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Music Blog: December 2007
Monday, December 31 Best of 2007: opbmusic Picks
These lists don't mean a whole lot, I admit. They're little more than the product of our individual tastes meeting the releases we manage to come across during a given calendar year. Still, I can't resist. Once upon a time, I lost a lot of sleep considering things like an album's legacy and Importance (yes, with a capital "I", real or imagined), but these days I'm resigned to simply include the albums I enjoyed the most over the past year. And a great year it was-- ten spots was hardly enough, and this easily could have been stretched to fifty, if only to mention every record that deserves it. Hopefully 2008 brings with it the same kind of problem.
10) PJ Harvey: White Chalk (Island) 
Vid: "The Mountain"
Vid: "Grow Grow Grow"
9) Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
MP3: "The Underdog"
Full album stream
8) Menomena: Friend & Foe (Barsuk)
MP3: "Wet & Rusting"
Vid: "Evil Bee"
7) The Shins: Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)
MP3: "Australia"
Vid: "Turn On Me"
6) Wilco: Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
Vid: "Impossible Germany"
Stream: Live in Berkeley, 8/24/07
5) Pseudosix: Pseudosix (Sonic Boom)
MP3: "Under the Waves"
Full album stream
OPB in-studio
4) Avett Brothers: Emotionalism (Ramseur)
MP3: "Will You Return?"
Vid: "Paranoia in Bb Major" (Live on Conan O'Brien)
OPB in-studio
3) Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Merge)
MP3: "Black Mirror"
Vid: "Keep the Car Running" (Live)
2) Radiohead: In Rainbows (ATO)
Vid: "Reckoner" (Live from their Nov. 9th webcast)
Full album stream
1) The National: Boxer (Beggar's Banquet)
MP3: "Fake Empire"
Vid: "Apartment Story"
OPB in-studio
Honorable Mention:
Super Furry Animals: Hey Venus!
Sea Wolf: Leaves In the River
Southern Culture On the Skids: Countrypolitan Favorites
Bill Callahan: Woke On a Whaleheart
Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis
Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala
Richard Hawley: Lady's Bridge
The Sadies: New Seasons
The Good, The Bad, & The Queen: s/t
Laura Veirs: Saltbreakers
Monday, December 31 Best of 2007: Listener Picks
We asked, you responded, in the process revealing a few things about yourselves. First, you're an eclectic and varied bunch. The albums getting one vote each far outnumbered those collecting the most votes as a whole, showing just how fractured of a collective you are when it comes to your individual passions for the albums you love. This included everything from Linkin Park to Chuck Prophet, Ted Leo to White Williams, and Animal Collective to Kelly Willis. Still, patterns emerged, and names like Spoon, Radiohead, Wilco, and Amy Winehouse began to assert themselves in this list, as they have in a lot of others in 2007. Here then is what you heard and loved over the past twelve months.
20) Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings:100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone) 
19) Interpol: Our Love to Admire (Capitol) 
MP3: "The Heinrich Maneuver" (Live @ Lollapalooza, '07)
18) Apples In Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder (yep roc/Simian) 
MP3: "Energy"
17) Band of Horses: 
Cease to Begin (Sub Pop)
MP3: "Is There a Ghost"
16) Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum) 
MP3: "Heretics"
15) Of Montreal: Hissisng Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) 
MP3: "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"
14) Iron & Wine:The Shepherd's Dog (Sub Pop) 
MP3: "Innocent Bones"
13) Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Candian) 
MP3: "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
12) Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Epic) 
Vid: "Little Motel"
11) Dolore
an: You Can't Win (yep roc)
Stream: "Beachcomber Blues"
10) Bruce Springsteen: Magic (Columbia) 
Vid: "Radio Nowhere"
9) The National: Boxer (Beggar's Banquet)
MP3: "Fake Empire"
8) Panda Bear: Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
Vid: "Comfy In Nautica"
7) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand (Rounder)
Vid: "Gone Gone Gone"
6) Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (Universal/Island)
5) Radiohead: In Rainbows (ATO/XL)
Full album stream
4) The Shins: Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)
Vid: "Turn On Me"
3) Wilco:Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
Stream: Live in Berkeley, 8/24/07
2) Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (Merge)
MP3: "Black Mirror"
1) Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
MP3: "The Underdog"
Sunday, December 30 Best of 2007: Guest Lists
Consider this a preface to tonight's year-end best-of edition of In House. We asked a few Portlanders you may know for their 2007 top fives, and they responded like the engaging, tasteful, funny people they are (not that those that didn't respond don't also probably fit that description). A pattern of familiar titles emerges, but also some wonderful sounding releases that may have slipped through the cracks-- the Levon Helm and Robert Wyatt selections being prime examples for me. I've since tracked them down and listened and can absolutely concur. On with it, then.
