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Album Review: Mattress

Lonely Souls EP (Field Hymns)


Album Reviews
[DARK ELECTRONICS] Most bands go for the lapel grab, insisting on your attention from the first notes of the first song of a live set or album. The rare and often more interesting bands prefer to s   More
 
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 ROBERT HAM

Videosyncrasy: Tapes 'n Tapes

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Music
Tapes 'n Tapes have been through the proverbial wringer in the music world. When the band's 2005 debut album The Loon came out, sites like Pitchfork had anointed this band as the next great hope for American indie music. By the time the quartet's third full-length was released earlier this year, the backlash was as loud and inevitable as a sonic boom. It's a shame, too, as Outside makes good on th...   More
 
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Get Up Close and Personal With Water & Bodies

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Music
Have you ever wanted the opportunity to see one of your favorite bands in an intimate setting, watching them as they run through some songs and/or rehearse just for your benefit? That's the kind of shit that the monied class pay upwards of six figures for. Not so with local art rockers Water & Bodies.

You could be one of the l...   More
 
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Cut of the Day: John Craig & the Weekend "Don't Think Make Mistakes Pt. 1"

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Music


WW Music Majordomo Casey Jarman once likened the voice of John Craig to that of Andy Bell, singer for the British technopop duo Erasure. And as much as I applaud anyone evoking one of my favorite groups from my teen years—and I do hear the Bell in Craig's voice—what I keep hearing when I listen to tracks like this is former Menomena mem...   More
 
Monday, August 22, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Videosyncrasy: Aimee Mann

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Music
Aimee Mann first came to the world's attention via her '80s pop outfit 'Til Tuesday and its still catchy as hell hit "Voices Carry", but spent the years after that band's breakup holding on to a cult fan base for her solo material and getting bounced off label after label. It wasn't until her friend Paul Thomas Anderson decided to use a batch of Mann's songs in his 1999 film Magnolia, a move which...   More
 
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Video: White Orange "Dinosaur Bones"


Music
Coming hot on the heels of the sublimely silly Red Fang video is this strange and goofy gem from another local psych metal act, White Orange.

Directed by the perfectly named Jason America, this clip for "Dinosaur Bones" (a track featured on the band...   More
 
Thursday, August 11, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Cut of the Day: No Kind of Rider "Punch and Judy"

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Music
Believe this, music fans: if No Kind of Rider are not in contention for Best New Band in 2012, something is definitely amiss out there in the Portland scene.

This urgent and tuneful quintet already managed to impress the socks of me when I happened upon their performance at Rontoms last year. Seeing NKOR since then and now hearing ...   More
 
Thursday, August 11, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

The Parson Red Heads, Tuesday, Aug. 16

The Parson Red Heads’ escape from L.A. led them to find peace in Portland.


Music Stories
[EASYGOING COUNTRY-POP] Hanging out with the Parson Red Heads, you get the sense that nothing in the world could shake this band’s inner calm and outward joy. Sitting around a table at Bar Bar ta   More
 
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 ROBERT HAM

Booker Tony Prato Remembers His Favorite Mudai Lounge (R.I.P.) Shows

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Music
Despite its physical above-ground location, the Mudai Lounge always had that underground feeling. A similar experience to seeing a show at Dunes or in someone's basement; that delicious charge locked into your spine that felt like you and the bands were getting away with something.

It was that same feeling that kept Tony Prato, the man who until very recently booked shows at Mudai, bringing...   More
 
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 by ROBERT HAM

Cut of the Day: Blood Beach, "Outro (Go Forth on Vacation)"

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Music
Towards the end of my article on Blood Beach in this week's edition, bassist Ethan Jayne made reference to the band's current obsession with heavy metal. During our hangout at the Florida Room, they talked about listening to current acts like Toxic Holocaust, and joked about how that would s...   More
 
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 by ROBERT HAM
 

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