Baltimore’s Oho recorded Okinawa in 1974, investing it with a weirdness rooted somewhere in Barrett-era Pink Floyd. Some pyschedelia, some art noise, some bizarre theatrics — but all-around inventive and well crafted.
Dark Side features some of the same people as Oho. Rumours in Our Own Time, an entertaining collection of rock and silliness, verges on being mainstream, but pulls away often enough to keep it interesting. The self-released work of Baltimore-area smartalecks with chops, Dark Side brings sources as diverse as Alice Cooper, Bruce Springsteen, rockabilly and the Bonzo Dog Band together in funny numbers (“Blow It Up,” “Fun in Nicaragua”) as well as serious ones (“Lamented Love,” “Nobody’s Girl”). With abundant enthusiasm, the guitar/bass/drums/keyboards/horns lineup makes consistently engaging old-wave American rock that shows incipient signs of modern weirdness and an up-to-date sensibility.