6 posts tagged “portland”
On our way to crush the revolution
12/10/09 Lizottes - Newcastle, New South Wales
12/11/09 Lizottes -Newcastle, New South Wales
12/17/09 Quarry - City Beach, Perth
12/18/09 Quarry - City Beach, Perth
[1981] Of Skins and Heart
[1982] The Church
[1982] The Blurred Crusade
[1983] Seance
[1984] Remote Luxury
[1986] Heyday
[1988] Starfish
[1990] Gold Afternoon Fix
[1992] Priest=Aura
[1994] Sometime Anywhere
[1996] Magician Among the Spirits
[1998] Hologram of Baal
[1999] A Box of Birds
[2002] After Everything Now This
[2002] Parallel Universe
[2003] Forget Yourself
[2004] Jammed
[2004] Beside Yourself
[2004] El Momento Descuidado
[2005] Back With Two Beasts
[2006] Uninvited, Like the Clouds
[2007] El Momento Siguiente
[2009] Untitled #23
thechurchband.com ♥ myspace ♥ twitter
Although, admittedly, I am not a mega-fan, as I haven't kept up with the band in the mid-90s, I am happy to report that with Untitled #23, their 23rd album, that Steve Kilbey's songs have not much changed. And that's very comforting to me. Kilbey's voice is so familar and friendly, that Untitled #23 feels like it was written in 1996.
Some of the things I've noticed is that Kilbey seems to really like medieval themes (for Pete's sake, he sings "Minotaur" in "Sunken Sun"). Another really good example of Kilbey's "past tensed" can be found on my favorite song, "Deadman's Hand":
The lyrics are like poetry to me. And, really, who writes lyrics like that anymore? Colin Meloy would be jealous.
Camp by a lake in the blackened lands
Dealing out love and retribution
Dealing out the deadman's hand
As I have previously mentioned, I have not kept up with the band, but reading quotes online, I got the impression that this might be The Church's best album in a long time. Australia's Rolling Stone gave the album a 5 star review calling it "[a] return to form with a stunningly ambitious album of shimmering rock".
Not much to add to this, except if you love and remember The Church from the late 80s to the 90s, this latest album will fit comfortably in your discography. You can pick up the album, released in May via Second Motion Records, from amazon.
PS, too bad I don't live in New South Wales, as that intimate "dinner & acoustic show" sounds deliciously awesome.
myspace
Ignore that first paragraph, Church's album is called Song Force Crystal and it comes from my favorite silk-screening record label called Tender Loving Empire. I have mentioned before that I think their products are very attractive and reasonably priced (most albums are handmade and under $10).
I'll be honest, I don't really get this really spacey, psyschedelic album. There's a lot of weird noises, "organic" sounds, and electronic farts inserted in their music, which sort of distracts me from their music. When I do like the band, it's when they're doing simple songs like the first part of "Golden Girls", which is mostly (I think) the two brothers, Brandon and Reechard Laws singing over some acoustic plucks. But since they're more focused on the layers of Moog synthesizers and experimental noise, there's plenty of those on the track "Aquamarine".
