The Surgents

"The Show" CDEP

Octavo Productions

Genre: alternative rock, techno, hard rock

Edmonton, AB

Mar 6, 2009

The Surgents are Dr. Octavo, The Professor, and Ayan Pax, and together they play electronic-infused rock music with impressive polish. Dr. Octavo (Tomas Brabec) has spent years composing techno singles and doing remix work (including a mix for Justin Timberlake), while The Professor is actually Colin Oberst, winner of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada anthem challenge (and apparently an Oilers fan, to boot). Ayan Pax, meanwhile, is a lawyer.

Overall, this sort of pop-rock is nothing spectacular or particularly inventive, but it has been pulled off with impressive fluency. Lead single "The Show" is the principal focus on this disc, and it is a fairly infectious slab of programmed hard rock. And the best thing is, if you didn't like the original, there's four other mixes to choose from! In fact, the punchy "Dr. Octavo Dance Radio Mix" turns out to be the best one here, even rivalling the original.

"Calls in the Night" is the auxiliary single, and it resembles its predecessor but features more synthesizers and a more immediately catchy chorus. Five additional mixes are provided, including a refreshing acoustic version. Meanwhile, I find "Terra Mater" to be the strongest composition here, while "Talk Talk" is bland and irritating. The Surgents' The Show is a consistent work of polished rock music and techno remixing, although it could afford to take a few risks. 

the surgents' myspace

70%

Fun Fact: The Show is probably one of very few records to have the words Roman Hamrlik appear on it. Go Habs go!

youuuuuuuutube!: "the show" video

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 5 tracks, distributed by the label, released April 2008]