"20 Nights of Wine and Song" (Greyday Productions)
By Jared Brownell
Wednesday. Dec 21, 12:48 AM
“Reinvent banality, and pretend it could work again.”

20 Nights of Wine and Song is a compilation from Grayday Productions, an indie label in Portland, OR, to celebrate their 20th release. They have quite a mixed bag of styles and sounds amongst their roster while covering an overall laidback mood. Their bands have a mostly unpolished, raw approach, which leaves you thirsting for more on some while making you wish you weren’t paying attention on others.

Delorax are the kind of band you would see at a local bar, which is not a bad thing at all. But the singer’s voice is a little too constricted and some might be completely put off by his lyrics. Espeically when he starts singing the hokey pokey as a none-too-subtle comparison for conformity, and then turn around and scream “I wanna do what they do!” It just doesn’t seem to have a cohesive theme from beginning to end. After being left unsatisfied with Delorax, Leaving Rogue’s “Any Colour You Want” comes closer to giving you what you want, but it just has the feel and sound of my old favorite song. And by old, think Goo Goo Dolls and 7 Mary 3.

Books On Tape have a more IDM sound to them and craft various themes within the song that often conflict with each other. A hint of Amon Tobin mixed with a Crime Noir and spy movie element are present, making this a true gem.

A few of the artists that really take advantage and use the unpolished nature of their sound are John Larson and Bronwyn. Bronwyn, with their dual female lead singers, seem to have taken some inspiration from Cat Power. At first listen you might categorize them as a “sounds-just-like” band, but after a few times through you realize they have infused a lot of their own persona to make it something very unique and leave you thirsting for more. John Larson gets the award for having the darkest, most beautiful song on the album. An eerie piano melody backed by a funeral snare drum that sounds like it’s playing from a forgotten phonograph gathering dust in the corner. As you succumb to this bittersweet tune, you realize he is waving a tale of being shipwrecked on shore after having been lured in by a Sirens song. Very clever and thematically very focused, creating seduction that slowly lures you in.

Back to the subject of pianos and scratchiness: Mayday give us a truly interesting entry. While the piano and vocals have the feel of a 1920s silent film, the lyrics conjure images and situations from All Quiet on the Western Front with lines such as “you’d never know that they were enemies, cuz dead men look the same.”

So, several stand outs here, but also a few that made you wish there was more wine and less song. I think the opener by Minmae sums up the weaker tracks best: “Reinvent banality, and pretend it could work again.”
www.greydayproductions.com

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Jared Brownell

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