Quiet Life - "Easy To Please"

Genres—sometimes vague and other times hysterically specific—were created so that people could organize, separate, and compartmentalize different styles of music. Blues in the top drawer, folk in the middle, and rock and roll on the bottom with a stash of reggae. But is it really necessary to keep your socks out of your t-shirt drawer? When I listen to Portland, OR band the Quiet Life I'm immediately drawn to adjectives like roots and Americana as well as genres like folk and country. These terms all have slightly different definitions, but their relationships are also completely interdependent—and the Quiet Life blur all these lines exceptionally well. The band may not be from the South, but they do make country music—as well as a racket of rock and roll, rootsy folk, and rhythm and blues. The band's latest album, Big Green, isn't necessarily genre-spanning, but it's also not something that can be pigeonholed. Guitars scream and scorch with distorted glee on "Let It Go," tackle steam engine rhythms with a slide on "No Surprise," and echo with room-jarring reverb and the occasional dissonance on the slow build of "Easy To Please"—one of the record's best. With quivering heartfelt vocals and instrumentals that pop and swing along like a needle over an old groove, the Quiet Life are a band that doesn't need a niche to be heard—just a pair of speakers.

The Quiet Life - "Easy To Please" (form Big Green)