Another busy week is upon us, and with it the promise of weather that makes getting out of the house a bit more attractive. As luck would have it, we're not lacking in options...

Fresh off of their surprising and touching Oscar win for Best Original Song earlier this year (which followed their equally moving turn in last year's Once) and a performance over the weekend at Coachella, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (aka The Swell Season) play Portland's Keller Auditorium Monday night. In case you're not familiar, Hansard fronted the Irish rock band The Frames for the past decade and a half before teaming up with the clasically trained (and much younger) Irglová for a 2006 batch off songs they deemed The Swell Season. One might say it's snowballed from there.

Also this week, the Gypsy-tinged, Morricone-loving DeVotchka play the Wonder Ballroom on Wednesday night. Somewhat inexplicably from Denver, the band issued three cultishly-followed albums at the beginning of the decade before turning a corner of sorts with their work on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. Their latest, A Mad & Faithful Telling, mixes up a world music stew-- or a noir-pop version of it anyway, with elements of tango and mariachi, hot gypsy jazz and western spaghetti.

And yet another artist just off the Coachella stage (photo to the left from Stereogum's coverage), Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks play two area shows this week: Wednesday at WOW Hall in Eugene and Thursday, a hometown show, at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland. The band's latest is the jam-happy (in a good way) Real Emotional Trash, for which they've stayed pretty busy lately-- you know, going on Fox News (just Malkmus), picking fights with the Deal Sisters(!) (again, just Malkmus), making plans to play the summer festival circuit (reportedly putting a wrench into Malkmus' city league softball and fantasy baseball plans in the process), etc. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, plus I've had nightmares ever since hearing of the fight-picking with the Deal Sisters. Here's hoping SM got outta Indio in one piece.

The thread is open-- what's on your minds?

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, April 27 at 9:15pm

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Let's see, it's Thursday afternoon from where I sit, and if you happen to be reading this instead of, say, in route (or at least packing to go to) Coachella, you're probably not going. Neither am I, and I'm here to make both of us feel OK about it, or at least OKish.

Some things to consider: Indio's bound to be hot and dusty-- who needs that? Umm, scratch that, I suppose there are a few of us who wouldn't mind three days of hot and dusty right about now. Alright then, just imagine what it would cost to drive there at the moment. You'd have to load four or five fellow travelers in with you just to manage the gas, and still none of you would be eating well-- and this is assuming an average MPG of 40 or greater. Granted, you could hop a freight (trips up and down the California coast always bring to mind this option, preferred by Steinbeck and Kerouac, not to mention Duffy Littlejohn), but times are desperate, and there's no guarantee you'd make it there with your iPod, laptop, digital camera, AND keyboard pants intact. Indeed, the risks are steep. Who needs it anyway? Prince AND the lately Prince-aping My Morning Jacket at the same fest? Psshhh. Portishead, Kraftwerk, AND The National on the same bill (not to mention Jens Lekman, The Breeders, The Raconteurs, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Man Man, M.I.A., Carbon/Silicon, and Spiritualized)? Umm, so. A Saturday afternoon/evening block that features DeVotchka then Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks then Dwight Yoakam? OK! I relent! I'm a loser because I won't be there, and so are you! We will never do anything worthwhile! Ahhhhh!

Ahem, sorry about that. Truth is, we're in Oregon, where it isn't just raining....rain, it's raining music, too! Indeed, we don't need no stinking Indio this weekend! Case in point, tomorrow night's show at the Doug Fir Lounge featuring Scott McCaughey's Minus 5, the "historic" pop of The Dimes and Oakland's Heavenly States. McCaughey's (pictured right) band has been churning out occasionally retro-leaning, occasionally roots-leaning indie pop for a while now, and their hometown shows are always good for an unexpected cameo or two. The Dimes, in case you missed it, wrote a whole album based on the contents of a depression-era newspaper late last year, and recently spoke at length about that very fact, among some others, with opbmusic's David Christensen. The Heavenly States, meanwhile, issued a head-bopping gem of an album earlier this year called Delayer. In short, it's a can't miss bill, and the beer is a sure bet to be cheaper and colder than you'll find at Coachella, not to mention the water.

