smile brigade

Brand new record from Seattle's Smile Brigade entitled "Do You Come Here Often?". Due out Winter 2011 on Tilton House Records. The title for "Do You Come Here Often" was taken from a song by the Tornadoes and the songs on this record are filled with wonder and exciting vibrations.

Smile Brigade is a Blue collared Democracy. They have been making things happen all along the west coast for decades now. The music is a refreshing mixture of light and dark shades. Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, K records, Dub narcotic sound-system) guest-sings on "DYCHO?" track "Rims on The Bus" adding "little baby christ die" as a logical lyrical improv to a track that, in a very elementary way, takes on difficult adult themes such as a human's thirst for oil, sending children to war and inflating gas prices. As a whole, the album is not overtly political but lyrically provokes thought from those with a thirst for true blood. "Do You Come Here Often?" has a lushness and familiarity that belies the simplicity and originality of the compositions. It draws from influences as disparate as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band all the way down the line to Magnetic Fields with a vigorous dash of 60z "beat" groups for good measure.

The Smile Brigade will be doing West Coast/Midwest tours to support this record. At other times the focus will be in and around the Northwest. In the past year we have scored opening slots for Built to Spill and the mighty Dutchess and Duke. Much more to come...

What people are saying about 'DYCHO'
Smile Brigade - Do You Come Here Often (CD, Tilton House, Pop)
"So much music being made that there's just no way to take it all in. That may explain why only now (despite the fact that they've been making music for decades) are we being exposed to the music of Seattle, Washington's Smile Brigade. Oh well...better late than never (!). Our initial impression...is that we are initially very impressed. These four guys write and record bright highly melodic pop that recalls some of the classier/classic underground artists from the 1980s and 1990s. Melodies and lyrics are the main focus of the songs...and they're presented fairly simply without a lot of unnecessary fanfare. We had to spin this disc a half dozen times or more before some of the songs stuck...but once they got into our heads there's simply no getting them out. Great cover art on this one...and an overall good positive vibe that is sure to win serious pop fans over. Superb cuts include "Mother's Day Song," "Gold In Them Hills," "Post Script," and "Esperanto." Top pick" babysue.com

"The easy label to affix to Smile Brigade’s breed of music is psychedelic rock; most of the songs on Do You Come Here Often? bear some resemblance to the tunes of the 60s. “Killjoy Switch,” in particular, sounds like a revamp of “Incense and Peppermints.” Yet lumping this group in with the hippies would undermine the diversity of its aim. The brightness of a keyboard track like “Mothers’ Day Song” is able to give way to an unbroken melancholy such as that of “Gold in Them Hills” without becoming unbalanced. Some of the songs go so far as to take a decidedly modern tack; “Post Script” is a modest piano ballad which brings out some accordion for quirk, and “Esperanto” is a sneering rock track which would be at home in a poorly-lit saloon. Smile Brigade’s work on Do You Come Here Often? doesn’t coast on retro cred to get its point across. The songs on this album, while often nostalgia-inducing, bring enough strength to render them original within the many different styles they honor." secondsupper.com