James Low, singer-songwriter:
OK. I'm probably not qualified to do this because I usually buy music a year or two after it gets released, and then take another year or two to decide where it fits in my best of list. I may have to cheat a little bit and throw in something 2006, but i'll try to stay honest.
#1 Levon Helm- Dirt Farmer
Something about Levon's voice is like a lullaby even post throat cancer. I can only hope that I sound so good after I have throat cancer. I mean I hope I don't get throat cancer, but Levon sounds amazing. I love a songwriter who is really a drummer and happens to also write great songs. If only all drummers could be great songwriters and vice versa.
#2 Radiohead- In Rainbows
OK so I admit it. I haven't even listened to the whole thing. I didn't sign up for the special pay what you want download, and I have to wait till after January 1 to buy it on Itunes, but what I've been able to listen to sounds amazing. I've always thought that if I had been born a genius musician I would like to have made music something like Radiohead. Plus they get props for fucking with the industry paradigm by letting folks pay what they want for the music.
#3 Robert Plant & Allison Krauss- Raising Sand
When I heard about this project I was primed and ready to hate it. Much thanks to producer T-bone Burnett it's amazing. Plant leaves the "super sized" Plant behind and between the two of them they make some great, understated, soulful music. The choice of songs is impeccable and I'm pretty sure that this is one of those albums that will still sound good in 2009.
#4 Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings- 100 days, 100 nights
In a year where I'm sure that Amy Whitehouse will be on lots of folks tops list I pick Sharon Jones. I missed her show at the Doug Fir recently and I regret it.
#5 Laura Gibson- If You Come to Greet Me
This beautiful record came out late November 2006, so I'm going to call it close enough to 2007 to count. This music is so pretty I'm almost afraid to listen to it. It makes me glad that there is music. I think that if I tried to make this record I would see half way through how perfect it was, and then be unable to finish it for fear of not being able to measure up. I'm glad that she did.
•Courtenay Hameister, head writer/host/associate producer of LiveWire! radio:
Dolorean - You Can't Win-
Not sure when I've heard such beauty come from such pain. When Al James talks about the record, he talks about going into it in this really nasty place emotionally, and you can definitely hear that. But the music is so gorgeous that you have to imagine it helped him get through it. "Heather Remind Me How This Ends" is a particular favorite. So melancholy, simple and heartwrenching.
Patty Griffin - Children Running Through-
I'm very predictable. If Patty comes out with a record, it'll be on my top 5 list for the year. I think she's one of the best living songwriters/storytellers we've got. This one's got more of a gospel tinge than her last release (which had the amazing "Love Throws A Line" on it), which she wears well. Favorites on this one are a stunning duet with Emmylou Harris on "Trapeze" (which will make you cry if you're a wuss like me), the celebratory "Heavenly Day" and "No Bad News," which, with just Patty and an acoustic guitar, sounds like old times for long-time (read: OLD) Patty fans such as myself.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black-
I know, I know. But I had to do it. She's like Tom Waits to me, in that sounds like it's been around forever yet belongs here now more than anything kinda way. I just try not to look at the trainwreck that her life is. Because, dang.
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha-
Every record seems to be smarter, more beautiful and more intimate than the last. Plus, I love a man who can handle a fiddle.
Chris Robley and Fear of Heights - The Drunken Dance of Modern Man in Love -
Chris is one of my favorite songwriters and voices in Portland, and he's smart enough to team up with people who are just as good as he is. Which is saying a lot. His melodies sound classic yet modern, his harmonies with Rachel Taylor-Brown (a great performer in her own right) are freakin' perfect and his lyrics...well, they kick ass, frankly. If I may be frank. Which I think I may.
Other greats:
Richmond Fontaine - 13 Cities - Willy Vlautin is a wonder, and charming as hell.