Where I think the best will be best experience is seeing them play live, I've read they've got quite a "sizable following along the West Coast... with their intense tour ethic". So check them out live if you get a chance:
Song Force Crystal is available in CD/digital from TLE and vinyl fromsohitek.com
09/04/09 Berbati’s Pan Portland, OR
09/11/09 The Woods Portland, OR
09/19/09 MFNW 2009 Portland, OR
09/23/09 Northern Olympia, Washington
09/24/09 The Silver Moon Bend, OR
09/25/09 The Crawlspace La Grande, OR
09/26/09 Visual Arts Collective Boise, ID
09/27/09 Backyard Show Bellevue, ID
09/28/09 Idaho State Pocatello, ID
09/28/09 SHO Salt Lake City, Utah
09/29/09 Flying Goat Boulder, Colorado
09/30/09 Rhinoceropolis Denver, Colorado
10/01/09 Everyday Joe’s Fort Collins, CO
10/02/09 Velour Provo, Utah
10/03/09 Beauty Bar Las Vegas, Nevada
10/04/09 The Smell Los Angeles, CA
10/05/09 Che Cafe San Diego, CA
10/06/09 Dtown Brewery SLObispo, CA
10/07/09 Muddy Waters S Barbara, CA
10/08/09 Boo Boo’s Record SLObispo, CA
10/09/09 The Crepe Place Santa Cruz, CA
10/10/09 Amnesia San Francisco, CA
10/12/09 North Bay Art Santa Rosa, CA
10/13/09 UC Davis Davis, CA
10/13/09 Luigi’s Sacramento, CA
10/14/09 Downtown Eatery Redding, CA
10/15/09 Lil’ Red Lion Eureka, CA
10/16/09 Jambalaya Arcata, CA
10/17/09 Sam Bond’s Garage Eugene, OR
10/18/09 The Space Salem
10/27/09 Portland State Portland, OR
10/30/09 Doug Fir Portland, OR
lowanthem.com ♥ myspace
Their all-things Americana record label, Nonesuch Records, re-issued the album for a second printing, due to their popularity, with new silkscreening artwork.
Looks like the band is still on tour!
Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is out now, you can buy it on Nonesuch oramazon.
09/03/09 Gaiety Theatre Dublin
09/04/09 Gaiety Theatre Dublin
09/05/09 Electric Picnic Stradbelly
09/06/09 Deaf Institute Manchester
09/07/09 Oran Mor Glasgow
09/08/09 Cluny 2 Newcastle
09/09/09 Glee Club Birmingham
09/10/09 Bullingdon Arms Oxford
09/11/09 End Of the Road Festival
09/12/09 End Of the Road Festival
09/13/09 Bestival Isle of Wight
09/15/09 La Salumeria Della Musica Milan
09/16/09 Atomic Cafe Munich
09/17/09 El Lokal Zurich
09/18/09 Broftabrik Frankfurt
09/19/09 Gebaude 9 Koln
09/20/09 Lido Berlin
09/21/09 Knust Hamburg
09/23/09 De Duif Amsterdam
09/24/09 Ancienne Belgique Brussles
09/25/09 Doornroosje Nijmegen
09/26/09 La Maroquinerie Paris
10/02/09 Austin City Limits Austin, Texas
10/15/09 Avon Cinema Providence, RI
10/17/09 Chop Suey Seattle, WA
10/18/09 Lola’s Room Portland, OR
10/19/09 The WOW Eugene, OR
10/21/09 Great American SF, CA
10/23/09 Troubadour Los Angeles, CA
10/24/09 Casbah San Diego, California
10/25/09 Plush Tucson, Arizona
10/27/09 House of Blues Houston, Texas
10/28/09 Granada Theater Dallas, Texas
10/29/09 The Parish Austin, Texas
10/30/09 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, LA
11/02/09 Club Downunder Tallahassee, Florida
11/03/09 The Social Orlando, Florida
11/04/09 Earl East Atlanta, Georgia
11/05/09 Mercy Lounge Nashville, TN
11/06/09 University of NC Asheville, NC
11/07/09 Attucks Theatre Norfolk, Virginia
11/09/09 Cats Cradle Carrboro, NC
11/11/09 Black Cat Washington DC
11/12/09 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA
11/18/09 The Tabernacle London
11/20/09 Crossing Border The Hague
11/22/09 Crossing Border Antwerp
donohoemusic.com ♥ myspace ♥ twitter
In keeping with the Christian/Church theme of my own article, Songs of the Saints, as a whole, sounds very world electronica, especially because there's the traditional soaring singing and Italian chants combined with dance music.
My favorite of the saint songs is St Francis of Assisi, who is known as the patron saint of animals and Italy - which would explain the vocals (but does not explain the wika-wika warped sound). In many ways, the mixing of old and new makes for an interesting album.
Songs of the Saints is definitely worth checking out if you're into dancing with the spirits. You can purchase O'Donohoe's albums (and sheet music!) directly on his website.
beliefandhustle.com ♥ myspace
The title track, and opening song, is basically two songs: the first part with a smooth Howard vocals and the second part that turned into gospel dance floor. That second part comes out of nowhere and, I'll have to admit, it surprised me at how much I enjoyed the unexpected.
