what the #@$% is vortex music magazine?!

Glad you asked because we've got just the person to tell you all about it: Let Music Millennium's Terry Currier bring you and the rest of the city of Portland up to speed on Vortex Music Magazine.

Starting on March 24, Vortex Music Magazine will launch a Kickstarter to raise $10,000 to design, print and distribute more than 10,000 copies of our debut issue, which will feature serious, long-form journalism paired with dynamic photography and useful resources for Portland’s musicians and music community.

In all that we do, it is our mission to make the Portland music scene more successful by making it more accessible. We are Music, Portland-Style.

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Find out more about Vortex Music Magazine and see a mockup of the magazine at vrtxmag.com/support

vortex beta™ is now live!

And has been for approximately two weeks now. VRTXmag.com is the digital companion to our print publication, which will hit the streets of Portland this May!

We are currently continuing to tighten up and refine the site while adding daily content and rolling out new features in preparation for a Kickstarter campaign we will launch on March 24—more on that later.

Much thanks goes to our very own Rickenbacker-slingin' web developer Arthur Parker for nailing Natalie McGuire's stellar design as well as all of the complex functionality that I asked of him. This site was built from the ground up to meet the daily challenges of a constantly changing world of print, digital media and journalism.

Arthur Parker performing with The Nowhere Band on the final night of the White Album Christmas at the Alberta Rose Theatre this past December. Photo by Autumn Andel.

Vortex Music Magazine is not a legacy media institution, and the ideas, organizational structure and strategies we've employed were constructed for the modern digital world rather than retrofitted to meet a changing media environment. We are hopeful that we can build a sustainable business that revitalizes local music journalism and supports content creators, and we aspire to revolutionize the way content is created.

Thank you to the amazing staff, contributors and photographers we've amassed so far and for all the helping hands that have lent support as we get this project off the ground.

We're extremely excited about what's next for Vortex Music Magazine, and until we reveal what this is, enjoy this little clip that Eric Skelton put together using our small library of media assets.


Don't forget to check out the website, vrtxmag.com, and please follow us on our various social media accounts to stay in the loop and subscribe to our newsletter for further updates.

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finding the right path on ages and ages' 'divisionary'

Ages and Ages' Tim Perry and Rob Oberdorfer. Photo by Alicia J. Rose.

"We all have our own vision of what the right path is and which key fits," says Tim Perry sitting in the living room of his NE Portland house.

He's just grabbed a copy of his new record, Divisionary, from the vinyl-filled shelf adjacent to his front door. Flipping it over, he shows me the pile of keys.

"In my mind, it's kind of overwhelming—if you're looking for the right one you might have to search for a while," the Ages and Ages' band leader and songwriter explains. "That said, there's also a lot of different locks in the world and locks represent different doors that open different paths to go down."

This new record is Ages and Ages' second but it's not just simply the next Ages' album—it's a meditated step forward in the band's story. It furthers their individual narrative and experiences as well as the ideologies that Ages' want to share with the world. It also represents the challenges that the group faced to create this record.


Musically, Divisionary once again balances Ages' ability to instill a joyful folk sound amongst underlying complexity. Dividing the sonic space between upbeat singalongs and seriousness, the lyrical half represents the latter. Acknowledging his pop sensibilities, Perry says he writes the songs he does "because they get stuck in my head," but an intimately meaningful message is an integral part of the process.

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Read the rest on Vortex Music Magazine.

vortex music magazine : coming to pdx in 2014

I've been quietly working on a new project set to launch in 2014.

Vortex Music Magazine will be a print and online publication. It's our goal to provide a high-quality magazine and online information source that'll cover the wealth of local talent and the distinctive music community in Portland.

We plan to publish serious, long-form journalism paired with phenomenal photography while offering useful resources for Portland’s musicians and music community with a digital focus on providing quick hits of instantly accessible information.

Until we have more to show you, please follow us on our various social media accounts to stay in the loop and subscribe to our newsletter for further updates.

Follow on Twitter | Like on Facebook | Follow on Instagram

Vortex has a lot planned in 2014, so stay tuned.