A light holiday week for new releases finds plenty of live action in the area, including the annual Waterfront Blues Festival, a veteran solo artist or two, and a Canadian act that has been helping to hail the return of rock and roll. To begin with the latter, The Constantines play the Doug Fir Lounge on Monday night along with fellow Canadians Ladyhawk. The Toronto-based band released their fourth album earlier this year with Kensington Heights, another collection that showcases their no nonsense, blue collar brand of rock and roll-- indeed, frontman Bry Webb has been called a cross between vintage Springsteen and Joe Strummer. As good as their catalog has always sounded, word is their performances verge on transcendent.

MP3: The Constantines, from Kensington Heights- "Hard Feelings"

Also this week, an interesting pairing Thursday night at the Wonder Ballroom features Seattle's Long Winters and heralded locals The Builders & the Butchers. LW frontman John Roderick, he of the golden personality and hook-filled songwriting, was just in Portland a couple of weeks back previewing new songs for the LiveWire! crowd (he wrote about it in the process, waxing positively on Portland and making the rest of us feel inadequate with his mad blogging skillz). Word is that that new stuff may not see the light of day until early '09, but that doesn't mean they won't be mixing it in with the hits on Thursday. The other half of the bill, meanwhile, is the reigning Best New Band around these parts according to the annual poll taken by the Willamette Week. Their manic live shows are well known for their inordinate amount of shouting, noisemaking, and crowd participation.

MP3: The Long Winters, from Putting the Days to Bed- "Pushover"

MP3: The Builders & the Butchers- "When It Rains"

Finally this week, the annual Waterfront Blues Festival gets underway Thursday at Tom McCall Park and runs through Sunday. A diverse line-up of dozens of artists makes up this year's bill, from locals like Colin Lake & Wellbottom and Mary Flower to touring headliners like Issac Hayes, Canned Heat, and James Hunter, ensuring several shades of blue in the process. While some of them test the bounds of the "blues" label, none is quite the stretch represented by The Legendary Shack Shakers, who take the stage Friday evening (and also play Dante's later that night). By all accounts a madman on and off the stage, Col. JD Wilkes leads the band's sizzling stew, a manic musical makeup that often elicits labels like "hellbilly" and "Dixie-core," though neither of those fully capture a sound that also incorporates elements of blues and klezmer, among other styles. The Shack Shakers' most recent release, Swampblood, came out last year on yep roc.

MP3: The Legendary Shack Shakers, from Believe- "Agony Wagon"

Also this week, Mark Knopfler plays the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (Tuesday); Fernando, Amelia, and Warren Pash form a great bill at the Doug Fir Lounge (Friday); and Jonathan Richman plays the Aladdin Theater (Saturday).

Ain't no thread like an open thread....

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, June 29 at 9:50pm

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Everyone's favorite band named after a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song plays Edgefield tonight, in case you missed it, just the latest evidence that Death Cab for Cutie, they of the major label deal and #1 Billboard chart slot earlier this year with Narrow Stairs, is a somewhat large-ish band (in stature, anyway, recent appearances have revealed a svelte new look). It's not a difficult thing to find the band described these days as "on top of the rock world" or even "the last big rock band," phrases that, album sales and venue sizes aside, I have a tough time getting my head around. The thing is, I'm not sure what it means to be on top of the rock world in 2008, or if there's even a rock world on which to sit. I don't mean this as a negative, long for the good old days kind of point by any means, the landscape is simply different than, say, when Nirvana sat on the same perch. Speaking of which, the Foo Fighters are playing the Rose Garden this summer-- doesn't a band have to play cavernous venues to be on top of the rock world?

Video: From Narrow Stairs- "I Will Possess Your Heart"

It's nothing against Death Cab-- if anything Narrow Stairs is the most exciting they've sounded in a while, and wouldn't we all rather a band like them be #1 (whatever that means)? I mean, egads, it could be worse, it could be Staind the world is all looking up at. I can at least keep faith in a society that makes a band like Death Cab big. But-- "big"-- that's the thing. This music is a personal thing, isn't it? Not to get all Wonder Years on you here (here comes the voiceover), but I suppose I'm just having a hard time reconciling this humongousness with the band I first saw at the Meow Meow in the spring of '01.