Also surprising is that I thought the vocals are by a woman. In fact, it's Howard singing in a weird falsetto... he'll sound normal when he slows down to a talk-like singing, like on "Life is a Mystery".
You can purchase God is in the City directly from CD Baby or via amazon.
♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
Wrote by Soup
Receiving a copy of Genevieve by Velvet Cacoon from Southern Lord was somewhat of a surprise to me. I've had the vinyl edition for almost a year, I'd guess, and to be honest, I just assumed the CD version had been out for about as long.
I'm not complaining, though. Writing about a band (the names Josh and Angela are the only clues given as to who they actually are – and there's speculation that Angela doesn't exist) as utterly absurd as Velvet Cacoon is something I've wanted to do for quite a while, and honestly, I was actually considering just writing a review of it earlier based on the vinyl edition. For those who don't know the story, Velvet Cacoon is a Portland based ambient black metal band that extols the virtues of DXM, the active ingredient in Robitussin. They made a name for themselves spreading rumors about the band's supposed ecofascist activism, the death of a band member in the Cascades, and accounts of incredibly violent live shows. On the album I'm reviewing now, they allegedly used a homemade invention called a “diesel harp” - a guitar with diesel-powered pickups amplified through aquariums. Of course, all of these things were later revealed to probably be completely untrue (except the diesel harp thing; in case your common sense hadn't tipped you off as you were reading it, Josh openly admitted it was after the album's release). Eventually they put recordings of Portland-based dream pop artist, Korouva (listen to this stuff; it's good) on their MySpace page as their own and faced further controversy after the plagiarism accusations. The band's response: to admit that everything about them is a joke, that they're horrible people and an excellent example of what too many drugs will do to a person, and announce a still-unreleased new album. Of course, this presented a hell of a lot more questions than it answered, and the band's intentions are even more unclear at this point than they were before.
Recently,
Southern Lord picked up a couple of the recordings that were
theirs to reissue. Northsuite,
an earlier recording, and Genevieve,
which is their actual debut album. And for a “joke” band, this is
a really great, really powerful album.
At the core of the sound here is fuzzed-out, noisy black metal. Droning ambient passages hide surprising melodies and drugged out, distant vocals. A thick, distorted haze surrounds everything, from the drugged out lullabies presented on “P.S. Nautical” and “Avalon Polo” to the sleepy clockwork guitars of “Laudanum” that fade out for a vocal break and then again for an ambient passage toward the end of the track. The title track probably sounds the most like traditional black metal, with fast drumming and buzzsaw guitars providing the backdrop for tortured raspy vocals and subtle keyboard holding down the melody. The last track, “Bete Noir” takes up a good third of the playing time of the album. This track is the album's comedown, a slowly building ambient track that exercises considerable restraint, consisting mostly of ambient noise and layered keyboard melodies, all hanging in the background for 17 minutes, getting noticeably louder and then disappearing completely in the last 30 seconds.
As for finding further information on this band, you're essentially limited to what Wikipedia and Google searches turn up. They haven't really maintained an official website (their current site features nothing more than an e-mail link and a picture of a lady on a bike) in quite some time, and they will probably never tour. Still, they're responsible for some of the most oddly atmospheric black metal in recent memory, and I have to highly recommend it to anyone who's into that sort of thing.
Soup wrote this:
Portland's Grails dropped their new album, Doomsdayer's Holiday on Temporary Residence today. They play a sort of heavy classic rock, blues and folk influenced post-rock kind of thing, somehow defying any attempt at categorization or pigeonholing.