Elsewhere Friday, Danbert Nobacon plays Mississippi Studios, The Wiyos wrap up their run as part of the McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour at the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, and David Dondero invades the rare air of Corvallis, with a performance at Iovino's.

A few highlights on a busy Saturday, too, including the 10th annual Wulapalooza Festival at Willamette University in Salem. The self-described "urban earth, art, and music festival" takes place all day long on the Willamette campus, with the music portion beginning at 5pm. An impressive line-up this year includes Panther, The Blow, Mobius Band, and Salem-bred/Portland-based Blitzen Trapper. Admission is free with a suggested canned food donation. Also Saturday, it's double the Loch at Mississippi Studios, as Loch Lomond (pictured left) plays early (7pm, with Y La Bamba) and late (10pm, with Holcombe Waller). It's the beginning of a west coast tour for Loch Lomond, who take off down the California coast early next week (it's unclear if that's by auto, or the aforementioned freight train, but I'd like to think it's the latter). In case you missed their opbmusic in-studio session earlier in the year, catch up to it here. Hush called it "gorgeously recorded." Also Saturday, former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty and his band play the Wonder Ballroom (as well as a Music Millenium in-store at 3:00 that afternoon), Point Juncture WA and The Lymbyc System are at the Doug Fir Lounge, it's Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers at the Roseland, and local stalwart Lewi Longmire plays a CD release show at the Mission Theater for his new Fire 'Neath the Still.

Of course, you can also catch our weekend show In House this weekend, Saturday and Sunday nights beginning at 9:00, simulcasting on radio, online, and HD. Saturday night's show features an in-studio visit with Portland songstress Laura Gibson, who's currently out on tour with head Decemberist Colin Meloy, but returns home for a show with Meloy at the Wonder Ballroom next Saturday, May 3rd. We'll hear four gorgeous tunes from Gibson, and talk to her about her small-town Oregon roots and the role they play in her songwriting, among other things.

Posted by jpetersen on Thursday, April 24 at 6:56pm

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Thanks to Web Developer Ben Kerney, we now have our first videos of in-studio performances... these are of our recent session featuring Thao with the Get Down Stay Down.

Have a look, and see what you think.

Posted by dchristensen on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:51am

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Marrying the folksy populism of Woody Guthrie and early Dylan with the righteous indignation of The Clash, Billy Bragg has been writing and recording songs championing underdogs of various sorts for thirty years now. In the two and a half decades since his debut EP, Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy, Bragg has recorded with everyone from Johnny Marr to Wilco to Less Than Jake, consistently producing music that prods and provokes while it entertains. Mr. Love & Justice, his first release of new material in six years and first for the Anti label, is set for release on Tuesday, and in many ways the subjects it tackles provide a microcosm of his career catalog, with songs like "O' Freedom," and "Sing Their Souls Back Home," covering the Justice side of things, while "You Make Me Brave," and "If You Ever Leave," take care of the Love. In short, it's Bragg as he's always been, covering human relationships inside and out of the political world.

Much to take in this week in the area, including The Raconteurs at the Wonder Ballroom on Tuesday night. Fresh off the from-out-of-nowhere release of the classic rock-idolizing Consolers of the Lonely, Jack White, Brendan Benson and Co. return to Portland no doubt buoyed by the positive reception it's received. Let's just hope White doesn't fall prey to that dreaded Rolling Stone cover curse since he's on the current one alongside Mick and Keef (unless, of course, I'm getting it mixed up with some other magazine that has about as much to do with music).

Also this week, performances from Caribou (Monday, Doug Fir), MGMT (Tuesday, Doug Fir), Hot Chip (Wednesday, Crystal Ballroom), Mirah with Danbert Nobacon and Spectratone International (Wednesday, Mission Theater), David Dondero (Thursday, Holocene and Friday, Iovino's in Corvallis), The Minus 5 with The Dimes and the Heavenly States (Friday, Doug Fir), and more; plus new releases out from Anna Ternheim (Halfway to Five Points), The Cat Empire (So Many Nights), Flight of the Conchords (s/t), Kris Delmhorst (Shotgun Singer), and more. The thread is open-- what's on your minds?

opbmusic in-studio sessions: David Dondero::::::The Dimes

MP3: Danbert Nobacon with the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, from Library Book of the World- "Straight Talk (Meet Frank)"

MP3: Anna Ternheim, from Halfway to Five Points- "To Be Gone"

MP3: The Heavenly States, from Delayer- "The Race"

MP3: Flight of the Conchords, from Flight of the Conchords- "Ladies of the World"

MP3: MGMT, from Time to Pretend- "Destrokk"

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, April 20 at 9:11pm

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Four day weekend! OK, sorry, not really-- but there's so much music to take in over the next four nights that we're declaring the weekend to begin tonight (and you can tell your boss we said so).

