Dramady Better Forever (North Pole Records)

[December 12th, 2007]

[PSYCH DANCE-POP] Boyfriend/girlfriend and husband/wife duo groups are all the rage these days. It’s as if Mates of State (a less campy, modern equivalent of Captain & Tennille) transmitted some cryptic lyrical message to all the world’s couples, letting them know it was OK to make both love and music. That message eventually trickled down to Portland groups like Viva Voce, Tu Fawning and Dramady.

Live, lovebirds Zacery Stanley (Narwhal vs. Narwhal) and Amanda Mason Wiles (Rollerball) play what sounds like relatively straightforward dance-pop. It’s in the studio where Dramady gets into the sandbox—one that’s more akin to the Clash’s Sandinista! than anything in the Mates’ discography—by splitting duties on a basement full of instruments and pedals.

Dramady’s Better Forever opens with a variation on Jim Carrey’s “most annoying sound in the world” (from Dumb and Dumber): a looped vocal tone that sounds kind of like a violin tuning up an orchestra. At first, “RAH” seems like a frustratingly bad call for an opening track—until the haunted house bassline, Star Wars Cantina Band horn section and playful distorted vocals chime in and obscure the original loop with dub-influenced dance chaos, that is.

“RAH” is only one of a handful of tunes on Dramady’s debut full-length that infuse jazz structures into the band’s pop hooks. Dramady introduces a melodic idea or funky beat, then tricks it out with Space Age studio theatrics and wandering brass. On “Hollow,” that formula manifests itself as a psych-pop twist on the chanted majesty of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” And on “Nice Hair,” it channels the goofy funk of the Breeders’ “Last Splash.”

Of all the shapes Dramady’s music takes, boring ain’t one of them. Better Forever is a continually exciting and adventurous album, its lyrical playfulness (“Why can’t we be more playful?” is among the group’s battle cries) diving just deep enough into serious musicianship to keep listeners ass-shaking and chin-scratching in equal measure. Like Mates of State, Dramady’s Stanley (who mans the skins live) and Mason Wiles (keys, guitars, etc.) let inside jokes flirt with romantic sentiment and free association—the result is music that’s revolutionary for its own internal aesthetic. Simply put, Dramady makes beautiful music together.