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Daydream has been one of my favorite PDX bands for several years now. Their sound is difficult to describe. It’s noisy and chaotic but held together by riffs and melodies that will get stuck in your head for days. It sounds like Lebenden Toten through a Jesus Lizard filter.
This is the band’s second LP. Their first was released by Symphony of Destruction in Italy, and seemed to go under the radar, at least in the United States. On their second LP, the band takes on the commodification of every aspect of our lives.
The band writes about the record, “We are designed and raised to be soldiers, informants, producers, and workers for the state. The more categorized we are by identify, the easier it is to be commodified; all culture, ideas, and thoughts throw into countless algorithms. Just as any of our sacred experiences continually changed – joy and loss, oppression and pain, sexual and gender deviancy, bliss and enlightenment – so do their tactics. Every moment has the potential to be capitalized on or commodified. Every moment offers them useful data to sell to you, implicate you, or both. They empower us to inflict violence and implicate on another. Relation and even existence feel impossible without their tools. But there are moments, those sacred moments, that are unique to us. WE have to fight the operative to keep those experiences ours, without giving it to them for their uses. Watch out for the mystics, inside and out.”
Our take: Portland’s Daydream had an earlier 12” on France’s Symphony of Destruction Records, and they’ve moved to domestic Dirt Cult Records for this follow-up. If you’re into dense, angular, and inventive post-hardcore, this record is a stunner. The drummer and guitarist of Daydream are impressive, weaving dense lines around one another in a way that sounds chaotic but artful. Some riffing reminds me of Drive Like Jehu in how it sounds quirky and a little technical yet very catchy. The drummer only plays a straightforward rock / punk beat maybe 20% of the time, the other 80% devoted to more complex patterns that remind me of Bad Breeding’s fusion of noise rock and anarcho punk. While the drums and guitars are engaged in this lengthy game of bob and weave, the bass and vocals push the songs forward and maintain the hardcore punk intensity. The gritty recording and killer artwork push it even further over the top. Excellent record.