Armed with the raunchy sway of Led Zeppelin and the post-punk smarts of Jane’s Addiction, Seattle’s Spanish For 100’s greatest strength is that they’re not afraid to put a little bombast back into pop music. The band’s third long player Say What You Want To Say To Me is high-powered and fervid, blasting away with a fertile and muscular crunch. “Attack!” is a rowdy and panting little opener; the charging “Sangria” has a libidinous swerve and the pounding “Say What You Want To Say” is truly irresistible. Produced by Johnny Sangster (Dear John Letters) and mixed by Phil Ek (Modest Mouse, The Shins), Say What You Want To Say To Me is a powerful and visceral album—the guitars solo away, the drums pound and cook and singer Corey Passons’ voice ripples through it all with a delicious blend of athleticism and finesse. “Snakebite” is a jangling meditation on the past; “Limerance Be” comes with a simmering feracity and the closer “Quick As A Shutter” perfectly captures post-coital confusion and chaos, causing Passons to confess he’s looking “to find a moon to soothe me down.” Say What You Want To Say To Me swerves, soars and glows in all the right places—it may very well revivify rock and roll.
--Alex Green
