Based on musical background alone, John Davis and Laura Burhenn, the duo that makes up Georgie James, were not the most likely pair to form over their mutual love of bands like The Kinks and The Zombies. Davis had previously spent the better part of a decade as a member of the punk-ish experimental act Q and Not U, while Burhenn was fostering a career in a more singer-songwriterly direction, a full-length release and a label to her credit. Whatever the circumstances that brought the two Washington, D.C.-based musicians together, fans of smart, jaunty indie-pop have reaped the benefits. Georgie James released their debut, Places, on Saddle Creek last fall and it proved to be filled start to finish with hooky, catchy pop songs, at times belying the somber lyrical content underneath.

Burhenn's "Cake Parade," for example reads like an anti-war missive that would not have been out of place in the music of the band to come out of D.C. punk's salad days, Fugazi. In the hands of Burhenn and Davis, however, the musical emphasis feels like it's more on the "cake" and "parade" than any political statement being made-- a fact that is apropos according to Burhenn, who told us that the song "is the story of how we get the wool pulled over our eyes quite often, so we miss the deeper story because everything sounds fine (and) happy."

MP3: Georgie James, from Places- "Cake Parade"

Georgie James joined us in-studio recently for a special stripped down set of songs, including a pair of choice covers of songs by The Zombies and The Flamin' Groovies (each in good hands with these two, as we'll hear). We'll also talk to the band about the D.C. scene that brought them together, the influence the ever-present politics of our nation's capital has on their songwriting, and their interesting (and ever-growing) list of cover choices, among other things.

Stream: Georgie James opbmusic in-studio session

Also, music from Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy, who plays Portland's Aladdin Theater tonight, as well as new music from Wolf Parade, The Black Angels, Aimee Mann, Scarlet Johansson, and more.

MP3: Wolf Parade, from At Mount Zoomer (out June 17th)- "Language City"

MP3: The Black Angels, from Instructions to See a Ghost- "Doves"

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

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, May 31 at 8:44pm

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Some interesting characters to speak of this week, for various reasons, beginning with Zach Condon and his band Beirut. Fresh off of a performance at this weekend's Sasquatch Festival, the 22-year-old New Mexico native brings his Balkan-inspired act to Portland's Crystal Ballroom tonight, along with openers The Brunettes. Something of a romantic's romantic, the precocious Condon began composing his songs-- kind of a gypsified Neutral Milk Hotel-- in an Albuquerque bedroom after dropping out of school at 16 to travel Europe. One might call it old-world indie as the music swells with strings and flügelhorns and other assorted antique instrumentation. The rather unlikely result thus far has been two full-length releases of stunningly gorgeous and transporting music, the most recent coming with last year's The Flying Club Cup. It's Beirut in Little Beirut, birthplace of like-minded fellow travelers like The Decemberists-- it seems there could hardly be a better fit.

MP3: Beirut, from The Flying Club Cup- "A Sunday Smile"

Later in the week-- Tuesday to be precise-- it's a visit from another old soul, albeit a much newer one than Mr. Condon. Jamie Lidell plays Berbati's Pan in support of his recent second release, entitled Jim. As on his debut, Lidell borrows cues from soul masters like Stevie Wonder, keeping things just gritty enough in production to make you wonder if the music isn't coming from a long-lost recording from Wonder's hey-day. It all adds up to an impressively authentic and soulful release from an artist previously best known for his role as one half of the electronic duo Super Collider.

Video: Jamie Lidell, from Jim- "Another Day"

Also this week, the release of the third album in an impressive late career renaissance from R&B legend Al Green. Lay It Down is also the third album this decade the Reverend has released on the Blue Note label and for the most part sticks with the formula that made its predecessors so successful-- namely, a back to basics approach that produces a sound akin to Green's influential '70's canon. One major change this time around, however, is the presence of a few guests in the mix, including singers Anthony Hamilton, Corrine Bailey Rae, and John Legend, horns from The Dap-Kings (on loan from Sharon Jones), and production from James Poyser and The Roots' ?uestlove. The result is both a reminder of why Green is widely regarded as the first great soul singer of the 1970's, and a notice that he's not finished yet.

