Pagoda: Pagoda

Pagoda
Pagoda
Ecstatic Peace Records [2007]







Fire Note Says: 2007 Post-Rock 1991 Style

Album Review:
The first topic that we can get out of the way is that Pagoda is fronted by Michael Pitt who is an actor best known for his role in Gus Van Zan’ts Last Days [2005] as Kurt Cobain and his musical work in Hedwig And The Angry Inch [2001]. Pagoda actually may not be a far stretch for Pitt because their self-titled debut has elements and flashback moments of the grunge era. What sets Pagoda apart from the bands of the earlier 90’s is that they intermix their grunge foundation with a very post-rock sound then you add Pitt’s Pavement like vocal style, which all equals a very unique listen. This unique sound also caught the ear of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) because the band is signed to his Ecstatic Peace label which for me gives them a higher street cred and a must to check out. I also must admit that hearing some of the tracks on Pagoda makes me what to reach for my Nirvana catalog but only because they pull the sound off versus sounding like a knockoff. Pagoda is not going to set the music world on fire but they do a respectable job of kindling that grunge spirit and making it work in 2007. This makes for a very distinctive sound and a pleasant change from what you currently have been listening to – there is not much else out there like it!

Key Tracks: "Lesson Learned", "Death To Birth", "Amego"

Bands With Similar Fire:
Nirvana
Pavement
Dinosaur Jr.

Download "Lesson Learned" (mp3)

Download "Voices" (mp3)

Download "Death To Birth" (mp3)

Official Pagoda Website
Pagoda MySpace
Pagoda Info [Allmusic]
Ecstatic Peace Records

-Reviewed by Conrad Rocksted