fanfarlo just sounds sooo good

Sometimes you forget just how good live music can sound. Crisp horns, whispering strings, and even clanking watering cans.

When about halfway though Fanfarlo's set, you have a "Wow!" moment. And you look around the Doug Fir to the rest of the 20 and 30-somethings tapping along, smiling blissfully. They're thinking exactly the same thing.

On Fanfarlo's first jaunt to PDX, they got their van broken into but that didn't subdue their set. Rather, they took the stage as a trio with a mandolin, guitar and drums to gently strum into the calming darkness.

Then the white Xmas lights were flipped and the band became six, complete with sleek harmonization and a lone horner on "I'm A Pilot." Percussionist Amos Memon delicately generated rolling thunder on the cymbals with his white-tipped mallets while multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas twanged a hand saw along with her performance of lullaby oooh-ooooh vocals and on the violin, guitar, and keys.

With a foot stomping, a cappella opening to "The Walls Are Coming Down," Fanfarlo produced a tight, precise sound that was perfumed by the whiskey drifting from my neighbor's plastic Dixie cup.

Trumpeter Leon Beckenham also picked up the world's smallest, red tambourine while co-lead singer Simon Balthazar snatched as many instruments as he could including a clarinet towards the end of the set.

The London sextet appeared very prim and proper, more like proper-hip, onstage building up to a super-synthy rendition of "Luna" with a calming interlude where Beckenham swapped his horn for a melodica to close the night.

New York's Freelance Whales opened the night with Jónsi-style bowing of the guitar strings and xylophone chimes. Banjos strummed. Electro-inclined synths chirruped. And all five members blended vocals into indubitable, indie pop.

Foggy echoes of drawn out moans and aaaahhs floated around portable harmonium pumps and the bow was employed on something that looked like a cross between a birdcage-hamster wheel-giant whisk, but turned out to be a waterphone. Obviously.

Freelance Whales even beat a tin watering can in a "Do-Re-Mi"-esque jam leaving behind a serene, familial vibe.

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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Fanfarlo
Freelance Whales
Doug Fir Lounge

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praise for pretty lights at the crystal

"Sunday School" started right on time and I wasn't late.But as the beat dropped and the drum kicked, this sabbath day gathering was not about praising a ritual deity but rather about reviving musical lore.

The instantly recognizable drone from Biggie coupled with the raging, harsh lyrics "Fuck Him, I didn't wanna go to Heaven anyways" let everyone know what kind of church we were in.

This Sunday's best included short skirts, sparkly face paint, and fanny packs congregated in the nave of the Crystal Ballroom under impish frescoes and colonnades topped by cackling jokers all to exalt the Pretty Lights.

Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights beamed life back into old vinyl cuts but not just by spinning and sampling. Hunched over the glowing lights on his Monome 128, he organically mixed and meshed delicate sounds with deft accuracy.

Complemented by live drummer Cory Eberhard, the pair resurrected hammered beats while forging new material and playing with osmotic precision as Smith manipulated the electronics and Eberhard the sticks. The duo simultaneously, continuously changed tempos and transformed rhythms fueled by the bouncing crowd.

Backed by a multimedia show teeming with acidic oscilloscope visualizations, blinding strobes, and yes, a rainbow of pretty lights. He took the audience for a zooming joy ride strapped to the fender of the big red PL bus cruising through the city lights of Chicago, NYC or maybe even Denver—showing us the companioning cityscapes to his immense soundscapes.

The west coast was not neglected as the kids grinded to snippets of "Shake, shake it baby" from "California Love" buzzing to afros and disco hustle above.

Stating there'd be no encore, Pretty Lights continued to smash through cut after cut of tantalizing dance anthems with the crowd sweating along and the Crystal's windows clouded by a moist haze like after a steamy shower.

Absorbed in the keypad before him, a Rubik's Cube of color and rectangles blipped behind the band, and a classic Jordan finessed his way along the baseline and onto the screen for a flash on "More Important Than Michael Jordan."The finale of Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker" vs "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. tastily blended the choral lyric "All I wanna do" to the delight of manic mob.

At the close, Smith humbly thanked Portland for coming out and asked the people to buy a t-shirt or hat to support the free music.

Check out all of Pretty Lights' tracks for free on his website.

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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Pretty Lights
Chicharones
DJ Rootz
Crystal Ballroom : 1332 W Burnside Portland, Oregon 97209

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ladyhawke + natalie portman's shaved head lick wonder ballroom sept 29

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton brought his first national music tour to Portland September 29th, and the Wonder Ballroom rolled and reveled in charged synthesizes reverberating from every angle.

Co-headliners Ladyhawke and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head spread their lush decadence with grinding electro-beats that made the kids bounce and wiggle to Perez's delight.

Ladyhawke cooked up Kiwi-rhythms on the stage with her signature "big synths and big guitar riffs" reminiscent of the 80's. Heavy synthesizers provided the strength behind her dance-anthem "Paris Is Burning," and she pleased the Portland crowd with tracks like "Dusk Till Dawn" and "Back of the Van."

After much success Down Under and in the UK, Ladyhawke is sure to make a name for herself in America playing her synth-infused rock with flair and touring in support of her self-titled debut released a year ago.

Crowd claps and chants accompanied the Seattle art school/hipster electronica from Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Nerdy/sexy, so-easy-to-sing-a-long lyrics married with alluring keyboards galore induced ballroom convulsions as NPSH blared odes to facial hair, side ponies and a song for your girlfriend's parents.

The kids were clap-clap-clapping along as the quintet shook maracas, tambourines and pelvises to honeyed drumbeats and electrifying keyboards. Low-fi love spread thickly and quickly across the gymnasium stage for NPSH.

And what would Perez Hilton be without some glamorous gents opening the night? NYC's gender-bending, glam rockers Semi Precious Weapons fueled lusty passions while Perez's favorite boyish, Brit Julian Perretta played a mediocre, pop set.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Perez Hilton Presents :
Ladyhawke
Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
Semi Precious Weapons
Julian Perretta
Wonder Ballroom : 128 NE Russell St, Portland, Oregon 97212

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