Primer: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Music Stories Born: In Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in 1975. Sounds like: A prolific experimentalist now financially secure enough to operate without any semblance of a creative filter. For fans of: The Mars Volta, Joh   More

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Spirit Lake: Friday, Oct. 19

Taking the Oregon Trail to blues-rock nirvana.

Music Stories [PSYCHEDELIC BLUES ROCK] Uncle Walker’s Amber Restorative, the debut LP from Portland quartet Spirit Lake, has a history far grander than that suggested by the group’s slight résumé. The band    More

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012 SHANE DANAHER

From Obscuro to Hero

Sixto Rodriguez rises from the record bin of history.

Music Stories Sixto Rodriguez is having his moment in the limelight. Finally.  The 70-year-old singer-songwriter from Detroit has been touring regularly since the beginning of the year, playing festivals   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Primer: Billy Joe Shaver

Music Stories Born: 1939 in Corsicana, Texas. Sounds like: Everything that’s grizzled and red-blooded—and, conversely, good and Christian—about country music, condensed into the body and voice of a man w   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Brownish Black: Friday, Oct. 12

A Detroit native finds his soul in the heart of the Rose City.

Music Stories [GARAGE SOUL] Soul doesn’t come naturally to the lily-white Northwest. In the case of Brownish Black’s M.D. Sharbatz, though, it wasn’t until he moved to Portland, oddly enough, that the s   More

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Stripes vs. Soul Patches

Comparing the careers of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame’s marquee inductees.

Music Stories YEARS ACTIVE U-Krew: 1984-1993 Everclear: 1992-“present” SOUND U-Krew: An early hybrid of R&B and hip-hop...   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 MATTHEW SINGER

Michael Chapman: Tuesday, Oct. 9

The British folk rebel you’ve never heard of.

Music Stories [BRITISH FOLK] “I’m not very good at doing what I’m told,” says Michael Chapman through a crackling phone line from Leeds, England. That’s an understatement. At age 71, Chapman, one of   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 NATHAN CARSON

Primer: Calobo

Music Stories Formed: 1988 on Washington’s Orcas Island.  Sounds like: Indigo Girls meet Blues Traveler, then go on to form Fleetwood Mac. For fans of: The ’90s; the Beavers; a wildly talented troupe o   More

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 JAY HORTON

System Reboot

How legendary U.K. dance duo Orbital got its groove back.

Music Stories For nearly 25 years, one of the most instantly recognizable sounds and looks in electronic dance music has belonged to Orbital. Which isn’t to imply the U.K.-based duo has been hitting the sam   More

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 ROBERT HAM

The Alan Singley Orchestra: Saturday, Sept. 29

A Portland pop mainstay reveals his classical side.

Music Stories [CLASSICAL] When he was 11 years old, Alan Singley bought an album containing all of Beethoven’s symphonies. This wasn’t a parental directive; they listened mostly to classic rock. Rather, it    More

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 BRETT CAMPBELL