My contribution to this week's edition of Get Out!
Here's to a Sunday night of warm, California-hued, unabashed electro-pop. Headliners Kisses look like they live inside an Instagram filter. One look at their Tumblr or the wood-paneled album art of their upcoming sophomore release (Kids in LA due out May 14th on Cascine), reveals a decade-spanning, sun-soaked sensibility for fashionable kitsch. It's an appealing style—full of palm trees and Aloha shirts (including one they designed themselves) as well as something fabulous we'll dub the disco pineapple—and a retro mood which is definitely carried onto the inviting analog keys and danceable drum machines of the new record.
Mixing Latin influences with dreamy pop and Brazilian jazz, the Spanish- and Portuguese-infused "bossa nova dream pop" of Oakland-based Trails and Ways is a pleasant complement to open the night. Set to release their debut EP on June 6th, Trilingual is presumably named for lead singers Emma Oppen and Keith Brower Brown's escapades in Spain and Brazil following studies at UC Berkeley. With these two on the bill, it'll be a summery night that fans of Portland's Pure Bathing Culture can enjoy.
OMN recently started publishing a weekend (and then some) guide to gigs called Get Out!, organized and edited by the adept Spencer Teilmann. Here's my addition to this week's fare:
In the years since his first full-length album, the UK's Gold Panda has continued to bless us with a sprinkling of complex recordings overflowing with cut up ambient samples, all of it meticulously cobbled together with electronic glue. While the EPs, limited edition vinyl releases, and a storied DJ-Kicks comp have been pleasant, the real magic happens when Derwin Panda takes the stage to recreate all of his layers live. Crafting goosebump-worthy grooves, you'll lose yourself in the chilled, earthy beats as he casually puts the musical pieces of his mosaic together in front of your eyes and ears. Almost rivaling the main act's complexity and texture, Ghostly International labelmate Dauwd precedes Derwin with his slightly more conventional sound while PDX DJ Tan't spins before (as well as during and after, I'm sure).
Saturday, March 23, Holocene, 10pm, $12 advance, 21+
Listen to the title cut from Gold Panda's latest release, the 2013 EP entitled Trust, which is the first full EP he's released since before his widely acclaimed 2010 debut—and rejoice in the news that there's supposedly a second full length coming later this year.
When Serious Business announced that their "long-awaited debut album" would be ready for release on December 8th, plenty of party-going Portlanders likely declared: "It's about damn time!"
Since their inception three years ago, it seems like the team of Jason Mampel and Danny Diana-Peebles has consistently been somewhere in the process of creating an album. After several demos, some scrapped attempts, and countless live shows, the rapping duo of electro-hop nerds have been working in earnest on fresh material, which can finally be heard on their debut Kool, for more than a year.
Known their silly, energetic, and erotic performances, Serious Business finally feels they have a recording that represents their talent while exploring their comical, geeky personalities through the magnifying glass of hip-hop. Co-produced by Karl Kling (RAC) in his NE Portland home studio, Kool, which will be a released as a free digital download on Futro Records, is also chock-full of Futro collabs from artists like Winston Lane, Stacy Peltier (Starlight & Magic), and C Bag (Sistafist).
Listen to three of the new album's tracks below plus the demo classic "Hot Damn":
After ample time honing their live style, the rascally sarcastic rappers always look forward to throwing a good party so let Serious Business host a free show at Holocene on Thursday, December 8th with Atole, VTRN, A Gentleman's Picnic, and DJ Winston Lane in honor of Kool.
This record has been quite a while in the works... how long exactly?
We started writing the album in October of 2010.
What took so long?
Prior to this album, we had written and self-recorded over 15 songs. There were several attempts at recording those songs and turning them into a record, but every attempt failed in some way. It became so frustrating that by the time we stumbled into working with Karl Kling, we wanted to do something fresh to represent our growth as a band. We wanted to focus on our songwriting and production, since we had only focused on live material previously. Our process involved a lot of back and forth between Karl and us. We’d record bits and pieces and then assess what we liked and didn’t like. We didn’t want to rush the writing process even though we knew we’d been around for quite a while without a record. We wanted to make something we were really proud of.