Mississippi Studios Live Compilation III - I can't be too objective because Jim at MS is a friend, but even so, there are some lovely 'n' intimate live versions of great songs by local artists (Weinland, Hillstomp, Buoy Larue, Tony Furtado, Chris Robley) and not-so-local artists (Everybody Fields, Kristin Hersh, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a funny one from Dan Haley).
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature - His voice just calms me. This one's just as mesmerizing as his first to me.
•Weinland, indie-folksters + Dylan Magierek, Badman Records honcho
This is a combo list. We talked it out and picked our top 10 2007 records in no particular order:
The National - Boxer
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova - The Swell Season
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Mbilly - Today
Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
The Boss - Magic
•Krist Krueger, Southerly maestro:
Top 5 albums of '07 (in no particular order)
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour (Epitaph)
* One of my all-time favorite bands. I still listen to Reconstruction Site regularly. We played "One Great City" as the intro to an interview I did in Winnipeg on the college station prior to a show I played there after someone smashed out my van window and tossed it.
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
* It might seem premature but I put Wilco at the belt-buckles of my all-all-timers (Willie Nelson, Woody Guthrie, Paul Simon, John Lennon). Meaning, as much as I would like to, I can't quite put them at their shoulders...YET. I mean jesus! Nels Cline! I had the chance to hang out with John Stirrat a bit after a show they played at Red Rocks in Denver and they are really kind and genuine people. I had played the night prior and broke down in town, saw they were playing and chanced sneaking in after camping in the Rockies the night before. It worked! And then we camped at the Flying J...again.
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette (Tomlab)
* One of the only albums that I can think of in recent history that makes mention of Credence Clearwater Revival as an important connection between former partners. I love Casiotone for that and so many other things though we shared the saddest meal anyone has ever had at a vietnamese restaurant after the last show on our package with The Donkeys in Houston. But then we all got (more) drunk and happy.
The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
* I feel like I got to this album a little later than I could have, which is likely because I did. But once I put it on I was hooked. I mean, they lived above the Comet Tavern in Cincinnati and got to eat the most amazing burritos everyday!
Southerly - Storyteller And The Gossip Columnist (Greyday/PIAPTK)
* I'm of the belief that your own album(s) should be your favorite, being that you can make the exact, specific record that you want to hear. So...yeah!
Top 6 honorable mentions:
Pseudosix - s/t (Sonic Boom)
Boat - Let's Drag Our Feet (Magic Marker)
Minmae - ?Ya Te Vas?/True Love, re-issue (Greyday)
David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts (Barsuk)
Dat'r - Turn Up The Ghosts (Hush)
Thee More Shallows - Book of Bad Breaks (Anticon)
•April Baer, OPB Morning Edition host:
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation-
Could there be a more perfect realization of what the regional scene embodies than this exhuberant release from Portland's own? Dial up the title track and you're cruising I-84 through the Gorge, wild mountains and untamed rivers on either side. Swing wide for a few heavy grooves like "Miss Spiritual Tramp", then detour into pomo-retro airspace with "Sci Fi Kid". I love BT's willingness to mix up sharp left turns into punk styling mid-song, and their unabashed adoration of Eagles-quality songcraft. Who says you can't we have it all? I could not leave this record alone.
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha-
Nice to see Chicago's Andrew Bird reach full speed in 2007. If you caught his Portland dates for the last few tours, you know he's an ambitious multi-instrumentalist who's brought a new dimension into the act with extensive use of sampling. Just as his arrangements have become more modern, Byrd's songwriting is bolder this year. He's getting outside his head, dipping into more overt political themes, while retaining the quirky charm that makes his lyrics stick in your head. Never predictable, and now he kind of rocks, too! I just worry he's so good he'll never play smaller venues again! Well, if you love someone, set him free, or something like that. What do we have to do to get him to move here?
Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers-
Is the United States ready for a woman in the White House? I nominate Nellie KcKay! Mouthy little piece of work, isn't she? Obligatory Villagers finds her taking on more ambitious, outsized arrangments. On several tracks she matches wits with the classy yet cozy jazz master Bob Dorough. It's an excellent pairing--Hepburn & Tracy for the YouTube era. Watch out--Nellie bites. And you'll love it.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black-
I don't know what's more titillating: checking out La Winehouse's boozy exploits in the tabs, or getting down with this sturdy, well-made blockbuster of a record. Forget about the hype, this was hands-down the most listenable thing around in 2007. Lots of white girls can ape Donny Hathaway, but Winehouse owned every line on every song. Sure she's derivative, but maybe there's an emerging genre here: bands that steal from the best and don't care who knows it. Whether she'll have time to follow up between bail hearings is another matter....
