REVIEWS FOR CONSOLATION PRIZE:
#26 on the NACC Top 30 Adds chart, Top #10 on Several Stations all over the Country!
As I try to describe the sound of this album, the word I keep coming back to is full. Full, rich, and balanced. The layers of playful surf rock and driving indie guitars surround you, everything is brightened and lifted by dreamy harmonies, and grounded by Dave’ss trong baritone voice and the steady heart-beat of Andrea’s drums. t’s hard to pick a favorite track from Consolation Prize, because each of its fourteen songs are so strong lyrically and musically on an individual level, and even stronger as a cohesive unit of songs that flow together to create a large and multifaceted artistic work.
-SHOW CHIME, ANACORTES, WA
The Gift Machine return to the Northwest this week touring about every nook and cranny, spreading the word about their new album Consolation Prize. A co-release between their own New Tangles Records label and the ubiquitous People in a Position to Know, Consolation Prize, real dream stuff that trundles the imagination.
-K RECORDS
REVIEWS FOR NEW TANGLES:
San Diego City Beat 2019 #5 Album of the Year. “The Gift Machine is putting out some of the best indie rock around around. You need to listen to this band.”
Nominated for BEST INDIE ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SAN DIEGO MUSIC AWARDS 2019
http://bigtakeover.com/recordings/TheGiftMachineNewTanglesPeopleinaPositiontoKnow
NIce feature in Bellingham, WA's WHAT's UP Magazine covers the fall 2017 Tour
REVIEWS of The Gift Machine: Hard Facts Are Still Uncertain:
"The latest album from this Southern California-via-Anacortes, WA band led by Dave Matthies is a fine set of psych-tinged indie-pop with shimmering guitar lines, atmospheric keyboards, occasional horns, gentle harmonies and dreamy melodies." 2/26/2015
- Don Yates, music director @ KEXP IN SEATTLE WA
"The gift machine's "Hard Facts Are Still Uncertain" is a strong album with multiple catchy songs. They have been around since 1999, changing members and sounds through the past 15 years and you can tell from the sound of their album that they know what they are doing and enjoy the music they make. The first song on the album, Dark Waters, and definitely a song to play if you want to go on a road trip. Definitely take a listen to this album."
- KAMP radio @ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUSCON, AZ
MORE WORDS ON THE GIFT MACHINE:
"The Gift Machine sound completely comfortable. Matthies' dry humor, his slightly frail voice, and the simple arrangements allow the songs to gently amble along, making potentially fraught subjects -- the impossibility of communication, personal failure, andthe struggle to find motivation -- seem surmountable,or at least manageable. Andrea Gruber's voice aids to this end.Goodbye/Goodluck is the sound of an artist being allowed to mature, and there's something reassuring, if not inspiring, about that."
"Intelligent, well-done indie pop, if not quite the kind of thing that unshakably sticks in your craw."
-Richie Unterberger, Allmusicguide.com
"Matthies strikes many as a musician/producer/engineer who is in it for the art form, not for the money or glory. With his style, which is a suave and subtly infectious form of pop music with audible references to psychedelia and surf-rock, [Matthies] has the ability to turn a simplistic melody into one that becomes unavoidably engrained in a listener’s head. Matthies and Gruber show off an excellent vocal contrast in Matthies’ warmly musky grumbles and Gruber’s angelically high-pitched delivery. Their contrasting voices work so well together. "
"Swimmy, bubbly pop doused in woozy holidays--that's the kind of music made by the Gift Machine, a quartet that takes cues from Guided by Voices, Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and a little Dougie Martsch. It's dreamy and yummily executed"
-Portland Mercury, Portland, OR
"Vista psych-rock trio The Gift Machine's songsmith/multi-instrumentalist Dave Matthies is an engineer of some repute, having played on one of my favorite all-time records, the Glow, Pt.2, by the Microphones. So yeah, I'll be the guy at the Tin Can with the CD and the Sharpie."
Dave Matthies has created a masterpiece, with Andrea Gruber, named Goodbye/Goodluck.The power pop smarts of "Don't Turn Me Off" are sleeping in a kiddie pool turned sensory deprivation tank. When two voices fit this well together, all things seem possible for humanity. The recorded results are a propulsive backyard party where its ok to nap because you'll besinging along with this for the rest of your life.
"The Gift Machine followed with a mind-blowing performance. They quickly changed the pace for the night, playing fuzzed-out folk rock with genuinely sweet and gritty songs that showcased the frontman’s songwriting prowess."
-Owl and Bear Live Review, Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
MUCH MORE DETAILED & DOWNLOADABLE PRESS KIT HERE