You've stated that Kool is "ultimately about achieving self-acceptance and confidence." What's the significance behind the title?
There is a lot of significance behind the title. Kool with a K is our metaphor for creating your own "cool." We play into a lot of hip-hop stereotypes on this album, but we’re boasting about things like wearing bow ties and playing Sonic the Hedgehog instead of having money and fast cars. Everything we brag about is true. We’re proud of our nerd, eccentric personalities. Hip-hop is filled with arrogance and confidence. It’s about being big and boastful. With Kool, we’re saying, “Hey, we’re the most confident nerds you’ll ever meet.”
Cassette tapes championed by local tape labels have helped the industry-obsolete format make a resurgence around Portland over the last several years.
Although the anti-digital, pro-physical format may lack the quality, fidelity and longevity of vinyl or digital incarnations, it retains a portability and an idiosyncratic classicism as the diminutive, teethed spools move tape from reel-to-reel in a ritual manner. Not quite vintage at this date, but retro in some circles, tapes still brim with nostalgia for all those children of the '80s and early '90s when the mixtape was the same format that ignited gangsta rap careers, catapulted DJs from the streets to clubs to MTV, and may have won over Molly Ringwald in your dreams, or even your real life sweetie, with the perfect mix. Plus, these days all that minuscule magnetic tape can come housed in quiet the variety of neon colors.
As of late, it's been a conscious choice for Portlanders to establish record labels that serve as manufacturers and distributors of tape-recorded music, and one of the rising players in the current scene, mostly due to their curation and connections, has been Apes Tapes.
One year old this fall, Apes Tapes will celebrate their first birthday and the release of Mixed Ape 3 (a 16-song compilation tape, also available digitally, that features cuts from the below performers as well as Aan, And And And, Support Force, Youth, Rico All The Time and more) at Holocene on Thursday, November 17th with Onuinu, Adventures! With Might, Vanimal (reunion performance), XDS, and Pegasus Dream. Plus there will be a surprise DJ and three surprise, guerrilla mini-sets from specials guests--one of which we can reveal: DoublePlusGood!
"Continually exploring what it is to be an artist and an artist-run label, walking the fine line between musician and businessperson, maximizing quality and quantity, often with little-to-no money, the label is as much a project as the music itself. It is the epitome of the DIY Portland music scene, and that’s what makes Apes Tapes important."
OMN spoke with Apes Tapes founder Cameron Spies (also of Radiation City) about the label's history and future and caught up with a few of the bands featured on Mixed Ape 3 plus performing at Holocene to answer some questions on their involvement as well. But before that, watch Onuinu's "Ice Palace" directed by Andrew Sloan:
Since OMN last checked in with Starfucker before their biggest hometown gig ever, there has been an album release, an arrest at SXSW, and lots of touring in between. Yet, there has not been a proper Portland release gig for the long-awaited second Starfucker album, Reptilians, which came out in March on Polyvinyl. But rather than simply play one show to celebrate the release, Starfucker will play back-to-back-to-back nights at three PDX venues, completing more than a month on the road–their most expansive tour yet, which covered the entire US plus a recent stop in Vancouver, Canada.
Like any band on tour, Starfucker’s current 30+ show jaunt was not without its own adventures and adversity, and the guys documented it well on their active Facebook, Twitter (where you can play 20 questions), and pet-friendly Tumblr accounts.
There was Ryan Biornstad’s “B.S.” arrest for something akin to “jaywalking” at SXSW, for which the charges were dropped on April 15th, and the subsequent sale of fly, new “FREE RYAN” tees because although “Ryan does not have to go back to jail, he still has to pay a lawyer,” the band Tweeted. “We’re selling special shirts on tour to raise money for him.” All proceeds from the sales of this shirt will go to pay his legal fees, which you can help pay here.