The title track is probably as straight-up metal as these guys get, with its classic doom metal guitar bringing to mind bands like Black Sabbath and Candlemass without ever ripping off either of them. The second track, “Reincarnation Blues,” is definitely my favorite on here. Starting out simple with bells and a wind instrument (I'm not sure what it is) playing an awesome blues riff. Then the guitars come in and the track turns into an energetic psychedelic blues freakout that winds down into an ambient drone outro with some sampled chanting underneath it. “The Natural Man” is folk music for astronauts. It channels the feel of David Bowie's “Space Oddity” into something else entirely. Something that sounds undeniably classic without being too self-conscious about it. “Immediate Mate” seems to kind of want to hang in the background. Starts out with a quiet blues guitar riff and some keyboards and subtle percussion. It's sort of an ambient jazz thing, and the glitched out electronics and awesome jazz percussion keep it interesting. “Predestination Blues” picks up where “Reincarnation Blues” left off. It's a slower song, drowned in reverb with the same kind of feel. Meditative chanting provides a base from which swirling guitars build up over the last two minutes or so of the track. The next track, “X-Contamination” builds up from a droning keyboard into a swirling mass of samples and loops into an awesome spaced-out blues-rock thing, which is gone almost as soon as it began, degenerating back into the primordial soup it came from. The last track, “Acid Rain,” starts with a lazy, stoned Dark Side of the Moon style guitar thing with some electronics building up under it until they eventually overtake it in a sort of staticky climax that, much like the radio fading out, quickly fades out and disappears. There are some vocals here. Very subtle, buried under the guitars and bass and drums. Eventually, this fades out to make way for a warm, reverb drenched guitar meditation.
These guys are playing a show on October 12th with Sunn o))) in Portland. After that, they're going on a short east coast tour with the Silver Apples (who I am frankly surprised are still around, but it's an appropriate fit, I think)! As always, more information can be found at the band's official website.
Oct 12 2008 8:00P Berbati’s Pan, w/Sunn0)) Portland, Oregon
Nov 11 2008 8:00P Empty Bottle Chicago, Illinois
Nov 12 2008 8:00P Skull Alley Louisville, Kentucky
Nov 13 2008 8:00P Hi Tone, with Silver Apples Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 14 2008 9:00P Caledonia, with Silver Apples Athens, Georgia
Nov 15 2008 8:00P Drunken Unicorn, with Silver Apples Altanta, Georgia
Nov 16 2008 8:00P Emerald Lounge, with Silver Apples Asheville, North Carolina
Nov 18 2008 8:00P Local 506, with Silver Apples Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Nov 19 2008 8:00P Ottobar, with Silver Apples Baltimore, Maryland
Nov 20 2008 8:00P Bard College Poughkeepsie, New York
Nov 21 2008 8:00P Union Pool Brooklyn, New York
Nov 22 2008 9:00P Knitting Factory Manhattan, New York
Soup wrote this.
The Shaky Hands, from Portland, Oregon, might be one of the more interesting bands playing this kind of indie rock. Their new album, Lunglight, came out earlier this month on Kill Rock Stars, and it's pretty good, I'd say. Kind of has the feel of 1960's British garage rock and late-70's/early-80's post-punk all with a distinctly American edge and thankfully, enough originality to stand out at least a bit in a pretty crowded genre.
What I dig in particular are the tracks where they break this mold. For example, the off-beat guitar with the butt rock fills and stomping drums on “Loosen Up” are really cool, and the kitchen sink percussion and clean, trem-picked guitars of “Air Better Come” are really cool. The chorus of “We Are Young” completely and unexpectedly changes the mood of the song, and I like that effect. “Neighbors” adopts more of a post-punk sound with heavy percussion and discordant guitars, and leads seamlessly into “World's Gone Mad,” which reminds me a lot of early Arcade Fire, with harmonized vocals and a pretty similar melodic sensibility. “No Say” is a quieter song until it's interrupted by a chaotic burst of guitar noise that turns into a catchy post-punk lead flourish that gives the whole thing a new sense of urgency. The driving percussion of “Settle On” makes the song for me. In fact, the best tracks on this album are the ones where the drummer steals the show, like he does on “Love All Of,” with its awesome almost-reggae percussion backbone and snaking guitar lines. Unfortunately, this song goes on way longer than it should, considering it doesn't really go anywhere. And, unfortunately, the laid-back folk rock of “Wake the Breathing Light,” while likeable at first, wears thin long before the end of the song, and the build-up at the end is just kind of too little, too late. I kind of wish these two songs weren't placed back to back because they definitely drag the second half of the album down, and I'd imagine a lot of listeners are just going to be skipping these songs after repeated listens. Luckily, the last track, “Oh No,” picks up the slack a bit. The violin and piano and the change-up in the bridge save this one, despite it being just as long as the last two songs. It's a great song to go out on, and a great song either way.