Finally, speaking of old souls, we remember the late folksinger, storyteller, rabble-rouser, activist, hobo and erstwhile politician Utah Phillips, who passed away on Friday in Nevada City, CA at the age of 73. The child of labor organizers, Phillips fought a lifelong battle on the side of underdogs of various stripes, interweaving his activism with his music and storytelling. Over the years, he performed and/or recorded with names like Rosalie Sorrels, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kate Wolf, and Ani DiFranco, the last of whom helped introduce Phillips to a whole new generation of fans with two album collaborations in the late '90's. Phillips recently issued a letter, a goodbye of sorts to fans and friends, through KVMR, the radio station where he continued to record his weekly program called Loafer's Glory.

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, May 25 at 9:14pm

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Look alive, Portland, there's a rising threat to the southeast (and I don't mean Estacada)! It's the lately burgeoning metropolis of Bend, described by its official website as "an energetic city with a fast growing population of over 77,780," before going on to add that "Bend is noted for its scenic setting, year-round recreational activities and growing economy. At an elevation of 3,625 feet, the city covers 32 square miles." In other words, Bend is basically the New York City of central Oregon (we jest, we jest, but only because we care. We love our many Bend-based listeners, most notably bendlistener, whose most recent five-star rating went to Beck's "New Pollution").

Anyway, the point here is that Bend has arrived. How do we know this aside from all of that stuff its website says and the fact that OPB opened a Central Oregon Bureau there? By checking that long-regarded gauge of a city's important-ness, the Upcoming Concerts Schedule. Bend's UCS reveals performances this summer from the likes of Lucinda Williams, Wilco, The Gourds, Drive-By Truckers, B.B. King, and the aforementioned Beck (to bendlistener's likely delight)-- a none-too-shabby list most burgs would be proud of. But that's hardly it for Bend, as the summer concert season essentially kicks off this weekend with three days of impressive bills as part of the Memorial Weekend Festival. Built to Spill, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Mates of State, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, The Breeders, The National and Modest Mouse all play the Les Schwab Amphitheater this weekend, beginning tonight with B.t.S. and Franti. Aside from doling out free beef a few times a year, this Schwab guy apparently puts on a helluva concert, too. As you may know, this poses a challenge of sorts to the bigger, more well-known festival going on up north this weekend-- after yesterday's pocket-ravaging expose, we can hardly resist breaking out the official opbmusic festival calculator for the sake of comparison.

So then, let's go! Google Maps tells us that the 175 mile one-way trip will take us about three hours. Like yesterday, we'll assume a reasonably environmentally-conscious 25 mpg, which means that fuel for the roundtrip will run us about $56. Okay, so we're in Bend, now we need to get into the venue. Unlike yesterday's Sasquatch calculations, there are no "High Roller" or "Non-High Roller" prices to chose between, but we will assume that we're going to all three bills as long as we made the drive out. Because Saturday's Mates of State-Decemberists-Death Cab bill is apparently worth exactly $2 less than the other two, the shows run $35, $33, and $35, respectively for a total of $103. Also, unlike yesterday, there's no on-site camping to be had. Unfortunately, this being Memorial Weekend rooms are going to be tough to come by, and a cursory check of the area's finer mid-grade hotels (including the one a drunkard's stumbling block from the venue) revealed nothing to be had. So, good luck with that. We'll assume you meet someone nice during tonight's Franti and Spearhead set-- an aging hippie or free-spirited college kid, perhaps-- who agrees to let you pitch a tent in their yard for fifteen bucks a night. Score! It's a showerless deal, sure, your toilet is down the street at the convenience store, and your new friend forgot to mention their dogs (they just really like people), but a deal nonetheless, bringing our pre-food and drink total to $204.

At this point, we're almost a couple hundred bucks ahead of yesterday's Sasquatch estimate. Yeah, we could splurge but we're still just a trip to the local Shari's from breaking the bank, so we'll go with yesterday's daily rations once again: a couple of cans of tuna fish, an apple, two granola bars, a couple of bottles of juice, a few PBRs (we're on the cheap here, brewheads) okay we'll splurge on the regional microbrew of your choice, and a ridiculously price-gouged emergency bottle of water per day because you forgot to bring some with you. Grand total for food and drink: $55, but with many qualifications. The Sasquatch festival boasts more than 70 acts, not that you can see them all. Still, not a lot of down time there means it's a bit easier to distract yourself from the thirst and hunger pangs you may experience based on our menu. The fact that Bend's lineup is a paltry-by-comparison eight bands (a delicious and meaty eight, but still) will most certainly increase your food spending. We'll call it $75 to be safe.