MP3: From plans- "Soul Meets Body"

MP3: From the photo album- "A Movie Script Ending"

A year prior I was literally floored as I spent an evening lying on my back on the floor of my apartment listening to we have the facts & we're voting yes for the first time, over and over. It wasn't long before those songs were woven into my personal mythology, and I was baffled at my luck when my first trip to Portland coincided with that Death Cab tour date. Later that year they began their Photo Album tour in Pocatello, ID, of all places (has it really been so long, then to now?), and the facts will show that they played Kilby Court in Salt Lake City the next night (which caused me to miss the play Derek Jeter made in the 2001 divisional playoffs against Oakland to stave off elimination in a series the Yankees would eventually pull out, but that's neither here nor there), and the venue was so absolutely packed that I knew that tiny venues would soon be a thing of the past for them. And they were, and you likely know the rest of the story up to now. Death Cab for Cutie belong to a lot more people than just me now, as I know they always really did. My girlfriend that went with me to see them at the Meow Meow is now my wife, I live in Portland, and Death Cab is on top of the rock world. Funny how things work out.

For the record, and I know I'm probably in the minority here, I still regard we have the facts... as the band's apex. Maybe I'm just showing my age.

MP3: From we have the facts & we're voting yes- "For What Reason"

MP3s: From the forbidden love e.p.- "Song For Kelly Huckaby" and "405 (acoustic)"

Posted by jpetersen on Thursday, June 26 at 6:09pm

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Aside from the annual promise of sunburns, festivals, and fragrant evenings, the arrival of Summertime in Portland this week also brings with it a wealth of live possibilities-- no small feat considering the current plight of the traveling band. Double that, then, for singer-songwriter Hayden. The notoriously reclusive Canadian doesn't tour often-- even less so around these parts-- so you might make it a point to catch him at the Aladdin Theater Monday night with opener Haley Bonar. His latest, In Field & Town, got a U.S. release this spring from the no-longer-just-a-blues-label Fat Possum, and it finds him sounding energized, even upbeat, in a few places.The rest of the summer finds Hayden festival-ing in his homeland, followed by several dates with Feist this fall.

MP3: Hayden, from In Field & Town- "Where & When"

Also on stage this week is the San Francisco-based duo The Dodos, who play the Doug Fir on Tuesday night. Essentially an acoustic duo, Simon & Garfunkel they're not, as Meric Long and Logan Kroeber attack the guitar and drums that make up their sound with aplomb, with often manic results. The songs morph and shift, often switching up rhythms and tempos, playing out like mini-suites that rarely clock in under five minutes. Plants & Animals and Thee Oh Sees open.

MP3: The Dodos, from Visiter- "Fools"

MP3: Plants & Animals, from Parc Avenue- "Faerie Dance"

A decidedly more subdued option this week finds Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter playing the Doug Fir Lounge on Friday night (after a Monday night show at Eugene's WOW Hall) with Earth. Sykes and her band recently followed up their stunning Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul full-length with the Gentleness of Nothing EP, currently only available digitally and on tour. Sykes' smoky vocals are, as always, the centerpiece of the new songs, while the band looks to be taking the neo-psychedelic flavors they discovered on LLL a few steps further in places.

MP3: Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter- "LLL"

Stream: Jesse Sykes' opbmusic in-studio session

Also this week, Tea For Julie plays a CD release show for their new The Sense in Tying Knots Wednedsay night at the Doug Fir; Death Cab for Cutie plays at Edgefield in Troutdale with openers Rogue Wave on Thursday; and the Cowboy Junkies play a couple of dates in the area with the Indigo Girls, including next Saturday at the Oregon Zoo.

The thread is open...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, June 22 at 8:27pm

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A huge blue presence threatens to engulf Portland this weekend and it has nothing to do with global warming or the blue man group (thankfully on both accounts). The supergroup-ish Blue Giant introduces themselves to their fellow Portlanders Friday night with a show at the Wonder Ballroom that also features a host of guests.

If you haven't heard yet, Kevin and Anita Robinson, better known as Viva Voce, recently formed the group in the interest of rediscovering "a communal music experience," as they put it. Enter former Swords Project drummer Evan Railton and current Golden Bear (among others) bassist Seth Lorinczi, and you have a quartet whose past connections reach far and wide in the northwest music scene. Their self-released demo EP (available for free in digital form to all of Friday's attendees) offers up five songs that aren't necessarily root-sy or blues-y in the traditional sense, but certainly take the kinds of steps in those directions we might expect the Robinsons (originally from Muscle Shoals, AL) to take. Add to that the presence of Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker, as well as openers The Shaky Hands and Lackthereof, and you have one hell of a coming out party. In addition to next week's Seattle date, more are apparently to come.

Stream new music from Blue Giant at their myspace.

