Music  It begins! MusicfestNW, "Portland's largest and most successful music festival," in addition to launching its new Web site, has announced the dates for this year's event: September 8-11. As usual, it will take place at clubs and concert halls across the city, including Pioneer Courthouse Square, which it inaugurated as a (almost shockingly awesome) venue in 2010 with performances from the National ...   More

Music Arctic Monkeys have enjoyed a meteoric rise in Europe since their 2006 incisive-indie debut, Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not. Third offering Humbug sees the band take a darker, dirtier direction under the tutelage of Josh Homme and James Ford. Recorded at the Rancho, Mojave Desert, and the Electric Lady Studios in New York, the best new songs “Crying Lightning” and “Cornerstone” ...   More

Music MFNW director Trevor Solomon likes to walk over to our desks and say things like "Major Lazer." We're, presumably, supposed to provide some kind of response. Some of these crazy ideas come to fruition (Major Lazer, for example), and some of them don't. But by this time of year, WW's annual MusicfestNW festival (Sept. 9-12) is in its "mostly figured out" phase. Headliners like the National, Sleep, the ...   More

Music End of the line, Jack. We're all danced out and now we just wanna listen to some dad rock and chill the hell out. That okay by you? Alright, then away we go for a few last diary entries from Shane Danaher, Ruth Brown, Aaron Mesh and myself, Casey Jarman. (All photos by Inger Klekacz) Pioneer Courthouse Square, 4:30 pm. Talkdemonic is playing to a standing audience of a couple hundred on the ...   More

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Music From the beginning, Dirty Mittens always sounded good. The band—led by singer (and, for the record, ex-WW intern) Chelsea Morrissey—has evolved over the years, from its humble beginnings as a cutesy indie-pop quartet to its current incarnation as a retro soul-pop powerhouse. But rarely—in concert, or even on record—has the group sounded this good playing the handclap jam "Arcadia." ...   More

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