaks into the narrative before a slow-build reimagining of Ravel's "Bolero" delivers the parting blast. - Austin Chronicle

31|08|2010 [11:06:50] Jean-Philippe Haas
The Texans have been emerging little by little from the Austin's alternative scene for around eight years now, and they are starting to get positive feedback out of their native state. Their latest disk, "What Is Is?", confirmed once more the musical choices made by the band since 2003, an unpredictable and technical punk-rock played by a line up of virtuosos far from being afraid by all kinds of breaks or, according to the latest official definition, the "Mongolian Surf Prog For Animals" [sic], in reference to the traditional Mongolian song "Mandukhai", rearranged for the occasion.

This new EP does not shatter much the fundamentals even if some brass and new percussions tones make their appearance. From the very start, Sam Arnold and his two acolytes offer with "Wolves" a direct and fiery song, in order to disperse any possible reluctance. Then, "Serious Inspector" reminds that Opposite Day isn't always that predictable. Thus, Manukhai EP's nine tracks constitute an incredibly dense framework, swarming with appealing alternative rock patterns, steady rhythms, unexpected breaks, a mass of hard to follow ideas ("Don't Desintegrate"), and a good dose of humour which wouldn't have left Frank Zappa unsensitive.

The rhythmic section led by Greg Yancey's bass and Pat Kennedy's drums plays as many complex grooves than wrenching steamrollers. And even though the trio is used to get done quickly with things, the musicians shyly try more subtle formats. But in the end, they will never be as comfortable as in their three-minute ultra-dense smashing tracks like "El Pollo Del Sol Mi Corazon", "Orderly Universe" or the instrumental "Carrots!". While waiting for Tron's original soundtrack's rearrangement in 2011 (!), Mandukhai allows us to enter the fall with a smile on the face, and something that will keep us waiting for a moment. - Progressia.net

By Alex Daniel | Thursday, September 2, 2010, 04:33 PM


Name a genre, and you can almost guarantee that Opposite Day dabbles in it on
“Mandukhai,” the recently released companion EP to the band’s fourth full-length. Dissonant post-hardcore and noodly math rock? Definitely. Surf rock and spastic jazz fusion? Absolutely. Bilingual thrash metal and tribal, percussion-centric world music? Surprisingly, yes.
On the band’s website, Opposite Day proclaims to have “loosened the stylistic standards for Austin’s music scene for the last 9 years,” and given the breadth of this variety, they certainly have the tools to do so. The seamless, quirky manner in which they glide between genres while maintaining a punk sensibility nearly makes these musicians the kindred Texan spirits of the Dismemberment Plan — another band with an irreverent eccentricity that could disarm the most steadfast elitists.
But that’s where the comparison ends. Opposite Day’s music has a heavier sensibility, and it doesn’t strive for emotional nuance. What really makes “Mandukhai” special is simply the stellar musicianship. From the razor-sharp punk riffage of opener “Wolves” to the jazzy bass walk of instrumental “Carrots,” it’s clear that these guys are studied, clever and right at home in weird Austin. - Austin360.com (Austin American Statesman)

The real review in French is here: http://www.progressia.net/index.php4?rub=chroniques&idchronik=1128

This is traslated by Babelfish:

After Fictional Biology with the renovating virtues (cf our chronicle), Opposite Day is back with Safety First, a third album built on an identical formula: short and direct formats, truffés of changes and small lucky finds. The trio benefits from it to revisit the definition of its music: "art-pop, experimental-punk, hyperabsurd uneasy-listening with has smile". A whole program! Not tedious repetitions, useless lengths or diagrams solidified on Safety First, Opposite Day has since its beginnings with Economics For Mr. Ugly taken the party to surprise by equipping each one with its pieces of a dynamics which is clean for him, also short or simple it with the first access was. Oscillating between one minute thirty and almost five minutes, the seventeen titles of Safety First brew as on Fictional Biology quantity of influences, rock'n'roll and pop at the head, jazz, punk and metal according to near. The album starts on the hats of wheels with "Solid baby", cocktail punk-rock'n'roll survitaminé, typical of the receipt of Opposite Day: energy, humour, economy, and this small something in more which raises sauce. A discrete sophistication traverses the album thus, visiting all the styles, of pop of "Laurentide" to the jazz-rock'n'roll of "Elephant In A Pharmacy" But Safety First goes also further that Fictional Biology, somewhat moderating its metal heats with the profit of new new approaches for the group: folk-pop on "Install Paul Scoon"/"Astronomy Overflowed" or jazz-funk on "Brains". The longest titles like "Like An Alien" or "Spaceman Woman" will point out Kevin Gilbert or the most immediate compositions of Neal Morse, even if it is strong to bet that our three accomplices never intended to speak about these individuals! The few defects of Fictional Biology are forgotten. Top of its fifty minutes, Safety First acquires the statute of true album vis-a-vis at large frustrating half an hour of its predecessor. In addition, a production and arrangements more worked appreciably make it possible low of Greg Yancey to make devastations with its grooves hot, supported by the at the same time effective and subtle striking of the new beater Pat Kennedy while Sam Arnold deploys a play of guitar varied, often direct but which can also be done sober and moderate. Opposite Day is allowed on Safety First to make screws it with all the kinds which it practises, never not falling into theirs through. Under cover of tempting humour and atours, American makes a success of the performance to marry complexity with simplicity. Oh, and then rather than to lose itself in a vain synthesis, let us leave the care with Opposite Day to close this chronicle: We sound like Zappa, goal more poppy and heavy. Like the Pixies, goal more shreddy and jazzy. Concise Like King Crimson, goal more and absurd. Like Primus drank more melodic. Like Steely daN drank more insane and metal. Like They Might Be Giants drank heavier and mathier. Like Madonna. Exactly like Madonna. All is known as! Jean-Philippe Haas - Progressia.net

