tense forms reviews // Uh-Oh

Aiding & Abetting

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 11:00:00 -0600

Excerpt: This album sounds completely alive.

The Notes and Scratches uh-oh (Tense Forms)
Raucous, glorious stuff. The melodies are sterling, and the arrangements about as messy as can be. Kinda like Nick Lowe producing a later OMD album…though probably a bit busier than even that. This album sounds completely alive.

LEO Beat

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:03:00 -0600

Excerpt: …instead of sending this 13-song effort straight into the musical trash bin, these knickknacks add a youthful exuberance that only comes when bands take chances.

Uh-Oh
The Notes and Scratches
(Tense Forms)
kitchen sink pop
When all else fails, throw everything and the kitchen sink at the listener.
It’s a neat trick, and it works.
In addition to actual instruments, a yelp, a beer can, a saw and “junk” — no elaboration — show up on Uh-Oh, the jubilant full-length by Notes and Scratches. Yet instead of sending this 13-song effort straight into the musical trash bin, these knickknacks add a youthful exuberance that only comes when bands take chances.
“The Hours” introduces Uh-Oh with the sweet, spare notes of a glockenspiel. It switches to breakneck joyous pop-punk, back to glockenspiel and once more back to punk before coming to a satisfactory halt.
You barely have time to breathe before “In the Shadow Cast” infects your ear with aplomb. “The River Girl” skips along at a pace comparable to old Irish folk songs, while “Lines Reveal” is half song, half experimental, ambient needling, nicking and, yes, scratching.
Joshua Dumas’s raspy, pained voice is front and center on each tune except “In the Morning,” an instrumental ideal for listening when you’re cruising down River Road at light speed. “In the Evening” should close the next Michael Mann film. —Mat Herron

Em P Me

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 11:00:00 -0600

Excerpt: Rough and raspy, it retains an elegance found in only the rarest of occasions, as illustrated perfecty amongst the opening lines of 'Seriously'... the strongest point of the album is the collaborative vibe emanating from every moment.

Seriously, the hours flew by
January 5th, 2006 by Mike

Located in Chicago, Tense Forms is a collection of like-minded musicians, artists, conceptualists and friends that have banded together not in an attempt to make each other famous through virtue of size, but rather to feed off each other’s creative energy, elevating their collective output to unimaginable levels. They are the most organized, on the ball, doing-it-for-all-the-right-reasons group of people I’ve ever been in contact with. The newest project of theirs to cross my desk is the most recent disc from the Notes and Scratches, entitled Uh-Oh.

Listening to an album for the first time at work is always a dangerous proposition. Distractions come, flutter in your face while the phone rings and that pain in your back from uncomfortable office furniture reminds you that the neon-esque glow of the the flourescent lighting is exacerbating your caffeine-withdrawal headache. The next thing you know, you’re on the 10th of 11 songs and remember three words. Such was the scenario I envisioned when I fired up my work iTunes library to sit down for the first time with the new Notes and Scratches album. Moments into “The Hours” and that scenario was deemed impossible by the powers that be. Putting me off-guard with what sounds like a bowed saw, the intro fluttered into the distance behind a crushing and perhaps deadly wall of pounding percussion, squeeze box, slide guitar, piano, electric guitar, and bass. The musical backdrop seems better suited for a Tennessee recording studio than a musty club in the corner of Chicago, but offers the perfect canvas for Joshua Dumas’ patented* 10-cigarette croon. Rough and raspy, it retains an elegance found in only the rarest of occasions, as illustrated perfecty amongst the opening lines of “Seriously” (a duet with the wonderfully voiced Anika Balaconis). The album drives through track after track, letting up only a couple times (though perfectly placed to fight back any fatigue that may fall upon untrained ears) with the introspective tale found in “the Clockmaker’s Daughter” and the brass-laden instrumental “in the Evening.”

Moving beyond that of bands such as The Gunshy and Lucero (who the Notes and Scratches will no doubt draw comparisons to), the strongest point of the album is the collaborative vibe emanating from every moment. A musical metaphor to what brought them together in the first place, Uh-Oh is swimming in friendship, collaboration, creativity and the arts. The CD comes packaged in a beautiful gatefold chipboard package, hand screened with illustrations that create their own entry points from which listeners can enter the album from.