Grand Bend Memorial Weekend Festival total: $279, besting yesterday's Sasquatch out-of-pocket by a mere $151. Some more numbers: three less total driving hours to Bend; 63 fewer bands in Bend, too, but also consider that the 8 that are playing there are also roughly 8 of the best 15 playing Sasquatch. We conclude how we began: Bend has arrived.

Be safe, kids.

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, May 23 at 5:36pm

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A quick inquiry into the old Google Map reveals that the Gorge Amphitheater, home to this weekend's Sasquatch Music Festival, is approximately 258 miles from downtown Portland, a distance that the engineers at Google estimate to take four hours and twenty-four minutes to drive. Further calculations made by opbmusic engineers determine that the journey will take roughly five hours when accounting for various kinds of stops and around $40 in fuel for the one-way trip, assuming at least 25 mpg.

Of course, you probably want to actually see and hear bands as long as you're making the trip, a desire that will run you exactly $209.50 for all three days of action. Add to that $100 for the "Value Pass" camping deal (which does not grant you access to private campsites and restrooms with showers and flushing toilets as the $60-per-night "Premier Pass" does), and you're all but set for the long weekend...with the exception of eating and drinking. We're there for the music, right? So let's be conservative about our gastronomical intake and assume little more than a couple of cans of tuna fish, an apple, two granola bars, a couple of bottles of juice, a few PBRs (we're on the cheap here, brewheads), and a ridiculously price-gouged emergency bottle of water per day because you forgot to bring some with you. Grand total for food and drink: $40 hahaha (not bad, but this is only for those of us who are able to glean nutritional value from live music. The rest of you will have to the add to the total accordingly based on your required luxuries).

So, we've cut back where we had to, made a few sacrifices but managed to get into all three days of music and the official opbmusic festival calculator tells us that we can expect to be about $430.00 out of pocket (by the way, if you're a high-roller and opting for the "Superticket" go ahead and adjust that amount by a PLUS $539.50. You get a few extras with this option, including the privilege of being in the vicinity of dudes like Bruce Willis, Ashton Kutcher, and (probably) McCain's daughter, who likes the indie rock or something). Hmm. That's a lot of....lots of things, including burritos, public radio contributions, and shows at places like Mississippi Studios, the Doug Fir, Someday Lounge, etc. You could even have nights in which you combined all of those things AND karaoke afterwards and there'd still be a lot of them.

You're right, I should mention the line-up. It's insane, more or less. Like Coachella insane, at the very least, but without the California. From promising up-and-comers like Yeasayer, Fleet Foxes, and Portland's own Shaky Hands, to long established acts like The Cure and R.E.M., to current royalty like Death Cab for Cutie, The National, and Modest Mouse, the bases are covered. Plus, with three stages (conveniently named, might I add, with a theme in mind: Sasquatch, Wookie, and Yeti), there's always bound to be someone you want to see playing (so long, Built to Spill, I'm going to catch Clay Aiken!). Still, all that dough begs the question once posed by the still alive, not too bad (as opposed to the late, great) Cake: how do you afford your rock & roll lifestyle? Perhaps an answer by way of a quick personal aside: Cake frontman John McCrea was promptly clocked in the head with a shoe not long after singing that line when I saw them at a festival once upon a time. The lesson? Never remind those that are going big that they're going big while they're trying to enjoy the thing they're going big on.

MP3: Yeasayer, from All Hour Cymbals- "2080"

MP3: Beirut, from Gulag Orkestar- "Postcards From Italy"

MP3: Dengue Fever, from Venus On Earth- "Sober Driver"

MP3: Fleet Foxes, from Fleet Foxes- "White Winter Hymnal"

MP3: Grand Archives, from The Grand Archives- "Miniature Birds"

Stream: opbmusic in-studio sessions with Kathleen Edwards, The Shaky Hands, The National and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

Tomorrow: the official opbmusic festival calculator sums up the Memorial Weekend Festival in Bend.