If you want to ease your way into the fray, you might try spending some quality time with former Red House Painters and current Sun Kil Moon head Mark Kozelek tonight at the Aladdin Theater. He recently issued Sun Kil Moon's first effort in almost six years with April, a (for Kozelek) typically mesmerizing, if sometimes demanding, collection that goes well with a rainy night in Portland. Former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan, he of the forthcoming solo album on Barsuk, opens up. On the slightly less sedate side of things, Tegan & Sara return to the area with a performance at Salem's Elsinore Theater. As you may recall, the duo released their latest just last year, the Chris Walla-produced The Con. Even less sedate? Southern Culture On the Skids play the Doug Fir Lounge (more on that here). We're just warming up....

Self-described Dirty Old One Man Band Scott H. Biram makes his return to Portland tomorrow night on a bill at Dante's that also includes Hillstomp, Michael Dean Damron, and Thee Loyal Bastards. About all you need to know about Biram is that he took to the stage at Austin's Continental Club a few years back one month after the vehicle he was driving was hit head-on by an 18-wheeler. He played the show with two broken legs, a broken arm, a broken foot, less lower intestine than most of us, and an I.V. dangling from his arm. Oh, that's also what his music sounds like, in a good way. Elsewhere tomorrow, Ani DiFranco plays a sold out Crystal Ballroom, The Wood Brothers play the Doug Fir Lounge in support of their recent second full-length, Loaded, along with opener Carsie Blanton, and Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags play the CD release show for their All the Great Aviators Agree at the Mission Theater on a bill that includes fellow Portlanders Tony Smiley and James Low.

Saturday's highlight is a tough call. Maybe it's the homecoming of local heroes Blitzen Trapper, who play Holocene with Au and the much talked about Fleet Foxes. BT continues to ride the rather large wave created by last year's Wild Mountain Nation, while Seattle's Fleet Foxes just released their Sun Giant EP on Sub Pop. Then again, Saturday's big ticket could be Rilo Kiley at the Roseland Theater, whether or not you liked last year's Under the Black Light, and the fact that guitarist Blake Sennett is the lastest rock & roll boyfriend of a famous klepto-actress (not that there's anything wrong with that). Or, you might consider one of a couple of release shows featuring Portland's own: The Dimes issue a new EP with a 10pm show at Mississippi Studios, while Amelia celebrates the release of their long-awaited return A Long, Lovely List of Repairs at the Aladdin Theater with opener Richie Young of Loch Lomond. Finally, if you don't mind the drive, Death Cab for Cutie begins to fire the machine back up in anticipation of next month's Narrow Stairs with a show at Eugene's McDonald Theater that also features The Cave Singers. In case you missed it, frontman Ben Gibbard recently talked fame (and the lack thereof), Jack Kerouac, and the new Death Cab song, "I Will Possess Your Heart," in an essay for Paste.

Also this weekend, the April version of the McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour continues with three performances from New York's Wiyos, including tonight at the Kennedy School in Portland, Friday night at McMenamin's Sandtrap in Gearhart, and Saturday at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. The opbmusic-sponsored shows are free, all-ages and begin at 7pm.

Plus, don't miss our in-studio session with Thao & the Get Down Stay Down on Saturday night's edition of In House. opbmusic's David Christensen chats with the band, and we'll hear songs from this year's fine debut, We Brave Bee Stings & All. Hear it Saturday night beginning at 9 on radio, online and HD-- you can also stream the session in its entirety here.

Posted by jpetersen on Thursday, April 17 at 5:22pm

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Thanks to Liz Devine from The Crystal Ballroom for sharing these photos of The Avett Brothers' concert last Thursday, sponsored by opbmusic. We thought these pix were too good not to share.

