Yeah, a lotta hot to go around this weekend, no? (Cue a sweating Pink Martini singing "I Love Portland in the Springtime!") And what better way to beat the heat after a long day than to crowd into a bar with other similarly-perspired musical denizens for a night of sonic goodness? (What, you were thinking of a swim in the Willamette?) First things first, though: the rumors are true! Straight outta Gresham!
It's a solid Friday night for multi-act bills, meaning don't get to these shows late because the opener is just the venue booker's friend's sister's band and you don't want to have to sit through them, because that's just not the case here. The bill of Swedish ladies we've been eyeing for a while now is a good case in point. Lykke Li, El Perro del Mar, and Anna Ternheim are a triumverate of Scandinavian musical goodness, each with their own take on pop (as we explained here). What's up with the Swedes anyway? They're a veritable music factory, what with their Lekmans and Frobergs and Peter Bjorn and Johns. Apparently long, dark, cold winters and national health care = hitmakers. Again, I digress.
You like your pop less wintery, despite the heat? Power-pop....yes, we'll call them legends...The Posies play the third of four northwest dates celebrating their 20th anniversary of musical merrymaking. Yes, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have been at it for a while now, releasing six studio albums over those two decades-- the most recent being 2005's Every Kind of Light. For all of their sun-drenched output over the years, yours truly has always been partial to the comparative sad sacks of "You Avoid Parties" and "Love Letter Boxes." Total bonus: one of the openers is Portland's own Blue Skies for Black Hearts, who are readying for a CD release show at Holocene on May 30th for their new Serenades & Hands Grenades. We just got it here in the mail, in fact, and based on one whole listen, I dig, I dig.
Also Friday, another triple bill features singer-songwriters Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen, and Missy Higgins at the Roseland Theater. Jennings releases his seventh album (sixth this decade!) on Tuesday, entitled In the Ever. It marks his first for Jack Johnson's Brushfire label after a one-off for Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace a couple of years back with the underrated Boneclouds. Ever the thoughtful, soul-searching type, Jennings remains the rare artist who can address the big subjects like Love, Religion, and Politics in a heart-on-his-sleeve way without becoming annoyingly precious about it. Elsewhere Missouri's Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin brings their smooth and creamy indie-pop to the Towne Lounge, along with local openers The Ocean Floor and Oakland's Port O'Brien. As many of you will no doubt remember, the band's 2006 debut featured the O.C.-approved mini-hit "Oregon Girl." Their newest effort, Pershing, came out last month on Polyvinyl.
Finally, look for two shows this weekend from Portland's Quasi. Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss fire the machine back up on the heels of last night's gig in Eugene with performances Friday in Portland at the Hawthorne Theater and Saturday at the Aladdin Theater as part of the latest Live Wire! taping (also featuring The Builders & the Butchers). Their most recent release was 2006's politically-minded When the Going Gets Dark, but with all of these new dates can there be something new on the horizon?
Also Saturday: the return of Langhorne Slim! He plays the Doug Fir Lounge with a new self-titled release under his belt. Preview Slim and his trio by dipping into our in-studio archives here.
Okay, I'm spent. Which way is the Willamette?
May 17, 2008 at 3:44pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Stunning In Studio session with De V just now, I haven't been that excited about radio since a Peel session with The Fall years ago. Excellent.
I wanted to interview the man when they played here a couple of weeks back but couldn't get through the PR/middle men/women in NYC - fame is a double edged sword. Listening to him I know it's not his doing.
Anyhow - very well done you OPB blokes
May 17, 2008 at 3:51pm by Jeremy Petersen
Thanks for the props-- particularly good to get them from the notoriously discerning ear of IMOJP :)
Indeed, he's a rather charming, self-deprecating type-- check the end of the video for his reaction to his own performance of "Undone" for proof. I find it amusing. The solo versions certainly did not disappoint on this end.
May 17, 2008 at 4:45pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
I will. Just checked the video & track options out - good work from your web people. The finding his voice thing was fascinating - it's rare, but it's almost the only way to find a unique or distinctive voice with so much music behind us. Think Weinland-Neil Young.
Then think Ritchie Young. Goes back to Ray Davie's comments (my interview at nonstarvingartists (dot) com where he said music's like art in the 60's - it's all been done.
Fabulous show tonight - too many things to go into right now - unusually I'm not out reviewing on Saturday - keep it going and how about a midweek FM show??!
May 17, 2008 at 5:08pm by Jeremy Petersen
Ritchie Young's a great example. Hard to imagine someone sounding like him the first time they open their mouth to sing-- and I mean that as a compliment. Lots of reasons for this, I suppose, the biggest being that it takes a lot of guts to arrive at a style like these artists have and put it out there for the first time. As always with an artistic risk, the result could just as easily be not so good.
And thanks, as always, for listening.
May 21, 2008 at 1:57am by ste. goldie
you really shouldn't swim in the Willamette...
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