Star-f-er @ PDX Pop Now! 2008:
Rotture, 7/26/08

It was well past midnight when Josh Hodges, Ryan Bjornstad, and Shawn Glassford took the Rotture stage for Star-f-er's (we're keeping it SFW so you don't have to) closing set at Saturday's PDX Pop Now festival. The music-loving minions inside, many working on their 11th hour of live PDX Pop action, had just finished being worked into a steaming frenzy by Atole a few minutes before and were primed for the head-bopping jams of the trio, many of which (outside of their show-stopping Madonna cover) appear on the upcoming Badman Records release (self-titled, due September 23rd).

See the whole set here.

MP3: Star-f-er- "German Love"

Posted by jpetersen on Thursday, July 31 at 5:33pm

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Live music fans of Portland, we can only hope you've been soaking up your musical catbirdseat as of late. Mixed metaphors? Who cares? Sleep? Who needs it? We're already the envy of every music lover at least this side of Chicago for our front row seats at the likes of the PDX Pop Now! Fest, not to mention tonight's Hold Steady date at the Crystal Ballroom, and now barreling toward us on the horizon all dust and twang is next weekend's 10th Annual Pickathon Roots Music Fest. We all deserve a quick breather after tonight's late action, I suppose, but the musical week begins in earnest on Tuesday. Look alive!

Speaking of The Hold Steady, the Kerouac- Berryman- Strummer- Springsteen- loving band from Minneapolis by way of New York City brings their rollicking act to the Crystal Ballroom tonight with openers The Loved Ones. As you may have noticed, they recently finally got around to issuing the tangible version of Stay Positive, their fourth full-length release, after it made the rounds in digital form for nearly a month. Craig Finn's manic energy and self-psychoanalyzing lyrics continue to lead the way, helping to make them perhaps the closest thing we have today to the mythologized likes of the E Street Band or The Replacements (though time, as it tends to, will tell).

A busy Tuesday night finds the return of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down to Portland as part of a stellar bill at Holocene (Horse Feathers and Harper Simon open). To refresh, We Brave Bee Stings & All is the full-length debut out earlier this year on kill rock stars from Thao, and its refreshing, slightly off-beat pop songs have not gone un-noticed. Indeed, it showed up on many a best of 2008 (so far) lists and led to opening dates for Rilo Kiley.

MP3: Thao, from We Brave Bee Stings & All- "Swimming Pools"

Stream: Thao's opbmusic in-studio session

Plenty of other choices that same night, including Super XX Man at Pix Patisserie (with John Vecchiarelli). The mysteriously-named band is readying both an EP and a full-length for release in '08, in the process apparently shedding their lo-fi roots (for the better, we'd assert). Also Tuesday: Missouri's Repulic Tigers, sounding decidely un-midwest, at Towne Lounge, and Chris Isaak with Nicole Atkins & the Sea at Edgefield in Troutdale (how cool would it be if he didn't play "Wicked Game"?)

Did we mention choices? The downside of having those, sometimes, is the part where you have to make them. Friday's a bit like that, and it's not going to be easy. Eef Barzelay, for example, only fronted one of the most consistently brilliant and enjoyable indie-pop bands of the past decade or so with the now dearly-departed Clem Snide, including such nuggets as "Joan Jett of Arc," and "Mike Kalinsky," for those of you familiar with the band's discography (and you really should be if you're not). Out on his own these days, Barzelay's new solo album, Lose Big, is full of the kinds of songs we came to expect from his band, twisting titles and meanings from unexpected places, leaving us wondering how he got here from there (see the angry young man-chiding "The Girls Don't Care" for evidence). Barzelay plays Towne Lounge with The Sleepover Disaster Friday night.

Oh, but then again Pickathon X (the 10th annual, hence the X) kicks off Friday afternoon with the likes of Bombadil, The Everybodyfields, Chatham County Line, Langhorne Slim, and Jolie Holland, among others at Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland. It's the start of three days of various shades of roots music, boasting several stages, workshops, campsites and kids' activities, among other things. The line-up, as always, is impressive, including touring acts like The Gourds, The Cave Singers, and Justin Townes Earle, as well as local lights like Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond, and The Old Believers. Gates Friday open at noon.

Much more to come both here and on the stream throughout the week, including photos, in-studio sessions, previews, reviews, and the like. The thread is open..

