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Top Five Portland Bands with Summer Releases

By Casey Jarman

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (out 8/23)

Yeah, the Jicks still count as a Portland band even with Malkmus moving to Germany. And this disc has been a long time coming.

Blind Pilot, We Are the Tide (out 9/13)

The much-anticipated sophomore record from these PDX folk-pop folks is a bigger, broader affair with lots of radio potential.

Blitzen Trapper, American Goldwing (out 9/13)

Blitzen Trapper's Dylan-esque ballads have proven quite popular on the national scale, but they still fit a couple psychedelic freak-outs on the new record.

Richmond Fontaine, The High Country (out 9/20)

It has been two years since Richmond Fontaine's incredible last record,

We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River

. This new one is a big fat narrative epic—and real good.

Nurses, Dracula (out 9/20)

Quite simply one of the coolest-sounding records to ever come out of Portland. Nurses are back!

SEE IT: Most of these bands are playing Portland release shows. We'll keep you updated.

WWeek 2015

Casey Jarman

Casey Jarman

Casey Jarman is a freelance editor and writer based in East Portland, Oregon. He has served as Music Editor at Willamette Week and Managing Editor at The Believer magazine, where he remains a contributing editor. He is currently working on his first book. It's about death.