Tag: Portland OR

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially started as a one-off vehicle to release a record for a friend, Portland, OR-based indie label Fluff and Gravy Records has established themselves as arguably one of the most unique and difficult to pigeonhole labels in the country as they’ve released  albums that have run the gamut from Americana, indie folk, punk rock, indie rock, garage punk, alt country and even British folk from a diverse and eclectic set of artists including JOVM mainstay Drunken Prayer, Hillstomp, Jeffrey Martin, Fernando Viciconte, The Evangenitals, Anna Tivel and several others. To celebrate their fifth anniversary, the Portland-based label is releasing the Five Years of Gravy compilation — and according to the folks at the label, the compilation isn’t a mere retrospective; in fact, it’s a compilation of new and unreleased tracks from 17 of the label’s artists that they feel offers a glimpse of where the label and its artists have been and where they all are going. But the label and its artists also see the compilation as a way of giving back as the proceeds from sales of the album will benefit The Jeremy Wilson Foundation, a musicians’ nonprofit health and services organization that assists individual musicians and their families throughout the Pacific Northwest during medical emergencies — and is supported by fans, musicians and friends. Certainly, the work of charitable organizations such as The Jeremy Wilson Foundation will see even greater importance in light of President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened plans to cut Obamacare and with most musicians being independent contractors, access to affordable healthcare for musicians and their families will be critical.

Now, earlier this year you may recall that I had written about the Argentina-born, Portland, OR-based singer/songwriter Fernando Viciconte, who performs under the mononym Fernando. Viciconte first came to attention as the frontman oft he Los Angeles-based rock band Monkey Paw, and when the band broke up, Viciconte relocated to Portland where he began to focus on a solo career that began in earnest with the 2006 release full-length debut Enter to Exit, an effort which was critically praised by a number of major media outlets including Billboard, Magnet (which named Fernando, one of the best, new artists of 2006), Paste, The Oregonian, No Depression and MSNBC.com, among a lengthy list of others. Just as Viciconte’s profile and career were  set to explode into the national scene, the Argentina-born, Portland-based singer/songwriter suffered through several major health issues, which nearly resulted in the permanent loss of his voce — and as you can imagine, his health issues prevented him from touring. Fortunately for Viciconte and for us, after going through a number of doctors, it was revealed that his illness was misdiagnosed and the root cause of his issues, a hiatal hernia that caused heartburn and acid reflux, which bathed his vocal vocal chords in his stomach acid, was fixed surgically.

Viciconte’s eighth full-length effort Leave the Radio On was released last year through Fluff and Gravy Records and although the album took three years to complete, the album has the Portland-based singer/songwriter backed by an all-star cast featuring R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, who has been an early champion of Viciconte’s work; Scott McCaughey as well as members of M.Ward and Elliott Smith‘s backing bands, Richmond Fontaine and The Delines. Of course, if you had been frequenting this site, you may recall act I wrote about Leave the Radio On‘s first single “Save Me,” a bitter and aching lament of a song that evoked the lingering ghosts of one’s life — the failed relationships, the misguided decisions and poor judgements and the crushing doubts that seem inescapable and yet, finding a way to move forward with your dignity, sanity and sense of self intact. His contribution to the compilation “No Regrets” continues in a similar vein to “Save Me” as it’s a mournful lament from a narrator, who looks back on his life with an uncommon clarity and honesty, with the song’s narrator sadly admitting that he may be at fault for the mistakes and poor decisions of his life. Sonically, Viciconte’s aching vocals are accompanied with a country-leaning arrangement of steel pedal guitar, acoustic guitar, gently padded drums and twinkling keyboards — and in some way pairing the song’s sentiment with its arrangement makes the song sound as though it could be the soundtrack of lonely men lost in thought and drinking their sorrows away. And much like “Save Me,” “No Regrets” evokes life’s lingering ghosts — but in this case with a weary sense of acceptance.

 

Of course, if you’ve been frequenting this site, you’re probably well acquainted with Drunken Prayer, the recording project of Morgan Christopher Geer, who currently splits time between Portland, OR, Asheville, NC and Louisville, KY — and is a touring member of renowned act Freakwater.  Into the Missionfield, Geer’s Drunken Prayer debut was released in 2012 to critical praise both locally and nationally — Portland’s Willamette Week describing Geer as a “barking ringleader with chops between Tom Waits and The Butthole Surfers‘ Gibby Haynes” and the Portland Mercury describing Geer as “Warren Zevon’s medium, showing him the world from the great beyond.” Since then Geer has been rather prolific realizing several lyrically and sonically ambitious albums that have been praised for his signature sound — a sound that meshes elements of the blues, country, folk music, 60s psych and soul music and New Orleans-styled funeral dirges paired with lyrics that explore our existence through the prism of the tragicomic. In fact, Geer’s material suggests something that most of us loathe to admit — that life is often bitterly cruel and ironic. And in those moments, the only option you have is to do as the old song says “Laugh and never let the world know that deep down, you’re crying.”