Meshel Ndegeocello - The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams-
2007 felt solid in the soul/funk department, with Prince cranking out new stuff (still flipping off the labels in great style). Stevie Wonder's victory lap tour was one of the live events of the year. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings got the recognition they deserved. But here's the release I was waiting for: Meshel N'degeOcello consistantly surprises and challenges, all the while laying down the most exquisite grooves around. This is a little heavier fare than her previous outings like Peace Beyond Passion, but, like all great art, it sticks to your ribs.
Special mention:
The Ocean Floor - Tall Tales & Small Tales-
This Portland band left me slack-jawed with surprise and delight. It's the perfect record for tramping around in your favorite old-growth forest, watching the ferns grow. Lane Barrington's springy good humor and light-as-a-twinkie vocals make me smile every time I hear them. The acoustic jazz sound takes some very unusual turns--some tracks are perhaps less than accessible. But on songs like "A Simple Adventure", he's really on to something.
•Loch Lomond, chamber-folksters
1. Robert Wyatt—Comicopera
2. Rufus Wainwright—Release the Stars
3. The Builders and the Butchers—Self-titled
4. Dolorean—You Can't Win
5. Port O'Brien—The Wind and the Swell
Saturday, December 29 Best of 2007: The Singles
We jump into our look back at the musical year 2007 in earnest tonight with a listen to some of our favorite singles of the year. In an era when the mp3 has ensured that singles far outsell full albums, the past year or so only furthered that state (for better or for worse) with artists like Feist, Wilco, and Band of Horses lending songs from current releases to TV commercials. On the bright side, popular music of the indie persuasion (if there's such a thing) cast its swath wider than ever, making room for M.I.A., Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and Iron & Wine alike. We also heard our fair share of overplayed but still relentlessly catchy and relistenable tunes, courtesy of Peter Bjorn & John, Spoon, and the aforementioned Feist. All in all, there was a lot to like, a fact we were only reminded of even more when scouring the release lists for the past twelve months. We didn't hear everything, but we found a lot to like in what we did hear-- hopefully you will, too.
Also tonight, we'll revisit a few moments of live musical transendence (or somewhere thereabouts) that took place in our studios in 2007, courtesy of the Avett Brothers, Pseudosix and The Veils, among others.
AND, we'd love to hear from you. Got a song you loved in 2007 you think deserves play tonight? Let us know below and we'll do our best to get it on the air. Yeah, it' a singles party (the musical kind), and you're invited. (Oh, and by the way, you still have until midnight tonight to enter your list of your favorite ten releases of 2007-- you can do that here, too). Enjoy!
2007 MP3s for the taking (not all made it on to air tonight):
►Vampire Weekend: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
►Caribou: "Melody Day"
►Cave Singers: "Seeds of Night"
►Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: "100 Days, 100 Nights"
►St. Vincent: "Now Now"
►Spoon: "The Underdog"
►Peter Bjorn & John: "Young Folks"
►Amy Winehouse w/Ghostface Killah: "You Know I'm No Good"
►Richard Swift: "Kisses For the Misses"
►Seabear: "I Sing I Swim"
►Georgie James: "Need Your Needs"
►Band of Horses: "Is There a Ghost"
►A.A. Bondy: "There's a Reason"
►Flight of the Conchords: "Business Time"
►Oakley Hall: "No Dreams"
►The Clientele: "Bookshop Casanova"
►Shapes & Sizes: "Head Movin"
►David Vandervelde: "Nothin' No"
Saturday, December 22 Calling On Your Inner Critic
It's a relatively quiet musical weekend by Portland standards, what with the holiday weekend freeze on and all-- but we still have plenty of ground to cover, an entire year's worth in fact. Speaking of which: have you sent in your personal Best of 2007 top ten list yet? What are you waiting for? In case you missed it, we put out the call for your faves of the year this past week and have been getting a steady flow of would-be critic picks (only, like, two of which mention "Manilow"). Now's the time to email (opbmusic@opb.org) your top ten, or feel free to simply post in the comments below, anonymously or otherwise. We'll crunch the names and numbers and reveal what your collective ears have been loving in 2007, just before the year calls it a...day. To help jog your memories a bit, we'll pay particular attention tonight to some of the releases that have been widely considered amongst the year's best thus far.
