Posts from — March 2011

Following the unanticipated success of the The Baseball Project’s first album Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails — the band performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, was featured in the official World Series Program and Sports Illustrated among others — baseball’s sardonic rock chroniclers are back with Volume 2: High and Inside, an even more detailed look at the stories behind the stories of America’s Favorite Pastime.

Their second season finds band members Steve Wynn (The Miracle 3, The Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.), Linda Pitmon (The Miracle 3, Golden Smog) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) drilling down even deeper into the Byzantine, lore-laden annals of baseball history. Volume 2 also includes guests spots by Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, as well as Chris Funk and John Moen of The Decemberists, dispelling any fears of a sophomore slump.

You can order the new record from Yep Roc Now!

Fresh off a Spring Training jaunt through the Cactus League towns of Arizona, the band will step to the plate back in Portland at Bunk Bar on April 9th. Play Ball!

The Portland summer concert season schedule continues to heat up with today’s announcement of Eddie Vedder bringing his solo show to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Thursday July 14th.

Vedder’s solo album, Ukulele Songs, will be released on Tuesday, May 31st through Pearl Jam’s Monkeywrench Records. Ukulele Songs is a collection of original songs and covers performed by Vedder on ukulele. The first single from the album, “Longing to Belong,” is available now digitally.

Also released on May 31st is Water on the Road, a live-concert DVD directed by Brendan Canty of Fugazi and Christoph Green featuring performances from Vedder’s August 16th and 17th 2008 solo tour engagements at Washington, D.C.’s Warner Theatre. The DVD features a live performance of “You’re True” from Ukulele Songs as well as a mix of Pearl Jam catalog, covers and songs from Vedder’s critically acclaimed, award-winning solo record, Into The Wild.

Info: Eddie Vedder with Glen Hansard
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Tickets on Sale April 1st

MARCH

3/23 : What Hearts, Ah Holly Fam’ly, The Clampitt Familty Band

3/25 : Toro Y Moi, Braids, Cloud Nothings

3/26 : Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers

3/27 : The Parlotones, Imagine Dragons

3/28 : Liam Finn, The Luyas

3/29 : Ha Ha Tonka, Hoots & Helmouth, Kasey Anderson

3/30 : Sharon Van Etten, Little Scream, Sonny Pete (of Birdmonster)

3/31 : O’Death, Helado Negro, Lee Corey Oswald

APRIL

4/2 : Weinland, Quiet Life, Ravenna Woods, mbilly

4/3 : British Sea Power, A Classic Education

4/4 : Ron Sexsmith, Caitlin Rose

4/5 : The Dodos, Reading Rainbow

4/6 :Jordan Harris Band, Hema, The Pretty Deep

4/7 : Ravishers, Derby, Red Jacket Mine

4/8 : Typhoon, And And And, Brainstorm

4/9 : Rural Alberta Advantage, Lord Huron, Aan

4/10 : Klaxons, Creep

4/11 : The Submarines, Nik Freitas, Oh Darling

4/12 : Gord Downie, Julie Doiron

4/13 : Ellie Goulding, The Knocks

4/14 : Richmond Fontaine, The Low Bones, Chris Marshall

4/15 : Monarques, World’s Greatest Ghosts, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Light For Fire

4/16 : Swamp Surfer, Chris Margolin & The Dregs (CD release), Stone The Murder

4/18 : John Vanderslice, Ivan & Alyosha

4/20 : Garage A Trois

4/21 : The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Twin Shadow, Catwalk, DJ Izm

4/22 : The Cave Singers, The Young Evils

4/23 : The Ascetic Junkies, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Cars & Trains, Leigh Marble

4/24 : Lost in the Trees, Sean Rowe

4/25 :Mike Watt & The Missingmen, Charming Birds

4/26 : The Gourds, Pat Sweany

4/27 : Fake Problems, Pomegranates, Laura Stevenson & the Cans, Now Now Every Children

4/28 : tUnE-yArDs, Buke and Gass

4/29 : Starfucker, Blouse

4/20 : The Pipettes

For more Doug Fir show info: http://www.dougfirlounge.com/

All in-store performances are at Music Millennium 32nd & E Burnside, 503-231-8926

REVOLVER
Monday, 3/7 – 6 PM
Revolver are three early twenty-something Parisians. Frenchmen with an abiding love and understanding of some of classical music’s greatest-ever Englishmen. They are classically trained too, but also a French band who sings in English, and named after a Beatles album. They’ve earned a reputation for creating beguiling, beautiful, hypnotic slices of chamber-pop.

