Posts from — September 2010

We are lucky enough for a rare west coast performance of the UK band The Futureheads this week at the Doug Fir. The band name comes from the title of The Flaming Lips album, Hit to Death in the Future Head. The band is influenced by New Wave and post-punk bands such as Devo, XTC, Wire, and the Post-hardcore Fugazi.Come down & check them ou!

Pitchfork.com: Harmonizing UK postpunkers the Futureheads don’t hit American shores too often, and they haven’t played the Western half of the U.S. in four years. But for West Coasters, all those years of Futureheadlessness will come to an end next month, when the band launches a quick trek that’ll take them as far east as Texas (not counting a quick pre-tour one-off in Boston).

MP3/Downloand: The Futureheads – Work Is Never Done
MP3/Downloand: The Futureheads – Struck Dumb

Thursday September 30
The Futureheads
Doors at 8pm, Show at 9pm / Tix: $12 advance, $14 day of show

James McMurtry is a Austin, TX legend that holds down the (now-famous) weekly gig at the Continental Club & was born to the world-class novelist Larry (Lonesome Dove). Since 1989 he has been making music and has recently started to get commercial sucess (outside of Texas) with his last 2 releases Childish Things & Just Us Kids. James and his rythmn section, the Heartless Bastards are currently touring behind a live release that included Ian McLagan (Faces) and we are excited to have him come to the Doug Fir this week!

Gibson.com: Watching James McMurtry on stage is a welcome reminder that music can still be about more than radio play, status, fame and career-building. McMurtry flies in the face of most rock and roll conventions. He refuses to cash in on his father’s (acclaimed western novelist Larry McMurtry) good name and refuses to play the radio game and hurls political barbs like a world-weary sage whenever an interviewer talks to him about more than his latest single. In short, he’s a throwback to the civil rights-inspired folkies of the ’60s, the punk, mind-your-own-affair ethos of the ’70s and the great Texas singer-songwriters of the past 40 years – Steve Earle, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt among them.

McMurtry stated out back in ’89 with a debut album produced by John Mellencamp. He toured and recorded consistently before really finding international acceptance in 2005 with the terrific Childish Things album, which spent six weeks on top of the Americana radio chart and also won him the Americana Award for album of the year. Accepted by his peers and treasured by critics, McMurtry has been able to build a solid international following. Slowly but surely, with regular visits overseas, he was in a position in 2009 to record a live album in Germany and capture the on-stage magic that surpasses even his own magnificent studio creations.

In the winter of 2009, McMurtry and his band of Heartless Bastards headed to Europe with a legend playing keyboards – Faces icon Ian McLagan – now living in Austin, Texas, and who played on McMurtry’s latest studio album, Just Us Kids. Not only does McLagan play better honky tonk rock and roll than he has for years, but McMurtry’s guitar playing is something to witness. He’s an accomplished player who keeps it simple but is happy to unleash a telling riff or two when the song demands it.

Doug Fir Lounge
Tuesday September 28
James McMurtry
w/ Jonny Burke
Doors at 8pm, Show at 9pm / $17 advance, $19 day of show

Wild Flag is the new band featuring singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney, as well as Mary Timony of Helium and The Minders‘ Rebecca Cole.

The band is recording their debut album due out next year on Merge Records, and have a few west coast dates lined up. Check them out below and go to their Facebook page for more info.

Here is some more press on Wild Fang:

Back in March, Sleater-Kinney co-frontwoman Carrie Brownstein somewhat cryptically revealed that she and S-K/Quasi drummer Janet Weiss started a new quartet. “[W]e have seven songs,” she offered, “and there are four of us, and we’re based in Portland — but not all of our members live there.” Well, the secret’s out: Pitchfork reports that Brownstein and Weiss have teamed up with the Minders’ Rebecca Cole and former Helium singer-guitarist Mary Timony to form Wild Flag. In addition to working on a debut LP while posting updates on their new Twitter and Facebook accounts, Wild Flag will preview material on an 8-date West Coast trek in November. As for their sound, you could probably make some guesses based on a number of related projects (a cut from Brownstein and Timony’s EP as the Spells is below), but Wild Flag aren’t offering any concrete details just yet. Per their FB: “Apt adjectives for describing the band’s music: wild. Also: flaggy.”

guardian.co.uk: “Six months after hinting at a new project, two members of Sleater-Kinney have revealed their new band – and it’s got terrific indie cred. Drummer Janet Weiss and singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein have announced the formation of Wild Flag, reuniting not just with each other but with late-90s heroines Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole.

