Some might argue that filming artists in non-music venues like stores or in alleyways has already been done (Black Cab Sessions, Takeaway Shows, etc...) and any new versions are just unnecessary imitations. What makes the local versions in Portland interesting is that they are familiar artists in familiar places. Secondly, performances for This is Lost Gospel are free and anyone can attend them if they wish. While The Penny Jam does not include audiences they have recruited an impressive array of artists to film. This film is footage of Laura Gibson performing at OMSI.
Laura Gibson at OMSI from The Penny Jam on Vimeo.
7.30.2008
Laura Gibson - The Penny Jam
7.25.2008
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson on Daytrotter
Enjoy the PDX Pop Now and Block Party Weekends, everybody.
7.22.2008
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
After giving Black Kids 2007 EP release an 8.4/10 Pitchforkmedia has chosen to defend their 3.3/10 rating of their recent full length release Partie Traumatic with this photograph above. I haven't listed to Black Kids enough to argue one way or the other based on the music but this is ridiculous. The caption on the homepage doesn't even warn the reader of the ensuing madness:
"After a well-received EP, Jacksonville's Black Kids release a Bernard Butler-produced debut that surprisingly hit the top 5 in the UK."
When one is this eager to generate buzz about new bands one should take the time to think about what they're doing. Do we think this really is Best New Music? Should we even bother doing this? What happens if we don't like their music in six months after we've generated all of this buzz about them?Most importantly, they're just a bunch of "kids" playing music. They probably appreciated the praise, but they most likely didn't ask for it. It's kind of sick to think about people doing something like this. The picture isn't even that funny. When Pitchfork slammed Weezer or Nine Inch Nails they at least explained why. You think that it would be important to explain why you liked the ep of a band you generated a bunch of buzz about so much and why you're now so critical of the album. This could also be a big joke. ("Haha! JK! We don't take ourselves too seriously. It's just music! Now for the real review")
They've also asked all writers to lower their ratings because they've been "too high" recently.
Integrity,
johnson!
7.21.2008
The PB&J Campaign
Speaks for itself:
"How does this work? It's actually not ONLY about the PB&J. Any plant-based meal you eat instead of something based on meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products can have a big impact.
Find out more about how this works.
How much can you accomplish?
You might not end global warming in one lunch break, but each time you choose the plant-based meal you make a difference, just like taking out the recycling or taking public transportation to work instead of driving.
Ready to take the PB&J Pledge?"
More information about the PB&J Campaign.
Was, Is, Be...PDX
Here are some interesting things that are worth checking out.
On Saturday, Starfucker played a free show in an alleyway as part of a series of performances put on by This is Lost Gospel. Some other previous shows included local bands White Fang, Almost Nearly, and Glass Teeth. Stay tuned for some more shows featuring Southern Belle, Glass Candy, and yet-to-be-announced surprise guests. Check out the site for videos and photographs of the performances.
Tonight, Jack Lewis & The Woodgrain will be playing live on my radio show "The Half & Half Hour" at kpsu.org at 9:00. And at 10:00 another band, Patterns, will be playing on "Arya Imig's Sound Judgement."
Tuesday Night at the Dekum Manor will feature some other great local bands: The Shaky Hands, Here Comes a Big Black Cloud, Worlds Greatest Ghosts, and the Vonneguts. Should be crazy.
Thursday, head on over to the Hotel Deluxe for the first Top Down Film Festival Series show. The even will include a performance by Love Menu followed by a showing of the movie Big Time on top of the parking garage.
And........
Friday-Sunday = PDX Pop Now. Local Cut has a great compilation of songs by bands that will be performing at the festival.
happy summertime,
johnson!
TV on the Radio - Dear Science.
TV on the Radio will be releasing the follow up to their 2006 release, Return to Cookie Mountain, on September 23rd. It's title is Dear Science,. You can see them performing these new tracks at a few venues coming up including a stop at Portland's Roseland Theater for this year's Musicfest NW on September 5th.
7.18.2008
2nd Annual TSK Donut Eating Contest
7.17.2008
Our 16th Poet Laureate
7.16.2008
Sub Pop 20th Birthday Bash - Sunday
Sunday marked the second half of Sub Pop's 20th anniversary music festival. The 10 hour event showcased some of Sub Pop's current up-and-coming artists and indie-headliners, as well as legendary bands from throughout the Seattle label's fabled history reuniting on stage for the first time in years. I was able to get my mitts on some tickets for the day's "revelry," and sure enough the stacked lineup did not disappoint. The weather was great, too. Here's a rundown of the performances:
Kiwi polyglot-popsters The Ruby Suns started things off with a quick set of tunes from their immensely-awesome and genre-itinerant debut record The Sea Lion. The grand setting of sun and amphitheater fit some of their more expansive songs really well, although the multifarious instruments and sounds going on throughout Sea Lion seems near-impossible to duplicate on stage--especially with only two people--and, as Nick pointed out after seeing them a while back, the group is still honing their live act.
