Music Stories [HOMEMADE POP] Julie Vitells grew up in what she calls “a pop-culture vacuum.” With hippie parents and a natural proclivity toward “old-timey stuff,” the young musician—who spent her ear   More

Music Who needs South By Southwest? Oh sure, it's the music industry's biggest annual event, featuring every buzzworthy band in the country -- and those breakfast tacos are fucking amazing -- but it's expensive as hell for most of us, and that's not to mention all the time you have to spend in Texas. (I know it's Austin, it's still goddamn Texas.)Thankfully, there is an alternative. A smaller, less bloggable ...   More

Music Lord knows I love a good ditty. And this two-and-a-half-minute tune from Portland's own What Hearts is the very definition of a ditty: Catchy, short, with lots of little instrumental hooks. The melody is simple enough that you can sing along on the second listen, like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb." It's purposefully, almost comically repetitive, musically, as frontwoman Julie ...   More