Then, immediately following the SXSW debacle, the tour van broke down and the band arrived in Houston via tow truck. Thanks AAA!
“Fuck, had to by another keyboard. That’s 3 this tour.. Hate Guitar Center, love their return policy though!! #returnitaftertour.”
The hijinks never end when Portland’s most lovable electro-miscreants take to the road; they even managed to fit in the filming of a hooded, cloaked and caped video for ”Julius” somewhere along the way. As of Monday, the band had sold out nineteen gigs, and now they’re well into the twenties as they’ve already sold out all three Portland gigs; although, if you’re lucky, you might be able to snag a ticket at the door as these venues often hold onto a handful. And in case you can’t remember where you’re seeing Starfucker, and on which night, or have no clue who’s opening (unfortunately Unknown Mortal Orchestra has been called off to open for the Smith Westerns instead of opening the Holocene gig), get your important info here:
The above venues will satisfy Starfucker’s desire to play smaller, sweatier gigs, and you can expect a set heavy with crisp Reptilians cuts, an album written... --- Read the rest on OMN.
“People aren’t really good at describing their art,” says Into The Woods producer/director Jordan Kinley.
“Instead of asking musicians directly what inspires their music,” he continues, “we’ll show you what kind of fridge magnets they have or how they pay the bills or what tricks they’d like to show people or what they do when they are out of their comfort zone.”
This is the future of the music video. This is film making by Into The Woods–a team of webisodic video makers that focus on documenting Northwest music as it happens.
Into the Woods seeks to bring you live music, often with a behind-the-scenes vibe, from unexpected locations. Whether it’s inside Burgerville or from the actual living room (or kitchen or elsewhere, see below) of the musicians, the Into The Woods crew has captured more than 130 bands, musicians or artists on film and released more than 75 videos, all streaming for free on their website, in their first year of existence.
Through documentary-inspired recording sessions that hope to “capture the personality and community of Portland [and Northwest] music,” Into The Woods is here to entertain (recording music videos and live performances from home and afar), inform (telling the narratives behind the band, like following artists to their day jobs, or teaching with tutorials led by musicians), and disseminate this content worldwide.
They’ve even started to encourage you (local!) to get off your laptop and go see live music with their weekly Leave Your House PDX Show Guide. And the show they’d most like you to attend is at Holocene on Thursday, January 27th. It marks their first birthday.
One year into the project, Into The Woods has succeeded at “seeing bands on a more personal level” but they’re looking to expand. Up until now, everything–all cameras, recording equipment, computers, lighting, microphones, hard drives, and money–has been scraped together by team members. Along with celebrating their first anniversary, Into The Woods is currently raising money to purchase the items necessary to establish “a fully functional set-up that will allow us to take the operation anywhere, anytime, without limitation”–including a couple of generators, a portable PA and monitors, lighting, and mobile audio equipment and a new mixer.
This fundraising campaign also began with a trip into the woods. When the crew was shooting Hosannas in the Ape Cave at Mt. St. Helens, they were “inspired by the richness of the sounds in the cave” and “realized that we need to have access to this equipment at all times in order to re-create this moment with as many other musicians as possible. We had just come up with a financially sustainable way of accomplishing our original goal of going into the woods, while at the same time improving on that initial concept,” reads the Into The Woods Kickstarter page. “This session confirmed what we had been feeling since we started the site–if we had the gear to shoot anytime, anywhere, going into the woods would result in a much more genuine and intimate communal experience.”
A donation of $5 or more to their Kickstarter fund can get you advance entry to their Holocene party on January 27th, which features live performances by Tu Fawning, Skeletron (featuring members of Starfucker), And And And, Guantanamo Baywatch, and DJ Snakks (Zack from Breakfast Mountain), plus other donations will not go without rewards. You can score vinyl, CD packs, or “an afternoon playing Wall Ball with all 27 members of Typhoon.” Maybe those numbers are suited better for dodge ball?
