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.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

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