Not only has the band created what easily would have been on my Top 10 List of 2005 had I actually brought it home from the office and spent more time with it, but they have also adapted to the ever changing processes behind marketing and selling their music, offering high-quality DRM-free digital downloads from the Tense Forms website alongside the traditional CD with it’s beyond traditional packaging. When will the larger labels of the world learn?

The album retained its grasp on my attention as it made its way promisingly through track after track, drowning out the dull Monday office-scape and opening itself invitingly to me.

= If not, it should be.

The Perm & The Skullet

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 10:13:00 -0600

Excerpt: This is a must have. These tracks have been on constant rotation here and I highly recommend checking these guys out.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The Notes and Scratches

Thanks to Chris from Gorrilla vs. Bear for the heads up on The Notes and Scratches. I checked out the tracks provided and with my love for Waits and Gunshy my ears perked up upon hearing Joshua Dumas voice. This is a must have. These tracks have been on constant rotation here and I highly recommend checking these guys out. Also check out their live performance on Chicago’s WLUW. The band’s bio can be found here, their website here, and you can purchase Uh-Oh! here.

posted by M. at 10:13 AM

Newcity Chicago

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:00:00 -0600

Excerpt: [One of] 2005's Top 5 Local Albums

Top 5 of Everything 2005
Newcity taps the best of the year

2005’s Top 5 Local Albums
New Black, “Time Attack” (Thick Records)
J+J+J, “They Hump While We Go Nuts” (Johann’s Face)
The Notes and Scratches, “uh-oh” (Tense Forms)
The Dials, “Flex Time” (Latest Flame)
Pelican, “Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw” (Hydrahead Records)

Pulse of the Twin Cities

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:34:00 -0600

Excerpt: The album overall is warm and friendly and it gives the distinct impression of having been recorded with one mic in a big empty room.... just the thing for playing in the car on those winter nights riding home from the bar.

CD REVIEWS: Local and Independent
BY STEVE MCPHERSON

The Notes and Scratches
Uh Oh
Tense Forms

This debut from Chicago collective Notes and Scratches comes in an unassuming enough package; it’s just chipboard with an endearing illustration of a cat riding a turtle. Leadoff track “The Hours” begins with chunky muted guitar, but the xylophone and singing saw hold forth the promise of something in the vein of pscyh-country shoegazers Mercury Rev. Seventeen seconds in, though, the drums come crashing through, and that’s when their real M.O. becomes apparent. Broken Social Scene’s manic party vibe is present, but their closest neighbor is the Arcade Fire, although singer Josh Dumas is a husky-throated Tom Waits-alike, not a Bowie/Byrne disciple. The album overall is warm and friendly and it gives the distinct impression of having been recorded with one mic in a big empty room. “Via Satellite” is a long distance lament that’s held aloft by a sympathetic horn section and “The Clockmaker’s Daughter”—the highlight of the disc—is an old-fashioned marry-me song in much the same vein as Big Ditch Road’s “Not to Me.” Taken all together it’s not so much high lonesome as lo-fi hopeful; just the thing for playing in the car on those winter nights riding home from the bar.

Chicago Reader

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 11:00:00 -0600

Excerpt: The credits list more esoteric instruments than a Gypsy pawn shop, but the nicely understated production lets them all bleed together into a hazy shimmer that gives 'The Hours' and 'The Cass Song' a palpable sense of ennui.

The NOTES AND SCRATCHES, a quintet of members of the local Tense Forms art collective, has just released its own first CD,Uh-Oh. The credits list more esoteric instruments than a Gypsy pawn shop, but the nicely understated production lets them all bleed together into a hazy shimmer that gives “The Hours” and “The Cass Song” a palpable sense of ennui. Joshua Dumas’s unfiltered-cigarette voice fits the mood well, as do his Raymond Carver-esque lyrics (“I’m tossing matchsticks into a teacup / They hiss and pop and go out,” from “In the City of Eggtimers”). The CD comes in a plain cardboard sleeve with hand-printed cover art, a nifty minimalist touch. —J. Niimi

Newcity Chicago

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 01:30:00 -0600

Excerpt: Dumas and crew do almost nothing disagreeable and, with near-nauseating charisma, charm to no end. 'Uh-Oh' deserves multiple, multiple listens.

