#23 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
A New Kind of House EP by Typhoon
I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again: if a band has horns, strings, or any kind of orchestration, the chances that I’ll like said band go up considerably. So the fact that I love Portland-based Typhoon shouldn’t come as a surprise. Violins, cellos, trumpets, and other horns are a routine occurrence and a prevalent part of the band’s outsized live presence. It’s not unusual for the band to have 12 people performing on stage at once.
It baffles me how a band that tours with more than ten people can afford to keep on playing, let alone feed themselves. But I applaud those that can make it work, because the rich, full sound they create on stage is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Especially on the smaller stages that indie bands are forced to play, given their audience.
Typhoon play what’s best called “Americana,” or possibly “Roots Rock,” or “Folk Rock,” along the same lines as Seattle’s Head and the Heart or Campfire OK. Catchy tunes, with choruses about things soon being better than they currently are. Kinda like if Annie were a singer/songwriter rather than an orphan in a red dress. Typhoon have been around for more than 6 years, but I’ve only heard the music they’ve put out in the past couple years. If I’d discovered last year’s full length, Hunger and Thirst, before the end of 2010, it would have certainly ended up on the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar. But I can’t hear everything. Mistakes happen.
While A New Kind of House is only an EP, the five songs found on the album are quite rewarding. The video above is for “The Honest Truth”, which the band also performed on Letterman back in August. You can also hear parts of “Claws Pt. 1” in a “making of” video. And there are even a couple songs from last year’s full-length that made it into video form, “CPR/Claws Pt. 2” and the song that hooked me in the first place, “Starting Over (Bad Habits)”.
Even after six years, Typhoon are only getting started. I don’t think enough people know of them that should, and it’s only a matter of time before that audience finds them. There’s absolutely no reason this band shouldn’t be seeing the same sort of explosive success the Head and the Heart or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros have accomplished. Just you watch.
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24. EP by Grouplove
25. Fan Chosen Covers (Best of) by Eef Barzelay
26. TKOL RMX 1234567 by Radiohead
27. Organ Music Not Virbraphone Like I’d Hoped by Moonface
28. Heavy Boots & Underwoods by Ben Fisher
29. The Rip Tide by Beirut
30. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
31. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River