best for guests. leif anders (orca team)

Orca Team is a band from Portland, Oregon now based in Seattle. Their aesthetic is clean, simple and straightforward: black clothes, short songs drenched into 60s surf pop and stripped down to guitar, drums and bass. The strong bass lines could make everything too post punk-ish and sad, but crystal guitars make their music sound light and unaffected. It's like a prom in the 60s (with mirrorballs and stuff) taking place on a beach.

Their debut album Restraint was released this year via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.

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FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2012
THE MIAMI DOLPHINS Capri Sun Self Released
THE INTELLIGENCE Everybody's Got It Easy But Me In The Red
DEEP TIME S/T Hardly Art
HOLLOW BOYS When You Think Of Us, Pray For Us Self Released
THE SHIVAS White Out Burger Records/K Records
TRIGGER EFFECT Escape From Planet Scorpion Indica Records
CATE LE BON Cyrk The Control Group
CRIMES Good Hope Self Released

I thought 2012 was an alright year for music but for the most part, everything tended to sound the same. Melodies and guitar hooks. Distortion and back up vocals. Everything is lush and slick. It's rare that I can find something I enjoy listening too in this modern age. With no arrogance attached to this statement, sometimes the reason why I write music is because there are tones and melodies that I have always wanted to hear but have never found them before. I would be relieved if in the near future I found out I was directly ripping off someone else the entire time. At least that would save me the explanation of how I write. I could just say I plagiarize everything.
While I would never say that I play abrasive or "hard-to-get-into" music, usually I am drawn more towards the uncertain aesthetic of a band. I'm old enough to say that I prefer a presentation of music as opposed to a band playing a show. I'm not excited about your unshaven guitar player wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Is it your day off from work? Why the fuck am I watching you preform? Better yet, why did I pay to see you? Bring me something to see that I don't see everyday on the street. If you are so goddam creative, why did you assume that your music speaks for itself? It could for most everyone else. Not me. I suppose I'm the asshole there.
I'm not sure why but I am always intrigued how bands that put thought and fresh ideas into music are usually over looked by the popular masses. This is an old tale and to be fair, if there was a sudden change and everything that was subversive became popular on a mainstream level, I'm sure many of us would eventually go to underground shows to watch boy bands and Top 40 sound alikes and say things like, "Well, at least they can play well and sing in key unlike that shit I hear on the radio." Who knows, I think for the most part recorded music is boring and a waste of time. I'm much more of a person who likes to judge people upon a live setting. It's where the action is.