One of my favorite aggressive musicians of the past decade has gone soft! But with names like Give Up the Ghost, and album covers like this, a turn to mellow town shouldn’t come as too big a surprise. When you have three seperate bands who each significantly ruin a genre by releasing the best [...]

[Mount Eerie]

This year’s MusicFest NW differed quite a bit from last year’s. 2008’s festivities showcased a number of old favorites, but the focus seemed largely on some burgeoning new acts like Fuck Buttons, Monotonix and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. This year the festival was full of many familiar faces. Bands like [...]

It’s been a week now since the beginning of this year’s SMMR BMMR, the appropriate time needed to wind down from such an exhausting event. Most of us probably didn’t catch the show from start to finish each day (yours truly included), but even in drifting in and out of the 40+bands playing, one [...]

The very confusingly titled SMMR BMMR festival is happening this weekend at Rotture, and I’m far from bummed. Boasting probably the most pretentious line-up of any festival this year, SMMR BMMR proves to be the hippest place on earth this coming weekend. Hip for a reason however, as the artists they’ve brought together [...]

I had forgotten this about Bobby Birdman, but the man loves to talk. He may not say anything in particular, or anything particularly interesting, but to him it seemingly doesn’t matter so long as he’s talking. Maybe it’s a nervous thing, or his way of reaffirming his ability to vocalize. Regardless, any [...]

MusicFest North West exists in a realm between two of the biggest city-wide festivals of the year. While Austin’s SXSW kicks the summer off with essentially every artist you could ever want to see playing multiple times, New York’s CMJ offers a similar set of shows across its vast city. MusicFest North West, [...]

One of the most amazing voices these ears have ever heard is performing tonight at Rotture. Bobby Birdman’s Heart Caves is my favorite example of judging an album by its art. I always saw that cover art at Ozone East (R.I.P.) and one day my curiosity got the best of me. Despite [...]

I know, as a Portland based blog we should really be promoting the PDX-POP NOW festival going on this weekend at Rotture, but I just can’t deny the superiority of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party. Not only does it contain some of Portland’s biggest bands (The Thermals, The Gossip), but even those artists making [...]

Not since YACHT on a Yacht have I seen Jona Bechtolt preform, but tomorrow night he acts as the headliner for this weekend’s SuperFest. If last night’s pre-party with Strength and Dat Politics is anything to go off, this show is gonna be nuts. I just had the opportunity to speak with both [...]

Nice Nice have affected my life in many ways without knowing it.  They introduced me to White Denim records in early 2003, which transformed my entire concept of what music was supposed to be.  From this release (‘There Will Be Slogan’s 7“) they also taught me the value of a musical attention span to see [...]