Oceanator at Warsaw
photo by Amanda M Hatfield

Oceanator announces new LP co-prod. Bartees Strange, shares song ft. Jeff Rosenstock on sax

Oceanator, the project of Brooklyn indie rock musician Elise Okusami, has announced her sophomore album, Nothing’s Ever Fine, due April 8 via Polyvinyl (pre-order on pink vinyl). The album was co-produced by Bartees Strange, alongside Elise herself and her brother/bandmate Mike Okusami. Elise handled guitars, synths, bass, keys, and vocals, and longtime collaborator Andrew Whitehurst drummed on most songs, and there are also a handful of other cool contributors. Lead single “Bad Brain Daze” features sax by recent tourmate (and Polyvinyl labelmate) Jeff Rosenstock and gang vocals from members of Groupie, Bad Moves, Maneka, The Sonder Bombs, Long Neck, Late Bloomer and Alright. “It’s a chorus of friends all going through it,” Elise said. “It felt nice to have that connection, even if it was pieced together with emails of files.”

I don’t know if it’s just because Oceanator just covered Sponge’s “Plowed” from Empire Records, but “Bad Brain Daze” is giving me a very ’90s teen movie alt-rock soundtrack vibe, and that is not a bad thing at all. And it’s not ska, like her recent collaboration with JER was, but Jeff’s ska-esque horn parts definitely add to the ’90s-ness of it all. And it sounds fresh as can be today too. It comes with a video directed by Jeff’s Antarctigo Vespucci bandmate Chris Farren (and starring Jeff as “Saxophone Man”), and you can watch that below.

“When Elise asked me to direct a music video for her, I thought ‘I don’t know how to do that!,’ but I said ‘Yes! I know how to do that!’ and quietly panicked for the next 3 weeks,” Chris said. “Luckily ‘how make music video’ yields tons of YouTube results. The video we came up with is a fantastical little day-in-the-life tale about anxiety, productivity, dread, and being horrifically ripped in half by cartoon animals.”

Oceanator are playing a headlining hometown show on April 5 at Knitting Factory Brooklyn with Spirit Was and Stimmerman, three days before the album comes out, followed by a show on the Polyvinyl Patio in Champaign, IL, which will stream live. Then they’re heading out on tour opening for their labelmates Pedro the Lion. That includes another Brooklyn show on April 25 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. All dates are listed below.

Oceanator

Tracklist
1. Morning
2. Nightmare Machine
3. The Last Summer
4. Beach Days (Alive Again)
5. Solar Flares
6. Post Meridian
7. Stuck
8. From the Van
9. Bad Brain Daze
10. Summer Rain
11. Evening

Oceanator — 2022 Tour Dates
04/05 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory
04/10 – Champaign, IL @ Polyvinyl Patio
04/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar #
04/13 – Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard #
04/14 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater #
04/15 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk #
04/16 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall #
04/18 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn #
04/19 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East #
04/20 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West #
04/21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
04/23 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat #
04/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer #
04/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
04/26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall #
04/28 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre #
04/29 – Columbus, OH @ Skullys #
04/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI #
05/01 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall #
05/03 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line #

# w/ Pedro The Lion

Oceanator
photo by Alex Joseph