Oucho Sparks preview

Oucho Sparks
Portage Theatre, Chicago
Thursday, November 8, 2007

Eight-piece Chicago band Oucho Sparks’ Portage Theatre gig will be their first in three years, but don’t call it a come back. Truth is, the group wasn’t broken up, just taking their sweet time with a new album.

Ironic a band who released three albums between 1998 and 2001 would take three years alone on one record, but that’s what Oucho Sparks did on their most recent, Foreign Cars And Robots (Dragon Watermelon/Ballistico). To be fair, there were distractions. The group operated the Elmhurst art gallery/live music venue Café Ballistico until it was torn down, and head Sparkster Tim Sandusky was busy producing other musicians’ records at his Studio Ballistico. Still, three years? It’s not Chinese Democracy territory, but a long-ass time nonetheless. Foreign Cars sounds like a record that would take as long as it did to be made, though – huge, over-the-top, bi-polar pop rock that bounces from one extreme to the other. Sandusky and Laura Grey’s intricate harmonies alone on “For Proceeds,” “5ft5,” and “A Contest” sound like they took months to perfect. Apparently the only thing more elaborate than a new Oucho Sparks album is a show that promotes the new album. If the group is being truthful, expect light shows, costumes, flying saucers, a marching band, and more to celebrate their not-a-comeback return.

– Trevor Fisher

Click here for streaming samples of Foreign Cars And Robots.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly