Days go by

The Drums
Portamento
Frenchkiss

(Editor's note: The sad fact of the matter is that I have a very demanding job which leaves me very little, if any, time to write blogs. I restarted The Midpoint with the hopes that simply having dominion over a small slice of the web would guilt me into regular posting. Several months later I see that isn't the case, sadly. I will do what I can, starting with my favorite thing to write about, new(ish) music! I don't care that it's almost March of 2012, I'm going to write about my favorite albums of 2011 in alphabetical order by band name.)

As I mentioned earlier, I'm on my way back from vacation in Los Angeles. While there, I stopped by the Beach Boys historic landmark in Hawthorne, CA.



This also in the aftermath of their recent 50th anniversary reunion concert at the Grammy awards ceremony. Despite that fuckhead Mike Love being present, I thought the performance was great. I also thought Maroon 5 and Foster the People did fine jobs of performing two very demanding songs in front of the legends themselves. But all that's a story for another post.

I bring up the Beach Boys, because 50 years later I think it's great to see their influence is stronger than ever. I've read plenty of reviews which slam Brooklyn bands playing "beach" influenced music as disingenuous, but I've never understood that. Who doesn't love going to the beach? What's wrong with anyone from anywhere deciding that the beach is a part of their sound philosophy?

Portamento picks up right where their 2010 debut left off. The reverb is heavy, the guitars are minimal but pointed, and the songs are about extremes in weather, emotion, and life. The layers pile on more and more as they go on, until you're bathing in the lush sound of ultimate joy or sadness, depending on the track.

I also don't live at the beach, but I've found the perfect album for the ride down.

"Days"