Album Reviews [FRESH HIP-HOP] Northwest hip-hop is most often derided for lacking a distinct regional aesthetic. But the Sandpeople crew—and by extension, iAMe, one of its premier MCs—has a sound. The squad r   More

Album Reviews [THE PIANO INFLATES] Good piano balladeers are hard to find these days. Though squealing synthesizers pimple a guitar-riddled indie-music landscape, acoustic pianos are markedly less popular. But p   More

Album Reviews [THROWBACK HIP-HOP] Animal Farm’s key demographic is hip-hop fans who are sick of hip-hop bullshit. It’s a hungry market, as evidenced by the Portland squad’s formidable success on college mus   More

Album Reviews [EXPERIMENTAL FLUTTERINGS] Tara Jane O’Neil is that rare musician who always sounds like she’s searching for new modes by which to  express her overwhelming supply of artistic ideas. While   More

Album Reviews [CINEMATIC POST-ROCK] Local music obsessives who pore over the liner notes of their LPs and CDs will probably recognize the name of Jay Clarke. Since moving to Portland, he has been a member of the   More

Album Reviews [SHOW-TUNE TWEE] New Century Schoolbook is an orchestral pop quintet composed of what I suspect are ex-drama students. They are literary and enamored of the twee-er edges of pop, and they express t   More

Album Reviews [RETURN OF THE BOOM BAP] You’d expect a new release from a veteran Northwest MC to sound a little old school. And Ill.ustrated—the new disc from longtime Portland MC Destro, a founding member of    More

Album Reviews [HEAVINESS] The folks that pay attention to stuff like this (us music geeks) will notice two interesting things on the packaging of Red Fang’s second full-length LP: the logo for Relapse Records    More

Album Reviews [HERE’S YOUR FUTURE] It’s hard to fault Blues Skies for Black Hearts for being out of touch. The power-poppy quartet—led by bespectacled frontman Pat Kearns—sticks to a (relatively) simple    More

Album Reviews [REAL TALK] Illmaculate and G_Force’s concept seemed ambitious and restrictive all at once: They would take Al Green’s 2008 return-to-form record, Lay It Down, and rework each track, in order,   More