Music Blog

Being relatively new to Portland, I am still in the process of drawing my rough map of the city's music scenes. I don't mean to suggest clear-cut boundaries exist to be discovered. Especially in a place as intimate as Portland, it's impossible for one community not to bleed into another (there's definitely an inverse relationship between the number of people you know in town and how big you perceive the city to be). But when it comes to music, Portland has its aesthetics. These become most potent when a Portland band shares a bill with groups that have strong out-of-town character.

This was the situation on Friday night at Missisippi Studios. Portland's AgesandAges played with two Washington state bands, Tacoma's The Globes and Seattle's Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band. While the seven members of AgesandAges put their spin on the soulful chamber-pop that has become a Portland institution (looking at you, Typhoon/Pancake Breakfast/etc etc etc...), The Globes and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band both brought hard-rocking quartets who sonically recalled fragments of other Emerald City acts from Minus the Bear to Nirvana. The feel of the show definitely shifted north after AgesandAges finished their 10-song opening set. Not sure this means anything except that Portland is different than Washington.

In tangential news: AgesandAges recently signed to Knitting Factory Records. Apparently it won't take them ages and ages to release their debut album. At the show they announced they will be releasing Alright, You Restless in February 2011.

Photos from the show:

AgesandAges

 

The Globes

 

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

Tagged: live review