Posts from — August 2009

MusicfestNW and Nike Sportswear are excited to announce that James Mercer of The Shins will now be playing an exclusive solo set Thursday, September 17th at 5:30 pm at the Wonder Ballroom as part of the Nike Sportswear showcase. The Helio Sequence will follow James Mercer’s set with one of their own at 7:00pm. Passion Pit, who was previously scheduled to perform before The Helio Sequence, had to cancel their performance due to a scheduling conflict.

Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St (MapQuest) 503-284-8686
Free entry with pass, available for free at Jackpot Records on day of show, OR MFNW wristband.
Nike Sportswear Presents

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Richmond Fontaine is an enigma (aka something hard to understand or explain) when it comes to their popularity in Europe & lackthereof in the good ole USA. Our local favorites are legitimate stars in Europe & the folks over here are taking a little while longer to “get it”. HA! The band recently released it’s newest album, We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River, and will play a local show this weekend @ Kenton Club before heading to Europe for a month in support of. The one & only Mike Coykendall Band (MWard) will support & this promises to be a great show! After a month across the pond, Richmond Fontaine will play an official CD release party @ Dantes on 10/9/09 & then head back to Europe for the month of October. Go RF Go!

BIO: Richmond Fontaine have signed to the Arena Rock Recording Company and are set to release their eighth album, We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River, October 13^th. The 14-track album was produced by JD Foster (Dwight Yoakam, Calexico) and engineered by Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney) at Crane’s celebrated Jackpot Studios in the band’s hometown of Portland, OR.

A long-time critics’ favorite, the band have been consistently showered with overwhelming praise throughout the years, specifically in the UK. The Independent stated that singer/songwriter Willy Vlautin was “nothing less than the Dylan of the dislocated,” while UNCUT Magazine exclaimed that 2007’s Thirteen Cities was “mind blowing…absolute perfection” and 2004’s Post to Wire was “without a doubt, the best album of the decade.” With We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River, the band is reaching beyond the “Kings of Americana” tag given by the magazine in 2005 and finds the band at their peak both artistically and commercially. Their sound has continued its decade-long evolution and is now fully realized, delivering their most interesting and accomplished musical performances to date. UNCUT recently validated this with a perfect 5 out of 5 star review of the new album, describing it as “raw, autobiographical brilliance,” while Q magazine mirrored the acclaim with a 4 out of 5 star rating.

The birth of We Used To Think… began at the tail end of a year-long tour in 2007 supporting the band’s Thirteen Cities album. Two days before he was scheduled to return home, Vlautin’s mother suddenly passed away, prompting the road-weary band to take a year’s sabbatical. After two months holed up at his home in rural Oregon and deep into an inspired writing streak, Vlautin was bucked off his horse and forced to spend months nursing a badly broken arm. After finally being able to get back to writing, Vlautin emerged a year later with a new novel, Lean on Pete (to be released in 2010 via Harper Perennial) and twenty songs about love, heartache and loss that were paired down for the final record.

In addition to being the songwriter and front man of Richmond Fontaine, Willy Vlautin is a critically-acclaimed novelist. He is the author of The Motel Life (2006) and Northline (2008 – reviewed HERE by Blurt), both published by Harper Perennial in the US and Faber & Faber in the UK. Movie rights to both novels have been optioned with Oscar-nominated screenwriter and award-winning director Courtney Hunt (Frozen River) slated to adapt and direct Northline.

The core of the band remains Willy Vlautin (vocals, guitars), Sean Oldham (drums, vocals), Dave Harding (bass), and Dan Eccles (guitars). For the recording sessions, the band also brought in family members and friends Collin Oldham (cello, cellomobo), Paul Brainard (pedal steel, trumpet), and Ralph Huntley (piano).