Also tonight, we remember the late, great Joe Strummer. The former Clash and Mescaleros frontman died five years ago today from an undiagnosed heart defect, a loss significant not only for his music, but for his social and political activism as well. At the time, Strummer was working on what many would later call his strongest output since The Clash's London Calling days, the album that would be released as Streetcore the following October. We'll get to cuts from both The Clash and The Mescaleros throughout the show tonight, and try to figure out how it's been five years already in the process.
It's a good night for staying in with the music, in other words, although there are also multi-act holiday-flavored bills going on tonight at both the Doug Fir and the Alberta St. Public House, respectively.
The thread's open and the fire's on, let's see some best of lists roll in....
Sunday, December 16 This Week: Jicks, Jaina
Apologies for the double-Malkmus posting (bound to become triple by week's end), but the Jicks' show this Friday night has us in an excitable mood. Their Doug Fir show with openers Blitzen Trapper is the crown jewel in an otherwise relatively slow week for shows. In case you missed it (see the previous blog entry), Malkmus & his merry band of Jicksters are looking forward to Real Emotional Trash, their new album out March 4th on Matador records. The first we've heard from it, the progged-out jam "Baltimore," was made available as a free download earlier this week-- one might expect plenty more new songs on Friday night.
Also this week, Portland's own Nick Jaina plays the Doug Fir on Thursday night with The Builders & the Butchers. Singer, songwriter, producer, and all-around odd-jobber, Jaina has his hand in all kinds of pots (so to speak). That's no doubt a big reason why his 2006 release, The 7 Stations, has Portland written all over it-- "recorded in studios and kitchens and basements and community music centers all over Portland," as he puts it, with a wealth of locally based artists chipping in, members of Point Juncture WA, Horse Feathers, Heroes & Villains, and Sounds Like Fun among them. Add to this his role in producing Gill Landry's outstanding 2007 debut The Ballad of Lawless Soirez, and it's been a fruitful two years or so for Mr. Jaina.
Elsewhere, dandy warhorses The Dandy Warhols play the Roseland Theater on Wednesday night, along with The Upsidedown and The Nice Boys. That same night, Portland Cello Project instigator and cellist about town Doug Jenkins plays the Pix Patisserie on Hawthorne, and the "improv trio," RRIICCEE, featuring Vincent Gallo and Erik Erlandson, play the Mission Theater.
This thread's open all night (and then some)....
Friday, December 14 Breakfast With the Jicks
What should our Friday morning bring, but a new song from the forthcoming Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks record, Real Emotional Trash (due March 4th on Matador). Egads! It's an "extended jam," a bit proggy in parts, new drummer Janet Weiss in tow, and mentions a "man with a chesire cat grin" somewhere in there.
MP3: SM & the Jicks- "Baltimore"
It's just one week until the band's show at the Doug Fir (with openers Blitzen Trapper), one of just two they'll be playing until a bit closer to the album's release date. From the website:
"jicks go so sf, portland next week we are pleased to see the jicks are bringing it down to SF with the AWESOME JOLT of blitzen trapper. IT all goes down at the Great AMerican Music Hall. Do the creepy crawl in Portland a day later!"
Mmm, breakfast.
As for the weekend, the big fish ticket is obviously Spoon at the Crystal Ballroom (along with Portland-based openers The Shaky Hands). The band's 2007 release Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga has been appearing on a lot of Best of 2007 lists lately, and for good reason (though I'm still partial to my first blush intro to the band, 2001's superb Girls Can Tell). This show is long ago sold out, but we'd love to get a first person account if you go.
Not to fear, though, as we made clear earlier in the week, there are plenty of options for the Spoon-less amongst you-- notably Damien Jurado at Mississippi Studios. The Seattle-based musician's latest, And Now That I'm In Your Shadow, was his seventh full-length in the past decade, and he's currently working on material for a new album. In other words, he'll have a lot of songs from which to choose when he takes the stage tonight.
Also tonight, locals The Blow are at the Doug Fir with Swan Island. Paper Television, the most recent release from Khaela Maricich's one-woman act, came out in 2006, so one might expect a new creation or two in the mix.
And you. How are you?
Thursday, December 13 New Mid-Week Thread
This seems as good an excuse for a new thread as any. How about some free new music just for stopping by?