Austinites Opposite Day have been cranking out weirdo punk music for six years now, and Safety First is the band's third album, which makes them "official." Like most punk bands, the majority of songs last around two to three minutes. And while Opposite Day is definitely punk, the album's 17 tracks explore motley styles, ranging from hardcore to acoustic to experimental to Incubus-esque, all with silly and strange lyrics, which is why they call themselves "absurdist." The bass is, of course, a key element in Safety First, although sometimes it's a little too high and sometimes a little too funky and sometimes just immature. "Laurentide" surprisingly brings a bit more pop and accessibility, and "Astronomy Overflowed" carries a Simon-and-Garfunkel vocal style over a guitar that trickles like a gentle stream. - Austinist.com

In the bizarro world of Austin's Opposite Day, "Safety First" isn't exactly a motto that comes to mind. No sooner has opener "Solid Baby" settled into a fairly blasé ska-inflected pop-punk than Greg Yancey drops a funky bassline, bringing the song to a standstill and leading into Sam Arnold's surf riffs. Safety First only unwinds from there, an unruly, unpredictable stew as impressive as it is bewildering. Like an improbable Weezer/Red Hot Chili Peppers collaboration, guitars explode atop intimidating bass then lull into absurdist lyrical melodies: "Elephant and me. In a pharmacy." The cartoonish detour of "Federalist 10" and zombie anthem "Brains!" sound like Spike Jones plundering Frank Zappa's garage, while the banjo of "Aztec Princess" sits in why-the-hell-not fashion alongside the beat-boxing of "Laurentide." Add the poetic, acoustic "Astronomy Overflowed," and everything seems inverted. Opposite Day may lack direction, but all the fun's in the wandering. - Austin Chronicle

If there's one thing Austin needs right now, it's more bands with songs about 5-year-old superspies, cannibalistic bagels, and monkeys throwing their own feces. This is not sarcasm: In the wake of the capital city's silent (and now smoke-free) spring, Opposite Day's freewheeling, absurdist debut is a welcome batch of high-spirited non sequiturs. Musically, the local threepiece plots a course marked by schizophonic guitars, limber drumming, and loads of, as Anthony Kiedis once so eloquently put it, "funky-ass Flea bass." While they obviously owe a debt to earlier rock oddballs like Frank Zappa and They Might Be Giants, Opposite Day is still very much a unique specimen, and Economics contains enough hairpin turns to frustrate the most ice-veined Formula One driver. Although there are the inevitable moments of high-concept wankery, along with a handful of head-scratching interludes, the 311-ish "Adam Smith" and breezy bossa nova "Candyland Bomb Squad" suggest that underneath all the gee-whiz grandstanding lurk actual songs. "Android Food" feels imported from a Fishbone album, but it's hard not to be swayed by the lubricious rhythms. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, comes the killer psych-rock intro to "Danger! Monkey." If Opposite Day ever figures out exactly what it is they're going for, they could really turn some heads. Even if they don't, however, their fantastical menagerie of cephalopods and androids already offers a much-needed respite from the rational world. - The Austin Chronicle

... Austinites the Invincible Czars made new fans when they invited Opposite Day, a local act that did not participate in SXSW, to play a song during the Czars midnight showcase at Latitide 30.

