OoF

By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Photo provided by, OoF

Meet OoF

We are absolutely popping off on this blog today. Jamming out to the sweet spazzpunk/no-wave/art-rock/post-punk sounds of this iconic NYC-based duo. Comprised of two very cool people Oof proves that the DIY scene is still very much alive. In our latest interview, we chat with Oof about bowling, breathing, and coffee.

“BOWLING” a fill in the blank with OoF

Almost every community in America now has a bowling TOPEKA because bowling has become very SLUDGY with young POP. Most of them become very CLOGGED at the game. The main object of the game is to roll a heavy bowling CLUMP down the alley and knock down the ELEVEN pins which are at the other end. If you knock them down in one roll, it's called a SQUEAK. If it takes two rolls, it's called a BOINK. Many alleys have automatic PUMP setters. Others hire CORNCOBS who set the pins by SANDWICH. The most important thing to remember when bowling is to make sure you have a good grip on the BALL.or you're liable to drop it on your ARMPIT!

Would you rather

your bed breathe heavily, or narrate everything you are doing.

Anna: definitely narrate everything.  I’m actually doing a voice-over narration for an animation right now. It’s great.

Peter: *breathes heavily* 

Some Questions with Oof

How do you feel about the reception of your 2020 release ‘Is This Really Happening?’? 

Peter: It feels strange not to have an album release show, at least, but the dominant feeling is one of relief. Anna and I started writing these songs in the “Before Times,” playing different versions at shows and tweaking afterward. Then the pandemic swept in. Shows were canceled, practice was canceled, and there was a sense that we should get them recorded before they evaporated into the ether. The record wouldn’t sound the same if we’d recorded at any other time.

Anna: This album has a very different sound than our earlier albums. I’m happy we’ve gotten such a positive response and some radio plays. It’s encouraging!

Do you drink Coffee or Tea? How do you take it?

Anna: 2 shots espresso with a splash of milk.

Peter: Coffee, black.

What is the collaborative process like between the two of you?- answered together

Anna: The music develops as we play together and try different approaches to a song. Peter usually writes the lyrics. Our older tapes “Vanity Plate” and “Ego” took more of a straightforward, four-piece band approach. At that point, OOF included a bassist and a drummer, who contributed their own parts.  This new one is more deliberate. Now that we’re recording at home and sharing tracks back and forth so we can do more layering, experimenting, and workshopping.

What are your hopes for the DIY music scene in Brooklyn post-COVID-19?

Peter: I hope we see some familiar faces and the pandemic doesn’t wash too many people out of the city. Venues and bands are always in flux, always existing on the margins, and so you know something will grow back when the sun’s out. But I’ll be sorry if we lose some of the artists and bands I already loved. 

Anna: I hope the scene is more sweaty and intense than ever. I hope all our collective pent-up sorrow, stress and hardship is collectively processed and released through loud, vibrant, intentional, noise-making in packed spaces small and large.

What impact has the current quarantine had on your creative process? - both

Anna: it’s shaken all that was normal before. With OOF, the writing is now done independently and then pieces are brought together. While recording at home there is freedom (and joy) in taking as much time as I want making, arranging, and layering parts. The quarantine has led me to do fast improvised collaborations with my partner (at home) and rekindle an old one remotely with my orchestral funk-pop band in Illinois.

Peter: Everything we did before was very immediate. Show up at practice, play together, talk about the song and work on it together. Recording at home feels very antiseptic (which may be literally the point).  

What was the best toy you remember from your childhood?- either

Anna: Teddy Ruxpin. We’re currently looking for one so he can sing our OOF cassettes for  Peter’s kid.

Peter: It turns out we both had Teddy Ruxpins. I wonder why I haven’t seen a circuit-bent talking bear at a show yet. (I’ve been asking for this for ages and at least someone wrote it into some fiction.

What narratives do you gravitate towards in your writing?- both

Peter: I like thinking about the details of life. What do people do all day? What do they think about? What do they spend their time on? I ask myself these questions and don’t have any good answers, and I wonder if other people do. This year, I’m slowly reading a book called “New York Diaries” which is a day-by-day diary of life in the city, with diary entries from any time during the last 400 years. It’s fascinating. What was George Washington doing on January 29th? What was Andy Warhol doing that same day centuries later? The city changes but people’s wants and worries don’t. 

Anna: my narratives are more musically symbolic. I’ll be thinking about the news and feel a rhythm I explore, or I’m hearing apart and try to sing or play a melody that contradicts a typical response or exaggerates the mood dramatically.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.) 

Peter: All our album artwork has been done by the excellent Cameron Jones, who really needs a website. Also check out Anna’s other music project, Lattice,  here on soundcloud. With artist Justin Edward Moore.

Anna: We’re so happy to have worked with Fuzzy Warbles Cassettes for our last 3 albums. Check out the label. Also couldn’t have made the album without the genius of Jason Willett’s mixing.