With just under two weeks remaining on their Kickstarter limit, they are more than halfway to their $4,500 goal.
What are three art school, almost 30-something white boys doing making funky, sexalicious music? Not asking for your permission, Strength is telling you, “Let’s get down” with the release of their second–long, long, long-awaited–album, Mind-Reader. The self-produced, recorded and released album comes out on September 3rd, coinciding with a CD release gig at Holocene with Fake Drugs, DJ Copy, and DJ Patricia Furpurse.
Feeling up MJ and Prince for their goodies, the California-natives but PDX-transplants since ‘03 set out to make a horror-dance album but got distracted along the way by their normal shenanigans of sexy electro-funk-soul. And why shouldn’t they get diverted? …While diverting themselves with their tongue-in-cheekiness. Ridiculous lyrics, indelible riffs and thumping beats make you wanna get up and freak your girl while trying to lay her down.
Looking to make a “darker” sophomore album, Bailey Winters (vox), John Zeigler (keys, programming), and Patrick Morris (guitars, programming) didn’t get distracted with the production, it consumed them–every sound is delicately and deliberately placed. This is why it took them so damn long–four years long–for the release of album #2. But being seriously scrupulous doesn’t mean they can’t have fun, including a vampire track (“Blood” with lyrics “My body’s weak, I’m out of time, I need her blood before sunrise”) and a bit of punk rock, albeit still quite smoothly produced punkiness, on the energetic “Disaster.”
“I thought it would be great to just have a punk song, one of our own,” says lead singer Bailey Winters. “And it goes over pretty well. I think it shakes things up a little bit.”
Less than six months ago, Soft Metals were still in their infancy. The duo, and couple, of DJs Patricia Furpurse and Ian Hixx were making music mostly for themselves.
They were discovering their sound–a mix of electronic industrial and darkwave, Italo disco and ’80s Chicago house; their musical abilities–how to produce and record; and each other, as their romantic relationship evolved as well.
With Ian’s analog synthesizers and Patricia’s spectral vocals, Soft Metals shared some songs on the internet and played a few gigs, until friend and fellow musician, Rafael Fauria of The Miracles Club, posted a demo of “Love or Music” on his blog in late February. Charting their internet orbit, the track was re-posted on Gorilla vs. Bear, 20jazzfunkgreats, and finally the heaviest hitter of them all: Pitchfork.
Feeling the cyber-love, Soft Metals were encouraged knowing that “we had an audience and that people appreciated what we were doing,” says Patricia. “So we knew we should keep working in that direction.”
After the buzz from the blogosphere, labels started knocking or emailing or whatever they do these days. The two weren’t sure if they were quite ready to expose themselves to the world let alone commit anything to record.
But as Patricia says, “When an opportunity like that arises, you have to go with it. You may never have people’s [or labels'] interest again.” Soft Metals decided to go with the Brooklyn-based label Captured Tracks based on a “gut feeling” that it was the right place for them.
Known for their transience in music and mind, body and band, Nurses have been dawdling around Portland, just maybe coming to a halt, calling our city home. With their trippy pop and backwards rock, the trio’s quirky sounds are layered dreams that feel like you’re listening to multiple songs at once. Seeping through the sieve of their textures emerges a rusty but sunny sound that’s dysfunctionally charming and gorgeously psychedelic.
Wanderers at heart, this journey began in Idaho Falls, Idaho as Aaron Chapman met John Bowers over a decade ago.
“Yeah, we met in the 19 hundred 99’s,” says Aaron. “We had some mutual friends who played music, and we all got together one day to play music in a basement, and we accidentally kept playing music ever since. We probably played a song before we had a conversation.”
Since then they have been through “two major” incarnations, says John. Originally a quartet, the boys moved from Idaho to SoCal where they self-recorded and released their debut, Hangin’ Nothin’ But Our Hands Down, in 2007.