PRESS: UNCUT #1 / UNCUT #2 / Metro.UK

URL: http://www.richmondfontaine.com

MP3/Download: Richmond Fontaine – We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River
MP3/Download: Richmond Fontaine – You Can Move Back Here

Kenton Club
August 28, 2009
Richmond Fontaine
w/ Mike Coykendall Band
Time: 9PM

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MusicfestNW ‘09 continues to bring amazing national talent for this year’s festival & John Vanderslice falls into that category. We are lucky to get a stop on his current two month US & European tour supporting his new album: Romanian Names. There is an old proverb in the music business that says you can be judged by the friends you work with. Well, John Vanderslice owns a studio in S.F. & has recorded the following acts in the studio: Death Cab for Cutie, Okkervil River, and Spoon. Vanderslice also has a history of taking support bands on tour that later gain a substantial audience and critical praise, including Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent, Okkervil River, Bishop Allen, and The Tallest Man On Earth. We are excited to have John @ Berbati’s on Saturday, September 19th along with The Brunettes, Avi Buffalo, The Morning Benders & Beach House.

BIO: The most noteworthy thing about John Vanderslice’s new album is this: Romanian Names it’s the best record he’s made to date. The 12 songs represent a career-defining moment, a pitch-perfect collection written and recorded with the utmost care and attention.

Vanderslice is certainly not the first artist to make such a leap several albums into a career – think Guided by Voices on Bee Thousand, Spoon’s Kill the Moonlight or Of Montreal’s Sunlandic Twins. Vanderslice’s newest, his first for Dead Oceans, makes that step and separates itself from an already top-notch body of work.

The process of writing Romanian Names differed from that of prior Vanderslice albums. This time, he moved outside the normal (and by now maybe too comfortable) confines of his famed San Francisco recording studio, Tiny Telephone. He constructed a simple basement studio in his home and wrote and recorded the elemental demos for these songs alone with simply a guitar or piano to accompany his voice. The emphasis was placed on melody and structure, putting thoughts of instrumentation and studio wizardry on hold until there was a complete and stable foundation to build upon. The songs were given time to breathe, to be re-worked and reorganized, and sometimes enough time to be thrown out entirely. Benefiting from this organic and evolutionary process, Romanian Names coheres beautifully.

The album is subtle and lush, with a lyrical approach less concerned with narrative and cohesion than previous JV records, leading to a new tone that feels self-assured, natural, and unafraid. The results come in the way of killer sing-along choruses, memorable and punchy hooks, and knock-out atmospherics.

URL: http://www.johnvanderslice.com

PRESS: Pitchfork / 3 Imaginary Girls / AltSounds

MP3/Download: John Vanderslice – Fetal Horses
MP3/Download: John Vanderslice – Too Much Time

Saturday, September 19th
Berbati’s Pan
10 SW 3rd Ave (MapQuest) 503-248-4579
Wristband or $15.00 at the door.
Pearl Vodka Stage

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDrE0c4RZAw]

The Dead Weather is the next project spawned by the one & only Jack White (White Stripes, The Raconteurs). For this band Jack plays drums and returns to his classic rock roots with band members from The Kills, Queens of the Stone Age & The Raconteurs. Jack has also launched a new record label called Third Man Records that will focus on vinyl releases & is based in Nashville. Of course, we get the Sunday night show (8/23/09) & it’s at the Roseland Theater (yuck!), but it’s JACK WHITE foks. That makes it worth the trip!

BIO: The Dead Weather is on tour to support its debut album, the ominously titled Horehound. It’s a dark, swampy collection of blues-infused rock songs that sound as heavy as you might expect, given the artists behind them. The Dead Weather features White Stripes frontman Jack White on drums, The Kills singer Alison Mosshart on vocals, The Raconteurs‘ Jack Lawrence on bass and Dean Fertita, from Queens of the Stone Age and The Raconteurs, on guitar.

