|
Add It Up: On the scale of horrors, most musicians consider being pigeonholed only slightly preferable to having their equipment stolen. Though the three bands that played EJ's last Wednesday probably wouldn't use the term "math rock" themselves, each performed this type of rigidly mechanical music. As the label implies, songs are built around empirical, rhythmic patterns rather than rolling melodies, and they're marked by jarring chord and tempo shifts. The New Orleans band Burnversion, playing in the middle slot of a bill that featured a neatly mathematical trio of trios, emphasized beats as if they were being counted off on a noisy abacus and exhibited a formality equatable with traditional Middle Eastern music. Yet the songs on its noteworthy album One Lazy Revolution (on the Portland label Pop Secret) are palatable and accessible, owing to prodigious guitar work and impassioned vocals. The band's live set soared as a result. Burnversion whipped up chaotic squalls in "Kinison," a tribute to the fallen comedian known for his outbursts, and entranced with downtempo passages that marched into menacingly noisy segments in "Escape Velocity." The opening band, a promising Portland newcomer called Insect, similarly worked a wide span of sonic territory, though the trio often settled into serrated rock grooves. Closing out the night, another local act, Regraped, ground out tautly structured songs with two basses and drums. This strong showing from all three bands illustrated math rock's potential as an alternative music style that, while austere on the surface, can enrapture listeners with repetitive rhythms and stark juxtapositions. Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Rumors: Rock critic Kathleen Wilson left WW 21?2 years ago to take the music editor position at The Stranger, but it appears she'll soon lose her post. The Seattle weekly's editor, Emily White, confirms that management is maneuvering to replace Wilson with English rock scribe Everett True. He's perhaps best known for hyping the Seattle grunge scene in the late '80s and early '90s (and getting namechecked for doing so in the 1996 film Hype!). Coincidentally, Stranger columnist Clark Humphrey reported in his book Loser that Sub Pop paid Melody Maker to fly True to Seattle to report on the label's bands in 1989. Humphrey also wrote that True claimed to coin the term "grunge" and called his (apparently) future home a "small, insignificant West Coast American city" with "the most vibrant, kicking music scene encompassed in one city for at least 10 years." White says that The Stranger and True are working out the details, but that the transition could come soon; Wilson will hold onto a staff writer position, White adds.... After moving to New York, New York, a year ago--and quickly living up to the adage about making it there--Academy Award nominee Elliott Smith is reportedly returning to Portland. The once and future Rose City resident's fourth solo album and first for Dreamworks, XO, is slated to hit the shelves in August.... When Tony Lash bowed out of Heatmiser prior to the band's final tour two years back, Maroons frontman John Moen stepped in to play drums. Now, with Lash's producing duties taking him away from Sunset Valley, Moen is playing back-up again, touring with the increasingly popular quintet in support of its recent debut, The New Speed. Meanwhile, Sunset Valley vocalist-guitarist Herman Jolly has recorded a solo album. He previewed some of its songs at a well-received EJ's gig two weeks ago. The Surreal World: MTV's latest installment of The Real World began airing June 16. It follows the manufactured capers of seven 20-something wannabe scenesters as they cavort around Seattle (it continues every Tuesday at 10 pm until our enraged, embarrassed neighbors to the north grow disgusted and sabotage MTV's transmitters). Now the cable station is turning its cameras on Portland--sort of. An MTV representative recently phoned Berbati's Pan, EJ's and Satyricon to obtain permission to shoot photos of (read: exploit) local club attendees for possible inclusion in the program guide to the MTV Music Awards later this summer. The photographers are scheduled to be on hand at the clubs this weekend. Surreal World, Take 2: The oddest show this weekend takes place at Zoot Suite on Saturday night, when local promotions company Sho Shot Productions hosts the Player's Ball. The 21-and-over event features out-of-town DJs E-Rok and B-Mello, Portland's DJ Chill and, inexplicably, more than 40 NFL players such as the Seattle Seahawks' Tyree Davis and the New Orleans Saints' Pio Sagapolutele. As the noted philosopher Budweiser once said, "Why ask why?" Spins of the Week:
Bernard Herrmann, Original Soundtrack Recording from Taxi Driver (Arista)--A remastered collection of the moody compositions from the brilliant 1975 film and the final score from the masterful Herrmann, who died shortly after its recording; it also features dialogue such as the famed Robert DeNiro "You talkin' to me?" bit. Tranquility Bass, Beep (Astralwerks)--Mike Kindel remixes five songs from his acclaimed album Let the Freak Flag Fly, with additional reworkings from Ultramarine and Fatboy Slim, and it's all wonderfully funky and ethereal. |
|
