Somewhere between Deerhoof, Blonde Redhead, and the long-since-forgotten Mu, re-emerges Stereo Total. Although the French/ German band has been making music for many years, it’s been 3 since their last proper album Paris-Berlin. The track-list for their recently released Baby Ouh! confirms they only included 17 songs on the album, but they’ve reportedly recorded 40 or so in the sessions since Paris-Berlin. To me, that means not only can we look forward to another record much sooner than 2013, but also that there will probably be lots of surprises as they work through these songs in a live setting.
With an album title like The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist, I woudn’t blame you for being a little scared to check Junius out in such an intimate room like Backspace. But, don’t let their agressive front fool you, this music isn’t head-ache inducing screams and snarls. The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist is actually more rife with straightforward melody than you might expect. Sure, it’s still very intense, but that intensity is born from a more emotional aesthetic than a confrontational one. In fact, it really reminds me of Interpol’s epic anthemics more than anything else… that is, if Interpol was still making music that was worth writing about.
Check out Junius at Backspace this Tuesday, if only for an excuse to go check out a show at Backspace. One of the coolest all-ages venues we have left in Portland.
Moby, Benny Benassi & Paul Van Dyke. So reads one line of Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival poster, and really… that alone can inspire awe. But allow your jaw to drop further, as the rest of the lines boast names like Lupe Fiasco, Flying Lotus, Holy Ghost, Claude VonStroke, Benga, Boys Noize & the Chemical Brothers. And that doesn’t even cover all of the stages (or the after-parties).
The first ever North Coast Music Festival takes place the first weekend of September in Union Park, and we’ll be there to cover it all. You can be there too for the meager price of $40 per day. That’s about how much one of these artists alone would cost!
Check out our breakdown of the 3-day festival’s must sees:
Interesting new track from Does It Offend You, Yeah? Certainly not what you’d expect at first, but it all ends up being a pretty typical DIOYY affair. That’s a good thing.
From their forthcoming record Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You.
This year, the awesome folks at Mad Decent took the show on the road, hitting up NY, Philly, LA & Chicago. I was lucky enough to grab an all access pass to the Chicago stop and grab some great photos. Check em out:
This shit was very very fun. Check out 100 or so more photos down here.
You simply can’t be two places at once, which is the central conflict with Music Fest North West each year. Spread across five days, and practically the entire city of Portland, the festival brings so many worthy artists, picking which shows to see can be an inner debate that persists until the very last minute.
As somewhat veterans of the festival, we’ve decided to compile a list of the shows, by day, that we intend to catch. Of course, being that we’re a month away, this list is likely to change more than few times.
Because A-trak knows what’s good for a dance-floor, he got a bunch of his buddies together for a series of evenings across the country called the Stones Throw x Fool’s Gold: Discotheque. The Rules: Strictly Disco-Boogie and House Music.
I had the pleasure of attending this past weekend in Chicago and all I can say is, what an epic line-up. Although this will change a little from date-to-date, the core elements in DJ sets by Stones Throw’s Peanut Butter Wolf, and Fool’s Gold’s A-Trak make the journey. Portland’s Line up is as follows:
A-Trak
Nacho Lovers
Peanut Butter Wolf
J Rocc
Check out some photos from last night after the jump, and consider this your motivation to make the show this coming Saturday. After Chromeo Friday, and this show Saturday, I fully expect to hear about some hellish hangovers.
We’d be embarrassed if you knew how often Chromeo was mentioned on this site (plz don’t use the search function to find out), but we’d be equally embarrassed if you knew how many times we’d seen em live. Try every time they’ve ever played Portland. Try more than a few times out of town on top of that. By themselves, they do things to us we reserve solely for the dance floor, but with the group they have going on tour right now… well forgive us if we’re even more excited than usual.
This, as always, is an event not to be missed. Newsom’s presence on record is one that is ardent and personal, the type you might not think would translate too well to a large room. But what’s commonly misunderstood about music that strikes such an individual chord is the fact that the louder it is, the more it tends to consume you. You don’t have to be bedroom-pop to resonate as relatable.
Newsom proves this with her live shows. Her godess-like presence behind the harp takes you up and away from what may have made her records so personal, out into a space where all you can do is sit back and imagine her inspirations, and how one person could possess so much talent. With her magical fingers, she wisps the audience away into a dream.