Next on the bill was Grand Archives, a hometown Seattle band who undoubtedly boasted the day's most entertaining stage-banter. Grand Archives' country-tinged, dad-rock was easy on the ears and perfect for lounging in the grass to. They strolled through a set of highlights from their self-titled album released earlier this year, all the while joking around with the small crowd, which was still gathering at that point.
A bit of a surprise and a huge highlight for me was getting to see Blitzen Trapper, a recent signee to the Sub Pop label and one of my favorite bands from Portland, take the main stage next. The group wasn't officially listed on the festival schedule (there was only a "TBA" between Grand Archives and Kinski, the band on-deck), so their unexpected appearance made the rollicking, foot-stomping, rock-jams they played that much sweeter. The songs were a mixture of Wild Mountain Nation and some other stuff that didn't sound too familiar (but is potentially from the new album, whenever that's coming out).
The harder-edged, psychedelic group Kinski came on next, playing straight through a string of loud, squalling, (mostly) instrumental songs. I've heard some of their stuff on the radio before and it's not bad, but have never got into them. My fellow festival-goer and I took this chance to hit the beer garden.
The British art-punk quartet Foals then took the stage, smashing a microphone into pieces before they even sang a verse. Their twitchy, tightly-coiled, and sometimes ambient math-rock helped jump-start the hitherto sleepy crowd, only the openness of the amphitheater setting rendered their contagious and irreverent energy somewhat muted (for example: their opening performance for Wolf Parade's "secret" show the next night at the much more compact and enclosed Neumos was night-and-day better). One major highlight was the nervous look on the stage crew guy's face after lead singer Yannis Phillippakis punctured an amp with his guitar neck. Simply priceless.
Les Thugs, a French early-grunge band, and the first of Sunday's highly-anticipated reunited groups to play, came on next. While I can appreciate the ground these guys helped break, I was still listening to Skee-lo and TLC when they were making their hit records, and their sound is one I just can't really connect to. This marked our second beer garden-run.
No Age did their noise-rock power pop thing next. While Pitchfork and other tastemakers are pretty enamored with this Los Angeles duo, I can't help but agree with the sentiments of my festival-companion: "I feel like guys I knew in mediocre high school bands could play this stuff." Alas, another beer. Hang in there, I promise I get less critical.
The second reunited band from Sub Pop's early days to perform on Sunday was Red Red Meat. Same impression as for Les Thugs, however I enjoyed their experimental, garage-rocky songs a lot more.
After RRM, Bay-area based psych/blues-rockers Comets On Fire played an impressive, scorching set. The virtuosic talent these guys displayed--especially lead guitarist Ethan Miller and drummer Utrillo Kushner--was insane. They wailed and shredded and absolutely killed it. Their intricate, time signature-shifting songs are so dense, it's nearly overwhelming to comprehend what their doing with their instruments. Wow.
Up next was another formerly-active band: Beachwood Sparks. These So-Cal dudes haven't played a show in years, which they apologetically told the crowd, though I thought their sort of indie-stoner-bluegrass sounded pretty dang smooth. I never got into this band either, but I can see why Sub Pop would have signed them way back when.
The last of the reuniting groups, Green River, was far and away the one with the most hype entering day-two of the Anniversary party, which makes sense: As soon as singer Mark Arm belted out the first words of "Come On Down," people went absolutely ape-shit. The crowd immediately ballooned to its largest size of the day, and a mosh-pit of a bunch of burly, hairy, dudes materialized out of nowhere. The band was clearly loving the throwback atmosphere, too; they were strutting and smiling as they relived song after song from their pre-Nirvana glory days, and drummer Alex Vincent even leapt off the stage at one point for some token crowd-surfing. Although I was even younger when Green River was laying the foundation for Seattle's grunge scene, their energy and showmanship Sunday night was undeniable, and worthy of their legend. The band definitely satisfied the festival's contingent of loyal fans eager for their return.
Wolf Parade's closing set aptly capstoned the epic day. The Montreal quintet sounded confident, inspired, and genuinely enthused to be playing that night. There were a few songs from Apologies, of course, but the group used most of the hour-long slot to showcase At Mount Zoomer's chops; and shit was tight. The band's strong chemistry was especially palpable on tracks like "Soldier's Grin," and "Animal In Your Care." And their acute interplay and gleeful willingness to adventure was explosive on "Fine Young Cannibals," where they--don't look now right-wing hipsters--jammed out the song's bridge for a while. Wolf Parade was the only festival act allowed to come out for an encore: wisely choosing to leave the delighted crowd with the anthemic "I'll Believe In Anything." Their performance Sunday was so good that I had to go and see them again the following night (at Neumos), which, if nothing else I've said makes any sense, is definitely saying something.