Posted by jpetersen on Thursday, May 22 at 5:08pm

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Over the course of three albums now, Kathleen Edwards has shown she has a way with edgy songs about the hard knocks of the loved and lost. Her 2003 debut Failer appeared from out of nowhere, seemingly ready-made for the down and out who nevertheless insist on coming out swinging. Songs like "One More Song the Radio Won't Like," "Six O'Clock News, " and "Hockey Skates," established Edwards as a writer of songs populated by characters who are at once vulnerable AND not to be messed with. Fast forward five years to her latest, Asking For Flowers, and the writing has become more sophisticated. Socially and politically themed songs like "Alicia Ross" and "Oh Canada" suggest a less inwardly-directed artist, to be sure, while "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" addresses a relationship imbalance by referencing Fogerty, Elvis in the 70's, and her old favorite: hockey. Don't let the delicately-themed cover art and album title fool you, though-- Edwards has been known to rock out like Joan Jett on stage, check the occasional AC/DC cover and guitarist Colin Cripps' penchant for wearing MC5 t-shirts for proof. Edwards and her band play the Aladdin Theater on Thursday night. Our advice: don't ask her why no Canadian teams made the Stanley Cup finals yet again this year.

Listen: Kathleen Edwards' opbmusic in-studio session

Elsewhere this week on the Portland-Canada front, Vancouver, B.C.'s own Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar) plays the Aladdin Theater on Friday night. Astoundingly prolific and nearly as obtuse, Bejar released his eighth full-length as Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams, earlier this year on Merge. Oh, but that's not even the half of it-- if you've been keeping score at home you know that Bejar is also one of the major songwriting cogs in the New Pornographers' pop machine, one half of the coyish duo Hello, Blue Roses (along with girlfriend Sidney Vermont), and one-third of the other Canadian super(ish) group Swan Lake. Dude is busy. He brings the Destroyer bit to the Aladdin Theater on Friday night.

MP3: Destroyer, from Trouble in Dreams- "Foam Hands"

Also this week, a double dose of the Mates of State. First they release their fifth album, re-arrange us, Tuesday on Barsuk; then they play Saturday's bill as part of the Memorial Day music festival at Bend's Les Schwab Amphitheater alongside Death Cab for Cutie and The Decemberists. Before The Raveonettes, before The Rosebuds, before Beach House, before The Kills, before Dean & Britta, there was Mates of State-- like Sonny & Cher before them a couple united in love and music. Want to see cute? See the Mates live, it's almost too much cute. Indeed, Kori Gardner (keys, lots and lots of keys) and Jason Hammel (drums) tend to look at each other with the eyes of lovebirds while they belt out their mini manic pop masterpieces, charming even the most hardened of hipsters in the process.

MP3: Mates of State, from re-arrange us- "My Only Offer"

Other new releases this week include efforts from Mason Jennings (In the Ever), Islands (Arm's Way), Scarlet Johnasson (Anywhere I Lay My Head), The French Kicks (Swimming), and Blue Skies for Black Hearts (Serenades & Hand Grenades), among others.

So what are your musical plans for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend? Going to Bend? Sasquatch? The thread is open....

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, May 18 at 9:07pm

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Yeah, a lotta hot to go around this weekend, no? (Cue a sweating Pink Martini singing "I Love Portland in the Springtime!") And what better way to beat the heat after a long day than to crowd into a bar with other similarly-perspired musical denizens for a night of sonic goodness? (What, you were thinking of a swim in the Willamette?) First things first, though: the rumors are true! Straight outta Gresham!

It's a solid Friday night for multi-act bills, meaning don't get to these shows late because the opener is just the venue booker's friend's sister's band and you don't want to have to sit through them, because that's just not the case here. The bill of Swedish ladies we've been eyeing for a while now is a good case in point. Lykke Li, El Perro del Mar, and Anna Ternheim are a triumverate of Scandinavian musical goodness, each with their own take on pop (as we explained here). What's up with the Swedes anyway? They're a veritable music factory, what with their Lekmans and Frobergs and Peter Bjorn and Johns. Apparently long, dark, cold winters and national health care = hitmakers. Again, I digress.

You like your pop less wintery, despite the heat? Power-pop....yes, we'll call them legends...The Posies play the third of four northwest dates celebrating their 20th anniversary of musical merrymaking. Yes, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have been at it for a while now, releasing six studio albums over those two decades-- the most recent being 2005's Every Kind of Light. For all of their sun-drenched output over the years, yours truly has always been partial to the comparative sad sacks of "You Avoid Parties" and "Love Letter Boxes." Total bonus: one of the openers is Portland's own Blue Skies for Black Hearts, who are readying for a CD release show at Holocene on May 30th for their new Serenades & Hands Grenades. We just got it here in the mail, in fact, and based on one whole listen, I dig, I dig.