The Dead Weather formed toward the end of a recent tour for The Kills and The Raconteurs. Jack White, who also plays in The Raconteurs, had lost his voice to bronchitis and asked Mosshart to take over on vocals. The two loved the energy they had together — as well as the new sound Mosshart brought to The Raconteurs’ songs — so they decided to record a seven-inch single together. After pulling Fertita in on the project, The Dead Weather spawned a two-week studio session in Nashville, Tenn., and a full-length album.

Horehound is out on Jack White’s Third Man Records label, the same imprint behind The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. The new White-designed space for the vinyl-focused Third Man, just down the way from Nashville’s strip of trademark honky-tonks, will house the label office, a vinyl record store, a photo studio/dark room and a rehearsal/performance space. The new band takes White from the front of the stage back behind the drum kit, while the Kills’ Alison Mosshart mostly handles singing duties. The two are joined by White’s fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence on bass and former touring Raconteur/Queen of the Stone Age Dean Fertita on guitar.

Third Man will release the Dead Weather’s debut LP, Horehound — which White produced — in June. The tracks — a sludgy, bluesy blend of psych-rock guitar, alternately stark and explosive rhythms and Mosshart’s sultry-to-siren vocal — take relatively logical leaps from the members’ other bands, White’s groove-heavy drumming elevating the Dead Weather’s Stripes-esque blues-rock moods and Fertita and Mosshart pulling in atmosphere and disaffected cool, respectively.

URL: http://www.thedeadweather.com

PRESS: Rolling Stone / NPR / PreFix

MP3/Download: The Dead Weather – Hang You From The Heavens
MP3/Download: The Dead Weather – Bone House

Roseland Theater
August 23, 2009
The Dead Weather
w/ Tyvek
Time: 8PM / Tix: $30
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Susan Tedeschi (originally from Boston, Massachusetts) is a blues artist, who has risen to fame with multiple Grammy Award nominations, her powerful singing voice, fearless stage presence, and her marriage to Derek Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band. Susan is coming to the Oregon Zoo this weekend with her own band that is now on tour in suupport of her new album, now out with a new album Back to the River. JJ Grey & Mofro (another Basement favorite) will open the show.

BIO: “I think it’s a pivotal record for me – I like this one a lot,” Susan Tedeschi says of her new Verve Forecast release Back to the River. “I think it’s really emotional, but it’s not really a blues record. The blues is still in there, but there’s a lot of other stuff too. I definitely put a lot into this one and worked really hard to put a lot of ideas across.” Indeed, Back to the River–produced by George Drakoulias, whose resume includes work with The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers–is a mature, soulful work that demonstrates how much singer/guitarist/songwriter Tedeschi has grown in the decade since she burst onto the scene.

Back to the River’s 11 songs encompass a broad musical and emotional palette, and showcase Tedeschi’s multiple talents as a deeply expressive singer, a soulful and melodic guitarist and a distinctive, evolving songwriter. The album is partially the product of Tedeschi’s work with a stellar assortment of songwriting collaborators. She journeyed to Nashville to work with legendary swamp–rock godfather Tony Joe White, with whom she co–wrote the album’s raucous title track (whose homesick lyrics refer to her home on the St John’s River in her adopted hometown of Jacksonville, Florida). She went to Minneapolis to write “Learning the Hard Way” with the insightful Jayhawks leader Gary Louris.

The album’s assertive opening track “Talking About” was written by Tedeschi and stellar guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, who also plays guitar (and sings) on that song and plays guitar on two more Back to the River tracks. She composed the rousing, socially conscious “People” with acclaimed young singer/songwriter Sonya Kitchell, and wrote the anthem “Revolutionize Your Soul” with noted musician/producer John Leventhal (of Rosanne Cash/Shawn Colvin fame). They also collaborated on “700 Houses,” written as a reminder of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina with relevance to all natural disasters. “True” conveys a significant message of universal truths and how each person’s actions have an effect on the harmony of the world. The chord and guitar parts on that song mix a Carlos Santana feel with a Stevie Ray Vaughan rhythmic approach. Another highlight of Back to the River is Tedeschi’s fiery take on the Allen Toussaint–penned New Orleans soul classic “There’s a Break in the Road,” originally recorded in 1969 by Betty Harris.