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, July 27 at 9:07pm

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In case you haven't noticed, 3 Rounds and a Sound, the recent debut from Portland's Blind Pilot, has been getting its fair share of attention as of late. Not that the band led by Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski expected no one to hear it, but chances are they didn't expect to be featured as an iTunes single of the week and heralded by the likes of Aimee Mann, either. Such is the stuff of the unexpected success story, however, and the band has enjoyed comparisons to The Shins and Iron & Wine, among others, while the iTunes stint landed them a spot in a recent Billboard Top 200. All well and good, yes, but it's the songs that do the work, getting to the point by means of occasionally rootsy sometimes jangly pop, buoyed by Nebeker's heartfelt delivery. On a night that sees Blind Pilot take the PDX Pop Now! stage, they also join us in-studio as part of tonight's In House-- hear it just past 10:00 PST on our 24-hour stream, our HD music channel (91.5 FM-2 in the Portland area), and the radio stations of OPB.

Stream: Blind Pilot's opbmusic in-studio session

Elsewhere tonight, the Watson Twins visit the Doug Fir Lounge as they continue to tour behind their recent debut full-length, Fire Songs. First coming to people's attention a couple of years back as the haunting vocal duo who got part of the artist billing for Jenny Lewis' solo debut, sisters Chandra and Leigh issued a promising EP called Southern Manners before inking a deal with Vanguard. They take the stage tonight following off-beat opener Tim Fite, whose own recent release on Anti-, Fair Ain't Fair (although it should have been called Fite Songs) has had people talking about its unique sound, something akin to a mash-up involving Tom Waits, Beck, and Nas ("deeply steeped in the contradictory traditions of the country and hip-hop genres," as his website puts it).

MP3: The Watson Twins, from Fire Songs- "Sky Open Up"

Plenty more to come here tonight, of course, and we'd love to hear from you, particularly if you'd like to chime in with a first-person report from any one of the multitude of performances in Portland over the last 24 hours or so. What you got?

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, July 26 at 9:32pm

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One might say that the summer live music season is in full swing with several high profile gigs all smashed into the next seven days. Whether your taste is Girltalk or Emmylou Harris, Shearwater or Sharon Jones, you've got a number of options this week.

Speaking of which, a number of options is more or less what defines the annual PDX Pop Now! Festival-- that, and the fact that all of those options are local and free. This year's fest kicks off three days of music Friday evening at 6:00 inside Rotture with Love Menu before concluding nearly fifty acts later Sunday night/Monday morning at 12:25 with New Bloods. In between, a number of bands you may be familiar with (and probably a few you aren't) will play indoor and out, including The Builders & the Butchers, Loch Lomond, A Weather, Blind Pilot, Norfolk & Western, Dykeritz, The Portland Cello Project, and Panther, to name just a few. We'll hear from some of the acts playing this year's fest including selections from this year's PDX Pop Now! compilation throughout the week.

Elsewhere, pick your flavor. Friday night, for example, features not only the PPN festival, but also Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings at the Oregon Zoo as they continue to tour behind their breakout 2007 release 100 Days, 100 Nights, and current NW darlings Fleet Foxes, who show everyone what all the fuss is about at the Doug Fir Lounge. The Seattle-based Fleet Foxes released their debut full-length recently on Sub Pop and if you posit that frontman Robin Pecknold grew up listening to his parents' Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young records you'd be absolutely right. Still, there's something about the album that impresses beyond a mere homage to influences, as the band somehow manages to combine elements of British folk and Americana along with those of contemporaries like My Morning Jacket in what is an assured debut to say the least. The Duchess & the Duke and Harper Simon and Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper) open things up.

MP3: Fleet Foxes- "White Winter Hymnal"

Of course, all of that only (partially) covers the end of the week-- the rest is no less busy, including Swedish singer Anna Ternheim and Joseph Arthur (he of the recent Ryan Adams-like output) Monday night at the Doug Fir, Southerly's Krist Krueger with a solo tour kick-off Wednesday night at Towne Lounge on a bill that also features Whip and Slim Moon(!), and Shearwater with Tu Fawning and A Hawk & a Hacksaw that same night at the Doug Fir (a busy place this week, it seems). In case you missed it, Austin's Shearwater released their fifth and best full length this year, their Matador debut Rook. It's an album borne of tense and dramatic times, and few are able to play up the drama more than the band's off-kilter-voiced frontman Jonathan Meiburg, whose presence is the music's main engine. It all makes for listening that is at once unsettling and strangely comforting.

