The Magnificent Seven

Album Reviews The seven most blisterin' tracks of the month, and one that totally sucks, as dictated by the Mark Baumgarten, Kelly Clarke and Richard Shirk. In August, we dance.The Best1. Cut Copy, "Future"Melbourn ...   More

 

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

HORN AGAIN

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, the Crazy 8's bring back serious ska.

Music Stories With pop culture's recent obsession with all things '80s (Ronald Reagan, legwarmers, the Smiths), cultural immediacy has taken a back seat to nostalgia, and the Crazy 8's are getting in on the action. ...   More

 

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

Fourth Alarm FIRE

MarchFourth, Portland's biggest party band, mixes the folk with the funk.

Music Stories Michael Taluc's big red fire engine turns heads. Careening along downtown streets last Sunday. The shiny 1976 Ford engine stands out, but it's the cargo--the 20-plus costumed members of Portland's Mar ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 28, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

AND THE BEAT TAKES OVER

Talkdemonic marches out front in Portland's drumming revolution.

Music Stories Portland is lousy with drummers breaking from convention. By setting their drum kits out front sonically--and sometimes physically--these musicians demand attention for an instrument usually reserved ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 21, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

SUPER (Earnest) HEROES

Chromeo--equipped with synthesizers and a talkbox--fights the cultural erosion that is irony.

Music Stories Despite the reports by TV talking heads of the demise of Irony (and that's Irony with a capital I) following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the empty smirk of insincerity returned to pop culture just ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

BIRTH OF A FESTIVAL

How 14 local musicians and fans turned an email discussion into a three-day music festival.

Music Stories Food carts. Ten members of the PDX Pop Now! organizing collective sit in the backyard of their headquarters in Southeast Portland debating about food carts. Are two carts enough, or will three be need ...   More

 

Wednesday, July 7, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

Straight, But Not Narrow

Just because I...

Special Section ...WATCH THE OC, THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M GAY.I don't necessarily believe in guilty pleasures. In my book, if you like it, you like it. And I like the FOX teensploitation drama The OC. Even more, I like ...   More

 

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

Movin' Out

True to its name, Jeremy deVine's record label, Temporary Residence, is relocating again.

Music Stories Jeremy deVine moved to Portland in August 2002. By the end of that year, credit-card companies were suing him and his van was repossessed, thanks to the mounting costs of running his small experimenta ...   More

 

Wednesday, June 2, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

<< MAY REWIND

Let's see. We went to Coachella and then...did anything else happen? This is the month in music.

Music Stories COACHELLA What's more rock 'n' roll than standing with 65,000 rabid music fans in 105-degree heat to see a handful of the most exciting artists in the world? Doing it in black polyester slacks, of cou ...   More

 

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN

New Time Religion

Erin McKeown busts out of songwriter school to mind her own, freshened-up sound.

Music Stories Every job has its own share of occupational hazards. Farmers lose limbs, office workers sitting at computers pack on the pounds, and traditional singer-songwriters start thinking they live in the 1850 ...   More

 

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 MARK BAUMGARTEN