Come 2007 John and Aaron moved to Portland after stints in Chicago and four or five months living in their van. “We moved to Portland on a whim and everything just made sense,” says Aaron. “We didn’t even know Portland had such a great music and art community, we just thought it sounded like a fun idea. Personally and musically it’s been great for us.”
They soon met James Mitchell, and “James joined the band basically right as we moved to Portland. He let us sleep on his couches for weeks because we didn’t have a place,” says John. “When we were offered a show, we asked James if he knew anyone who played drums, and he said something like, “Did you guys know I play drums?”
Joining Dead Oceans, the three-piece released their sophomore album, Apple’s Acre, in May of 2009. Always busy with something, the boys have been surprisingly inactive (or off the radar) all summer, but they’ll play their only Portland gig this Thursday, August 26th at Holocene with “oily” friends Dragging an Ox Though Water and Operative before stomping around Western Europe in September.
“We’re touring quite a bit now which satisfies the wanderlust,” says Aaron, “and Portland is a great place to come home to.”
The trio of Alberta Poon, Mike McKinnon, and Daniel Grazzini have been making music for a decade. The first seven years were devoted to the evolution of the post-punk, indie rock band Wet Confetti. In 2007, the name changed. Now three years later, the latest transcendental incarnation, Reporter, is finally set to release their second LP, after 2008’s Dust & Stars, under their current moniker.
If you’ve been around Portland’s house parties, warehouses or Holocene during the last years, then much of the suave, synth-ed out, space electro will be familiar. Only the DIY-rockers have finally laid it down permanently in their own studio and labeled it Time Incredible (out on August 10th on CD and double-vinyl via Holocene Music).
“I was stoked on the idea from the get-go, but I’ve seen so many big group split-record projects just sputter out and never go anywhere,” says Devin Gallagher, the founder of Portland label High Scores and Records and the producer of PDXTC.
PDXTC is a six-way, 12-inch vinyl split featuring throbbing dance music from Portland’s diverse dance scene, which culminates in an all-ages record release dance party at Holocene on Thursday, May 27th. Only missing Jeffrey Jerusalem, five of the six PDXTC artists will be performing starting at 8 PM including Atole, Wampire, Guidance Counselor, May Ling, and Breakfast Mountain.
“This is the best comp of Portland dance music I’ve heard and does a good job of showing the diversity within a scene that outsiders might think is easy to peg,” continues Gallagher.
From Breakfast Mountain’s bombastic helter skelter to May Ling’s dank disco drama and Atole’s atomic punk bounce, the scene is definitely dance: Sometimes sampled, often synthed out, but always pushing forward with experimental electronics and employing an arsenal of instruments, it’s occasionally artsy yet intrinsically dance-y. Guidance Counselor is your medicine for writhing, carnal freakouts while Jeffrey Jerusalem’s electro-disco-boogie will make your booty bop and Wampire’s pop is incomplete without an unselfish clothes shedding routine.
There’s only one thing about these cohorts that is easy to peg: Getting dance floors sweaty is priority number one.
Two DJs met at a gig. One a vinyl addict and the other an analog enthusiast, both wanted to make music more than just spin it but neither had yet found the right person to make music with.
In April 2009, the two DJs started to “mess around” (in the musical sense) for fun, jamming together on vintage synths, tapping on drum machines, and fiddling with analog gear. Soon they realized the other was musical counterpart they had been searching for… and maybe something more.
Tobacco warned Portland, “I wouldn’t recommend being on any psychedelic drugs for some of the visuals” before he brought his grit-hop to Holocene on Monday night. Immediately logging onto Chatroulette and pointing the camera into the crowd, Tobacco (the mastermind behind Black Moth Super Rainbow) and friends kicked into a wildly crunchy, chunky, electro-hip-hop set. But most eyes were transfixed on the projections abrasively staining the wall behind the three-piece. Some internet fans rocked out, others queried “WFT?!” and spun again while the loudest cheers of the night were for Chatroulette masturbator #1… there were at least two more.