MP3: Shearwater, from Rook- "Rooks"

Finally, while she may not be on the hipsters' must-see list at this point (except for the ones who recognize the genius of Gram Parsons), they hardly come classier than Emmylou Harris. She recently released her 22nd studio album, All I Intended to Be, an effort that continues her recent move back to more traditional sounds after atmospheric albums with Daniel Lanois in the 90's. Aside from a stellar and fairly wide-ranging solo career, she's also been that rare ingredient over the years that makes everything she lends her voice to sound better-- whether she's been backing Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Lanois, or Bright Eyes-- Emmylou goes with everything. Plus, how good does she continue to look? She plays the Oregon Zoo Tuesday evening with openers Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein.

And that still doesn't get to all of it. Hear our concert calendar and the artists on it throughout the week on the opbmusic stream. What are you look most toward?

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, July 20 at 9:10pm

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Back at the end of the glorious 90's, 'round about the time mp3.com was an independent artist's best online bet for peddling their own wares, Aimee Mann decided she'd had it with labels. It wasn't without reason-- she'd spent time in artistic purgatory while battling with her former label, Imago, for freedom from the bankrupt imprint while they prevented her from releasing anything new. At the time, the idea of a musician taking control of his or her wn product and releasing it themselves was a novel one-- nothing new to unsigned and unestablished acts, of course, but a leap of faith at best for those with something to lose. Five albums and a much different looking music industry later, we might call Mann's path a success-- not only for herself, but for the trailblazing example she set for scores of artists down the road. On her latest, the tongue-in-cheek titled @#%&*! Smilers, she returns to what she does best: writing solid, smart folk-pop tunes with just enough atmospheric color to keep them falling into girl with guitar cliche. Aimee Mann plays the Aladdin Theater tonight with openers Blind Pilot.

MP3: Aimee Mann, from @#%&*! Smilers- "Thirty-One Today"

Speaking of Blind Pilot, the Portland-based duo hasn't been doing too bad for themselves as of late, have they? Based on the strength of their new 3 Rounds a Sound, the band was both handpicked by Mann to open tonight's show and chosen for a recent iTunes single of the week. Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dombrowski form the core of the band, whose spirit is nothing if not Portland-esque-- they embarked on a bicycle-bound west coast tour, fully gasoline-less and leg-powered, last year and plan to do the same again this year, beginning August 16th in Bellingham, WA. In the meantime, listen for them as part of an upcoming opbmusic in-studio session and next weekend's PDX Pop Now! festival.

More to come here throughout the night, of course, and we'd love some company. Questions? Comments? Requests? We're all ears....

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, July 19 at 8:49pm

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HUSH 10th Anniversary Showcase:
Aladdin Theater, 7/12/08

Chad Crouch set up shop as HUSH and its sister artspace TANK in downtown Portland in 1998 with little idea what it would become. The "accidental" label would only go on to issue albums by the likes of The Decemberists, Kind of Like Spitting, Corrina Repp, Norfolk & Western, Casey Dienel, Super XX Man, among many others, fostering a decidedly Portland sound in the process. HUSH celebrated a decade of music making and scene creating last weekend with a triple bill representing some of the best and brightest from their current roster in Nick Jaina, Loch Lomond, and Laura Gibson. We were proud to be a sponsor of the event, and caught a unique backstage perspective on the night's festivities.

Nick Jaina Band

MP3: Nick Jaina, from A Narrow Way (due Oct. 14th)- "Winding Sheet"
Stream: opbmusic in-studio session

Loch Lomond

MP3: Loch Lomond, from Paper the Walls- "Carl Sagan"
Stream: opbmusic in-studio session

Laura Gibson

MP3: Laura Gibson, from If You Come to Greet Me- "Hands in Pockets"
Stream: opbmusic in-studio session

View the entire photo set here, or the slideshow here

Download the new DECA: A HUSH 10th Anniversary Compilation here for free-- 28 tracks featuring Colin Meloy, Shelley Short, Reclinerland, Velella Velella and more, plus a handsome 36 page .pdf booklet.