MP3: Viva Voce- "When Planets Collide"

The "blue" train rolls on Saturday night as we feature an in-studio session with Portland's own Blue Skies for Black Hearts. The band's recent fourth full-length, Serenades & Hand Grenades, is full of the kinds of head-boppin' pop songs that would make Ray Davies envious. Pat Kearns and company keep the sound sunny, even if the subjects they're singing about aren't. Opener "Siouxsie Please Come Home," appeals for the return of a girl at war, while "World Without Love," considers the implications of just such a case (although it sounds pretty in love with that consideration). Hear the session on our In House program Saturday beginning at 9:00 as part of the 24/7 online stream, on our HD music channel (91.5 FM-2 in the Portland area), and on OPB radio (or stream it anytime here).

VIdeo: Blue Skies for Black Hearts- "Siouxsie Please Come Home"

On the live music front Saturday, much to get out and take in-- including a couple of CD release shows featuring Portland bands. 3 Rounds & a Sound is the debut from Blind Pilot, made up of Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski. The duo specializes in roots-tinged pop, and while it's not necessarily a sound we haven't heard before, they just do it so well it's hard not to take immediate notice. They celebrate the new album at Dante's on an intriguing bill that also features locals Hockey and Andy Combs & the Moth.

Elsewhere, at the Mission Theater to be exact, it's the CD release show for the new full-length from Buoy LaRue, entitled Spin Out of This. Perhaps equal parts chamber and rock, the band's music reflects their line-up, whose experiences run the gamut from turns in the Oregon and Eugene Symphonies to Jerry Joseph & the Jack Mormons. The result is a new record that is at once string-laden and rocking, melancholic and experimental. The Little Sue Band and Jim Brunberg open the show.

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

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, June 21 at 9:21am

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It might be argued that the Old 97's lived up to their aged moniker on 2004's Drag It Up. The band that got their start as part of the alt-country movement of the early to mid-90's seemed a bit worn out and out of ideas, suddenly more relevant as the slightly more twangy side act to frontman Rhett Miller's solo career. In and of itself, it wasn't a bad album, but one can't help to compare and contrast with the vitality the band shows on their recent Blame It On Gravity. The past four years have seen the Old 97's return to Dallas, the scene of their late 90's hey-day, and their sound seems to have followed suit. Buoyed by catchy, energetic numbers like lead single "Dance With Me," and balanced by bassist Murry Hammond's more subdued contributions, the Old 97's sound revitalized if not reinvented-- a new (old) Old 97's, if you will. The band plays the Wonder Ballroom in Portland tonight.

Video: Old 97's, from Blame It On Gravity- "Dance With Me"

Also tonight music from the new release from Shara Worden's My Brightest Diamond. Worden releases her second album under the MBD label on Tuesday, entitled A Thousand Shark's Teeth, and it once again showcases her penchant for lush, soaring melodies, albeit with a bit more polish than the debut Bring Me the Workhorse. A graduate of Sufjan Stevens' live musical circus, it's no surprise to hear the complex, string-laden compositions that make up most of Worden's new work-- but whereas Stevens specializes in what might be called quasi-showtunes, My Brightest Diamond dabbles in the quasi-operatic.

MP3s: My Brightest Diamond, from A Thousand Shark's Teeth-
"Inside a Boy" and "The Diamond"

Scores of other new albums out this week, too, on a Tuesday filled with releases worth your attention. These include the much anticipated second album from Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer, as well as the second solo effort from (former?) Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzelay, who releases Lose Big on the 429 label. Also this week, the long awaited return of the German band The Notwist, whose The Devil, You + Me is their first release in six years; David Berman's Silver Jews issue Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea; Teddy Thompson follows up last year's honk-tonk weeper with an album of straight up pop with A Piece of What You Need; and Coldplay continue their U2-like quest to be...U2 with Viva La Vida.

MP3: Wolf Parade, from At Mount Zoomer- "Call It a Ritual"

MP3: The Notwist, from The Devil, You + Me- "Good Lies"

MP3: Silver Jews, from Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea-
"Strange Victory, Strange Defeat"

MP3: Teddy Thompson, from A Piece of Something You Need- "In My Arms"

Stream: Coldplay's Viva La Vida

Performances in the area this week include dates with The Devil Makes Three (Tuesday, Aladdin Theater); The Magic Bullets (Wednesday, Dante's); Frightened Rabbit (Thursday, Holocene); Blue Giant with The Shaky Hands, Lackthereof, and Corin Tucker & friends (Friday, Wonder Ballroom); and Jaymay with Fink (Friday, Doug Fir Lounge), among others.

This thread is an open thread..........

