quickcrit - music reviews

On their recently released album, Supper Club, The Goodnight Loving continue to shed the twang in favor of fuzzy garage pop. While I loved the country punk of their early albums, I dig the retro party vibe. "The Pan" (mp3) sounds like a roughed up and snotty Beach Boys stomper with a sweet riff in the middle, while "Earworm" fulfills on its promise, loading the song with a catchy chorus, surf guitar and some shrieks of joy. At fifteen songs, there is plenty to enjoy, whether it is how "Summer Dreams" recalls British Invasion or "Bike + Stick" retains some of their country roots. I missed their set at last year's garage festival, but since their album just came out on Portland's Dirtnap Records, I bet that they'll be back soon.

You can stream the album over at Punknews.org.

I think the most laughable part of this post is how I eagerly emailed Awmercy and Nightrain weeks ago asking for dibs on this review... don't I feel every bit the fool now?

Peggy Sue has been doing a video of one song in each city on their tour. They made a video in Portland the other day at the Burnside Skatepark before their show at Mississippi Studios. It’s just vocals, drums and the sound of the skaters. It's a pretty cool idea. The skatepark gives it some local flavor and really emphasizes the percussion in the song.

I have no idea what the future holds for indie music labels, but last week's sold out concert at Mississippi Studios demonstrated the value of the label as a trusted music curator. The lineup featured two new Frenchkiss Records bands: Local Natives, who released their debut (in the U.S.) in February and Suckers, who release their debut this month. These two indie rock bands paired perfectly, taking their use of world beats and poly-rhythms in too different directions: Suckers a step towards the dance floor and Local Natives a step towards the campfire.

While I've liked Local Natives since I first heard "Sun Hands" last year, I don't think Gorilla Manor really clicked for me until I saw the songs performed live. During songs like "World News", the Local Native reminded me of the Fleet Foxes with power choruses. While always central to their songs, the vocals harmonies were more impressive in person and tribal beats became palpable in a small club like Mississippi Studios. The combination of rhythms and vocals moved from being aurally to physically pleasurable. It is exactly that transformative experience that continually draws me out to concerts even when I have to be at work at 6 AM the next morning.

Suckers were similarly great. Their herky-jerky dance music, full of sing-alongs, yelps and falsettos, got the crowd moving and cheering. It was a performance guaranteed to generate excitement for the upcoming release of Wild Smile. The songs constantly shifted from pop to dance to psychedelic. The electric "Black Sheep" and woozy "It Gets Your Body Movin'" were particularly fantastic that night.

Jeremy's review: The tendency is to compare this album to Frightened Rabbit’s last one, The Midnight Organ Fight. But since that album is so very good, such a comparison doesn’t fully do The Winter of Mixed Drinks justice. I think I like this album on its own merits (or is it just the echo of Organ Fight which it triggers in my mind and in my legs?). There are a few quieter moments, but in general the songs just never stop moving, which I love. Whether it’s the insistence of the guitars and drums, the rhythmic chanting of the background singing, or the earnest vocals, this album is compelling in the most literal sense of that word – it’s hard to stop listening. The first single, “Swim Until You Can’t See Land,” left me a little cold, mostly because the key lyric, “are you a man or a bag of sand?” reminded me too much of the 40-Year Old Virgin (is that a reference? Or do the Scots just not watch Judd Apatow movies?), but tracks like “The Loneliness and the Scream,” “Skip the Youth,” “Nothing Like You,” and “Living in Colour” have kept my toes and fingers tapping away uncontrollably, much to the consternation, I’m sure, of those around me trying to get work done.

Manchester Orchestra are definitely an outlier band for me, which makes it a harder for me to write about them with confidence, even though I like almost every song off Mean Everything To Nothing. The first time I saw them live I'd never heard them before but I immediately latched on to a couples songs. Now seeing them again after enjoying their album, they are even more impressive. I can see why they inspire the crowd's fist pumping response. Their songs are packed with monster riffs, catchy choruses, and often play with loud/quiet and intimate/aggressive dichotomies. By crossing over they also provide a window into exploring my own taste limitations. It comes down to the sound of their guitars; their riffs are based in hard rock and metal, two genres I don't listen to much and which I associate with the radio stations I abandoned many years ago after failing to hear anything that grabbed me. It's exciting to listen to a band that makes those sounds engaging and enjoybale and makes me reevaluate my assumptions. While I don't plan listening to the radio ever again, I wonder how many other bands I've missed.