 

2016 has been a very busy year as Geer released The Devil and the Blues. Featuring Lance Willie (drums) and David Wayne Gay (bass), his former bandmates in The Unholy Trio and former members of The Reigning Sound, as well as guest spots from The Sadies‘ Dallas Good (guitar), Aaron Price (organ, piano and engineering), Anna Trivel (fiddle) and a small horn and section, Geer’s latest effort was Geer’s “party album” — and by party, the material thematically covers and explores sadness, rebellion and redemption in Geer’s signature rowdy, riotous, loutish, proud and somewhat ridiculous fashion. His contribution to the compilation “I Feel Into The Sun,” is an atypical Geer song, as it’s a swooning and infectiously sweet love song with a wicked sense of humor. Yes, underneath all that loutishness and joke cracking is a sweet, aching heart desiring love and its redemption.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by frontwoman and primary songwriter Sarah Lane, along with Blake Hickey, Josh Tart, Nic Moen and Tim Karplus, the Portland, OR-based indie pop/indie rock quintet The Late Great‘s debut effort Easy was produced by John Morgan Askew, who has worked with Laura Gibson and Richmond Fontaine, and as you’ll hear on the album’s first single, album title track “Easy,” the band pairs Lane’s deeply ironic and emotionally ambivalent lyrics with a stomping and anthemic hook. Sonically speaking, the song manages to sound as though it were indebted to 90s alt rock.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Lush and Boldly Colored, Primal Visuals for Y La Bamba’s “Libre”

Over the course of the band’s three albums and several lineup changes of collaborators, friends and musicians, the band’s material has gone through a variety of changes — but it’s the the band’s forth full-length effort Ojos Del Sol that may be arguably be the most radical turn in sonic direction, while returning to familiar themes of searching and personal discovery — themes that have come up a number of times in Mendoza’s own life, whether as the daughter of Mexican immigrants connecting with her ancestry and searching for spiritual meaning that goes much further than organized religion. In fact, as Mendoza explains in press notes, the material on the album thematically is a “cerebration of family and community” — but a community of shared humanity.

Interestingly, the album’s first single “Libre” finds Mendoza and company at their most self-assured but in one of the breeziest and pop-leaning songs as they pair an infectious and anthemic hook with an arrangement that includes what sounds like xylophone, a mischievous and sinuous bass line, a steady backbeat, Mendoza’s gorgeous vocals along three part harmonies in English and Spanish, a rolling, African folk music-like guitar line in a song that evokes a sense of almost childlike wonder and joy, while making a connection both to Mendoza’s ancestral homeland and Africa in a way that subtly channels Paul Simon’s Graceland.

The recently released video accompanying the song is a lush, cinematically shot video using impossibly verdant greens, bright reds, and a seemingly primal and ecstatic dance routine in the fields just featuring women wearing ancient-inspired costumes, masks and the like. And while being swoon worthy, the video manages to make a vital connection between the primal and ancient and the modern, between celebrating spring and summer and fertility, and a celebrating a community of strong like-minded women simultaneously.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

R.I.P. is a Portland, OR-based doom metal quartet that operates off the belief that heavy metal didn’t come from the forest or beam down from outer space; but rather, that it crawled up out of the sewer and writhed to life in in the grit and grime of the streets and their unique take on heavy metal and doom metal “street doom” is indebted to that approach. The Portland, OR-based quartet have developed a reputation for relentless touring when they signed to renowned Los Angeles-based label RidingEasy Records, who will be releasing the band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut In The Wind later this year.

In The Wind‘s latest single “Black Leather” pairs scuzzy power chord heavy guitars, thunderous drumming, a driving motorik-like groove in an expansive and spacious dirge that allows room for some blistering guitar pyrotechnics while drawing equally from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Hawkwind. Structurally the song in its first half or so is power chord heavy dirge and in its last half turns into a psych rock-leaning stoner rock with a swaggering self-assuredness while evoking sulfurous smoke billowing from the depths of hell.

 

 

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Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Trippy Sounds and Visuals of WL’s “Feeling Down”

“Feeling Down” the latest single off the Portland-based trio’s forthcoming sophomore effort Light Years is a trippy yet strangely funky song that pairs layers of cascading and droning keys, four-on-the-floor drumming, Misty Mary’s ethereal and aching vocals singing a repetitive, mantra-like refrain with blasts of saxophone to create a song that’s moody and feels as though it evokes the enveloping and overwhelming fog that depression can feel like.

Directed by Zach Erickson and featuring art by Souther Salazer, the video for “Feeling Down” featuring a black and white, newspaper cut out of the band’s Misty Mary moving in and out of focus, superimposed over an oceanic blue background in which concentric, psychedelic shapes appear both in the background and eventually overtake her and everything around her. Certainly, the video is as equally trippy as the song while evoking a sense of being overwhelmed — by everything.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Indie, Experimental Electro Pop Supergroup’s Latest Pairs a Tight Groove with Deeply Empathetic Lyrics and Visuals

Interestingly, the album’s latest single and album title track “Our Puram,” has a narrator, who describes the sense of ecstasy and belonging that members of the Rajneeshpuram community felt and the gaping sense of dejection and hopelessness when they were forced to return to what they felt were dreary, ordinary, meaningless lives. While sonically, the trio pair distorted four-on-the-floor-like breakbeats, layers of wobbling and distorted synths, twinkling keys, distorted and droning guitar chords and mournful horn notes held together with a motorik-like groove that builds up towards the song’s last half/last third or so. It’s arguably the trio’s most mournful song but paired with one of the deepest and trippiest grooves they’ve released to date, while retaining a cinematic quality.