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, June 15 at 9:29pm

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Saturday night's edition of In House features an in-studio session with the Sun Valley, ID-based trio Finn Riggins. Drawing inspiration and influence from several musical realms-- a bit of prog here, some indie rock there, an occasional steel drum thrown in for good measure, the band's sound is slippery to say the least. Reviews name-drop everyone from Frank Zappa to the Talking Heads to Rainer Maria in mostly futile attempts to pin down the sound, while the band themselves cite a determined approach to not limit themselves to a preconceived notion of what they should sound like (they play what feels "right", as singer and guitarist Lisa Simpson told us during the session). A Soldier, a Saint, an Ocean Explorer, Finn Riggins' full-length debut out late last year on Tender Loving Empire, does an impressive job of capturing the frenetic energy they bring to their live performances with a collection of songs that feel like a whirlwind cross-country roadtrip. From the opening notes of "Glove Comprtmnt" to the shapeshifting, kind-of-like-the-title-track closer, there's hardly a rest-- a fact that makes sense given that the record was recorded in three days while in the midst of a busy tour. We'll talk to the band about the process of recording the record, the double-edge sword of being based in Idaho, the adventure of life on the road, and their return to Portland for the upcoming 3900 Ft. Fest.

MP3: Finn Riggins, from A Soldier, a Saint, an Ocean Explorer- "Hraka"

Stream: Finn Riggins' opbmusic in-studio session

The thread is open. Questions? Comments? Requests? What's on your minds?

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, June 14 at 9:12pm

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The fifth studio album from Kentucky's My Morning Jacket highlights a week flush with both new releases and can't-miss shows. Evil Urges comes out Tuesday on ATO and in many ways completes the band's rather unlikely journey from shaggy, jammy underdogs worshipping at the altar of Neil Young to adventurous, genre-bending experimenters (who also might just be the best live band in the world). The opening title track sets the tone immediately with a shape-shifting slice of faux-funk that rides along on frontman Jim James' surprisingly adept falsetto, ending up somewhere between Phish and Prince. In short, the album shows a band unafraid to take risks (and that example is hardly the riskiest) at a time when it might be presumed that they have the most to lose. My Morning Jacket play at Edgefield in Troutdale on September 27th.

MP3: My Morning Jacket, from Evil Urges- "Evil Urges"

On the live front this week, the fine folks at PDX Pop Now! unveil their fifth compilation of local musical goodness with a CD release show Thursday night at Holocene. The all-ages event features a quartet of acts who appear on this year's compilation in Southern Belle, YACHT, White Fang, and Fist Fite, and benefits the 2008 PDX Pop Now! Festival set to take place July 25th-27th. A more than fair trade in and of itself, then, but the price of admission also gets you a copy of the release a few days before it can be found in stores. We call that a no-brainer where I come from. In case you missed it the tracklist for this year's joint was recently revealed here.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper, from PDX Pop Now! 2008- "Crushing the Wheat"

MP3: Faux Hoax, from PDX Pop Now! 2008- "Foxworthy"

MP3: The Joggers, from PDX Pop Now! 2008- "Golden Wage"

Also this week, Bombadil finishes off their run for the McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour with three more performances in the region, beginning Tuesday night at the Olympic Club in Centralia, WA. The Duke University-borne quartet released A Buzz, A Buzz earlier this year on Ramseur and it has since garnered much praise for its off-kilter rhythms and occasionally rustic instrumentation. Bombadil closes out the week with shows Thursday at the Kennedy School in Portland and Friday at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove.

MP3: Bombadil, from A Buzz, A Buzz- "Smile When You Kiss"

Elsewhere, Perhapst, the new mostly solo project from Decemberist drummer John Moen, plays a CD release show for the new self-titled debut Wednesday night at Holocene. Moen will be joined for the live version of Perhapst by Jonathan Drews, Eric Lovre, and fellow Decemberist Chris Funk. The album will be available via In Music We Trust.

MP3s: Perhapst, from Perhapst- "Quote" and "Incense Cone"

Still more shows this week include Annuals at Holocene with A Weather and Musee Mecanique (Monday); The Black Angels and The Warlocks at the Doug Fir Lounge (Monday); a benefit for former Portland musician Duane Jarvis at the Wonder Ballroom featuring Frank Black/Black Francis, Willy Vlautin, The Odds, Jon Koonce & One More Mile, Billy Rancher's Unreal Gods and more (Thursday); Islands play the Hawthorne Theater, along with AWOL and Crayonsmith (Friday); and Spoon is at Edgefield in Troutdale with Nada Surf and The Presidents of the United States of America (Friday).

