Dante Marino - Sorry About The Noise

Dante Marino

Sorry About The Noise
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie funk

When I was in high school I remember befriending my neighbor who was a couple years older than me and he happened to be a guitar player and record his own music. Back then in the mid ‘90s there wasn’t a whole lot of options in which you could record yourself. Computers didn’t have the capabilities at that point so a lot of people were stuck with 4-track cassette recorders. The whole process of recording was exasperating and usually sounded like complete crap. 

Twenty years later and now you have people recording entire albums made completely of virtual instruments, on an almost limitless amount of track while being able to utilize plug-in effects like EQ, reverb, modulation and compression to name a few. While I would say a lot of it still sounds like complete crap there have been some amazing albums that have come out since the digital revolution started.

All of this takes me to Dante Marino and his release Sorry About The Noise. Marino states on his Bandcamp page that “he programmed all the instruments on the computer.” Marino’s release is a microcosm of how many musicians are making music this day. He makes his music pent up in some room (most likely his bedroom) armed with ideas and a computer. Does Marino know how to play an instrument? I don’t know but at the very least he knows how to write a song.

The songs he writes are pop oriented tunes, which sound like a hybrid of organic and electronic elements (But I guess from what he is saying on his Bandcamp page they are all electronic.). Overall, he is a decent songwriter with some inspired ideas and others that may need some tweaking.

I have as much an ambivalent feeling about his voice as I do with the music. His most utilized singing voice is a nasally, nerdy twang like a hyperbolic Ben Gibbard. On occasion he sounds really good, especially when he finds a good range and uses an effect on his vocal. On the other hand when he tries (which isn’t too often) to sing above a certain octave his voice breaks like a teenage going through puberty (which I think might be intentional). If there is one piece of advice I can give Marino it’s not to sing like that ever. No one will find it cute, enduring or enjoyable.

He starts off with a brief intro called “Introducing The Album” that you can skip. He questions how to introduce the album, then apologizes and then proceeds to scream “introducing album” in the voice I wasn’t too thrilled with.

Luckily, things get better. “Good Thing Coming” is a decent, fast paced song while “Aspirations and Uncertainties” feeds into his own nihilistic thoughts. One of the best moments on the entire album comes at the end when he doubles his vocals. He repeats the lyric “It can’t all be for nothing.”

I enjoyed the 8-bit video game inspired music on “Forget The Truth” although his vocals were in need of some treatment at points. He sounds good when he goes falsetto. I didn't expect it to work out but it did. “Far From Me” sounds like it could be a demo track from The Postal Service. The hook is the most infectious melody he writes on the album. He sings “I hope you don’t / Stray far from me / I hope you don’t / Forget me.” As the album progresses Marino definitely has some decent music to offer. I was impressed by the way “Drifting” evolved and the closer “Paralyzing.”

Marino still has a lot of tweaking to do. There are a lot of things he should do such as continuing to work on singing and production techniques, which will take him to the next level. Overall, there is some notable music on the album but I think his best work lies ahead.

Tweet