According to their Facebook page, Wild Flag is “the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin”. Or, if you prefer, “[what] you do when you cross a hamburger with a hot dog”. Although they’re recording their debut in early 2011, they’ve already announced a string of live dates in western US. And we are counting the minutes until they are booked for an upcoming All Tomorrow’s Parties festival.

Let’s have a look at those indie-rock CVs. Brownstein and Weiss co-founded Sleater-Kinney, who have been on indefinite hiatus since 2006. Brownstein is now a journalist; Weiss plays with Quasi and Stephen Malkmus. Timony made her splash as the frontwoman of Helium, who with their steely weirdness epitomised one facet of the late-90s American underground. She has released four solo albums. Cole, meanwhile, played drums in the Minders, jangling loudly in Denver and beyond. Wild Flag’s members have collaborated in acts like the Spells and the Shadow Mortons and, they explained, “if someone drew a visual representation illustrating the ways in which all indie bands are interconnected … [we] would be in the same, tiny sphere”.”

Wild Flag – November 2010 Tour Dates

11-10 Olympia, WA – The Northern
11-12 Seattle, WA – High Dive
11-13 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
11-17 Sacramento, CA – The Hub
11-18 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
11-19 Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland
11-20 San Diego, CA – Casbah
11-21 Pomona, CA – Alladin’s

Here are some good interviews from around the incredibly successful and utterly amazing 2010 MFNW:

MFNW 2010 Irrelevant Interviews from Bobby McHugh on Vimeo.

It looks like PDX will get 2 stops on the Will Johnson/Anders Parker House Show Tour. This is a cool opportunity to see these artists in an extremely intimate setting. This concept has been working around the country & here in the Basement we are excited to have them come out to the west coast. Here is the official scoop…

Will Johnson (Centro-Matic) and Anders Parker will continue their House Show Tour on the west coast this week! These will be a totally acoustic (no sound system) shows hosted by fans in their homes. Limited to only 30-40 tickets per show. Please help us spread the news about these shows if you have friends that live in any of these towns.

Thursday, Sept 16 : Seattle WA
Friday, Sept 17 : Seattle WA
Saturday, Sept 18 : Portland OR
Tuesday, Sept 21 : Oakland, CA – SOLD OUT
Wednesday, Sept 22 : San Francisco CA – SOLD OUT
Thursday, Sept 23 : Los Angeles CA
Friday, Sept 24 : Los Angeles CA
Saturday, Sept 25 : Guerneville, CA
Sunday, Sept 26 : Reno NV
Tuesday, Sept 28 : Corvallis OR
Wednesday, Sept 29 : Portland OR

BUY TICKETS

As always, thanks for your continued support. We really appreciate it.

What a great 2010 for MusicfestNW! Especially the folks down at Pioneer Square for turning downtown in a real-deal concert venue! Read below for press clips & cool quotes & we hope to see you next year.

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2010/09/musicfest_nw_review_the_decemb.html

It was the kind of photo opportunity that Chamber of Commerce types go nuts for: a balmy September evening with one of the nation’s hippest bands playing to a hometown crowd of a few thousand well-scrubbed members of the creative class, with dozens of adorable children running amok in the tolerant atmosphere of the audience.

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2010/09/musicfest_nw_review_the_nation.html#modg_smoref_face

The Sunday evening show embodied the indie rock spirit of the successful festival while showcasing f ormer indie bands gone big. From the buzz leaving Pioneer Courthouse Square that evening, it was obvious the organizers got it right.

http://www.melophobe.com/concert-reviews/mfnw-2010-the-national-the-walkmen-the-helio-sequence-talkdemonic-portland/

Portland’s opportunity to see the National came at the tail end of MFNW, outside in the brick-laden arms of Pioneer Square. Those who came to see them guessed correctly, because the time is now.

http://www.spinner.com/2010/09/13/the-national-live-musicfest-nw/

http://www.spinner.com/2010/09/13/the-walkmen-live-musicfest-nw/

Richmond Fontaine are some of PDX’s favorite sons and have been making sweet music since 1994. Currently touring behind We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River the band is taking a break from rocking European clubs and Willy’s book readings to play a show for MusicfestNW. And what a great show @ Berbati’s it was with Black Prairie playing a great set and then Richmond Fontaine rocking it with the one & only Paul Brainard on pedal-steel for the entire show. Let’s hope they come back soon!

MP3/Download: Richmond Fontaine – The Warehouse Life
MP3/Download: Richmond Fontaine – From A Buick 6