The Avett Brothers started the show with "If I Get Murdered in the City," a song about familial bonds and what you leave behind, and one of the quietest songs of the night.

From there, it was mostly a choice of fast or faster, as the band ripped through songs from last year's release, Emotionalism -- songs like "Will You Come Again?", "Die Die Die," "Paranoia in B-flat Major," "Shame," and "I Would Be Sad."

And opbmusic is sponsoring more concerts this week and next, with The Wiyos playing the McMenamins Great Northwest Music Tour. The series starts tonight (4/18) in Bend, at Old St. Francis School. Shows in the series all start at 7pm, and they're free.

Posted by dchristensen on Wednesday, April 16 at 2:40pm

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It's been quite a journey over the past decade or so for Chan Marshall aka Cat Power. From the first tentative steps of her first pair of releases (1995's Dear Sir and 1996's Myra Lee, respectively) to the slick, tense sparseness of 2003's You Are Free to her current incarnation as unlikely blue-eyed soulstress, Marshall's musical trajectory has been anything but monochromatic. Almost as important during that time is the transformation of her live performances, which have gone from an on-the-edge-of-a-breakdown unpredictability to a generally strong and engaging presence belting out her smoke-tinged vocals while backed by the Dirty Delta Blues Band. Her latest, Jukebox, offers up versions of tunes made famous by everyone from Nina Simone to Hank Williams to Frank Sinatra, and is the follow up to her strong and surprising The Greatest, hailed by some as her "Dusty in Memphis moment." Cat Power plays Portland's Roseland Theater tonight with opener Appaloosa.

MP3: Cat Power, from Jukebox- "Metal Heart"

Later on in the week, Mark Kozelek returns to Portland, presumably with songs from his Sun Kil Moon moniker's latest, April, under his arm. The album is the first release of new material from Kozelek in almost six years, and follows his all Modest Mouse covers album, Tiny Cities. Kozelek plays the Aladdin Theater on Thursday night with former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan.

Also this week, Southern Culture On the Skids returns to Portland, playing the Doug Fir on Thursday night with Bark Hide & Horn. For all of their comic edge over the years, the band owns considerable musical muscle, to put it one way, and let it show with some of the interpretations included on last year's Countrypolitan Favorites covers release. Everyone from Wanda Jackson to CCR to T. Rex got the SCOTS treatment and with fine results-- it was one of our favorites of the year, in fact.

Also of note this week: Thao & the Get Down Stay Down return to Portland Tuesday night, part of a bill at the Someday Lounge that includes Horse Feathers and Plants; Seattle's David Kartsen Daniels continues his month-long Tuesday night residency at Mississippi Studios, this week with Pseudosix frontman Tim Perry; Ani DiFranco plays the McDonald Theater in Eugene on Wednesday night and the Crystal Ballroom in Portland on Friday; Weinland kicks off a western states tour with Norfolk & Western Wednesday night at Sam Bond's Garage in Eugene; also Wednesday, Daniel Johnston plays Berbati's Pan and Elf Power is at Towne Lounge; Scott H. Biram plays a couple of area dates this week: Thursday at The Axe & Fiddle in Cottage Grove and Friday at Dante's in Portland; also Friday, The Wood Brothers play the Doug Fir, among many others. Go see some music!

The thread is open, what's on your minds?

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, April 13 at 9:05pm

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Plenty to cover on tonight's In House, including music from Portland's A Weather. The band plays their CD release show for the new release Cove tonight at Mississippi Studios on a bill that also includes Carcrashlander. Coming just over a year after the band's formation, the debut finds frontman Aaron Gerber and drummer Sarah Winchester trading hushed vocals against the understated production of Norfolk & Western's Adam Selzer. In short, it sounds like Portland-- nine months of it, anyway.

MP3: A Weather, from Cove- "Spiders, Snakes"

Also tonight, new music from Jim Noir from his new self-titled effort on Barsuk. The eponymous release is the second for the Manchester-based artist, who it's been said is something of a pop savant. Indeed, the music supports this claim, as Noir concocts a pop stew made up of elements snatched from the nooks and crannies of pop music's last forty years or so. Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, and even Brian Eno are all well-represented.

MP3: Jim Noir, from Jim Noir- "Don't You Worry"

The thread is open-- what's on your minds?

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, April 12 at 9:53pm

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