Also Friday, another triple bill features singer-songwriters Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen, and Missy Higgins at the Roseland Theater. Jennings releases his seventh album (sixth this decade!) on Tuesday, entitled In the Ever. It marks his first for Jack Johnson's Brushfire label after a one-off for Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace a couple of years back with the underrated Boneclouds. Ever the thoughtful, soul-searching type, Jennings remains the rare artist who can address the big subjects like Love, Religion, and Politics in a heart-on-his-sleeve way without becoming annoyingly precious about it. Elsewhere Missouri's Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin brings their smooth and creamy indie-pop to the Towne Lounge, along with local openers The Ocean Floor and Oakland's Port O'Brien. As many of you will no doubt remember, the band's 2006 debut featured the O.C.-approved mini-hit "Oregon Girl." Their newest effort, Pershing, came out last month on Polyvinyl.

Finally, look for two shows this weekend from Portland's Quasi. Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss fire the machine back up on the heels of last night's gig in Eugene with performances Friday in Portland at the Hawthorne Theater and Saturday at the Aladdin Theater as part of the latest Live Wire! taping (also featuring The Builders & the Butchers). Their most recent release was 2006's politically-minded When the Going Gets Dark, but with all of these new dates can there be something new on the horizon?

Also Saturday: the return of Langhorne Slim! He plays the Doug Fir Lounge with a new self-titled release under his belt. Preview Slim and his trio by dipping into our in-studio archives here.

Okay, I'm spent. Which way is the Willamette?

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, May 16 at 5:42pm

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There are a few highlights in what is otherwise a fairly sparse Tuesday for new releases this week, the biggest of which is perhaps the second major-label release from Death Cab for Cutie. Narrow Stairs is the band's follow-up to their 2005 Atlantic debut Plans, and it's by all accounts darker and rawer than its predecessor. To their credit, after a decade on an indie label Death Cab isn't exactly playing it safe now that they're established on a major, a trap into which so many before them have fallen. Instead, we get the eight-minute-with-extended-intro lead single "I Will Possess Your Heart," the creepiest stalker song since Costello's "I Want You," (although it sounds so nice and reasonable set to music). The band is gearing up for a summer of festivals and extended touring, more or less beginning on Memorial Day weekend with performances scheduled for both the Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge in George, WA, and the aptly-named Memorial Weekend Music Festival at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend.

Video: Death Cab for Cutie, from Narrow Stairs- "I Will Possess Your Heart"

Another long-established band with new music out this week is the Old 97's. Blame It On Gravity is their first effort since 2004's fairly mundane Drag It Up, and early reviews are calling it a return of sorts to the sound of their hey-day, established on albums like Too Far to Care and Fight Songs. Not bad for a band who could have ridden off into the alt-country sunset and called it good. But they're not dead, they're in Dallas, and the locale switch to the town where they got their start appears to have served them well.

On the live front this week, an interesting bill at the Doug Fir Lounge on Friday night features a trio of Swedish females. One woman band El Perro del Mar (Sarah Assbring), Lykke Li, and Anna Ternheim are all touring with new releases to their credit, each exhibiting a slightly different angle on pop music. From the Valley to the Stars is the second full-length from El Perro del Mar, and it continues the retro, occasionally girl-group-inspired sound found on her debut, albeit in slightly more subdued ways. Li, meanwhile, has been touted by Bjork and does not fall far from the dance-floor inspired vibe of much of that artist's early solo work. Her new EP out in the U.S. is called Little Bit. Ternheim, meanwhile is perhaps the most introspective and singer-songwriter oriented of the three, but it's her golden voice that makes the music. Her recent release is entitled Halfway to Fivepoints.

MP3: El Perro del Mar, from From the Valley to the Stars- "Glory to the World"

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

MP3: Lykke Li, from the Little Bit EP- "Dance Dance Dance"

Also this week, Tapes n' Tapes play Eugene's WOW Hall Monday night (snubbing Portland entirely in the process), and Erin McKeown plays at Mississippi Studios on Wednesday with opener Justin Jude, while The French Kicks are at the Doug Fir Lounge with openers Pseudosix. On Friday, it's the British duo The Kills along with The Child Ballads at Berbati's Pan, while Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen, and Missy Higgins are at the Roseland Theater, and The Posies, Blue Skies for Black Hearts, and The Nice Boys are at Dante's.

