Music Blog

The return of our vaunted (to some, don't laugh) weekly installment in digital-musical comes just in time for the extended weekend, may it be long on summer and short on bummer (oh these write themselves)!

1- The Thermals holed up at Jackpot Studios with Chris Walla last year for sessions that will see the light of day in the form of Personal Life-- the record drops September 7th, a scant two days before the trio takes to the Crystal Ballroom stage for MusicFest NW. Here's the first we've heard...
► The Thermals- "I Don't Believe You"

2- Kristin Hersh returns soon with a new record called Crooked that's being released both as a book (complete with essays, artwork, and various online goodies) and digitally on July 19th. Here's one from it-- like us on Facebook to download another.
► Kristin Hersh- "Rubidoux"

3- Portland's own Y La Bamba at long last releases their much anticipated new album, Lupon, this fall. Recorded seemingly eons ago with Decemberist Chris Funk producing, the record is out September 28th via Tender Loving Empire. You'll also find this track on this year's PDX Pop Now! compilation.
► Y La Bamba- "Juniper"

4- The spelling-challenged mope of Seattle's Carissa's Wierd returns soon, albeit briefly, for a reunion show to celebrate the release of They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003, out July 13th on Hardly Art. The band included (among others) Sera Cahoone and Jenn Ghetto, as well as Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke (co-founders of Band of Horses, who Bridwell continues to front. Brooke has since gone on to form The Grand Archives). While containing a bit more pulse than a lot of their work, this song is also typical of the beautiful tension for which the band was known.
► Carissa's Wierd- "Die"

5- The bossa nova isn't the first thing that comes to mind when one hears the name Snuffaluffagus (I'm pretty sure it's this instead), but the San Diego-based band of the same name has just released Brazilwood Poetry, an album they've described as "a collage and tribute to the golden era of Brazilian tropicalia." Sign us up! God knows we could use some tropicalia around these parts these days, preferably of the equatorial variety.
► Snuffaluffagus- "Brazilwood Poetry"

BONUS! OutKast's Big Boi releases a new album this Tuesday on Def Jam and to celebrate, put together this mixtape-- Mixtape for Dummies, he calls it-- to serve as a primer of sorts on his body of work. He insists you pop it in for your 4th of July roadtrip (psst- the second half is better than the first).

DOUBLE BONUS! Seattle band Hey Marseilles wants to give you their new record to celebrate the 4th of July. So, for a limited time and for the price of an email, they're offering their album To Travels and Trunks in its entirety. I have heard the record and we have played it a fair amount on the stream and I can attest that this is a good deal. Get it here.

And finally, a heads up for ticket giveaways this weekend! We'll be giving away pairs to the Portland Cello Project's Thursday night release show at The Old Church on Saturday night's In House (8-11pm on OPB radio and here on the stream). Thousand Words is the ironically titled new instrumental release from the PCP, who will be joined for the show by John Vecchiarelli and Shenandoah Davis.

AND, for Sunday night's July 4th edition of In House we ask the question: what's more American than Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp (besides Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp sitting in a giant apple pie talking baseball) by giving away ticket pairs to their August 27th show at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend and their August 29th show at Edgefield in Troutdale. That's two radio broadcasts, lots of free tickets for the taking this weekend!

Speaking of which....to the weekend, then!

Tagged: mp3