MP3: The Raveonettes, from Lust Lust Lust (out early '08)- "Aly, Walk With Me"
I think this song is stunning and, judging by the fact that it's been one of the highest user-rated songs in our playlist over the past week or so, most of you do, too. Borrowing from the likes of Sonic Youth, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine before them, The Raveonettes remind us of the beauty sheer noise can achieve when in the proper contexts. The question is: is it the wall of volume itself, or its absence immediately after it disappears that achieves said beauty? Whatever the case, this track alone suggests a return to the form of their wonderful debut, 2003's Chain Gang of Love, and that's cause for anticipation. What do you think?
Speaking of user ratings and reviews, have you signed up to give us your own yet? It's a lot of fun, and an excellent time waster if nothing else. More importantly, it's your opportunity to shape what you hear on our 24/7 stream-- you might tink of it as shorthand feedback (as in, feedback without all of the putting words together part). Of course, the traditional kind is welcome, too. We'd love to hear what you're thinking about the website, stream, and HD channel so far. Trust us, we're listening.
The thread is open...
Sunday, December 9 Slow Week (Or Is It)?
Blame it on the winter chill perhaps, if not on a soggy, soggy Northwest corridor, but the live schedule for the week ahead is suspiciously slim (for Portland, anyway). What to do? Enter the heavyweights! The Shins play the Crystal Ballroom this Wednesday night, in what is technically a hometown gig, but a big deal nonetheless. Their Wincing the Night Away, out early in 2007, has been re-entering the conversation a lot lately, mostly in the form of a mention on the Best of the Year lists bloggers and print are churning out this time of year (yeah, we'll be guilty, too, eventually). In case you missed it, Wincing changed up the band's formula a bit, incorporating elements of Smithsian new wave, while not entirely leaving behind the sound that has changed the lives of so many so far. And what about the voice of James Mercer-- how did it get so high? One wonders if he speaks like an ordinary guy (but I digress).
MP3: The Shins- "Australia"
But that's not all! Spoon, too, plays the Crystal Ballroom this week! Much like The Shins, the men of Spoon faced big expectations based on past releases with this year's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Much like The Shins, the musical have minions determined that those expectations were more or less met (see "The Underdog," and "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb," among others), also resulting in a lot of best of the year talk. Spoon plays with openers The Shaky Hands on Saturday night.
Also tonight, we look ahead to performances this week from locals The Dimes (Friday, Kelly's Olympian), Damien Jurado (Saturday, Mississippi Studios), The Blow and Swan Island (Saturday, Doug Fir), and Chris Walla (Friday, LiveWire! taping, Aladdin Theater).
Had a chance to test out our new digs yet? What do you think? If you haven't had the chance yet, sign up now to rate and review songs. I'm told it's fun AND addictive (not to mention socially beneficial).
Saturday, December 8 A Real Jewell
It's an in-studio visit from the Boise-born, Boston-based singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell tonight on In House, as she stops by with her band to perform songs from her most recent full-length, Letters From Sinners & Strangers. The new album follows the impressively assured debut Boundary County, an album with an accomplished enough sound to make the Signature Sounds label offer to sell it on their website despite the fact that Jewell issued it independently. Letters finds Jewell making good on the promise shown on that album and then some, as she and her band keep the tempo up for the most part on newly written but old sounding tunes like "High Shelf Booze," and "Heartache Boulevard." She also adds some choice covers, resurrecting forgotten songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, Charlie Rich, and Eric Anderson. We'll talk to Jewell about growing up in Idaho, the role long family car trips played in her musical development, and how she came to play with her current band, made up of Jason Beek (drums, vocals), Johnny Sciascia (bass), and Jerry Miller (electric guitar).
MP3s: Eilen Jewell, from Letters From Sinners & Strangers- "Heartache Boulevard" and from Boundary County- "Mess Around"
OPB A/V: Eilen Jewell in-studio
Also tonight, music from Seattle's Cave Singers, who play the Doug Fir along with local songstress Laura Gibson. In a year full of solid releases for dark, folky music, their Invitation Songs stands out as one of the best. Gibson, meanwhile, is just returning from an extended tour, and she's bound to get a warm hometown welcome from the locals.
