Listen now 
Sunday, April 27 Sprung!
Another busy week is upon us, and with it the promise of weather that makes getting out of the house a bit more attractive. As luck would have it, we're not lacking in options...
Fresh off of their surprising and touching Oscar win for Best Original Song earlier this year (which followed their equally moving turn in last year's Once) and a performance over the weekend at Coachella, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (aka The Swell Season) play Portland's Keller Auditorium Monday night. In case you're not familiar, Hansard fronted the Irish rock band The Frames for the past decade and a half before teaming up with the clasically trained (and much younger) Irglová for a 2006 batch off songs they deemed The Swell Season. One might say it's snowballed from there.
Also this week, the Gypsy-tinged, Morricone-loving DeVotchka play the Wonder Ballroom on Wednesday night. Somewhat inexplicably from Denver, the band issued three cultishly-followed albums at the beginning of the decade before turning a corner of sorts with their work on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. Their latest, A Mad & Faithful Telling, mixes up a world music stew-- or a noir-pop version of it anyway, with elements of tango and mariachi, hot gypsy jazz and western spaghetti.
And yet another artist just off the Coachella stage (photo to the left from Stereogum's coverage), Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks play two area shows this week: Wednesday at WOW Hall in Eugene and Thursday, a hometown show, at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland. The band's latest is the jam-happy (in a good way) Real Emotional Trash, for which they've stayed pretty busy lately-- you know, going on Fox News (just Malkmus), picking fights with the Deal Sisters(!) (again, just Malkmus), making plans to play the summer festival circuit (reportedly putting a wrench into Malkmus' city league softball and fantasy baseball plans in the process), etc. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, plus I've had nightmares ever since hearing of the fight-picking with the Deal Sisters. Here's hoping SM got outta Indio in one piece.
The thread is open-- what's on your minds?
Comments:
On Sunday, April 27 at 10pm, tromper said:
Enjoying the show. Sunday nights will only get better as more listless sippers and their friends open their windows while tuning in and recover precover.
Great selectual thusfar. The GbV chance was nigh, but may be passed now. There's always another Weepies shot, or, recovering from the funk, some Tough Alliance. Heck, Abba?
Blah. You're doing perfectly. Nevermind. :)
On Sunday, April 27 at 10:15pm, inmemoryofjohnpeel said:
Hi J - Siberian play Someday Lounge on May 10th with Caves, so I'm requesting a song of theirs next week.
On Sunday, April 27 at 10:32pm, jpetersen said:
Hey IMOJP- I'll track down Siberian for next week. Not familiar with them, so I'm expecting good things :)
Tromper, you are the resident poet of the opbmusic blog:
Sunday nights will only get better as more listless sippers and their friends open their windows while tuning in and recover precover.
Abba, it is.
On Sunday, April 27 at 11:29pm, inmemoryofjohnpeel said:
Unless it's the JAAMs version of Abba - I have a bootleg.
Yeasayer, Death Cab for Cutie, Ruby Suns - love their stuff - - and We could fill a show with Guided By Voices but that's not the point. The Retro-soul stuff coming up isn't my camp - partly because I don't know why you need to support already famous in the UK acts with ego issues - Retro soul needs to go (with the exception of Gnarls Barkley, which is truly soulful , genuine and inventive.
On Sunday, April 27 at 11:37pm, jpetersen said:
Hmm, sounds like you're describing Amy Winehouse. You don't like the Jamie Lidell then? Or the Heavy? Granted, it's not reinventing the wheel, but it's also nice to have something that makes what might be labeled "R&B" be listenable again. Yes, I'm revealing my bias: not a big Beyonce fan over here. Agreed on the Gnarls Barkley, though, they threw some interesting wrenches into the latest.
On Monday, April 28 at 0:13am, inmemoryofjohnpeel said:
Well that wasn't lame at all - The Heavy's track is exceptionally good. The most sensational new thing though is, surprisingly, Portishead - is that song typically inventive (I've heard three). 10 years on. The 1st album had a new, unique and amazing sound, but only two songs worth their salt. I was one of many reviewers who pointed this out at the time, and sure enough, Portishead Cds filled the 2nd-hand CD stores. But they had a touch of brilliance and hear, perhaps, time has given them enough material and inspiration??
