Local duo Experimental Dental School released their new album, Forest Field, as a free download today on their website www.experimentaldental.com.
Originally from Oakland, where they shared stages with Bay Area bretheren Deerhoof, they moved to PDX a couple years ago to hide in a basement and record. This is their first album as a two piece, and it follows suit that it's their tightest yet. Gone is the smorgaasbord of sound from earlier efforts like Jane Doe Loves Me or Hideous Dance Attack. They've stripped it down quite a bit, I mean they still sound like a dissonance-dance party/rock and roll science experiment, but Forest shows a lot more of the bones and muscles of their sound.
Shoko's voice is absolutely perfect, and her drumming, sexy, dancey and to the point, really holds these songs down. It makes sense that her presence is more relevant now that the band is a two-piece, and thats a wonderful thing. Jesse Hall seems more confident as a vocalist, and while he still bends his guitar riffs into dissonant weirdness, he does so with a new bareness. It's like a no-nonsense approach to a whole lot of nonsense, craziness applied in a straightforward manner. This record is the best no-money you'll spend today.