This is the Portland music scene?
Thanks MTV!
Update: Angry Blogger Response:
"I H8 95% OF THE PEOPLE I HAVE MET FROM PORTLAND. I THINK I JUST DON'T LIKE PEOPLE WHO THINK WHERE THEY LIVE IS ANY MORE/LESS INTERESTING THAN N E WHERE ELSE."
7.15.2008
PDX Pop Now 2008! Schedule
Courtesy of Infinite Wilderness
Friday, July 25th
Inside
6:00-6:30pm, Love Menu
6:40-7:10pm, The Rainy States
7:20-7:50pm, Sleep
Outside
8:05-8:35pm, Tu Fawning
8:45-9:15pm, Guidance Counselor
9:25-9:55pm, Dykeritz
Inside
10:10-10:40pm, Panther
10:50-11:20pm, Nick Jaina
11:30-12:00am, Devin Phillips Band
12:10-12:40am, The Builders and the Butchers
Saturday, July 26th
Outside
12:00-12:30pm, The Revisions
12:40-1:10pm, Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights
1:20-1:50pm, Swim Swam Swum
Inside
2:05-2:35pm, Y La Bamba
2:45-3:15pm, The Tenses
3:25-3:55pm, Andy Combs and the Moth
Outside
4:10-4:40pm, Sweater!
4:50-5:20pm, Bodhi
5:30-6:00pm, A Ghost's Face Two Inches From Your Own Face
Inside
6:15-6:45pm, Eskimo and Sons
6:55-7:25pm, The SubArachnoid Space
7:35-8:05pm, Reporter
Outside
8:20-8:50pm, Nurses
9:00-9:30pm, Blind Pilot
9:40-10:10pm, Living Proof
Inside
10:25-10:55pm, Portland Cello Project
11:05-11:35pm, Loch Lomond
11:45-12:15am, Atole
12:25-12:55am, Starfucker
Sunday, July 27th
Outside
12:00-12:30pm, Wooden Indian Burial Ground
12:40-1:10pm, World's Greatest Ghosts
1:20-1:50pm, Meth Teeth
Inside
2:05-2:35pm, Podington Bear
2:45-3:15pm, Grouper
3:25-3:55pm, Mattress
Outside
4:10-4:40pm, Cower
4:50-5:20pm, Experimental Dental School
5:30-6:00pm, Bark Hide and Horn
Inside
6:15-6:45pm, A Weather
6:55-7:25pm, Dragging an Ox Through Water
7:35-8:05pm, JonnyX and the Groadies
Outside
8:20-8:50pm, Pure Country Gold
9:00-9:30pm, Eat Skull
9:40-10:10pm, White Fang
Inside
10:25-10:55pm, The Warfield Experience
11:05-11:35pm, Sandpeople
11:45-12:15am, Norfolk & Western
12:25-12:55am, New Bloods
...i know. i know. enough. no more posts about this until next week...i did scoop the Willamette Week, but not the Mercury. Damn!
Environmental Graffiti
Images taken of Earth by satellite courtesy of Environmental Graffiti.
"The images you see below were taken at the turn of the Millennium, when NASA’s scientists had a brilliant idea: to scan through 400,000 images taken by the Landsat 7 satellite and display only the most the most beautiful. A handful of the best were painstakingly chosen and then displayed at the Library of Congress in 2000."
Guinea - Bissau
Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, USAThe Future of Farming
Photo Courtesy of MithunWho needs expansive fields when you can just grow food upwards? An article in the New York Times explores the possibility for growing food in urban environments. Some are thinking on much larger scale then others, but there is a growing consensus that this should happen soon. An explanation of the picture above:
The Mithun vertical farm design differs from Dr. Despommier's high-rise concept, but has piqued the interest of officials in Portland, Ore. "It was pushing the envelope as to how people might live sustainably in the future," said Bonnie Duncan of Mithun.
Photo Courtesy of MithunArchitects at Mithun, a Seattle architectural firm, proposed a small-scale vertical farm design for a Center for Urban Agriculture in downtown Seattle. The design won an award in the Living Building Challenge of the Cascadia Region's chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council in 2007.
This is the end...
This post is a little foray into party pic/fashion blogs. Hip-Hop/Hipster fusion fashion. It's all the same:
"Bros will be bros. Bros will always wear jeans, tennis shoes, and shirts with or without collars. Not rlly a big deal, yall."
"Bailey Roberts (the deep fashionista wearing blind people glasses) did yall hear about 'the colorful shit dying down'/that people need to start having beach parties to save fashion?"
