NW Noise Reviews
El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars
MP3 of El Perro Del Mar's Somebody's Baby
Sarah Assbring, a Swedish pop artist. She is the sole member of El Perro Del Mar, a band name that came to her after a depressing time in Spain through a stray dog that consoled and bonded with her while seated on a beach. Her songwriting is her expression of her feelings, and with much effort she wrote, played and recorded her own music with the label Hybris releasing a three-song EP of her work in early 2004. After respectable sales of the EP and successful tours of Sweden, the EP was reworked and released in England and Europe in 2006.
El Perro Del Mar’s next album was released in late-2006, self-titled and released by The Control Group in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. After a successful tour of the US in 2007 joined by additional bandmates and after jettisoning Hybris for the label Licking Fingers, work on their second album begun: From the Valley to the Stars.
Continue reading El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars
The Dimes Bring New England To Mississippi Studios
MP3 of The Liberator
In what was billed as a very special show, The Dimes did not disappoint. Playing 70 minutes of almost all new material, Johnny, Pierre, Ryan, and Jake performed the music they have been working on since last December’s release of their full length debut, The Silent Generation. The new album is shaping up to be a concept album about Boston (that is to say Boston, the city, not Boston, the band, though a cover of More Than A Feeling on the new album would be met with open arms from this reviewer), guitarist Pierre Kaiser’s hometown.
Continue reading The Dimes Bring New England To Mississippi Studios
Debra Arlyn - Tomorrow Another Day
MP3 of Debra Arlyn - Forever
“Breakup songs, it’s what I do,” Corvallis, Oregon native Debra Arlyn stated at her inaugural Doug Fir Lounge performance last December 13th, 2007 for the Northwest Girls Make Noise event. That particular live performance, along with the hundreds of other appearances she makes at a variety of clubs, bars, record stores, competitions, and more set her apart from other artists of her ilk because of the raw emotion, energy and genuine fan interaction on display each and every gig she and her band tear the stage up.
There’s no doubt that Arlyn’s musical bread and butter is on the stage in front of an audience where her vocal range, passion and story telling continuously cast a spell over audiences around the Northwest. Even with her tales of heartache and her playful on stage banter, it’s her latest studio release, Tomorrow Another Day that has captured the ear drums of Northwest Noise.
Continue reading Debra Arlyn - Tomorrow Another Day
A Note on Reviews at NW Noise [pretentious]
We have a section here at NW Noise for music reviews. Go ahead, look around in that dusty bin, there aren’t many reviews posted. I don’t particularly like reading reviews, and writing them feels like I’m being told what to do. Do others enjoy reading reviews? Of the Pitchfork variety, or reviews that involve 1-10 scales or lame stars-distribution?
For example, if we may, the rag the NY Mag recently reviewed MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular*. It’s a two sentence affair (brief, and with all-earnest they throw around music-genres as if darts). At the tail-end of the review there are numbers and a couple words that are just fucking made up; we know this because they end in -ability: Singalongability, come on! A word with SEVEN syllables must only be uttered in a lecture…by Chomsky.
We want to rectify our malignant attitude towards reviews; so we’re asking for another 2nd date with you, reviews. Our inspiration for how we’ll approach reviews will be drawn from Oscar Wilde (hence the pretentious label).
Criticism: “It treats the work of art simply as a starting-point for a new creation. It does not confine itself…to discovering the real intention of the artist and accepting that as final.”
Woaaaahh…dense, but really simple – we’ll show you. The NY Mag review is trying to put to rest the artistic variety of MGMT’s music by saying it’s just the end-point of all the music of Williamsburg micro-genres over the past eight years. There, see, they think they’ve nicely wrapped up the band for us – pheww, we can all face another day.
For NW Noise, a review should state the point-of-view of the person reviewing and listening to the music. The last period in the last sentence of our reviews should leave the reader at the start of how they feel about the music.
*ôˈrakyələr – adjective – of or relating to an oracle; spekˈtakyələr – adjective – beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way.
Spanish for 100 - Say What You Want to Say to Me
MP3 of Attack!
My father would be proud, kind of, in regards to the myspace slogan for Seattle, WA based indie rockers Spanish for 100 which says “Fugazi tackling the Merle Haggard songbook”. He’d mainly connect with the Merle Haggard portion of the headline, and then simply ask me, ‘Fu-what-zi?’
Family shenanigans aside, Say What You Want to Say to Me, the newest release from Spanish for 100, boasts 11 tracks, mixed with rip-roaring compositions, sedate musical musings with electrifying and often times enchanting guitar work from Corey Passons and Aaron Starkey, body-moving bass lines from Ross McGilvray and spot on drumsmanship (a new word I just invented) from Chris Crumpler.
Continue reading Spanish for 100 - Say What You Want to Say to Me
The Soda Pop Kids - Teen Bop Dream
MP3 of Terrestrial Twist
Teen Bop Dream?! Yeah no shit, The Soda Pop Kids thrilled and surprised my hungover self on this sunny summer afternoon. BANG BANG BABY, and hey turn up the stereo, I can’t quite figure out why I’m boppin’ my head and singing along to the melodies on The Soda Pop Kids’ soon-to-be released album, Teen Bop Dream. I can say with no bullshit that Teen Bop Dream is now one of my favorite local releases for 2007.
Continue reading The Soda Pop Kids - Teen Bop Dream
The Dimes - The Silent Generation
MP3 of Catch Me Jumping
“A loose and imaginative album showcasing a dramatic improvement in their craft, from songwriting to storytelling and elaborate instrumental arrangements.”
The Dimes are set to release their first full length album and I’ve had the chance to listen to the new album in it’s entirety before its release. Since the last week here in Portland has been nothing but clouds, rain and messed up summer weather I’ve spent a fair share time indoors. Besides watching episodes of The Flight of The Conchords over and over again (brilliant!), I’ve been listening to The Silent Generation trying to craft this review. I have a feeling that by this Friday, the weather will clear up for The Dimes and their CD release party at the Holocene, at last providing a sunny and positive backdrop for a solid and very good album from a local indie band.
The Dimes released their first EP, Atlanta, mid-2005; I attended my first couple Dimes shows after that and was impressed by their showmanship, musicianship and personalities. We just had to sit them down for interview and we scored an interview with The Dimes at the now-defunct but awesome ACME last summer. Since then, The Dimes toured and worked towards releasing their first full length album and The Silent Generation is the result of their efforts.
Continue reading The Dimes - The Silent Generation
The Fast Computers - Heart Geometry
MP3 of How Many Times
Playing in my car and on my iPod is the soon-to-be-released EP by The Fast Computers, Heart Geometry.
Their first SP release, self-titled The Fast Computers, featured four tracks that introduced Portland and the world to the sounds of the Fast Computers. Those sounds are layered, with modulating organs and persistent guitar-married-to-drums rhythm. About a year ago, a couple of us from Northwest Noise went to a Fast Computers show at the Towne Lounge. Despite the ridiculous PA the Towne Lounge provides, the music and talent of the Fast Computers shone through, and as we’ve mentioned numerous times, we totally dig their drummer, Jennifer Fox.
Continue reading The Fast Computers - Heart Geometry
Daytime Volume - The Day We Transposed
MP3 of Traverse City
trans·pose [v. trans-pohz; n. trans-pohz]
1.to change the relative position, order, or sequence of; cause to change places; interchange.
Daytime Volume’s first full length EP, The Day We Transposed, was released on January 23rd, 2007 on Expunged Records. Daytime Volume is Jared Myers, Mike Beaton, Pat Bayliss, and Matthew Morgan. If you recognize Matthew’s name it’s because he’s an accomplished music producer and member of Blue Skies for Black Hearts, also from Portland.
Continue reading Daytime Volume - The Day We Transposed