Thank god she’s playing the Aladdin Theater this weekend (Friday & Saturday), because you’re going to want to be seated for this one.
Fucked Up have a new album on the way, which is presumably why they were booked to play West Fest here in Chicago along with The Rapture. If you haven’t seen them live before, here’s a little photographic motivation. They also just released a song with Zola Jesus, which is extremely epic.
This pretty much served as my introduction to live music in Chicago, and I don’t think I’ve stopped going to shows since. Carte Blanche (DJ Mehdi + Riton of Ed Banger Records) didn’t take the stage until about 3:00AM, with Kid Sister following nearly an hour later. Best part is… they served drinks the entire time. Chicago immediately felt like home. Check the rest of the photo set here. Carte Blanche (Ft. Kid Sister) – Do Do Do
Minneapolis’ Dark Dark Dark are making their way across the country on tour in support of their upcoming album Wild Go, stopping in Portland this coming Thursday.
Probably the most obvious sound comparison one could make is to Bowerbirds, but Dark Dark Dark set themselves apart by elaborating on the spare sounds that Bowerbirds usually offer. Keys, violin, horns & banjo are just some of the sounds that create their expansive sound, one which provides the perfect backdrop for Nona Marie Invie’s trill vocals.
They’re playing Thursday at Rotture with The Drowning Men & Lindsey Clark. It’s only $6, but you can avoid that price by winning a pair of tickets to the show right here. All you’ve got to do is be the first to comment with your full name & e-mail address.
Check out a couple MP3s below, and enjoy the show!
I’ve been in Chicago for 3 weeks now, and despite the million shows I’ve seen already, I’d yet to find a local act to get behind, until today. On a whim, I went to the ET Habit show after hearing one of the dudes from Mickey was in the band. Now, I’ve never heard Mickey, but their affiliation with Hozac Records is apparently all it took to get me to Permanent Records this afternoon for an off-shoot’s show.
I’m impressed. Amazed even. Christmas Woods is as good a front man as Angus Andrews (Who I saw play in Liars last night). He was confrontational and intimidating, as much as he could be in the small space the record store provided him. Equal parts Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower & Daughters, but with a a style more akin to Motorhead, ET Habit are a serious presence. Never heard their records, but they sounded great live. I can’t wait to see what they do with a little more space.
CAGE has always been about pushing the boundaries. From the decade+ old ‘Agent Orange’ with lines like, “Fucked the first two bitches like dogs and I jacked off on the third”, to the more recent ‘I Never Knew You’s, “You should cherish the words that I got in my mouth/ The only words that can truly explain how I got in your house”. Both are classic examples of CAGE unwilling to play it safe, regardless of how innappropriate the subject matter may be.
But he isn’t simply going for shock factor, rather, he’s reflecting on the troubled life that led him to where he is now, a story so compelling that actor Shia LaBeouf is directing a film version of it. Check out the video he’s also directed for the aforementioned ‘I Never Knew You’ below, and make sure to see the intensity live at the Hawthorne Theater tomorrow night.
It’s hard to hate on someone so talented. Even if the Norwegian songstress doesn’t make the kind of music you’re acostomed to, the power of Susanna’s voice makes it impossible to disrespect her. It’s like listening to Povoratti, or Antony. The dudes are mad weird, and you aren’t coming home from the bars to blast their records, but they demand your respect and attention regardless. Just ask the New York Times! Plus she looks strikingly similar to a certain legend that you should probably rediscover.
Susanna’s 3 is truly a pretty incredible record. Oscillating between soft sounds and flawless vocalizations is her strong-suit, and she finds the perfect balance between the two on her latest record. Her #1 friend on her Myspace Page is Frida Hyvonen, which would serve as a pretty good indication of style here, although her music makes its statements without Hyvonen’s energy (no less effectively).
Maybe you are listening to her tunes on a date… or hell, taking your significant other to her show on the 22nd of this month @ Mississippi Studios? Either way, 3 is a record that will get you laid/cultured all at the same time, and you get extra points for taking your date to a show that likely wont happen again until you’ve long since broken up.
We Like Cats, the new ‘Supergroup-of-sorts’ consisting of Honey Owens (Valet), Adam Forkner (White Rainbow), and Eva Salens (Inca Ore), ooze in melodrama while at the same time never taking themselves too seriously. If the name is any indication, they’re sort of a joke, but the music itself suggests something more serious, more mysterious.
