Last week I joined some friends in a great big Portland welcome for former Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky who recently settled in our fair city. It was everything you loved about Beulah…without Beulah…sorta.
Kurosky did have a great backing band featuring two other members of Beulah, Patrick Abernethy (also of Rogue Wave) and Eli Crews. Those two were joined by drummer Pat Spurgeon and opened the show with their own deal: Pancho-san.
Still following along? Good.
There’s a jaunty, jangly spirit to Pancho-san. A dash of the Beatles, a pinch of the Libertines, a smidge of Arcade Fire, all adding up to their own sound. I only mention these other bands as a frame of reference for the elements within the Pancho-san stew. They don’t really sound like any of those bands, but they do have these bits and pieces that reference their work. They could be in a Canadian collective with those bands.
But then, true to the name, there’s a bit of a Spanish flair thrown in, which is both welcome and surprising. They don’t play Spanish songs but instead sprinkle some of the spice and flavor. If this band were a Tapas dish I would order two: one to share and one to keep to myself.
No MP3s available but their album Oh Mellow Melody is streaming on MySpace. I especially dig “Kick the Fences Down” with it’s spooky, groovy George Harrison outtro. Extra texture, indeed!
Pancho-san: iTunes
Beulah: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki