Profiles

Community Radio Is One of the Last Vestiges of Portland’s Music Culture Still Alive During the Coronavirus Shutdown. But Many Challenges Remain.

Now that concerts are canceled, clubs are closed and record stores have shuttered, stations like XRAY are some of the only remaining local music hubs. And for many hosts, that’s sparked a renewed sense of purpose.

After Years of Resistance, Portland Cult Favorite Mississippi Records Is Begrudgingly Embracing the Internet to Stay Alive

He started a Bandcamp page, offering releases for download on a “pay what you can” model. He’s selling gift cards. He’s replaced spinning vinyl from behind the counter with daily YouTube playlists.

Portland’s Lost Lander Maps Out the Places That Inspired His New Concept Album, “Aberdeen,” From Rock Pits to Eccentric Neighbors

Unless you’re making a pilgrimage to Kurt Cobain’s birthplace, there’s little reason to travel the hundred miles west from Seattle to Aberdeen, Wash.

Soul’d Out Festival is No More, But its Founder Still Wants to Change the Face of Portland Music

To many people, “Portland music” still conjures images of nose-ringed punks, dudes in surf-rock bands and twee folksters. Nicholas Salas-Harris, PDX Jazz Festival’s new artistic director, sees a future where that list includes a sax and a suit.

Mo Troper’s New Album Trades Biting Commentary for Songs About Falling in Love and Eating Burritos

The first thing you notice about Mo Troper’s music is how catchy it is. The second is its vitriol.

Crystal Quartez Creates Soundscapes for Self-Healing in the Instagram Era

“Ceremonial sound art,” Crystal Quartez’s self-described genre, might evoke Instagram altar displays, yoga retreats and flower crowns. But the Portland musician’s first full-length album, Causal Loop, is hardly some passive, love-and-light spa soundtrack.

With Bonny Light Horseman, Portland’s Eric Johnson is Giving Centuries-Old Folk a Modern Update

Kate Davis Left Portland as a Jazz Prodigy. Now She Returns as an Indie-Rocker.

Until recently, Davis, who currently lives in New York City, has made her career as a cocktail dress-wearing jazz singer and double bassist. But on her new album, Trophy, she’s pivoted to full-blown indie-rocker, trading vocal jazz in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday for introspective songwriting in the tradition of Liz Phair.

A New Opera Addresses Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley

Opera is rarely seen as fresh and contemporary. Fair enough—the operatic canon hasn’t really been updated in the past 100 years, and the racism of Madame Butterfly and sexism of Cosi fan tutte don’t usually sit well with younger audiences. But librettist Amy Punt believes the form has untapped potential.

Thirty-One Years After His Murder, a New Chamber Music Piece Pays Tribute to Mulugeta Seraw

“I was just shocked immediately when I saw a photo of him because he looks just like our dad—same hair, same glasses, same mustache,” says Francis. “It made his death feel kind of personal to me in a way, because I wondered if our dad had seen stuff about him in the news and how it made him feel. I think that he probably would have died if he were on the same block as Seraw.”

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