Emily Haines is a rockstar, dividing her time between banging on her keyboard and dancing, prancing and just dominating the stage. Honestly, I have no idea why people still pack stadiums to see bag of bones baby boomer bands, when musicians like Metric clearly have the swagger and songs to put on a show that should satisfy anyone's thirst for rock and roll. Roseland Theater was packed and the crowd was clearly excited. I was standing next to two young teenagers and their parents on one side and some obviously longtime Metric fans on the other side. Their mix of dance-inducing beats, squaling guitar, and Haines' alternating cool and fierce vocals apparently is resonating with a broad audience. People started cheering during the quiet instrumental interludes, and just exploded with the first few notes of every single song. It was nuts. It's great to see band you love being embraced and then stepping up and delivering the fantastic performance the fans were hoping for. As much as I love and romanticize hearing bands annihilate the local dive bar, I can't help being caught up with the crowd when a band is on top. It definitely feels like Metric is in their prime.

Some new tunes out of Denmark. With an album supposedly coming out this month entitled Sleep Mountain it seems as if the band is ready to make some waves after three quiet years since their self-titled release. The video is artistic and the music sounds great... Something to keep an eye on.

This is sort of the indie rock version of Garth Brooks' classic "Friends In Low Places" and I'm totally cool with that. Aside from the chorus, which flips the relationship, the two don't have much in common except that they both make excellent drinking songs.

Just by chance I caught Manchester Orchestra the last time they were in Portland when I went to see fun. Although I'd never heard them before that night they won me over with a fantastic show. They are coming back to the Hawthorne Theater this Friday and playing with The Features, who are still touring behind Some Kind of Salvation, which has stayed in regular rotation for two years now. It should be a great show.

Ahh, I love killer first singles off upcoming albums. "The Mighty Sparrow" has plenty of raditude and now I can't wait for the new record. But hey, you don't have to take my word for it. You can listen for yourself to the awesomeness here while I get ready to shoot an obnoxious "I told you so!" in your face. Considering the fact that I usually see Ted Leo about 16 times a year, chances are I'll see you at one of those tour dates. And judging from the track alone, Ted Leo is still very much the fucking man. Has he ever disappointed anyone you know? 'Cuz he sure as hell never disappoints me. Ditto for the Pharmacists.



In honor of this joyous day, here is my Top 5 Ted Leo Tracks for your listening pleasure:
5) "Under The Hedge"
4) "Bridges, Squares"
3) "Counting Down The Hours"
2) "Little Dawn"
1) "Heart Problems"

Honorable mentions: "Dial Up," "Hearts Of Oak," and "Timorous Me."

It was a rainy February night, but Free Energy's fist pumping anthems, "Free Energy" and "Hope Child", made it feel like summer. I want them to play at all my barbecues. Looking back to 70's for inspiration, Free Energy captures a hedonistic innocence that makes me want to head to the water tower with Randall Floyd and Mitch Kramer. All the songs they played sounded great. If they ever release their album, the band seems destined for bigger venues than Mississippi Studios' tiny stage.

Every time I hear the songs off the Foreign Born's Person To Person I like them more. While I usually am skeptical of bands with a bongo drummer, the Foreign Born have me rethinking that likely faulty logic. Their stellar percussion is even more pronounced live, making it hard to move to the rhythm of "Winter Games" or "Vacationing People". The restrained and ringing guitar on both songs sounded particular good that night.

Um, this band is fucking rad; however, reviewing their album is going to take all my Quickcriting abilities. Example, on their Myspace page while I was trying to find basic info about their band, it has mostly ridiculous nonsense. Like their style is listed as "Hardcore, Psychedelic, R&B." What the hell does that even mean? Well, I'll tell ya what it means. This band cannot be contained, defined, or confined to one simple genre or label (see track "Land of the Freak"). In fact, they have such a lemme' see your serious face and what you're workin' with, dance your clothes off type of groove, some of their band members don't even play instruments. People in the band are there just for their legendary party attributes. Like Till Tim who is apparently listed as in charge of the TnT, or Fredovitch, who is the master of orgasms. Their website is also not clear if they are from Canada, which would account for King Khan's indie rock style vocals and heavy electric guitar riffs like on "No Regrets" or "(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harm's Way". Or if they are from South Georgia , which would explain the inevitable back bone slippage upon even a 10 second listen to "Torture" (not on the album). So, in conclusion I would say the lack of info regarding who they are, and where they come from, suits their musical sound and overall ability to turn a party out. I have a feeling their live shows will be epic, so I will check out the show at Bimbo's in S.F. on April 15th and keep y'all posted. They are also playing at the Wonderland Ballroom in Portland on April 11th if the Portland crowd wants to get hip to the scene. Laters.

