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Cut of the Day: "Hollow," Thanks

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Music

The injection of pure, uncut soul music into indie rock has been the one thing that has revived that genre's greying body of late. You can hear it in the gospel throwdowns of Magic Mouth, the African swing of Brainstorm, and now, the growling R&B attack of    More
 
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 by ROBERT HAM

This Must Be the Place

Akron/Family’s Dana Buoy has spent his life on the move. He’s ready to settle down­—in Portland.


Music Stories
Dana Janssen doesn’t stay in one place for too long. During the course of our conversation at Fresh Pot on North Mississippi Avenue...   More
 
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Primer: Susanna Hoffs


Music Stories
Born: In 1959 in Los Angeles. Sounds like: Fluttery, jangly pop that sounds great coming out of a transistor radio.  For fans of: Big Star, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Williams, Jon Brion, Aimee Mann. Latest release: Someday, Hoffs’ third solo album, showcases her ageless voice and heartfelt lyrical explorations of love, heartbreak and growing old gracefully.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Outer Worlds #2: The Power of Repetition

outerworlds

Music
"In Zen they say: If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, try it for eight, 16, 32, and so on. Eventually one discovers that it's not boring at all but very interesting." — John CageI've been thinking about that quote a lot this past week in anticipation of a couple upcoming shows, particularly this coming Saturday's performa...   More
 
Thursday, November 8, 2012 by ROBERT HAM

Primer: Psychic TV


Music Stories
Formed: In London in 1981. Sounds like: The quick rush of a DMT hit expanded to sometimes-epic lengths.  For fans of: Throbbing Gristle, Coil, 808 State, Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs, Timo   More
 
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Banter Review: The Afghan Whigs at Wonder Ballroom, November 2

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Music
Here's the deal: concert reviews are pretty perfunctory, self-indulgent exercises in so-called music criticism. There are enough people taking pictures of or taping big live shows and then uploading those images to the Web that you can see for yourself whether it was a success or not. And if you really wanted to go, wouldn't you have gone? So instead of giving you a blow-by-blow account of the   More
 
Monday, November 5, 2012 by ROBERT HAM

Deep Cuts: Jens Lekman, "The World Moves On"

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Music
Today, we're bringing back Deep Cuts, a feature wherein we zero in on one song by an artist and dig into that song's meaning and inspiration with its creator. In the five years between Jens Lekman's last two albums, quite a lot happened to the Swedish singer-songwriter. Most notably, the 31-year-old moved to Melbourne, Australia, and e...   More
 
Friday, November 2, 2012 by ROBERT HAM

Album Review: Nucular Aminals

Start From an End (Self-Released)


Album Reviews
[MISSPELLED BUT UNBOWED] The path Nucular Aminals took to get their third album out was a fraught one. The quartet had planned to travel to Chicago to work with illustrious recording engineer Stev   More
 
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Album Review: Litanic Mask

Litanic Mask (Fast Weapons)


Album Reviews
[NIGHTPLAY] Litanic Mask certainly knows how to create and sustain a mood throughout an album. I put the duo’s self-titled record on repeat for a few hours and was surprised at how often it move   More
 
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Outer Worlds #1: Jazz Reaches Out

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Music
Outer Worlds is a new biweekly column from one of WW's regular music writers, Robert Ham, that will explore those artists, albums and genres which sometimes get short shrift within the pages of our print edition—those musical outliers that work outside the pop music continuum. Jazz is a genre that is never far from my mind, but it ha...   More
 
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 by ROBERT HAM
 

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