It's been quite a journey over the past decade or so for Chan Marshall aka Cat Power. From the first tentative steps of her first pair of releases (1995's Dear Sir and 1996's Myra Lee, respectively) to the slick, tense sparseness of 2003's You Are Free to her current incarnation as unlikely blue-eyed soulstress, Marshall's musical trajectory has been anything but monochromatic. Almost as important during that time is the transformation of her live performances, which have gone from an on-the-edge-of-a-breakdown unpredictability to a generally strong and engaging presence belting out her smoke-tinged vocals while backed by the Dirty Delta Blues Band. Her latest, Jukebox, offers up versions of tunes made famous by everyone from Nina Simone to Hank Williams to Frank Sinatra, and is the follow up to her strong and surprising The Greatest, hailed by some as her "Dusty in Memphis moment." Cat Power plays Portland's Roseland Theater tonight with opener Appaloosa.
MP3: Cat Power, from Jukebox- "Metal Heart"
Later on in the week, Mark Kozelek returns to Portland, presumably with songs from his Sun Kil Moon moniker's latest, April, under his arm. The album is the first release of new material from Kozelek in almost six years, and follows his all Modest Mouse covers album, Tiny Cities. Kozelek plays the Aladdin Theater on Thursday night with former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan.
Also this week, Southern Culture On the Skids returns to Portland, playing the Doug Fir on Thursday night with Bark Hide & Horn. For all of their comic edge over the years, the band owns considerable musical muscle, to put it one way, and let it show with some of the interpretations included on last year's Countrypolitan Favorites covers release. Everyone from Wanda Jackson to CCR to T. Rex got the SCOTS treatment and with fine results-- it was one of our favorites of the year, in fact.
Also of note this week: Thao & the Get Down Stay Down return to Portland Tuesday night, part of a bill at the Someday Lounge that includes Horse Feathers and Plants; Seattle's David Kartsen Daniels continues his month-long Tuesday night residency at Mississippi Studios, this week with Pseudosix frontman Tim Perry; Ani DiFranco plays the McDonald Theater in Eugene on Wednesday night and the Crystal Ballroom in Portland on Friday; Weinland kicks off a western states tour with Norfolk & Western Wednesday night at Sam Bond's Garage in Eugene; also Wednesday, Daniel Johnston plays Berbati's Pan and Elf Power is at Towne Lounge; Scott H. Biram plays a couple of area dates this week: Thursday at The Axe & Fiddle in Cottage Grove and Friday at Dante's in Portland; also Friday, The Wood Brothers play the Doug Fir, among many others. Go see some music!
The thread is open, what's on your minds?
April 13, 2008 at 2:42pm by rainlover
crap it's cold there - stay in and stay tuned
April 13, 2008 at 2:50pm by Jeremy Petersen
That's, umm, sound advice.
Yeah, sorry for the bad wordplay. Couldn't resist.
April 13, 2008 at 3:07pm by rainlover
Sorry for my lame post as well - I cite temporary brain-fade, as it's HOT here; just wishin' it was cool and rainy here. Or I was there. Or anywhere - not staring at Federal Tax Forms
April 13, 2008 at 3:09pm by rainlover
BTW, it's Jorge here - first time poster here. Nice seein' ya at Rico's last Jan. I bin listening online a lot, mostly during daytime at work
April 13, 2008 at 3:23pm by Jeremy Petersen
Thanks for dropping by Jorge, we're well known as Music to Do Your Taxes To. Glad to help you through with a request if you like...
April 13, 2008 at 3:29pm by rainlover
re-living Rock Band Memories at this very moment with My Iron Lung. Did anyone catch Silverhawk this week? Maybe a momento of Sam's Band ... or for something completely different : Wayne The Train Hancock's - anything form Wayne - anything at all
April 13, 2008 at 3:41pm by zed
New stuff from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds always gives me reason for celebration! Thanks for play'n it. Oh, and my four week old son is loving tonight's show. Cat Power, Radiohead, Iron & Wine: baby likes.
April 13, 2008 at 3:44pm by Jeremy Petersen
Well, the kid clearly has taste-- congrats on that, you can't teach taste. Sounds like he's off to a good start.
April 13, 2008 at 4:06pm by rainlover
Westbound Train - nice and easy ride.
April 13, 2008 at 4:12pm by rainlover
I know - Wayne's not really alternative per se, but worth a listen if you got 'im
April 13, 2008 at 4:14pm by Jeremy Petersen
Wayne The Train is always welcome-- as you said: anything at all is good...
April 13, 2008 at 4:55pm by rainlover
Hey, is it my PC, or the fookin' site or what? Eight time this music stopped, and had to re-launch. Devil Do was feeling so right...
April 13, 2008 at 5:03pm by Jeremy Petersen
OK, so no Wayne the Train after all-- I kinda got worked into a corner and it just wasn't going to work with what was going on. Take a raincheck on that one for next week, rainlover?
April 13, 2008 at 5:05pm by Jeremy Petersen
Oh by the way, as far as the music stopping-- are you using the opbmusic pop-up player? My recommendation would be to stream us on your own media player, whether it's iTunes or Windows Media or MusicMatch or whatever you prefer. Tends to be less trouble that way.
April 14, 2008 at 4:03pm by gunky
Music stopping: I find I can't use iTunes for this reason. I use the pop-up player and it works pretty well, especially if the rest of my broadband isn't being used up by another application. I assume the problem is my 256K DSL. Too bad, because I like the fact that iTunes will scroll the current song, even from a stream, across the top, whereas I find I have to refresh the browser window / OPB Playlist link to get that info right now.
Music listening: Given how much you've been playing the Avett Bros, I want to suggest a band out of Boulder I've just been turned onto, called Paper Bird (http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=123837). I originally heard them last week on a podcast. They sound the Avett's meet the Be Good Tanyas and the Duhks. Their song Jesus and Arizona is a nice little starter ballad.
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