Tip of the Week
The Notes and Scratches
Tom Lynch

Joshua Dumas’ The Notes and Scratches bridge the gap between concrete indie rock and feel-good pretty pop with their “Uh-Oh” (Tense Forms), a completely enviable and ambitious assault of countless instruments and carefully constructed lyrical swerving. While the cigarette-charred vocals, sometimes hidden in the mix, seem somewhat out of place, they add an unexpected and fruitful aspect to the music, like an old car barely making itself through a Chicago December. Hand-claps, bells, xylophone and strings—nothing is kept out of the record, and while that could easily go oh-so-wrong, Dumas and crew do almost nothing disagreeable and, with near-nauseating charisma, charm to no end. “Uh-Oh” deserves multiple, multiple listens.

Earfood.net

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:28:00 -0600

Excerpt: All silliness aside this is a fantastic record... If you buy only one more record this year, this one might be a great idea.

First dates with the Notes and Scrathces Uh-Oh!!
Saturday, December 10 2005 @ 09:28 AM CST
Contributed by: Ken

Finding a new band that you like can be like going on a first date. You’ve got to feel that person out, read through the bullshit to see what you think of that person. Unless you are desparate, you use this “first date” time to decide if you will screen the next call or not. As a point of reference a desperate finding of a new band could be likened to Creed, Nickleback, etc. If you are desparate (and it’s okay to be) then you keep seeing that person even when you know they suck. My first date with Chicago’s the Notes & Scratchings went very well last night. By literally pure accident we ran into each other on the internet, and decided to spend the evening together.

From my end the date went quite well, and have no plans to screen their next call. I can actually see this going somewhere. I hope they liked me as well. So a musical first date relies on much more than looks, although that is not entirely true for some situations. Records have been bought in large quantaties based on the looks of the band alone. Now I am not saying that the Notes are bad looking, in fact as you can see they are a quite handsome (and beautiful) group.

A musical first date relies on more though for me. I need to relate, you know have similiar interests, like the same bands they do. Perhaps that’s why the date went so well, I really like Death Cab, Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan, and Tom Waits, and it seems like the Notes do to. Looking through their record collection (as I always do the first time I go to a girls house) tells me alot about this band, most of all it says they have the kind of influences that make a band and their relationship with a fan last. After poking around through their records for a while when they weren’t looking I noticed a few by Pedro the Lion, Stars, and The National in their collection, and I could tell this was going to last. Their debut record exhibits a band that really wants to be around a while, maybe a lifetime.

All silliness aside this is a fantastic record, and it’s been released by Tense Forms Records in handmade packaging. When you order the record from Tense Forms, they send you a link to download mp3s and a digital booklet to tied you over while you wait for the CD in the post. How cool is that!! If you buy only one more record this year, this one might be a great idea. Remember all relationships come with baggage, and you have to make sure that you like the baggage a band they are bringing into the relationship.

3hive.com

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:00:00 -0600

Excerpt: The Notes and Scratches' raspy, writerly country pop sounds like early Tom Waits channelling Ben Gibbard.

The Notes and Scratches
Label: Tense Forms
Genre: Folk, Pop

Josh emails the Suggestion Box with word of his humble little band and humble little label. He flatters us with how much he likes 3hive (which will move you up on my playlist, btw) and ends with, “considering what you’ve posted in the past I don’t think it’s stretch to say that you might like what we’re doing.” Let’s see…The Notes and Scratches’ raspy, writerly country pop sounds like early Tom Waits channelling Ben Gibbard. Nope, no stretch at all. In fact, while Joe and I swapped shifts this week I feel confident posting this on his behalf. And mine. And probably Jon, Sean, and Shan’s. Clay, well, I’ll let him speak for himself. These tracks are from the debut album, Uh-Oh, which drops November 18. Support our troops, y’all.