This is an early-in-the-week open thread! Something you want to discuss? Drop us a line...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, May 11 at 9:06pm

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Let's reflect for just a moment on how wonderful it is to be in a place like Portland, where when we speak of music that is "local" and "home-grown," we're talking about the kinds of diverse and state of the art talent that we are.

That was nice, wasn't it? No disrespect to the bar bands of Pocatello, ID, but I'm still adjusting to this kind of musical habitat, and as a relatively new Portlander, I'd like to think that my window of opportunity to fawn over the locals has not yet passed (I get a year, as I understand it). Anyway, case in point Friday night: the Independent Publishing Resource Center's 10th Birthday Bash at the Someday Lounge. The IPRC celebrates a decade of offering workshops, workspace, tools, and numerous other publishing resources with something they're dubbing "Superstar Open Mic." The Helio Sequence's Brandon Summers, Quasi's Sam Coomes, Spigot's Nann Alleman, Jeremy Wilson, Sarah Dougher, Leigh Marble, Jennifer Lynn, Tara Jane O'Neil and Carson McWhirter all take to the stage for solo performances, while right next door at the all-ages Backspace, The Thermals' Hutch & Kathy, Iretsu and Ghost to Falco play for the same event. Bash, indeed!

Elsewhere Friday, also on the locals front, it's the CD release show for Silverhawk's Hangover Bicycle Ride at the White Eagle. The long-running band led by the brothers Densmore, Sam and John, are Oregonian through and through, tracing roots to Coos Bay and beyond before a relocation to Portland a few years back. One might say they specialize in the feel-good, with songs with titles like "All the Girls Eat Drugs," and "Drinking Makes Me Feel Better," delivered with between-you-and-me grins. Also, the May edition of The McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour continues at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove with the Luminescent Orchestrii. The self-described Romanian Gypsy Punk quartet from New York whips up an Eastern European frenzy with a unique mix of flavors, continuing Saturday night on the coast at McMenamin's Sand Trap in Gearhart, before three more shows in the area next week.

MP3: Luminescent Orchestrii, from Too Hot to Sleep- "Stranger"

Speaking of Saturday night, the Minneapolis-based Cloud Cult (aka The Band with the Lowest Carbon Footprint Around) plays the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland. Craig Minowa's band tours in a biodiesel-fueled van, uses only recycled materials in their products and records at a studio housed on Minowa's organic farm. Oh yeah, the music's not half bad, either-- and that's something given the fact that they've just issued their sixth album in the past eight years with Feel Good Ghosts. The formula, by now, is familiar: there really isn't much of one. There are at various moments, however, elements of acts like the Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, and early Flaming Lips, while the occasional electronic blip and bleep suggests an heir to the Beta Band in the land of Sinclair Lewis. They're currently on tour with fellow Minnesotans Kid Dakota.

MP3: Cloud Cult, from Feel Good Ghosts- "When Water Comes to Life"

The thread is wide open...

Posted by jpetersen on Friday, May 9 at 1:29pm

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We see the return this week of some names you've likely known for a long time, if it can be said they've ever gone away at all.

That's most certainly not the case for Mr. Elvis Costello, who tends to inhabit one of his other selves as opposed to ever laying low. If he's not making a rock record with his longtime cohorts The Attractions, then he's recording a slightly rootsier version of himself with more recent collaborators The Imposters. If he isn't recording a live jazz album with a full orchestra, then he's writing a symphony. Then again, maybe he's just wooing one of the world's great female jazz vocalists, who also happens to be his wife. His latest is the hastily planned, hastily recorded, hastily released Momofuku, which finds him joined by Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and singer-songwriter Jonathan Rice, in addition to personnel from The Imposters. For all of its thrown-together nature, it's perhaps Costello's freshest-sounding batch of songs in a while. It comes out in CD format Tuesday after an initial issue on wax and megabyte.

A couple of familiars on the live front, too, as Joe Jackson and The B-52's play shows this week in support of recent releases. If you close your eyes, it almost feels like 1989-- which is not to say the current versions of the artists are dusty museum relics, quite the opposite. Joe Jackson released Rain back in January marking his first set of new material in five years and just his second foray into pop material in the past twenty-five. In other words, the man that made a splash with his Look Sharp! debut back in 1979 has followed his own muse, opting for an output that reads more Gershwin or Cole Porter than Nick Lowe or XTC. It seems likely we might get a bit of both Tuesday night at the Aladdin Theater.