On Monday, April 28 at 0:34am, jpetersen said:
Glad you liked The Heavy track-- I've really been digging the album as of late.
But I have to respectfully disagree with you about Portishead (after I agree with you about their new stuff). Their Dummy debut was critically lauded (in as far as that matters) at the time and continues to be from what I've seen. It was a trailblazer for the genre (trip-hop, or whatever you want to call it) as far as bringing the sound to a wider audience. Beth Gibbons always sounds great, but never more so than on that album. Songs like "Mysterons" and "Glory Box" and even the "hit" "Sour Times" are rather glorious and I'm really stunned by your assessment. Their second (self-titled) I found to be a considerable drop off and it would make sense to me if you're talking about it, but I find Dummy to be essential.
On Monday, April 28 at 3:11am, inmemoryofjohnpeel said:
Interesting to me too - I ditched the album years ago so can't verify the tracks, but I know that the first two on the CD were stunning at the time, and set up dozens of copycats. Attachment took me a while to realise that he whole CD wasn't up to the openers except for one or two later on. Then the second CD is an attempt to redo... exposed under the light of very high expectations - there is a difference. Now, 10 years on I have lower expectations and am frankly impressed. As good as anything new.
Coming from near Bristol, I question the portrayals, I don't know, I haven't interviewed that band, I am though delighted that they have left all that pigeon-holing behind and produced something that at first listening sounds tremendous
My hearing it, a reward for you doing your thing.
On Tuesday, April 29 at 4:36am, gunky said:
Just returned from a brief stint overseas. Imagine my surprise (and delight) at hearing The Magic Numbers ("Love me like you") in a cyber cafe in Athens. Nice to see local bands getting some air time internationally.
Re: Portishead -- I'm a neophyte, and clearly don't have the encyclopedic background of JP or IMOJP, but I've been hearing some buzz about their new disc too. I'm interested to hear more.
A web site comment / request: I've repeatedly found myself wanting a search feature to see whether you've played certain tunes/bands, and what the responses or reviews to them have been like. It would be a nice interactive addition.
Might try to hit Devotchka on Wednesday .. thanks for the heads up.
On Tuesday, April 29 at 7:31pm, Isorski said:
Just caught The Swell Season last night in Portland and they were fantastic. Posted a review at http://isorski.blogspot.com/ - check it out!
On Saturday, May 3 at 9:49pm, sonicbomber said:
Late to the conversation, but wanted to comment on Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of The Swell Season, and the stunningly authentic musical love story 'Once.'
They appeared on Fresh Air this past week and I was a bit too excited to learn that they have become a couple in real life. That connection that was portrayed in the movie was a real one. Also from the movie, remember the flat that they sing and eat dinner in with the large gathering of musicians? That's Glen and Marketa's flat in real life. And all of the extras in that scene? Their friends. The woman that sang during the gathering? Glen's mom.
I love that.
On Saturday, May 3 at 10:04pm, jpetersen said:
Thanks for the addition, sonicbomber. I'll have to re-watch the film with all of that info in mind, I imagine it will most definitely change the way I see it. Catch the Portland show this past week?
On Sunday, May 4 at 6:08pm, sonicbomber said:
Nope, I missed the show. But I enjoyed watching the youtube clips of it that isorski linked to on his blog.
Somehow, despite listening almost constantly to OPB, I had completely missed the fact that OPB music has it's own HD radio station that broadcasts 24/7. I gotta get me an HD radio receiver.
I've been complaining about the lack of good music radio in Portland for ever. And here it is! My dream come true! But why not have a second regular FM music station as well as the HD? OPB would dominate the market!
On Monday, May 5 at 9:57am, dchristensen said:
Yeah, we'd be fine with that idea, sonicbomber -- it's just the 8-figures that we're short! If you get an HD radio, come back and let people know how you like the sound of it.
On Monday, May 5 at 11:32pm, gunky said:
OK, since sonicbomber brought it up ... I'll just reiterate my plea to bring back music to the FM airwaves in the weeknight evenings. I'm still not down with HD radio, and the results of your online survey seem to bear out the idea that HD radio is an idea who's time has not yet come. Eclecticity is obviously a thing of the past, but a couple hour broadcast of the opbmusic show (like for In House) would do wonders. ... OK, I'm done. Great show as always.