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The Locals Bin: I'd dance a little jig if every guitarist in town could play with the fluency and expressionism that Joe Baker exhibits throughout the Starlings' self-titled, self-released debut CD. His rambling riffsmanship would fill any critic's heart with glee, as the solos that overlay the Portland band's country-informed rock songs evoke descriptions such as flowery and pastoral, and turn an otherwise above-average venture into a delight. The other centerpiece of the Starlings' sound is vocalist and rhythm guitarist KT Kincaid, last seen playing bass in the long-defunct Neoboys. She sings with a dustbowl twang--teetering on a warble--that threatens to drag down the band's material, mainly because she lacks the sureness and register-leaping range of obvious touchstone Paula Frazer (of Tarnation). Yet Kincaid usually manages to pull back, settling into a vocal duet with Baker or yielding to his string-slingin' prowess, thus enlivening songs like the range-riding rave-up "Right On" and the spindly "Brother." Excepting a few songs played in an overly familiar 4/4 trot (particularly "Dear Daughters" and "Kristen"), the Starlings' introductory effort reveals a band with admirable rock sensibilities and a guitarist who somehow singularly recalls the interplay of Luna and the Feelies. A band with a completely different aesthetic, Ida Sessions, recently released one of the most theatrical albums to come out of Portland. Featuring Donovan Skirvin, whose soundscapes accompany Miranda July's recorded work, the trio sculpts foreboding art-rock tunes with atonal piano, squalls of guitar, electronic burbles, clattering percussion and affected vocals. The vinyl-only album's five tracks drift like a flood-ravaged muddy river, sticking to barely discernible melodic frameworks that push the music along with the force of a thirsty auto mechanic in a beer line at a demolition derby. Skirvin and sidekicks Summer Mastous and Tobyn McCormick create songs that are nearly impenetrable, but the trio sinks into occasional grooves such as the psychedelic reverie of "Dograce" or the punk-mit-piano freakout that runs through "Give Us the Crystals." Ida Sessions have few if any peers in the region, but their crackling dark rock would sound OK in the same jukebox as obscurists the Ex or New Zealand art-punk bands like Chug or the Renderers. I know what you're thinking: But what about the Dandy Warhols' new release?! The Portland Band That's More Popular in Britain™ clocks in with a 7-inch that combines its new single "Every Day Should Be a Holiday" (which is now the first single from the soundtrack album to There's Something About Mary) with the b-sides "One (Ultra Lame White Boy)" and "Head." The former is an original in the loosest sense of the term in that it features faux-hip-hop rapping cribbed from the Beastie Boys; the latter track takes an old Monkees nugget for a satisfying spin. Life Is a Festival: Organizers are digging themselves out from under the 1,700 band applications for (the WW-sponsored) North by Northwest, which is now six weeks away. When the organizers emerge, groundhog-like, they'll announce the 300 acts selected in a garish press conference atop the Empire State Building. Actually, that's not true. The first public list of bands for the fourth-annual event will appear in next week's WW, coinciding with the first day of wristband sales. I can't leak any of the rumored performers, but there's talk of a free outdoor stage at Pioneer Square, which will probably feature a one-night lineup with a well-known headliner. Portland Postscripts: A few months prior to releasing its debut on the Los Angeles label Bong Load, Sidecar received notice that it must change its name. It seems another band had already issued three albums as Sidecar and asked that the Portland quartet come up with its own damn tag. Vocalist-guitarist Mike Wu says the band has settled on Poolside and that the forthcoming album will be titled Autumn Years.... The Roseland has issued a press release announcing that ODB's July 24 show is still a go despite the rapper's recent run-in with a bullet. Russell Jones, a Wu-Tang Clan member who's best known as Ol' Dirty Bastard but who has enough pseudonyms to fill a wheelbarrow, was shot in a late-June robbery in the Brooklyn home of his girlfriend. According to news reports, Jones was admitted to a New York hospital but refused to stay for overnight observation. Spin of the Week:
Pernice Brothers, Overcome by Happiness (Sub Pop)--Ex-Scud Mountain Boys shift gears in their new guise, crafting glimmery indie pop that stretches out through a dozen sparkling songs. Fatboy Slim, "The Rockafeller Skank" (Astralwerks)--Norman Cook is the funkiest boy on the block, and he continues his reign, squirting reverb guitar riffs over an irresistible dance beat; the maxi-single CD features two extra tracks. |
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