Miracle Mile

Portland’s STRFKR (pronounced “Starf*cker”) creates the kind of indie dance-funk normally associated with New York hipsters. But as the first song from its third album reveals, there’s more substance in the band's songwriting. “While I’m Alive” opens Miracle Mile with all the shiny bells and whistles of a Brooklyn party jam, save for contagiously catchy melodies that you’d expect from a Pacific Northwest guitar band like Built to Spill. Over a pulsing and humid rhythm section, vintage synth tones undulate and grind against funk guitar as Josh Hodges’ sultry voice flirts into his microphone. "Malmo" boasts big, buttery grooves, courtesy of bassist Shawn Glassford’s deep explorations on the fretboard. But even with some disco-dappled, James Jamerson–inspired 16th notes, it’s the simple things that stick in your head, like Hodges whistling a melody that could be a separate song in and of itself. “Atlantis” glows with all the neon hues of '80s new wave titans like Eurythmics, The Human League, or Berlin. The seven-minute closer, “Nite Rite,” dips early-'90s dream pop into a '70s soft-rock hot-tub party.