Rob's Album of The Week: The Dirty Dishes' The Most Tarnished Birds

One of Boston’s best kept secrets in The Hub’s legendary indie scene for the past few years has been The Dirty Dishes. They are one of Beantown’s most innovative bands with a sound that is a mix of late 70‘s post-punk, 60‘s style pop and progressive rock that has an infectiously edgy quality that is very rare when it comes to a lot of music you hear nowadays. 

A fantastically talented quartet that features Jenny Tuite singing her blessed heart out with grainy and poetic vocals accented by the killer solos from her guitar, Alex Molini playing both a symphonic synthesizer and a pulsating rhythm guitar, Doug Wartman strumming the bass and Zack Fierman rounding out the band with his rhythmic and sonic beats on the drums, The Dirty Dishes have released their sophomore EP called The Most Tarnished Birds.

As a way to promote the EP exclusively to their fans, The Dirty Dishes held a concert to support the release of The Most Tarnished Birds at Great Scott in Allston, MA this past Saturday to a sold-out crowd of rabid fans itching to get a copy of the new record. Before I go any further I know by now you're asking,"Aren't EP's not albums, just EP's? What's the deal with making this an Album of The Week when it's not even classified as an album in the first place?". First off, I never drag myself down with silly classifications put on by the status quo and second, this new EP from The Dirty Dishes is just absolutely fantastic.

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The single "Hush" has a steady flow throughout the whole track, with Tuite's vocals riding a wavy stream of rhythms, beats and solos, "Gaze" is a very Pixies-esque ditty that starts out soft with Tuite playing a simple chord then abruptly the rest of the band joins in with thunderous syncopation, "Bloom" is a bluesy tune that blows you away with a blistering solo from Tuite, "Break" mellows the 5-song EP out with psychedelic arrangements and synth rhythms that make you sit back and relax while the last track "Blur" features riffs that I can only classify as "screaming" which continue to get louder and louder.

The Dirty Dishes will be doing a tour of the northeast, southeast & southwest United States that features 3 performances at South by Southwest in Austin TX, from March 15 - 17th as well as closing out the tour with a return to Boston opening for Cloud Nothings at Brighton Music Hall on March 25th, definitely a show that any New England music addict shouldn't miss. 

You can download a digital copy of The Most Tarnished Birds from the bands' website at dirtydishes.bandcamp.com for whatever price you seem fit or if you're the physical type, you can purchase an actual CD copy of the EP for $5 or if you live in Boston hit up your local record store and see if they have it on the shelves. If you are looking for next big thing that's coming out of Boston, look no further than The Dirty Dishes and their brand new EP The Most Tarnished Birds, it'll be joyful for your ears and reinvigorating for your soul.

- Rob Duguay