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, July 18 at 3:58pm

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Over the course of six albums now, Stephen Coates (aka The Real Tuesday Weld) has been exploring his musical alter-ego as The Clerkenwell Kid through a collage of old and new sounds, creating music that feels at once decades old and thoroughly modern-- a signature style that has been coined "antique beat." On The End of the World, his conceptual follow-up and companion piece to last year's The London Book of the Dead, he blurs the lines of artist and character more than ever, the whole of the recording framed as an imaginary concert performed on the eve of Valentine's Day in London at the fictional End of the World Club. It's a sort of somber sayonara, a surreal adieu to life as we know it through a dream-like flow of guest stars who filter in and out, resigned to an end that, on the bright side at least, appears to be unknown. The Real Tuesday Weld plays the Someday Lounge on Monday night, with local openers A Cautionary Tale and Buoy LaRue. **UPDATE**- Apparently you can hear and see the entire bill via the "virtual stage" at the Someday Lounge website here. If it's for real, this is pretty cool-- I can't believe I wasn't aware of it earlier. **

MP3: The Real Tuesday Weld, from The End of the World- "Over the Hillsides"

Elsewhere this week, Menomena's Danny Seim will undoubtedly be unveiling new music as Lackthereof Thursday night at Holocene. The upcoming ninth(!) release from his solo project, entitled Your Anchor, drops July 22nd on Barsuk. It's just the latest side-Menomena activity from the trio, which has lately also included Brent Knopf's solo project and Seim's involvement in Faux-Hoax, among other things. Thursday's bill doubles as the CD release show for Dykeritz and their new rearrangerologyistics and also includes Alan Singley & Pants Machine.

MP3: Lackthereof, from Your Anchor-
"Last November"

The highlight of the live music week is perhaps Friday night's solo acoustic performance from Kinks frontman Ray Davies at the Crystal Ballroom. Known first and foremost as the frontman and chief songwriter behind The Kinks, including soldiering them to relevancy in no less than three different decades, Davies released his first official solo album in 2006, not long after a shooting in New Orleans left him near death. Other People's Lives was heralded as the return of the songwriting social observer who was behind the kind of songs found on Something Else, The Village Green Preservation Society, and Muswell Hillbillies. He followed that up with the U.S. release earlier this year of the solid Working Man's Cafe on New West.

Several promising bills this week also include Ed Harcourt at the Doug Fir Lounge (Monday); Wolf Parade at the Crystal Ballroom (Tuesday); Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet at the Aladdin Theater (Tuesday); The Jesus & Mary Chain at the Wonder Ballroom (Thursday); Panther and The Joggers at East End (Thursday); Los Lobos at the Oregon Zoo (Friday); and Aimee Mann with Blind Pilot (Saturday).

The thread is open...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, July 13 at 9:07pm

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In case you don't already know, opbmusic is sponsoring tonight's HUSH Records 10th Anniversary Showcase at the Aladdin Theater, and the honor and excitement we feel at being involved with such an event (and such a bil!) is matched only by the shortness of our time at the moment. Check back later, then, for a full rundown of tonight's goings-on, including (hopefully) some photographic evidence. Of course, you could always just go and see it for yourself, which would be our recommendation. In the meantime, stream our sessions with all three of tonight's artists...

*Oh, and a late update: late arrivers can rejoice, the show doesn't begin until 9:00, despite what the poster says....

Laura Gibson: In-Studio @ OPB

Nick Jaina: In-Studio @ OPB

Loch Lomond: In-Studio @ OPB

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, July 12 at 5:10pm

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The Old Believers CD Release: Berbati’s Pan, 7/10/08

Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle, the decidedly young duo that makes up The Old Believers, expanded the line-up to a drummer-less quartet for Thursday night’s release show for their new Eight Golden Greats. The Alaska-born act played all eight of ‘em, plus a take on Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me," their old-new yin-yang matching the contrasting on-stage delivery styles of Kempf and Boyle themselves.

MP3: The Old Believers, from Eight Golden Greats- "There It Is"

MP3: The Old Believers, from Eight Golden Greats- "Granny's Song"

View the entire set here. The Old Believers embark upon a July west coast tour tonight in Olympia before returning home for Pickathon in early August.

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, July 11 at 10:59am

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They're still going over at the Waterfront Blues Festival, where Curtis Salgado brings the four-day fest to a close later on tonight. Sorry to say that we've already missed his early Sunday evening performance, but British soulster James Hunter began the evening's festivities with an appearance supporting his recent fourth album, The Hard Way. While Brits playing American-born soul music are certainly nothing new-- we've seen the umpteenth wave in recent years, if you haven't noticed-- Hunter's music is among the best of the current crop, most of whom he beat to the spot by several years. Indeed, listeners are quick to misidentify his songs as long lost classics unearthed from the era of Sam Cooke, as good a comment as any on the fresh but classic sound he creates. If you missed his live performance, you can stiil catch him on Conan Monday night.