COMMUNITY DAY/SONGWRITERS CIRCLE - JOHN BUNZOW, STEVE HEFTER, JACK MCMAHON
Monday, 3/7 – 7 PM
Free refreshments, special one-day deals, and live music!

Only Portland performance!
THE DEARS / EULOGIES
Tuesday, 3/8 – 6 PM
Born in 1995, The Dears is the lifework of Murray A. Lightburn. Son of a jazzman-turned-preacher, Lightburn’s attunement to songwriting was shaped equally by nineties rock and a broad tableau of gospel, soul, and pop music. The NME hailed The Dears as “Probably the best new band in the world.” Degeneration Street, the fifth album from The Dears, delivers the passion and soul that has earned the band the adoration of fans and critics worldwide.

As a solo artist, singer/songwriter Peter Walker mixed mellow pop songs with alt-country flourishes. The L.A.-based musician issued two solo albums, 2004′s Landed and 2006′s Young Gravity, before enlisting the help of bassist Tim Hutton and drummer Chris Reynolds in order to play the material live, and Eulogies (now a quartet) were launched in 2007 as a more collaborative project.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
Thursday, 3/10 – 4 PM
We knew they were pin-your-ears-back rock and roll. But now, the Truckers are country and soul and rhythm and blues. Each of the three vocalists–Cooley, Patterson, Shonna–is distinct; each aches in its own way with sometimes gravelly and other-times smooth sweet wistful broken-glass hurt and yearning and reluctant. Patterson’s songs, of course are almost always willing, in the great Southern tradition, to take on the Man–or anyone else–as are Cooley’s, when the cause is big and just.

LEVATOR
Saturday, 3/12 – 5 PM
Levator was founded by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sky Lynn, and includes Rando Skrasek on drums, synthesizer and effects and Nate Henry on sax, synthesizer and effects. They’ve drawn comparisons to PJ Harvey, Mazzy Starr and Sonic Youth, and during a recent tour were christened as “dream-core.” About their latest release, the Stranger says, “The music on the record is beautifully detailed, veering from dreamy girl pop to heavier, more grown-up rock tones, all marked by distinguished musicianship.”

DOUG MACLEOD
Monday, 3/14 – 6 PM
True blues. These two words define in style and commitment the acoustic music composed and played by Doug MacLeod, a singer-songwriter in the American tradition. MacLeod has been a beacon of unquestionably honest roots-music since the 1970s. Proof enough: 16 albums, a couple of DVDs, and thousands of gigs stateside and overseas. And in December, the announcement by the Blues Foundation of his nomination for the 2011 Blues Music Award as Acoustic Artist of the Year.

MUSIC MILLENNIUM’S 42nd ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
featuring RON ROGERS AND THE WAILING WIND / RICH LAYTON AND THE TROUBLEMAKERS
Tuesday, 3/15 – cake at 5:30, in-store performances at 6 PM
Music Millennium opened on the Ides of March in 1969 at 3PM with the Beatles’ “All Too Much” blaring out of the stereo system. It’s 42 years later and Music Millennium is the oldest record store in existence in the Pacific Northwest! Come celebrate with us on March 15, 2011 at 5:30 PM, when we will once again play the Beatles’ “All Too Much”, followed by cake and beverages. Live performances by Ron Rogers And The Wailing Wind and Rich Layton And The Troublemakers will begin at 6 PM.
Texas-bred singer-songwriter-guitarist Ron Rogers knows how to tell a story. The 11 Rogers-penned songs on Country & Eastern, the new release featuring his band, the Wailing Wind, are testaments to the hard life, injustice, the dark side, and tough living, set to a raw and edgy roots/Americana soundtrack.
In 2003, Rich Layton felt the tug of his Gulf Coast roots and set out to deliver the sound of an East Texas roadhouse, harmonica-fueled and swampified. Rich Layton & The Troublemakers serve up original roots rock, blues, honky-tonk and more to a growing local and regional audience.

COME GATHER ROUND US
Thursday, 3/17 – 6 PM
Come Gather Round Us is raw creation rather than polish, content over style. With threads of raw, sensual and politically charged songwriting throughout, and helmed by two of the best unsung singer-songwriters of their generation, their latest album, Despair?, stands to be one of the strongest collection of original folk pop songs released in 2011.

