Quite simply top (Onka's Big Monka - Toploader)

Member Name: moronboy

Product:	Onka's Big Monka - Toploader
Date:	21/11/00 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Genuinely upbeat

Disadvantages: None

Infinitely less mannered than a lot of current indie-ish bands, blending rock with a self-confident caucasian hijack of soul / gospel / funk rhythms and techniques, 'Onka's Big Moka' is a scorchingly good album.

Leave aside the familiar and quite outstandingly catchy 'Dancing in the Moonlight', which will be circulating your mind like an escaped tiger for days - surely you know that's good. But the rest of the album is just as good. Each track has verve and energy to put the plastic enthusiasm of innumerable pop acts instantly to shame.

Joseph Washbourn's piano and the high-pitched choruses (especially on 'Breathe' occasionally recall Ben Folds Five, which is no bad thing in my opinion, while numerous tracks - 'Do you know what your future will be?', 'Just Hold On' - are very much like the Stones. Other bands have been here before (I was reminded of the very Stones-y 'Give out but don't give up' by Primal Scream and 'Us and Us Only' by the Charlatans). Oasis have built a career on the Beatles, and Blur would be nowhere without The Kinks, so it's nice to see the other truly great British band showing their influence, but this isn't a complete ripoff (in the way that the entertaining 'Give Out..' was), it's just 12 very upbeat, funky songs performed with great heart and - crucially - a good deal of soul.

More please.

Summary: