Posts from — September 2008

The New Year is a band featuring Matt and Bubba Kadane, former leaders of the highly praised band Bedhead. In 1998, the Kadanes pulled the plug and let Bedhead die a quiet and respectful death. Depressed by inactivity, they relatively quickly enlisted some old friends and, with the songs they’d written for the next Bedhead record, headed into the studio.

The result of that session was Newness Ends, a record that continued their evolution as songwriters. The delicate and intricate guitar work still played an integral part on this record, but these songs were more concise, more experimental rhythmically, and deliberately more immediate.

In May of 2004 The New Year returned with The End Is Near. The band continued to advance in songwriting, performance, and production. Songs build to false climaxes and take left turns when rights were expected. The band performed with precision and intensity. The sound is thick and ominous.

For this special show Will Johnson from Centro-Matic will be playing guitar with The New Year!

LINKS: http://www.myspace.com/thenewyear & http://www.thenewyear.net

MP3/Downloads:
The New Year – The Company I Can Get
The New Year – The End’s Not Near
Band Of Horses – The End’s Not Near (BoH covers The New Year!)

Doug Fir Lounge
THE NEW YEAR
plus A WEATHER
and WE’RE FROM JAPAN
Friday September 26
Doors 8 pm, Show 9 pm
$12 advance, $13 day of show

Sometimes, things just work out perfectly. Earlier this year, when My Morning Jacket announced their extensive tour itinerary, we were excited to see that their Portland play would be the last Edgefield show of the season and would fall on a Saturday night.

One of Portland’s finest exports, Blitzen Trapper, released their brand new album yesterday called Furr. Furr is the debut album on the legendary SubPop label & we hope it’s the first of many! To celebrate the new release Blitzen Trapper played a free in-store show at Music Millennium and ran through 5 selections (about 30 mins) of the new album for the patient attendees waiting to catch the band in an intimate setting.

Furr is the fourth record by Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper and the follow-up to last year’s highly acclaimed Wild Mountain Nation. Written in the gaps of the group’s frenetic touring schedule and recorded mostly in a hoary old telegraph building close by the Willamette River, the new record refines and expands on the far-ranging yet distinctive songcraft that lies at the heart of Blitzen Trapper’s unique appeal.

Blitzen Trapper is a group of native Northwesterners, most of whom grew up in Salem, Oregon. They have lived and played together in Portland since 2000. Critics and fans have compared their music to just about everything; there have been calls to coin a new genre. After self-releasing Wild Mountain Nation in June of 2007, the group ventured beyond the West Coast for the first time to tour extensively in Europe and North America. The band will launch for another extended european and then american tour next week & the tour will culminate with a show in Portland at the Wonder Ballroom on December 4th. See you there!

LINKS: http://blitzentrapper.net/ & http://www.myspace.com/blitzentrapper
MP3/Downloads:
Blitzen Trapper – Furr
Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer

Tonight Dr. Dog returns to Portland for a show at the Doug Fir Lounge in support of their latest release, Fate, and its predecessor, 2007′s We All Belong. However, neither record indicates how full-sounding, cohesive and enjoyable this quintet is live.

The Philly band has been sculpting their psychedelic pop sound since 1999, but did not start touring the country until 2004 when Jim James gave them an opening slot for My Morning Jacket. Since then, they have continued to build momentum, supporting such bands as Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah and The Raconteurs while most recently packing clubs on their own in the U.S. and Europe.

MusicfestNW came and went like a whirlwind earlier this month with so much music that we had to refer back to our notebook to keep it all straight. One of the overlooked highlights was the Swedish metal band Witchcraft who rocked it Sabbath style to a late night crowd at Ash Street Saloon.  Speaking very little english, this 4 piece instead let their guitars and drums do the talking which resulted in a raucous final set on the 2nd evening of MusicfestNW.

Our friends at DJB Con Productions are presenting a fun lineup tomorrow evening at Lovejoy Studios in NW Portland. Sacramento’s Izabella returns to Oregon after winning over fans at 4 Peaks Music Festival earlier this summer when they played a great set and participated in Matt’s Butlers epic Everyone Orchestra duel stage set finale. Their repertoire includes elements of rock, soul and funk and features some hot licks from lead guitar player Sean Lehe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w96_6GxHVdw]

“This track from Starfucker’s forthcoming self-titled album is a fine piece of fractured, homemade pop, with handclaps, bleary synths, drum machines, clunky acoustic guitars, and honeyed lo-fi harmonies.” –Pitchfork

Starfucker is a name that is not so much a rejection of the seriousness in the music industry, but a commitment to the playful spirit of their music; an understanding between three multi-instrumentalists in an ethereal galaxy of drums, drum machines, keyboards, guitars, turntables, and a live performance powerful enough to transcend the guilt of actually having fun at a live show.

Josh Hodges, chief songwriter and home-recording wizard, built Starfucker in the summer of 2007 on an almost philosophical foundation; one that pairs the fragility and impermanence of life with the need to have fun and enjoy the present moment. The project was a significant shift from Sexton Blake, a more melancholy indie group that started with Josh’s home-recordings incepted during an emotionally anxious 4 year stay in New York City. Josh moved back home with fellow Portland native Ryan Biornstad, eventually releasing two Sexton Blake albums including the 80′s covers CD, Plays the Hits, on Expunged Records. But Josh was depressed, seeking out the help of long time friend Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second. Rawn hypnotized him to help relinquish his anxiety and hopelessness. Josh also began meditating. “I went traveling to Thailand and went on a ten day meditation retreat called Vipassana, and that kind of changed everything for me. The hardest part was not masturbating.”

After seeing Starfucker perform, Dylan Magierek of Badman Recording Co. was blown away. “Seeing them play for that first time was one of those very rare occasions when I immediately felt I had to work with these guys. Their sound is absolutely infectious and they have all the elements I look for in a great band.” Josh and Dylan went to work at Type Foundry in Portland, Oregon to layer in some extras to Josh’s home recordings, rounding out the album into a cohesive package of electro indie pop with a light hip-hop after-taste. It’s like playing an 8-bit video game where your primary objective is to overcome heartbreak and an obsession with death, your only weapon a love laser mounted on a space bike that zaps out bright red blips and neon bleeps. This may be the music Josh was playing for his imaginary audience of aliens when he was a kid. It’s poppy, it’s catchy, and it’s palatable, and that’s a good thing.

LINKS: http://www.myspace.com/starfuckerss

MP3/Download: Starfucker – German Love

An ALL-AGES early record release matinee
Doug Fir Lounge
STARF*CKER
plus SOUTHERN BELLE
and GUIDANCE COUNSELOR
Thursday September 18
Doors 4:30 pm, Show 5pm
EARLY MATINEE SHOW
ALL AGES!
$7 advance, $7 day of show
http://www.myspace.com/starfuckerss
http://www.myspace.com/southernbellepdx
http://www.myspace.com/guidancecounselorpdx

A CD Release soiree with PDX avant-popsters
Doug Fir Lounge
STARF*CKER
plus DYKERITZ
and DJ BEYONDA
Thursday September 18
Doors 8pm, Show 9pm
$10 advance, $10 day of show
http://www.myspace.com/starfuckerss
http://www.myspace.com/dykeritz
http://www.myspace.com/djbeyondadoubt

On September 20th, Doug Fir will host their annual Fir Fest, an outdoor extravaganza in the Jupiter Hotel Courtyard  that brings together music, fashion and art.      This year’s music will feature Portland’s chamber folk ensemble Loch Lomond with opening duties provided by Bark Hide and Horn and Y La Bamba.    

5:00pm- Doors

6:30pm-7:10pm: Y La Bamba

7:30pm-8:10pm: Bark Hide & Horn

8:30pm-8:45pm: Lobu Fashion Show:  Featuring Hattie’s Vintage, Rock n Rose Clothing, Lille Boutique, Wack Salon, & Jackalope Custom Tatoo

9:00pm-10:00pm:  Loch Lomond

Seattle, WA is famous for many things. Sunlight is not one of them. Yet illumination and warmth suffuse the self-titled debut from Emerald City quintet Grand Archives. Dark times do not necessarily call for dark music. And, while singer/guitarist Mat Brooke’s previous ensembles – Band of Horses, Carissa’s Wierd – often shied away from light, he has changed direction with this band. To be clear, The Grand Archives is not escapist bullshit. But like the timeless classics of The Mamas & the Papas or The Turtles, it responds to the turbulent times of its genesis with hope, high spirits, and a sense of camaraderie.

Brooke started Grand Archives with a trio of friends in September, 2006. Drummer Curtis Hall (The Jeunes), bassist Jeff Montano (The New Mexicans), and guitarist/keyboard player Ron Lewis (Ghost Stories) shared his desire to make great pop, rather than curse the darkness; guitarist Thomas Wright signed on soon after. “We all knew each other already, and we had the same idea for the style of music.” The Beach Boys and Bee-Gees were referenced freely, sans shame or irony. Four- and five-part vocal harmonies were essential; in time, lyrics would be rewritten, sometimes repeatedly, to resonate better when sung.

Finding their sound came naturally. Fine-tuning the songs? That took some work. The band recorded its debut at three different studios throughout summer 2007, with Ben Kersten producing. “We wanted to mess around with as many unorthodox instruments and sounds as we could,” says Mat. Across the album’s eleven tracks, you’ll hear trombone and Flugelhorn, violin and pedal steel guitar – and some timbres trickier to identify. Slide guitars were rubbed with violin bows, cellos plucked to create bass lines. “At one point, we put a mic on a ukulele and played it through every effects pedal in the place.”

LINKS: http://www.grandarchives.com/ & http://www.myspace.com/grandarchives

MP3/Download: Grand Archives – “A Setting Sun”

Doug Fir Lounge
GRAND ARCHIVES
plus BABYDOLLARS
and CAJUN GEMS
Saturday September 13th, 2008
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
$10 advance, $12 day of show

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHsbBGjJ4EE]