Tedeschi co–wrote the exotic funk workout “Butterfly” with husband and fellow guitar–slinger Derek Trucks, (of The Allman Brothers Band and his own Derek Trucks Band). Derek–who plays slide guitar on four Back to the River tracks and co–leads the part–time combo Soul Stew Revival with Susan–produced “Butterfly” in the couple’s home studio prior to the commencement of the album’s main recording sessions at L.A. Sunset Sound studios. Trucks also co–wrote the infectious “Love Will” with Tedeschi and renowned lyricist/bassist Tommy Sims (who co–wrote Eric Clapton’s “Change the World,” winner of 1997’s Grammy® for Song of the Year).

URL: http://www.susantedeschi.com

PRESS: NPR #1 / NPR #2

MP3/Download: Susan Tedeschi – Back To The River
MP3/Download: Susan Tedeschi – People
MP3/Download: Susan Tedeschi – Revolutionize Your Soul

Oregon Zoo Amphitheater
August 21, 2009
Susan Tedeschi
with JJ Grey & Mofro
Time: 7PM / Tix: $22.00
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvvlLs8ScIQ]

Here in the Basement, we are really excited that MusicfestNW ‘09 is bringing in some unique national talent from around the country. Hill Country Revue, a modern blues band from Mississippi featuring Cody Dickinson & Chew Chew from North Mississippi Allstars, will play MFNW ‘09 at Dante’s on 9/19/09 @ 9PM w/ Bobby Bare Jr, The Moondoggies & Grand Duchy. Hill Country Revue formed last year during some off-time for Chris & Cody after thier NMAS band-mate (& Cody’s brother – Luther Dickinson) joined the Black Crowes. The result is a unique twist on some Mississippi Delta Blues!

BIO: While the North Mississippi Allstars are on hiatus, drummer Cody Dickinson and bassist Chris Chew are debuting a new five piece this week under the name Hill Country Revue. “Make A Move,” the new group’s first album, is out today (May 12) on Razor & Tie. Seven songs on the album feature lyrics by Garry Burnside, the youngest son of blues legend R.L. Burnside.

“I hadn’t had the opportunity to stretch out and try other things,” Dickinson tells Billboard.com. “I think the most exciting thing is, its such a departure. I’m playing lead guitar now.” Indeed, “Make A Move” is steeped in Southern rock-inspired guitar solos, notably on the band’s titular track “Hill Country Revue,” “Growing Up In Mississippi” and the R.L. Burnside classic “Georgia Women.” Slow and swampy, blues-fused rock also yields itself on songs like “Dirty Shirt” and “Let Me Love You.”

For a band that’s just a year old, things have taken off rather quickly. Dickinson says that an early demo version of album opener “Alice Mae” got to the hands of DJs at Sirius XM’s Jam station, who put it into heavy rotation. The band was contacted by Michael Caplan of Razor & Tie, asking the group to “send music.” “It feels good to have started something in its infant stage and watch it grow,” Dickinson says.

This isn’t the first time Dickinson has teamed up with the youngest Burnside. Dickinson produced Garry’s band, The Burnside Exploration. “They came into our barn one day and recorded 20 originals,” Dickinson recalls. “And they were all good. Garry had these [Hill Country Revue] songs fully prepared: they’re modern blues songs, but they’re really drenched in the authentic blues traditions. And that’s really hard to come by.”

URL: http://www.hillcountryrevue.com/

PRESS: Billboard / Links to Memphis / Offbeat

MP3/Download: Hill Country Revue – Alice Mae
MP3/Download: Hill Country Revue – You Can Make It
MP3/Download: Hill Country Revue – Bo Diddley (live)

Hill Country Revue – “You Can Make It”
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Modest Mouse – King Rat
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