Memories, The

The Memories is a four-piece Portland outfit that is made up of many of the same scallywags that form White Fang and BOOM! Their short sweet songs (most under 2 minutes) contain elements of punk, Motown, post-punk, and whatever your parents slow-danced to in high school. Most songs have a distinct lo-fi quality, but it’s not too over the top and they still maintain accessible jangly dream pop aesthetics. Lots of lyrics about failed relationships and smoking herb, but they are all sincere and interesting—none of that burnout crap you’d expect from a band of four brahs wearing denim jackets.

FCC: 4

1. Midtempo melancholic ballad about a troubled relationship. “Baby you’re driving me crazy.” 2. More relationship problems, this time with a hard kickdrum and some upbeat melodies. 3. Midtempo rocker about the most awkward question ever: “do you want to spend the night?”
4. FCC (fuck) Guitar fuzz, snarled lyrics, and living on borrowed money. Great guitar riffs and vocal harmonies. 5. Johnny Cash meets the Beach Boys and they record a song in someone’s basement. Upbeat and poppy. 6. Twangy guitar instrumental with shimmery tinkling piano and chimes. 7. Damn, he really misses kissing his girlfriend. Chipper, with sunny guitarwork and lots of ooh-la-las. 8. You know in the Beatles song “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” where everybody thinks they sang “I get high?” instead of “I can’t hide?” Yeah, this is more or less the same song except they really are actually saying “I get high.” 9. Slower and emotional with lots of Motown influence. 10. Strummy upbeat acoustic ballads with brass accents. “I took drugs and went insane.”11. Drinking, rebellious hairgrowing, nostalgic anecdotes about childhood Fourth of July celebrations. Jagged lo-fi guitarwork. 12. Rumbling guitarwork and a bit or synth. Simple, scandalous lyrics.