MP3: Cave Singers, from Invitation Songs- "Seeds of Night"
We'll also get to more from the I'm Not There soundtrack (I can't stop listening, can you?), as well as new music from Soulsavers with Mark Lanegan, Chris Walla, Kate Nash, Richard Hawley, and more.
We'll be blogging around, testing out the new digs throughout the show-- feel free to let us know what you think so far. Or, why not sign up now and rate and review some songs!
Monday, December 3 Beaming
It's likely that Iron & Wine mastermind Sam Beam had little notion of what was in store for him when he began making lo-fi recordings out of his Miami home a few years back. He was well into an established life, after all, with a wife and kids and a teaching job at the university, and south Florida hardly seems an obvious inspirational backdrop for a songwriter who would soon be heralded for his intimate and poetic style. But there you go. Beam's come a long way since his 2002 debut The Creek Drank the Cradle, and whether the work has been long form (2004's Our Endless Numbered Days and this year's The Shepard's Dog) or short (2003's The Sea & the Rhythm and 2005's Woman King EPs), by himself or collaborating with others (as he did with Calexico on 2005's In the Reins), he seems only to have widened his sound and scope each time out. The culmination of this can be found on the latest effort, as Beam applies touches of jazz, reggae, and even Afro-pop to his established rootsy fare, resulting in a layered album that never suffers under its own weight. Tonight finds the band (with opener Califone) at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland as they near the end of their current tour.
MP3: Iron & Wine- "Innocent Bones"
Later on in the week, it's a visit from the Boise-born, Boston-based Eilen Jewell. Her latest and second full-length release, Letters From Sinners & Strangers, swings like Bob Wills and Cindy Walker, and one might be quick to call her a throwback upon first listen. She's more than novelty, however, and songs like "Rich Man's World," and "Too Hot to Sleep," reveal more depth than meets the eye, not to mention stellar takes on tunes by Eric Andersen and Bob Dylan. Jewell and her band play Mississipi Pizza Pub on Tuesday night.
MP3: Eilen Jewell- "Heartache Boulevard"
The week closes out with a bang as retro soulstress Sharon Jones and her band the Dap-Kings play the Doug Fir. The group's recent 100 Days, 100 Nights release has elevated them to red-hot status, an event almost as unlikely as the fact that the soul-stirring Dap-Kings hail from Finland. What will be the result when Jones and her band's collective dance machine meets the notoriously subdued arms folders of Portland? Money's on Ms. Jones.
MP3: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings- "100 Days, 100 Nights"
Also this week: Tegan & Sara with Northern State (Tues., Crystal Ballroom), Tori Amos (Tues., Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall), Viva Voce (Wed., Berbati's), Aimee Mann (Wed., Aladdin Theater), Voxtrot (Wed., Hawthorne Theater), Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (Wed., Mississippi Studios), Southerly (Thurs., Doug Fir), Finn Riggins (Thurs., Slabtown), and Prefuse 73 (Fri., Holocene), among others.
Monday, December 3 Hitchcock Presents
To simply label Robyn Hitchcock as a singing, songwriting eccentric, as has often been done over the years, is to miss out on a body of work that continually rewards. There's oddity there to be sure, much of it concerning reptiles and amphibians (as it happens), but also musical wonder that's worn well over the past twenty-five years or so. Case in point: the recent reissue of three classic Hitchcock releases (Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream of Trains, and Eye) reminds one just how good, and occasionally how quirky, his output has been. The mid-career renaissance he's enjoyed in recent years has included some of his best work, with last year's Ole! Tarantula following the surprising 2004 effort Spooked, on which he collaborated with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Hitchcock and his band the Venus 3 play the Doug Fir in Portland tonight.
Also tonight, we revisit our recent in-studio session with the Portland Cello Project. The collective dares to mix high and low brow, peppering their sets with selections from Beethoven and Outkast alike-- not to mention collaborating with some of the finest amongst Portland's avant-folk scene. The PCP was joined for our session by members of Loch Lomond, Weinland, Norfolk & Western, and Hurtbird, all of which added up to a rather stunning cross section of Portland-based music. The Portland Cello Project plays two nights at Holocene in the coming week, December 5th and 6th, along with Horse Feathers, Weinland, 3 Leg Torso, and others.
In Studio: Portland Cello Project
Plus, new music from Sea Wolf, Kate Nash, The 1900s, Ryan Bingham, Chris Walla, and more-- and big news about the future of OPB music.