The thread is yours...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, June 8 at 9:13pm

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Our in-studio session this week features the North Carolina-based musician Tyler Ramsey. In a sense, he's two artists for the price of one: on the one hand, he's a folky singer-songwriter who has enjoyed comparisons to the likes of Jackson Browne (even going so far as to cover Browne's "These Days' on his recent release); on the other, he's an imaginative finger-style guitarist, composing pieces more from the heart than out of any interest in technical prowess. His second album, A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea, was released earlier in the year, and it's this dual approach to his music that helps the album flow in such a unified fashion-- indeed, a listen from start to finish almost feels like a long dream about swimming across the sea. Ramsey joins us for performances of songs from the new album, and talks about his songwriting, the collaborative musical scene that exists in his hometown of Asheville, and his second career moonlighting as a touring member of Band of Horses.

MP3: Tyler Ramsey, from A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea- "Ships"

Stream: Tyler Ramsey's opbmusic in-studio session

As for performance options in Portland tonight, none other than Billy Bragg plays downtown at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Part of PNCA's on-going FIVE Idea Studios series, the event is being billed as "an intimate evening of conversation and music" with Billy Bragg and has apparently been sold out for some time (although there will be a block of tickets for standing room released tonight at the door). In case you're not aware, 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, was released in April.

MP3: Billy Bragg, from Mr. Love & Justice- "I Keep Faith"

MP3: The lastest edition of the Billy Bragg podcast- Episode 13: "There Ain't Nobody That Can Sing Like Me" (Bragg talks about the making of the Mermaid Avenue volumes he recorded with Wilco)

Bragg's early start time (7pm) works out well because it means that you'll still have plenty of time to head over to the Doug Fir Lounge (whilst listening to In House on OPB radio and HD at 91.5-FM2) for the CD release show for Matt Sheehy's new Tigerphobia. The first full length for Sheehy under his own name, Tigerphobia traces its origins to Sheehy's time spent living on the coast in Oceanside a few years back, a spell that brought with it a musical re-birth of sorts. We're highlighting solo artists here and Sheehy is billed as such, although to be accurate he'll have full band in tow tonight, in addition to opening support from Pwrfl Pwr, The Brothers Young and Menomena's Brent Knopf.

MP3s: Matt Sheehy, from Tigerphobia- "Go Missing" and "About Piano"

Posted by jpetersen on Saturday, June 7 at 4:47pm

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The new month ambles in with a slew of new releases this week, including the full-length debut from current buzz band Fleet Foxes. The Seattle-based quintet's much anticipated arrival, buoyed by fawning press from the likes of Pitchfork, a well received teaser EP, and growing attention surrounding their live performances (including the recent Sasquatch festival), comes courtesy of Sub Pop, and from the sounds of things is deservedly hyped. Steeped in haunting harmonies (recently fortified, by the way, with the addition of singer-songwriter J. Tillman) and a musical education that clearly included Buffalo Springfield and Fairport Convention, Fleet Foxes have elicited comparisons along those same lines, as well as to labelmates like Iron & Wine, Grand Archives, and Band of Horses. Their's might be the sound of the past meeting the present, in other words, which sounds trite but makes sense when one considers that the band's line-up boasts graduates of acts like Pedro the Lion, the Crystal Skulls, and Seldom. Currently on tour in Europe, Fleet Foxes return to the states later this month for a string of several dates that eventually leads them to Portland's Doug Fir Lounge on July 25th.

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

Plenty of live options this week, too, highlighted by Brooklyn's Firewater who play Wednesday night at the Doug Fir Lounge. The band recently released their first album of new, original material in six years with The Golden Age. Frontman Tod A undertook a travelling sabbatical of sorts back in 2005, making 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.

MP3: Firewater, from The Golden Age- "Three-Legged Dog"

Also this week, another installment of the McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour gets underway with several performances from the North Carolina-based Bombadil. The band's new album, A Buzz, A Buzz, was issued recently on Ramseur and at times their exuberance brings to mind labelmates and fellow North Carolinans the Avett Brothers. Things get underway Wednesday night at the Old St. Francis School in Bend, with performances to follow this week on Thursday at Edgefield in Troutdale, Friday at the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, and Saturday at the Sand Trap in Gearhart. As always, the shows are free, all ages, begin at 7:00, and are sponsored by opbmusic.

MP3: Bomadil, from A Buzz, A Buzz-
"A Buzz, A Buzz"

The thread is open...

Posted by jpetersen on Sunday, June 1 at 8:53pm

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