Anyway, more information can be found at the band's official MySpace page. Also, they're heading out on tour in October. They sound like they'd be pretty fun live. So here are the dates:
16 Oct 2008 20:00 Doug Fir w/ The Acorn Portland, Oregon
17 Oct 2008 20:00 Tractor w/ The Acorn Seattle, Washington
19 Oct 2008 20:00 Sam Bond’s Garage w/ The Acorn Eugene, Oregon
21 Oct 2008 20:00 Hemlock w/ The Acorn San Francisco, California
22 Oct 2008 20:00 Crepe Place w/ The Acorn Santa Cruz, California
24 Oct 2008 20:00 Spaceland w/ The Acorn Los Angeles, California
25 Oct 2008 20:00 Modified w/ The Acorn Phoenix, Arizona
28 Oct 2008 20:00 Hi Dive w/ The Acorn Denver, Colorado
29 Oct 2008 20:00 Slowdown w/ The Acorn Omaha, Nebraska
30 Oct 2008 20:00 7th Street Eatery w/ The Acorn Minneapolis
31 Oct 2008 20:00 Café Montmartre w/ The Acorn Madison, Wisconsin
1 Nov 2008 20:00 Schuba’s w/ The Acorn Chicago, Illinois
4 Nov 2008 20:00 Middle East, Cambridge, Massachusetts
6 Nov 2008 20:00 Johnny Brendas Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8 Nov 2008 20:00 Mercury Lounge new york, New York
10 Nov 2008 20:00 local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Soup took a break from being too metal for one hand to write this:
Portland, Oregon's System and Station, formerly Boise, Idaho's System and Station and Madison, Wisconsin's System and Station, are releasing their new album, A Nation of Actors tomorrow. And it's really, really good. What we have here is an engaging Pacific Northwest style rock record with influence ranging from northwestern indie rock to classic rock to early-90's post-hardcore.
The opening track, “The Magnetic North” is a great example of this. Straightforward rock verses with post-hardcore time changes and sweet melodies tying it all together. The intro and outro are sort of “emo” in the least corny way possible, although they don't really add or detract from the song itself. “Sell Out” sounds appropriately like something you might hear on the radio or MTV, like a hit single waiting to happen, provided either of those things actually still played anything this good on a regular basis. It's a straight-up rock song featuring some cool sinewy guitars and a really, really catchy vocal melody. “A Light to Lead You Home” features a lead guitar that reminds me a lot of something Built to Spill might do, but the whole thing is arranged a lot more tightly than anything Built to Spill has done. It builds up gracefully to a classic rock influenced jam with busy drumming and psychedelic guitar, which also sounds a lot like something Built to Spill would do. “On the Way” features a bouncy off-beat guitar rhythm, without ever degenerating into a bunch of white dudes imitating reggae like it very easily could (speaking of Built to Spill...). It's a really fun, catchy track. “Rainy Days in Future Cities” is a sparsely arranged but lush sounding track that evokes pretty much exactly what the title says. This is in stark contrast to the business and upbeat tone of “Too Late Too Soon.” The reverb-drenched “The World is Run by Wires” is a slower song featuring Built to Spill style delayed lead guitar and cymbal rolls subtly building up to a gorgeous pop song. “Pictures Found in Paragraphs” starts up with a sinewy post-hardcore section that breaks down into a “twinkly” pop song that brings to mind The Flaming Lips and builds into something that reminds me of early Jets to Brazil. “Out on the Wall” takes the quiet/loud dynamic and turns it into the most casual sounding thing ever, like it's no big deal anymore, mixing bouncy pop verses, with strangely polished, distorted post-hardcore riffing, and building up into a strangely polished rock song. “Dumb Luck” doesn't even bother with the build-up. It starts out with sinewy off-time riffing that reminds me of Drive Like Jehu a little bit, and an unconventional melodic structure. This is probably the most abrasive song on this album. The last track is the title track, “A Nation of Actors.” It's the longest track on the album, and it's a great culmination of the album as a whole. It opens with kind of “ballady” verses with darkly bouncy pop choruses, all of it with some tastefully mixed in strings. After a couple rounds of this, it builds up and spends most of the rest of the track building up distorted walls of sound and breaking back down into an outro that ties it all back together.
