Ears Wide Open: Tangie Town

Kevin Bronson on May 16th, 2018

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Tangie Town is a duo of brothers separated by almost a thousand miles and, if you only judge from past catalogs, even further in sound. Their self-released “Tangie Town” album pairs the talents of L.A.-based Sam Martin and his Portland-based sibling, Sloan Martin. Sam is one of the creative forces behind L.A. electro-pop band Youngblood Hawke, whose output slowed (but not stopped) after their 2013 full-length owing to day jobs, parenthood and other artistic endeavors. Sloan formerly fronted the alt-country band Cecilo.

The Tangie Town album is more Sam’s town than Sloan’s. It’s blithe electro, a blend of convertible-ready pop, breezy tropical and feel-good funk. We generally avoid falling back on the cliché that such music is great for the mix at your next pool party, but “Tangie Town” is … well, great for the mix at your next pool party. If the DJ there is adventurous, he or she can also dig out the roots of Tangie Town — the band name derives from an obscure Doors tune called “Maggie M’Gill,” about a fictional place set in the western U.S. still full of wild artistic spirit: “She went down, down to Tangie Town / People down there really like to get it on.”

||| Stream: “Be My Holy Roller” and “Up in the Air”