"The audience and SXSW staff raved," Czars czar Josh Robbins said. "The stage manager said it was one of the coolest things he's seen in 10 years of SXSW. We think they're the best band in town." - The Austin American Statesman

Opposite Day's rocking Fictional Biologyy showcases the three piece band's funky, eclectic sound and general admiration of all things rock. Sam Arnold (guitar/vocals), Ethan Herr (Percussion), and Greg Yancey (Bass) have come to rock your face off with this CD loaded with feel good music. "Middle of the Street" reminds me of a nice summer day, riding down the boulevard looking for sufing cuties, and sipping drinks from out of brown paper bags when I was in high school. Not to say that Opposite Day's sound is sophmoric. Far from it! The music on this album simply puts you in a great mood to rock out. It also showcases their advanced musical attributes. This is the perfect party music for a small get together of friends. "This song does not exist" is sure to get your party guests off their seats and up on their feet. The guitar starts off subtle and jazzy, turning suddently into a funky ska riff. Sure to groove you are "It's a deal" and "Where did it all go?" "Gravity Personified" is a great song to get down to, with its slowed down bridge and sped up guitar rhythms. Fictional Biology by Opposite Day is definitely an album to add to your collection if you have not already.
- San Marcos Scene

The Following is translated from French by Babelfish. The original is here: http://www.progressia.net/?rub=chroniques&idchronik=1043

Educational art rock'n'roll for animals". It is the definition provided by Opposite Day to qualify its music. Although incomplete and somewhat restrictive, "System Of A Down is degraded with Frank Zappa" would undoubtedly be a definition more speaking. Indeed, this trio texan delivers in its second album Fictional Biology of the at the same time short, powerful and removed from rim songs, between alternative rock'n'roll, jazz and metal. But all is not also simple. In spite of the extreme concision of the titles (between two minutes and four minutes thirty), Opposite Day succeeds in placing there more variations than of many groups of supposedly progressive rock'n'roll in their slices of bread of fifteen minutes. Sometimes unexpected variations which confer an interest unceasingly renewed on each listening. By way of example, one will find funk, jazz and the punk one in instrumental "the Yo! O.D. Rock'n'rolls the Club ". The influence of Frank Zappa is one of more shouting, as much in the incongruity of the transitions that in the humour of the texts... but it is not only, far from there: Gentle Giant ("Stinky"), System Of A Down ("Sweatshirt Song", "Southeast Asia"), Midnight Oil ("The Monroe Doctrine" furiously evokes the whole first discs of Australian), The Monty Python (the words of "It' S A Deal" are as uninteresting as to die of laughing) answer also present at the call of this completely shifted album. Inter alia jokes, Opposite Day began again in concert and for its manner the totality of compilation "The Immaculate Collection" of Madonna... with more or less of happiness it should be underlined! Result to note on the official site... An album runs (much too short! Thirty minutes hardly!) and full with freshness which slips between the ears with a disconcerting facility. Completely essential in these times of humorous food shortage, Fictional Biology will advantageously replace your box of Prozac for a ridiculous sum. And the only side effects to fear are the smile and irrepressible dodelinement of the head.

Jean-Philippe Haas - Progressia.net

Inside the minds of Opposite Day (9/07)

By Brooke Palmer

With all the bands out of Austin, why should anyone care about three-piece, art-rock band Opposite Day? First, their sound offers a little something for everyone. Second, they’re schooled and extremely talented instrumentalists. Finally, they are captivating live.

Guitarist/lead vocalist Sam Arnold and bassist Greg Yancey have been playing together since 2001, when they connected through a musicians’ classified ad. Current drummer Pat Kennedy joined in 2005. Together the three make strange music. They haven’t created a new genre, but they’ve taken the best aspects of a variety of genres and molded them into a weird mix of songs. This mix morphs from one sound to the next before there’s time to get bored. Their music is a breed of jazz, acid rock, heavy metal, pop, classic and the occasional cheese (for instance, they’ve performed a variety of Madonna songs live). Stringing all these styles together are long instrumental solos reminiscent of Frank Zappa.

Curious? Check out their new, third album Safety First. Subject-wise the 17-song recording centers on the beautiful and mundane aspects of life - from animals and glaciers to paperwork. “The lyrics are about all kinds of feelings and concepts presented in an opaque and bizarre way,” says Arnold. “I kind of enjoy figuring out what I was trying to say a year after I wrote the song.”

“Like An Alien” is almost self-reflective. “I don’t smoke or do drugs or drink all that much, and I’m on the heavy-rock live music scene,” explains Arnold. “I’m a Yankee. I’m an Atheist. I’m a liberal in Texas. That song is about all of that, but it’s also about a real space alien and all of his sci-fi angst.”

Better than actually listening to Safety First at full volume is to see the band perform live. The natural energy that they exude while navigating abrupt changes and complex instrumental solos with precision is something to behold. One can get lost in the sound of an individual instrument or in the universe of combined sound explosions.
With all this talent, energy and creativity; where does Opposite Day see themselves in five years?

“With another five albums done, some good shows around the world under our belt and a handful of people who get giddy when they hear us play,” reports Arnold. “Sad, whiny, laptop music will have gone out - and what we do will become cool - in which case I’ll be famous or nearly famous,” he exclaims.

http://harderbeat.com/archive/sept07/html/feature003.html
- Harder Beat Magazine

By Marc Perlman • Jul 21st, 2009 • Category: Featured Story, Sound Reviews •

Opposite Day has crossed a lot of different sonic boundaries over their career. They’ve played the hard rock/metal hangout of Room 710 and they’ve played the world/reggae/jam confines of Flamingo Cantina. And, they’ve brought their act to the insanely colorful and absurd Carousel Lounge more than once. If there’s one thing to know about Opposite Day, it’s that since their 2003 debut Economics of Mr. Ugly, the band has refused to be stylistically pinned down. Thankfully their fourth album What Is Is? (Future Banana Replacement) is fourteen more tracks of indescribable infectious rock and roll.

On Economics for Mr. Ugly, Opposite Day charted a deviant course of twisting funky bass lines, quirky lyrics, and spunky guitars. Then on their subsequent releases after the departure of their original drummer, seemed to lose a bit of the mad scientist meets The Minutemen vibe and dabbled in something that would best be described as almost Phish band friendly. Fortunately, over the past two or three years, the crazy gene has returned to their DNA and the band that made both Madonna and Disney show tune covers so much fun reappeared! On What Is Is?, Greg Yancey’s bass lines pop, Sam Arnold’s guitars buzz just enough, and Pat Kennedy helps the band march to the beat of another planet again.

Beginning with “Bacteria Know Everything” and “Hungry Kitchen”, the band sounds once again like something Mike Watt might have dreamed up if he were forced to listen to Frank Zappa records nonstop before recording. The beauty of Opposite Day has always been that it’s almost impossible not to love them, because they’re so goddamned different and it never sounds forced. If you can’t smile when Arnold sings the chorus of “Vegetablesssssss! Vegetablessssss! Oh my mom, won’t you send me some” on (what else?) “Vegetables”, you are hopefully six feet underground. Opposite Day has always excelled at blending an edge of metal shredding with the noodling of a jam band, but on “Earthworms” the band finally combines both parts of that split personality into their most accessible song yet with a powerful hook filled chorus. In the days when college radio actually existed, “Earthworms” would conceivably be played before the 3am math rock weirdo hour — it’s that good. Nowadays, there’s got to be a faint hope that a taste making blog can appreciate the song, right?

On “What Is Is?”, Opposite Day have come full circle from their debut and their explorations of their second and third albums. Years ago they played The Little Mermaid’s “Under the Sea”; now they’re a band that covers “Martha My Dear” and still don’t sound a bit grown up. From Disney to Lennon and McCartney, from metal to funk, or from indie to jam band all that matters is that listening to Opposite Day is guaranteed to spread a grin from ear to ear.
- Austin Sound (austinsound.net)

Opposite Day comes from the Mike Patton/Frank Zappa school of spaz-funk, but on its latest, the local trio evolves beyond slap bass and Madonna covers. More melody abounds on disc No. 4, as in "Hungry Kitchen," where the harmonic spray of chorus ("They're not human") is swept up by Oingo Boingo-ish verses. Animals and science are common in Opposite Day compositions, so on opener "Bacteria Know Everything," when singer/guitarist Sam Arnold states, "They look like fun bacteria; they look locomotive photosynthetic," it sounds like both gibberish and truth. Hyperspeed rant via the title track pits bassist Greg Yancey's four-string fluidity against Arnold's internal editor, as does the more streamlined "Current Currency Current." There are moments of deceleration (a cover of the Beatles' "Martha My Dear" never quite takes off), but there's nothing wrong with putting a little thought back under the microscope. - Austin Chronicle

Opposite Day are no newcomers to me: I’ve enjoyed my fair share of I Calculate Great and Space Taste Race, Part Zero, their two 2017 releases, but today marks the release of Divide by Nothing, their latest EP, and their best yet.

Art rock, progressive rock, math rock: those are the terms with which you’d best describe the songs here, even though the band has already dabbled in other genres. Here, however, the Texan trio pushes things farther into art territory, especially on “The Only Way to Travel”, a real upbeat, funky, and creative track that’s really the highlight of this EP. Going from what sounds like Superlocrian to Whole-Tone, while keeping it all joyful, almost Zappalike or Bunglesque… Major props to them!

The rest of Divide by Nothing is also full of the same kind of idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. If you haven’t enjoyed Opposite Day yet, now is the best time to do so! - Can this Even Be Called Music?