"Theoretically, life style brands are good for culture. Realistically, they are just a way for marginally creative people to change the colours of products that already exist and sell them to a niche market."
Courtesy of the Hipster Runoff Blog
Reel Style - Los Angeles from Hypebeast TV on Vimeo.
7.14.2008
Hush Records - 10 year Anniversary
Photo by Hush RecordsLocal (Portland) Record Label, Hush Records, recently celebrated their tenth anniversary. In honor of the celebration they are giving away a two disc compilation of Hush artists for free from their site. Hush Records is best known for releasing early material by The Decemberists, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would claim that they're the only worthy band on the label.
There were a number of retrospectives in local newspapers last week about the label which was started by Chad Crouch.
Willamette Week
Back when Portland-born Crouch started Hush, things were a bit more, well, quiet on Portland’s musical front. He met the label’s earliest artists—its first release was a three-way split featuring Kind of Like Spitting, Jeff London and Reclinerland—by simply offering to record them. “I’ve never had trouble thinking something’s possible,” Crouch says of Hush’s genesis. “I didn’t have a visualization, like a prophet or a visionary would have. I’ve just been showing up and going along for the ride and responding as best I can.”
The label's mostly local roster is centered around a notable "Hush sound" (think mid-tempo, intelligent lyrics, and rich, textured production), a "Hush look" (clean layout, impressive packaging), and the fascinating way the label operates as one collective family, where performers hop between bands, everyone is close, and the line between musician and artist is deliberately blurred.
Photo by Carson Ellis
7.12.2008
New Music: War On Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues
With their heck-of-a debut record out for almost a month now, The War On Drugs are finally getting some deserving press.
1. Secretly Canadian* writes:
"The War On Drugs push the boundaries of a quintessentially American music. . . . Bringing a does of the West Coast to the hard streets of Philadelphia, their songs recall the '80's guitar army of Sonic Youth with the captivating lyrics and vocal stylings of Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen. . . . Walls of guitar--acoustic, electric, twelve-string--douse each track of this debut album, threatening to cast the band into space-rock territory, but the melodies and immediately identifiable lyrics soldier on to keep these songs from blasting into the esoteric beyond. . . . The War On Drugs have that unmistakable singularity that comes along only so often, with the spirit of invention and playfulness lying earnestly at the forefront of their creative process."
*Grain of salt: it's clearly in SC's interest to talk up label artists.
2. Pitchfork gave their typical seven-point-something in an album review last Thursday, but the article nonetheless has its intelligent moments:
"The War On Drugs make excellent road-trip music. As its title implies, the Philly quintet's debut, Wagonwheel Blues, is Americana reimagined as blacktop and yellow lines, rubber tires, and overpriced gasoline. The album urges you along the interstate, but never burdens you with the stigma of roots music or reached-for authenticity. Of course, the band invokes the usual influences: Adam Granduciel sings like Bob Dylan . . . and the band nods to fellow Philadelphians Marah, to the Waterboys, and of course, to the Boss himself. . . . but . . . the War On Drugs filter these elements through the noise of early Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth. Their songs are tangles of guitar, distorted harmonica, and droning organ, all wrapped so tightly that they become indistinguishable. . . ."Show Me the Coast" is a 10-minute epic that devolves into what might best be described as the E Street Band doing shoegazer.
On Wagonwheel Blues, the War On Drugs' approach comes across as not only natural, but imminently worthwhile, as if these revered sources needed to be roughed up a bit to sound new. . . . the War On Drugs aren't just another indie band with arena ambitions. Instead, they craft a big sound for their big ideas, so that Wagonwheel Blues fills the space between horizons."
3. And finally, from The Fader Magazine:
"It's not often that we totally nerd out and say things like: This album is so well sequenced, because, like, what does that even really mean? It turns out that it means the War On Drugs' [ new record] Wagonwheel Blues is Jamming and also totally Springsteeny and Dylany without getting caught up in all the nostalgia that comes along with taking cues from those dudes. The War On Drugs made a totally serious album, shimmering and sprawling—it's as inspiring as it is exhausting and dense."
To me, Wagonwheel Blues is a tremendous album that pays homage to near-mythical musicians of the past by re-working those influences through an innovative, contemporary lens. I highly recommend the record, and I enthusiastically agree with the above praises; though I'd also include the disclaimer that the album's not immediately forthcoming. Like Boxer (2007), or Joanna Newsom's voice, this one is a grower.
Wagonwheel Blues is out now via CD and LP on Secretly Canadian.
Album highlight "Taking the Farm" is up for streaming in the Gold Soundz player top right, and available to download here.
Barrel of Batteries, a free demo EP by the band that includes 4 additional songs, can also be downloaded here.
7.11.2008
Video: Beck - Gamma Ray
The first single from Beck's latest offering, Modern Guilt, out now on XL/interscope records.
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