Video: James Hunter talks about The Hard Way

Also tonight, plenty of new releases to talk about, including the new effort from Beck, Modern Guilt. Featuring production work from Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys, Gorillaz), there's an intrigue surrounding the new album born largely out of the fact that Beck has always kept us guessing. A funk album here, a folk singer's collection there, he's almost always been able to reinvent himself in such a way that genre labels have seemed irrelevant. One would think Modern Guilt might be best summed up by the following stats: 10 songs, not much over 30 minutes-- but it's far from the light, summery album those might imply. Oh, and Cat Power guest stars on a couple of tracks. Beck plays the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend on August 24th.

Stream: Three songs from Beck's Modern Guilt

Portland is lucky enough to get the Ratatat two-fer, as the NYC-based duo plays Holocene on Tuesday-- the same day they release their third album, the appropriately-titled LP3. While there may not be anything as immediately odd and delicious as Classics' "Wildcat," Evan Mast and Mike Stroud have done a great job of adding new elements to their familiar sound without compromising the Ratatat asthetic. The latest, then includes live drums, mellotron, and even acoustic guitar, in addition to a few stylistic twists. E*Rock and DJ Hot Air Balloon also play Tuesday's bill.

MP3: Ratatat, from LP3- "MIrando"

Also this week, new releases from Ron Sexsmith (Exit Strategy of the Soul, yep roc), Albert Hammond, Jr. (Como Te Llama, RCA), and Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis (Two Men with the Blues, Blue Note), among others. Performances in the area include We Are Scientists (Tuesday, Berbati's Pan), Jesse Malin (Tuesday, Hawthorne Theater), The Old Believers' CD release show (Thursday, Berbati's Pan), Foo Fighters with Supergrass and Minus the Bear (Thursday, Rose Garden), The Police with Elvis Costello & the Imposters (Friday, Clark Co. Amphitheater), and The Mother Hips with The Dimes (Friday, Doug Fir Lounge), among others.

MP3: Ron Sexsmith- "Brandy Alexander"

MP3: Albert Hammond, Jr.- "GfC"

MP3: The Old Believers, from Eight Golden Greats- "There It Is"

Have fun, the thread is open....

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, July 6 at 9:09pm

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Given the placement of this year's July 4th holiday, chances are you may have already had your fill of music, parties, food, drink and sun, or some combination thereof-- even though it's only Saturday night. You're forgiven, then, if you're keeping at home-- Sunday night style-- tonight, but that doesn't mean you won't be missing out on plenty. Take the folks over at the Waterfront Blues Fest, for example. They're soldiering on with the good times (because somebody has to) by taking it to the wee hours for the third consective night tonight, with still plenty more to come on Sunday. Charlie Musselwhite, Back Door Slam, Eric Lindell and still more all play Saturday night performances for the festival, where ten bucks and a couple of cans of food gets you in and serves a good cause.

If you like your music indoors, look no further than the Aladdin Theater, tonight hosting the legendary anti-folkster and avowed enemy of the internet (just try to find something "official" for him on the web, it won't happen) Jonathan Richman. Once upon a time the leader of The Modern Lovers, Richman has built a career and a persona around his brilliant albeit quirky style, including more than a few odes to his artistic heroes, Picasso and the Velvet Underground among them. His 20th studio album, recently out, is Because Her Beauty is Raw & Wild, a collection that shows once again that even when we get more or less what we expect from Richman ("No One Was Like Vermeer" is the artist ode this time around), he still surprises with the kinds of curveballs he's always thrown us.

Elsewhere tonight, Maria Taylor and Jonathan Rice head up a decidedly Oberst-y line-up at the Doug Fir Lounge, along with Nik Freitas and Son, Ambulance. In case you don't keep track of such things, Taylor and Son, Ambulance are Saddle Creek labelmates with Conor Oberst's Bright Eyes, while Nik Freitas' latest is new out on Oberst's own Team Love label (Rice has a connection in all of this, too, but it's a long story about how his girlfriend's band originally made their name on the aforementioned Saddle Creek).

MP3: Maria Taylor, from Lynn Teeter Flower- "A Good Start"

The thread is open for your comments, including a call for your take on the newly-announced MusicFest Northwest line-up. Read on below...

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, July 5 at 9:39pm

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