GARY OGAN
Saturday, 3/19 – 5 PM
As a veteran of 40 years in the music business, Gary Ogan toured, played, and wrote with the venerable Leon Russell, accompanied, sang, and had his songs covered by various luminaries, and released a few albums under deals with both Elektra and Warner Brothers. Brian Ahern says Ogan’s arrangements “are distinctive and passionate, and he plays every instrument on the record which reminds me of the solo records of Stevie Wonder or Paul McCartney.” Ogan channels a bit of Donald Fagan on his latest release, with tracks that range from slick, blue-eyed soul and sultry funk to gospel-flavored ballads and irresistible pop rock.

Vanguard Records is excited to announce the signing of Experimental Psych-Rockers, Viva Voce – also known as – Kevin and Anita Robinson – and the release of their label debut, “The Future Will Destroy You” on June 21st.

All songs on this new recording were written, produced and mixed by the Portland, OR duo in their home studio. “Viva Voce will continue to record, produce albums and tour until a force majeure keeps us from doing so. It is our great joy to now finally be on a label that has a history and lineage to match. We’re lifers and it feels good to finally be at home,” states Kevin Robinson.

Known for their hazy atmospherics and soaring guitars, the 10 tracks on “The Future Will Destroy You”, represent some of Viva Voce’s strongest songwriting and musicianship to date. Click here for a free download of “Analog Woodlands Song” off of The Future Will Destroy You: http://vanguardrecords.com/downloads/Viva+Voce

Viva Voce will kick off their tour on March 4th in their hometown of Portland, OR before heading to Austin, TX for this year’s SXSW Music Festival. SXSW details listed below with additional tour dates. All tour dates here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viva-Voce/123213194374321?sk=events

“The Future Will Destroy You” marks Viva Voce’s fifth recording overall. Kevin and Anita Robinson previously worked with Vanguard when they formed ‘Blue Giant’ with Chris Funk (The Decemberists), Evan Railton (Swords) and Seth Lorinczi (Corin Tucker Band) in 2010.

*SXSW Performances*
Thursday, March 17th – Jovita’s (KDHX/Twangfest Party) @ TBA
Friday, March 18th – The Belmont (Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records SXSW Party) @ 2:00 PM
Friday, March 18th – The Lucky Lounge (TapeOp Party) @ 5:00 PM
Friday, March 18th – Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room (Nicodemus Agency SXSW Official Showcase) @ 1:00 AM

*March Tour Dates*
3/4/2011 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
3/5/2011 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
3/7/2011 Bend, OR – Tower Theatre
3/9/2011 San Francisco, CA -Bottom of the Hill
3/10/2011 San Diego, CA – The Loft
3/12/2011 Norman, OK – Opolis
3/13/2011 Denton, TX – Dan’s Silverleaf
3/14/2011 Little Rock, AR -Whitewater Tavern
3/16/2011 Houston, TX – The Mink Backroom
3/21/2011 Phoenix, AZ – Sail Inn
3/22/2011 Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite
3/23/2011 Santa Cruz, CA – Crepe Place

Midway through February and it’s already been a big year for The Decemberists. Their latest, The King Is Dead, debuted rather stunningly at number one on the Billboard 200 chart; they’ve also played Leno, contributed to Yo Gabba Gabba, covered “Cuyahoga” on Morning Becomes Eclectic, watched their frontmanmoonlight in the fictional Echo Echo, braved wretched winter travels during their soon to wrap Popes of Pendarvia tour, announced a second leg of the same tour for this spring, and confirmed a spate of festival dates (including New Orleans’ JazzFest, Sasquatch!, Bonnaroo and Telluride Bluegrass, in that order). Whew. Last but not least, they return home for a sold out show this weekend at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

In case you missed it, somewhere in all of that the band also managed to stop by our studios, playing the new album in its entirety in front of a lucky couple of hundred or so (not to mention a few thousand others watching online). We talked to the band about the decidedly rootsy new direction of the music and collaborating with the likes of Peter Buck and Gillian Welch, while the audience queried them about weather and libations. The performance also saw the band debut of former Nickel Creek singer/fiddler Sara Watkins, who’s been joining them on their current tour.

Audio engineer: Steven Kray, with assistance from Jon Edmonds and Bill Ward

Video editing/post-production: Ethan Derner

Photos: Inger Klekacz– see the full photo set here