The Annuals' Sweet Sister sounds like the band playing around with electronic beats and fringe instruments. The bouncing "Loxtep" (mp3) incorporates a boing sound that could be a released spring or an African mbira, while "Turncloaking" has something that sounds like those cylinders that you turn upside down to make an animal noise. For all I know they both could be a keyboard. But the songs never suffer for the experimentation, rather they shift and shimmy with polyrhythms and breakbeats while kids cheer. The soothing "Holler And Howl" features electronic squiggles over a New Orleans shuffle. The EP is rounded out by a cover of Johnny Cash's "Flesh And Blood" that retains the sweeping country strings but with more upbeat vocals. Overall, it's a short, cohesive blast of fun indie pop. Sweet.

I loved The Satanic Satanist, so I was a little skeptical when I heard that American Ghetto was a significant departure from the awesome mix of classic rock and psychedelic soul that made the Satanist my second favorite album of the year (#1 from Portland). However, I was relieved that the first song I heard off the album, although less anthemic, still featured John Gourley's soulful vocals and a chorus worth latching onto. The electronic swirls on "The Dead Dog" (mp3) surround Gourley's dark musings on America's economic divisions. I'm excited to hearing the rest of the album when it is released to the world on March 2nd.

Since I didn't know most of the lineup for this year's Bender, I had to hit up MySpace to help plan my weekend. I've included the band's rough genre, based on the few songs I heard, and their hometown, which was necessary for some of the most Google-unfriendly bands. After listening my way through the list I'm pretty amped and I know I'm going to have to bring plenty of extra cash for albums.

Friday 2/5 (Doors at 5, show at 6)
Howie and the Hotknives (Portland) garage rock
Idle Times (Seattle) psychedelic rock/garage rock
Blank-its (Seattle) punk rock
The Bugs (Portland) punk rock
Bipolaroid (New Orleans) psychedelic rock
The Girls (Seattle) post punk/synth rock
Ty Segall (San Francisco) garage rock/lo-fi
Coconut Coolouts (Seattle) garage rock
Bare Wires (Oakland) 70's punk rock/power pop
Head (Seattle) pop punk

Saturday 2/6 Matinee (Doors at Noon, show at 2)
East Wenatchee Iowa/Cougar? (Portland) indie punk/lo-fi
Foxgloves (Portland) boy-girl indie pop/power pop
Junior’s Gang (Portland)
Old Growth (Portland) punk rock/hard rock

Saturday 2/6 (Doors at 5, show at 6)
Thee Headliners (Portland) garage blues
Sons of Bitches (Portland) country punk
The Sandwitches (San Francisco) female-fronted garage pop/indie
Shannon and the Clams - (Oakland) female-fronted punk
Lord Von Raven (Oakland) glam/garage rock
Greg Ashley (Oakland) psychedelic folk
King Louie and the Missing Monuments (New Orleans) garage rock
Cheap Flight (Portland) Steve Turner of Mudhoney's brand new band
The Teutonics (Germany) retro garage rock

Sunday 2/7 Matinee (Doors at Noon, show at 2)
Denizenz (Portland) punk rock
Timecopz (Vancouver, BC) punk rock
Burning Yellows (Portland) indie pop/lo-fi
Nectarine Pie (Oakland) psychedelic rock/garage rock

Sunday 2/7 (Doors at 5, show at 6)
TherapistS (Portland) punk
Indian Wars (Vancouver, BC) garage rock
Manic Attracts (Vancouver, BC) punk rock/lo-fi
Dirty Cupcakes (San Francisco) female-fronted punk rock
Pity Fucks (Portland) garage rock/punk rock
Dead Ghosts (Vancouver, BC) garage rock
The Leaders (Portland) psychedelic rock
Pure Country Gold (Portland) garage blues
The Mean Jeans (Portland) Ramones-style punk rock
Spider Babies (Portland) punk rock
Pierced Arrows (Portland) hard rock/garage rock

"Beat The Devil's Tattoo" might be the song that gets me back into Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I remember seeing them back at the Bottom of the Hill back in 2001 just after their first album came out and they were awesome. With the Warlocks opening, it was a great night for distortion, fuzz, and chugging riffs. Since then, I've always listened but I haven't always loved. I hope the rest of the album is this good.

They are playing the Wonder Ballroom on March 7 with the Whigs. Should be a good show.