The week's action is highlighted by what is no doubt one of the more anticipated bills of the young year, as Yeasayer and MGMT play Holocene in Portland on Wednesday night. It's hard to slap an accurate label on the music of Brooklyn's Yeasayer. The band's unironic embracing of world rhythms, combined with elements of vintage pop, dub, and what the kids call indie rock has made their debut full-length All Hour Cymbals one of the more talked about releases of the past few months. It's a rare thing for a band to come along sounding so fully formed, so aware of what they can do from the get-go, and Yeasayer pull it off with ease whether they mean to or not. MGMT, meanwhile, are fresh off an appearance on Letterman (wearing capes, no less) and their own debut, Oracular Spectacular, was just issued by Columbia.
A lot of new releases to hear this week, too, including the solo debut from Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla. Somehow, between producing for Tegan & Sara and recording a new Death Cab album due out in the spring, Walla found time to finally give a batch of his own songs the studio treatment. The result, Field Manual, drops Tuesday on Barsuk, although it took something of an arduous path to get there. As you might recall, a hard drive housing the album was seized by U.S. border officials last year as it was in the process of being transfered from Vancouver, BC, leaving many wondering if it could have had anything to do with the political content of some of the songs. Luckily, there were backups on tape, because it's doubtful that the hard drive will ever leave security purgatory.
Also out this week, Ida's Lovers Prayers, the Radar Bros.' Auditorium, Willie Nelson's Moment of Forever, Joe Jackson's Rain, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down's We Brave Bee Stings & All, Vampire Weekend's self-titled effort, and the Helio Sequence's Keep Your Eyes Ahead, among others.
Among the rest of the live music to be had in the area: Liars and No Age play the Wonder Ballroom on Monday night; Wednesday features former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell with Will Hoge and Jeremy Fisher at the Mission Theater, while Tim Finn and Miranda Lee Richards are at Mississippi Studios and cellist Gideon Freudman plays Pix Patisserie on Hawthorne; Thursday, it's Southerly with Minmae and Minor Thirds at Kelly's Olympian, as well as Nada Surf and Port O'Brien at the Doug Fir; the week closes out with locals The Dimes, Derby, and Andy Werth at Holocene on Friday, while veteran roots-bluesman Chris Smither plays two shows: Friday at the Waters Cultural Center in Hillsboro and Saturday at the Shedd Institute in Eugene.
MP3s: Yeasayer, from All Hour Cymbals- "2080" and "Sunrise"
The thread is open-- what's on your musical minds?
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