MP3: Joe Jackson, from Rain- "Invisible Man"

As for The B-52's, well, they certainly don't look any different, do they? One wonders what kinds of chambers they've been housed in these sixteen years since their last full-length. But as if almost defying time and gravity, there are the beehive hairdos (depends on the photo), Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson still belting out harmonies beneath them, and the zany Fred shouting out zany lyrics. Funplex is the return to form of the other band from Athens, GA, albeit with a synth-sheen that is a new addition. The B-52's play with opener Eagle*Seagull Wednesday night at Portland's Roseland Theater.

MP3: The B52's, from Funplex- "Hot Corner"

Also this week, the return of the Brooklyn-based band Firewater, who release their first album of new, original material in six years this week with The Golden Age. Frontman Tod A undertook a travelling sabbatical of sorts back in 2005, makng his way throughout the middle east while collaborating with local musicians he met along the way (and also getting drugged, robbed, detained, and mightliy ill while he was at it). It's much of that experience that informs the new album, with politically charged numbers alongside others that seem at once world-weary and defiant in the face of it all. One might call it world-circus-punk. Firewater comes to Portland on June 4th.

MP3: Firewater, from The Golden Age- "Borneo"

Meanwhile, performances in the area include the CD release show for Silverhawk's Hangover Bicycle Ride. The Portland-based band plays Friday night at the White Eagle. Elsewhere Friday, it's the IPRC's 10th Birthday Bash at the Towne Lounge Someday Lounge. The night features a host of Portland musicians offering up solo sets, including the Helio Sequence's Brandon Summers, Quasi's Sam Coomes, The Dharma Bums' Jeremy Wilson, and more-- plus The Thermals' Hutch & Kathy, Iretsu, and Ghost to Falco at Backspace.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts, inspired commentary, and fruitful questions-- the thread is yours...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, May 4 at 9:32pm

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Ah, the hometown gig (or, in many of these cases, the [adopted] hometown gig): Putting your music out there for the people who know you best; looking out at a sea of familiar faces who actually recognize you, too; getting bombarded with guest list requests from every Dick and Jane who was ever your neighbor or your friend's friend or the radio guy that played your album; and sleeping in your own bed for a change when it's all said and done. Hometown shows are the order of the night in the Rose City, and I imagine at least some of these scenarios are at least somewhat true for at least some of tonight's performers-- particularly those just returning from the road.

Decemberist frontman Colin Meloy, along with Laura Gibson, left town about a month ago, tour EPs and charm in tow, for a series of dates all over the country. Uncoincidentally, Meloy has a new live album out on the kill rock stars label to promote as well as a new tour EP of Sam Cooke covers, while Gibson, if you'll recall, has a new tour EP of blues and traditional numbers and was the subject of a recent opbmusic in-studio session. The duo returns home to the Wonder Ballroom tonight, where there's no telling what kind of local musical friends might be joining them.

Actually, check that last part. We know it won't be any of the members of Weinland, who are holding their own tour homecoming brouhaha at the White Eagle tonight, along with openers A Weather. They've been out on a three-week jaunt of western states in support of this year's La Lamentor. We also know it won't be their occasional musical cohorts in Dolorean (7p.) and Norfolk & Western (10p.), who form a doubleheader of sorts tonight at Mississippi Studios with bills also featuring Jackstraw (early) and Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights (late).

As if all of that were not enough, we also know that Ms. Gibson won't be joined tonight by the other musical Laura in town, Laura Veirs, who begins a tour of her own tonight at the Doug Fir Lounge on a bill that also features Liam Finn and Let's Go Sailing. It's a solo trip this time out for Veirs, who released the excellent Saltbreakers full-length last year and has a new traditionals-filled EP entitled Two Beers Veirs, which must mean that it only takes a couple before Ms. Veirs starts breaking out the Mississippi John Hurt numbers. In case you don't remember (or never knew in the first place), she was our first in-studio guest just about a year ago. Not a bad beginning, eh?

Elsewhere tonight on the local front, Ohmega Watts is at Holocene, while Little Beirut plays Imbibe. Meanwhile, the "Queen of Rockabilly" herself, Wanda Jackson, brings her famous growl to Dante's.

Did you happen to catch any of these shows? We'd love to hear your takes on and takeaways from them-- do tell. The thread is open for that, or anything else that's on your minds, musically speaking...

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, May 3 at 9:10pm

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