CHARMS
Seattle, Washington, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"...a sound that recalls the great "lost" 90s classics (lovelyville, alien lanes, stratosphere, bakesale, et al.) with ease while interpolating all that with scrunchy, jangly garage rock." - We Fucking Love Music
"...a sound that recalls the great "lost" 90s classics (lovelyville, alien lanes, stratosphere, bakesale, et al.) with ease while interpolating all that with scrunchy, jangly garage rock." - We Fucking Love Music
"If it's conventional DIY sounding indie that you're after then 'Father Winter' is probably the most normal of the two, although it's smothered in echo and reverb and isn't particularly commercial. It's a top tune though and is comparatively easy to listen to, albeit in a kind of psychedelic way, not unlike MGMT when they go off on one. It's 'Ladybug' that's the odder of the two. There is a conventional tune hidden in there somewhere, but the effects and the production make it a bit like trying to spot a guy in camouflage gear hiding in the jungle. It chimes and reverberates and chops and changes, and despite its seeming awkwardness is another fine effort." - Kev W - The Sound of Confusion
"If it's conventional DIY sounding indie that you're after then 'Father Winter' is probably the most normal of the two, although it's smothered in echo and reverb and isn't particularly commercial. It's a top tune though and is comparatively easy to listen to, albeit in a kind of psychedelic way, not unlike MGMT when they go off on one. It's 'Ladybug' that's the odder of the two. There is a conventional tune hidden in there somewhere, but the effects and the production make it a bit like trying to spot a guy in camouflage gear hiding in the jungle. It chimes and reverberates and chops and changes, and despite its seeming awkwardness is another fine effort." - Kev W - The Sound of Confusion
"...the trio play driving rock and roll songs that feel like a sugar rush mixed with a touch of Cool Ranch. Big, boisterous songs come from this group, which has only been together for about a year and a half. “It’s hard to believe there’s this much great noise with only three people,” said Morning Show host DJ John Richards of the band’s performance..." - Jacob Uitti - KEXP
"...the trio play driving rock and roll songs that feel like a sugar rush mixed with a touch of Cool Ranch. Big, boisterous songs come from this group, which has only been together for about a year and a half. “It’s hard to believe there’s this much great noise with only three people,” said Morning Show host DJ John Richards of the band’s performance..." - Jacob Uitti - KEXP
"Their fuzzy tunes have a uniquely jangling nature to them, keeping things upbeat and depending more on complex melody and bright energy than grit and gristle like many of their garage counterparts...“Wartime” is the cream of the crop here, though. A bright guitar hook drives the tune forward, only ever building momentum over the track’s two and a half minutes. The harmony between guitar and bass echoes the intricacies of Seattle indie rock kings Minus the Bear, while the forward energy and garage tendencies put the track alongside contemporaries on their scene." - Gerrit Feenstra - KEXP
"Their fuzzy tunes have a uniquely jangling nature to them, keeping things upbeat and depending more on complex melody and bright energy than grit and gristle like many of their garage counterparts...“Wartime” is the cream of the crop here, though. A bright guitar hook drives the tune forward, only ever building momentum over the track’s two and a half minutes. The harmony between guitar and bass echoes the intricacies of Seattle indie rock kings Minus the Bear, while the forward energy and garage tendencies put the track alongside contemporaries on their scene." - Gerrit Feenstra - KEXP
Charms @ Vostok Dumpling House, Seattle, 7/27/13 - 3D Gif Photography
Charms @ Vostok Dumpling House, Seattle, 7/27/13 - 3D Gif Photography
The a-side “Lady Bug,” with its marching snares and fluttering waves of guitar, erupts like a college rock battle cry. The sound is lush and dense, yet still jagged enough to feel like a lo-fi jam. Eleazer Tolentino’s vocals, at times, feel like they’re summoning John Paul Pitts of Surfer Blood but in the end stand out on their own as a commanding murmur. It’s really Tolentino’s guitar and drummer Ray McCoy’s drums that shine most on the track. The groove between the two instruments creates a profound atmosphere of noise that feels nearly cinematic. - Preamp Music
The a-side “Lady Bug,” with its marching snares and fluttering waves of guitar, erupts like a college rock battle cry. The sound is lush and dense, yet still jagged enough to feel like a lo-fi jam. Eleazer Tolentino’s vocals, at times, feel like they’re summoning John Paul Pitts of Surfer Blood but in the end stand out on their own as a commanding murmur. It’s really Tolentino’s guitar and drummer Ray McCoy’s drums that shine most on the track. The groove between the two instruments creates a profound atmosphere of noise that feels nearly cinematic. - Preamp Music
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
CHARMS is the sound of a necromancer’s overheated computer exploding into a thousand crystal energy shards. The Seattle trio have spent five years violently convulsing in front of crowds wielding their crushingly heavy brand of mecha-magick noise punk.
Anchored by drummer Ray McCoy’s piston-like primitivism, the constant barrage of brute rhythm provides a solid bedrock upon which vocalist E.J. Tolentino’s bubbling cauldron guitar and keyboardist Joshua McCormick’s glitchy, doom-laden synth lines engage in life or death battles with inner and outer demons. Take the band’s infernal single, “Separator” a song based on the mythical Filipino monster, the Manananggal—a creature that assumes human form by day, but whose torso splits off at night and transforms into a winged, man-eating bloodsucker. The tune’s heroic, charging fury soundtracks a theoretical encounter with the beast, Tolentino’s anxious screams contorting into breathless knots of terror atop barreling, kinetic riffs.
Human Error, the band’s debut LP produced by Randall Dunn (Wolves in the Throne Room, Sunn O))), Earth), is a constant push-pull between atonal chaos, quest-like atmospherics, and earworm songwriting knack—triumphant melodies that burrow into your subconsciousness then bash you upside the head a second later. Each song is steeped in cyber-fantasy, thick with swampy, mechanical squelching and a crackling, irridescent glow.
Charms has performed at festivals like Bumbershoot,Capitol Hill Block Party, Summit Block Party, Macefield Music Festival, West Seattle Summer Fest, Bigass Boom Box, Big BLDG Bash, and Plus One Fest. They have performed with bands like So Pitted, Grave Babies, Chastity Belt, Wax Idol, Guerilla Toss, Gazebos, The Shivas, Erik Blood, Dude York, Religious Girls, and Spencer Moody (Murder City Devils).
Band Members
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