Friday, March 25: Strangled Darlings

Le Voyeur

By Rev. Adam McKinney on March 24, 2011

There are only so many new sounds in the world. Barring the possession of a completely unique motif, the marking of a good band is how they draw influences from the considerable and jumbled history of music as we have come to understand it. Portland's Strangled Darlings stop far short of reinventing the wheel, rather succeeding by taking the best aspects of certain artists (the vocal histrionics of Jack White, the gypsy-flavored pop of Devotchka, the lyrical obtuseness and pomposity of the Decemberists) and blending them together into a delightful stew. It's the kind that tastes unmistakably like something you've enjoyed one million times before, but one you could enjoy countless times more -thanks, especially, to the strange tics and eccentricities that Strangled Darlings possess.

[Le Voyeur, with Romanteek, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]