These guys are on tour, and they're coming through Boise (which, given that they're from here, doesn't surprise me), so I'll definitely be checking it out. They definitely sound like they'd be a good time live. Here are the dates:
Aug 20 2008 8:00P Doug Fir Lounge CD Release!!!! w/ Prize Country and Ley Lines Portland, Oregon
Aug 26 2008 8:00P Lil’ Red Lion w/La Fin Du Monde Eureka, California
Aug 27 2008 8:00P Hemlock Tavern San Francisco, California
Aug 28 2008 8:00P Knitting Factory Los Angeles, California
Aug 29 2008 8:00P Chaser’s San Diego, California
Aug 30 2008 8:00P Plush Tucson, Arizona
Aug 31 2008 8:00P Atomic Cantina Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sep 1 2008 8:00P The Conservatory OKC, Oklahoma
Sep 2 2008 8:00P Replay Lounge w/ Overstep Lawrence, Kansas
Sep 3 2008 8:00P Record Bar w/ The Life and Times Kansas city, Missouri
Sep 4 2008 8:00P Melody Inn Indianapolis, Indiana
Sep 5 2008 8:00P The Frequency w/ ifihadahifi Madison, Wisconsin
Sep 6 2008 8:00P Cactus Club w/ ifihadahifi Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sep 7 2008 8:00P Empty Bottle w/ Couch Flambeau Chicago, Illinois
Sep 8 2008 8:00P Triple Rock w/ The Slats Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sep 9 2008 8:00P Box Awesome w/ Fromanhole Lincoln, Nebraska
Sep 10 2008 8:00P The Waiting Room w/ Fromanhole and Race for Titles Omaha, Nebraska
Sep 11 2008 8:00P Hi Dive w/ Mustangs and Madras Denver, Colorado
Sep 12 2008 8:00P Visual Arts Collective Boise, Idaho
Sep 13 2008 8:00P Sunset Tavern Seattle, Washington
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Tour 2007
06 Oct CC Slaughters - Portland, Oregon[1] 07 Oct Wonder Ballroom - Portland, Oregon 14 Oct Nike Presents: 2007 AIDS Walk - Portland, OR 28 Oct CC Slaughters - Portland, OR[2]
Albums
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Logan Lynn is an electro / synth / one-man-band musician from Portland, Oregon. In some ways, his music and style reminds me of Momus[W♥M] because I think he writes and does the majority of the mixes by himself.
He has a third album coming out in October from Devious Planet and there are a couple of good songs on it. I was drawn to "Feed the Wolves" and "Bleed Him Out" (which I'll include that song here), both are two very solid tracks.
There are nine tracks on the advance CD I have but I suspect they will be adding and rearranging the song listing.
In both "Come Home" and "Clean and Stupid", the lyrics are especially dirty, this is perhaps was because he was raised and homeschooled in a very Christian household. Essentially his childhood was kept from popular music, sex and drugs. I thought I also read somewhere that he was a gay son of a Preacher[3], which would also explains a lot.
It's not so much as dirty or naughty lyrics, but it does paint an awkward and uncomfortable imagery.
Putting the 'disco' back in discomfort.
I couldn't find the original critic/author that originally wrote that about Logan Lynn so I thought perhaps the quote was manufacturered. Regardless, but it does fit some of his songs.
Also, check out his videos on his youtube account.
September 9, 2007 9:16 AM
vu
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www.loganlynnmusic.com
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