SMOKING (EP) by Tino Drima

Tino Drima is a cauldron of then, now, and what will be. There is grease, there is friction, there is high harmony, there are ripping beats, there are charmed humans parading onstage and in studio. There is a radio playing on the other side of the wall and Old Man Cooper has not left his apartment in over a month and it stinks. But this music does not, this music exudes class and classicism, and lifts you up and places you smack dab in the middle of newly decorated living room filled with Hummel figurines, a comfy couch, and the sound of dishes clinking and clanking in the kitchen sink just past the dining room. You want to stay, and you want to listen to the music, and you want to hang out, and you will stay up for as long as it lasts and maybe even longer, because it sounds so good and it smells like bacon over in that room now.

Tino Drima consists of Gregory DiMartino, Ryann Gonsalves, Rob Mills, Mackenzie Bunch, Grayson Converse, and Scott Huerta. Their names sound oddly like items of food.

Like most of us, they are fascinated by metadata. That is why the music they perform has been called Psyche Doo-Wop Hell Croon. It is a genre they respect, that they have pioneered, that will only get bigger and broader with time. Sort of like people.

Influences? Can, their Uncle Charlie, R.E.O. Speedwagon, Sonny Rollins, Italian prog rockers Premiata Forneria Marconi, and early ‘60s Brit girl duo the Caravelles.

Tino Drima’s new EP ‘Smoking’ is utterly fascinating, evokes all that is sensual about contemporary popular music, and will make you tingle with excitement. Or, in some cases, tinkle.

‘Smoking’ is good for you. And it always has been.

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