Present are the experimental-but-somehow-still-catchy beats of Adam Forkner, the distant-but-still-coherent musings of Honey Owens and the haunted-but-still-charming drone of Eva Salens, all brought together with washes of noise and skanking riddim to create an album that may seem funny at its surface, but makes a strong case for itself as legitimate throughout.
We look forward to seeing what they are all about with an interview and photos preceding their first show ever, tomorrow night at Holocene. From what I understand, cats are not allowed. Proper Eats, their debut record is available now at Marriage Records.
It’s been just over half a year since we saw Japanther play at Music Fest North West, and since that time they’ve released a brand new album, Rock N’ Roll Ice Cream. Believe it or not, before I got to hear this one for the first time, I seriously already knew all the words! It’s because they are unbelievable live, and that’s why we’ve been updating you about each of their shows since early 2008.
Tonight they play Rotture, which will be amazing I’m sure, and tomorrow they play at the WOW Hall in Eugene. Now having memorized all the words to their new record officially, this one is going to be even more fun than normal.
They’ll be joined by Portland’s own Jaguar Love, and word has it that each night they are going to flip a coin to see who headlines. (Here’s to hoping it’s Japanther!)
Finally! One of my favorite bands of last year is back in Oregon for a show at Doug Fir. They haven’t done much since we last caught up with them, but other people have re-worked a number of songs from their self-titled debut. If anything this means you know what to expect: an eclectic performance by a large group of very talented dudes.
Just based on their album, their work has tremendous resilience in a time where you could literally download more than you could listen to in a given day, let alone a given year. I personally loved their record from day one, and now over a year later i’m still twiddling my thumbs for the next three days until I get to hear the songs live once again.
Diplo & Benzi, Rich Boy, Emynd, T.I., Blaqstarr, Wale, Flosstrodamus, to name a few. These are the folks who, like me, are definitely cosigning the recent Hunstville rap movement, spearheaded by Paper Route Gangstaz & Block Beataz Inc. Together, these two groups are lighting the south on fire, creating mali-able beats to suit each of the diverse vocalists in the crew.
Up to this point, they’ve been considered two ways. The first is with a disdain for their style– Maybe they’re southern to a fault, or too slow to be convincingly different. The second, however, is the way in which I’ve been thinking about them since 2007. Theirs is a unique brand of rap, never talking in extremities or indulgence, except when it comes to drug abuse. They’ve worked with Diplo, but the true genius of their sound comes from the Block Beataz production crew. Beats with crystal synths and knocking bass come together with careful consideration of tempo, allowing for songs to slow down for certain rappers but only so much as to suit their flow.
Grab the download and read the rest after the jump:
Recall october of last year when I posted a glowing review of Minus The Bear’s lead single for their forthcoming album OMNI, called ‘Into the Mirror’. I wrote:
[Into the Mirror] indicates that, musically, Minus The Bear still have something significant to say, and they still have an incredibly appealing way of saying it. Maybe this is much ado about one single song, but if it’s any indication of where they’re going with their new record, you’d be silly not to be excited.
Valid comments, I maintain. However, the album has yet to strike me as anywhere near as affective. The lyrics drive me insane, and songs like ‘The Theif’ ruin the entire album for me!
That being said, I just can’t hate on them. Plus, it sounds great… which is something I think I often overlook when being extremely critical. They’re one of my oldest loves, and, still, one of the bands I’m sure I’ll enjoy well into my lifetime. If that isn’t a declaration of devotion, what is? Go see them this Friday at the Doug Fir! It’s cheap and they’re amazing live. Also, if they play ‘Into the Mirror’, it will have been totally worth it.
FBM is a blog written about all kinds of music. We often focus on small acts and DJs, promoting and loving what we consider to be the very best in Indy, Dubstep, House and far beyond. We are a collective of (currently) unpaid kids based out of Portland Oregon. We urge you to support this music and hence we will provide the the most accurate show listings and heads up on things to do in Portland.
This is all those things but more then anything else this is about community, about having as many authors contributing as much as possible and promoting all of our friends. I believe in politics as still being important and I believe in this generation still being relevant. Our culture is all we have.
Almost all of this music is sent to us by the creator and is entirely legal to download, if something slips through the cracks and you are the owner of a soundfile you wish removed, simply email us. Thank you.