Chatroulette was an added bonus, the real optic stimulation came from Tobacco’s prepared footage. Easing Portland into his twisted, sensory set, 8-bit visual psychedelia floated alongside 8-bit analog synths and samples as sailing Magic Eye sailboats coasted through willows and neon geometric patterns. A cult film aficionado, Tobacco took his name from Redneck Zombies and has a soft spot for ’80s awkwardness. His rhinestone encrusted beats chomped along with clips of early ’80s Fat Boys music videos, but entertaining hilarity quickly turned downright disturbing as head after head after head crashed through glass table tops.
The creative force behind Black Moth Super Rainbow may be moving on. After churning out a BMSR album according to a “formula” in 2009, Tobacco was not satisfied with the product simply declaring, “Eating Us is probably not my best work.”
Everything that didn’t fit that formula, “and there was a lot that didn’t fit into that formula,” Tobacco put aside but let it live its own life, just for fun. Not intending to make a record, songs developed organically in the dark, grinding grit that is Tobacco’s signature fuzzed out, mucky crunch.
BIG hip-hop beats, sinisterly microwaved to meticulous perfection, this collection of BMSR rejects accidentally became Maniac Meat, the second “solo” album, well, his second under the name Tobacco–the antithesis to Eating Us. In the recesses of Tobacco’s core, his essence for pop remains–a sensibility that is damnably tantalizing to all ears it pricks. “Party music” is a deceiving term, but Tobacco’s new cuts are decidedly bright and walk with a swagger.
And who else to strut around the indie kingdom with but Beck? By fate or circumstance, he is the only guest on Maniac Meat...
Portland came to worship in the church of YACHT under the banner of YACHT ideologies–whatever the significance of the existential, artistic or philosophical messages that YACHT espouses through their mission statements and ecclesiastical manifestos, these kids can be boiled down to one innate concept: They just wanna make you dance.
And dance along with you.
As Jona Bechtolt declared, Wednesday’s concert was less like a tour kickoff and more like a goodbye show, as the band prepares to march across the states and Canada over the next month and a half. But it was also a welcoming party for YACHT’s first-ever backing band, The Straight Gaze, featuring friends and performers Bobby Birdman and Jeffery Jerusalem.
Matt Harmon and Kali Giaritta are original Junkies. These two Junkies are connected at the hip. They do everything together and now they’re engaged.
But as the two Junkies have grown closer together, they’ve also allowed others to sneak into The Ascetic Junkies–a band that started as two in Boston but has organically swelled to five in Portland.
Matt and Kali arrived in Portland two years ago with an indie-folk album written and recorded in Kali’s bedroom. Two thousand eight’s One Shoe Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was “almost entirely Kali and I,” says Matt, adding that they often had to coax friends to fill in the instrumental gaps on stage as there was no fixed line up for the East Coast Junkies.
How can this town possibly afford to give away anymore free music?
On Wednesday, January 27th, Holocene introduces their first edition of Carpet Culture where you can "get warm n fuzzy in the front lounge room with some of Portland's greatest up-and-coming musical talents."
This week features electro-rock with Wampire, dark soundscapes from Tunnels, and some cozy and curly ambient like the fur of Golden Retriever Moody. Plus Wampire shows up again on the big screen in the premiere episode of Into the Woods, a new web series where Portland bands march out to a cabin in the wilderness of Mt. Hood to perform an intimate concert with their besties.
Check the trailer out here but show your face at Holocene at 8:30 PM for the real deal, for free!!! 21+
Last night Pyramiddd (formerly Starfucker) tweeted that they will host a benefit for Haiti with Deelay Ceelay, Gulls, and DJ New Moon Poncho at Holocene this Sunday, January 24th.
Haiti's national national motto is: "L'union fait la force" or "with unity comes strength." In honor of this mindset, PDX's best electro-dance acts will donate all of the show proceeds to Mercy Corps for relief efforts in Haiti. Support Haiti by supporting local music. $10, 8 PM, 21+.