The recently released video features found footage that provides an intimate peek into the daily lives and practices of the Rajneeshpuram community and it gives the song a deeper, empathetic feel as it reminds the viewer and the listener of the subject’s essential humanity.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Natalie Closner and her two younger twin sisters Meegan and Allison, Portland, OR-based pop trio Joseph derive their name from their grandfather Jo and the tiny Oregon town in which he lived, Joseph, OR. And although the Closners grew up in a musical household, the sibling trio hadn’t sung together until a few years ago when Natalie Closner, seeking a creative jolt asked her twin sisters if they’d like to form a band together — and they quickly discovered that they had an immediate simpatico and began writing songs together, based around a use of three part harmony.

“White Flag,” the first single off the trio’s forthcoming full-length debut I’m Alone, No You’re Not employs the use of the Closner’s gorgeous harmonies, swirling and ambient electronics and handclap-led percussion in a song that quickly builds up to an anthemic and cathartic hook while pairing them with a powerful message — that one should never give up to attain what they desire. Sonically, the Portland-based sibling trio’s sound reminds me quite a bit of Pearl and the Beard and Lucius as the Closners’ latest single possesses a swooning and forceful urgency.

The Closner sisters will be embarking on a lengthy tour that includes a September stop at Radio City Music Hall. Check out tour dates below.

TOUR DATES:

6.9 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo

6.22 – Bristol, UK – Summer Series – Harbourside *

6.24 – Somerset, UK – Glastonbury Festival

6.27 – Luxembourg, LUX – Rackhal *

6.29 – Munich, GE – Toll wood Festival *

7.1 – Nr. Brandon, Suffolk, UK – Thetford Forest (Forest Live) *

7.6 – Manchester, UK – Castle Field Bowl *

7.8 – Cannock, UK – Cannock Chase Forest *

7.12 – Scarborough, UK – Scarborough Open Air Theater *

7.14-17 – Beccles, UK – Latitude Festival

7.17 – Dublin, IE – Longtitude Festival

7.18 – London, UK – St. Pancras Old Church

7.20 – Hamburg, GE – Knust Acoustic Session

7.22 – Berlin, GE – Berghain Kantine

7.23 – Haldern, GE – Haldern Pop Bar

7.24 – Nurnberg, GE – Fold Im Park

7.29 – Los Angeles, CA – FIG at 7th // Arts Brookfield Series

8.5-7 – Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon

8.10 – Boulder, CO – The Fox – Triple A Summit

9.19 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live *

9.21 – Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore Miami at Gleason Theater *

9.23-24 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium *

9.25 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte *

9.27 – Richmond, VA – The National *

9.28 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE *

9.30 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall *

10.1 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion *

10.3 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater *

10.4 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit *

10.6 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave / Eagles Ballroom *

10.7 – Saint Louis, MO – The Pageant *

10.8 – Kansas City, MO – Arrest Bank Theatre at The Midland *

11.3 – Antwerp, BE – Trix Hall #

11.5 – Copenhagen, DK – DR Koncerthuset #

11.6 – Oslo, NO – Folketeateret #

11.9 – Berlin, DE – Postbahnhof #

11.10 – Munich, DE – Technikum #

11.11 – Zurich, CH – Kaufleuten #

11.13 – Milan, IT – Fabrique Milano #

11.14 – Montpellier, FR – Le Rockstore #

11.16 – Barcelona, ES – Bikini Barcelona #

11.18 – Bardeaux, FR – Rock School Barbey #

11.20 – Lyon, FR – Epicerie Moderne #

11.21 – Stasbourg, FR – La Laiterie #

11.22 – Cologne, DE – Kantine #

* Supporting James Bay

# Supporting Michael Kiwanuka

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Hauntingly Introspective Video for Fernando’s “Save Me”

Born in Argentina, Fernando Viciconte, who now performs under the mononym Fernando, first made a name for himself with a stint as the frontman of the Los Angeles-based hard rock band Monkey Paw. Vicicconte relocated to Portland, to focus […]

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: 120 Minutes Channeling Visuals and Sounds of Candace’s “New Future”

Comprised of Sarah Rose (guitar, bass and vocals), Sarah Nienaber (guitar, bass and vocals) and Mara Appel DesLauriers (drums and vocals), the Portland, OR-based indie rock/shoegaze/dream pop trio Candace can trace their origins to the […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Created by Portland, OR-based Southerly and Sndtrkr frontman and SELF Group founder Krist Krueger as a shoegaze/experimental rock side project, Yardsss has received critical applause with the release of Fama, the first part of a Kurt Vonnegut-inspired trilogy that also featured a companion short film of the same name. Granfalloons is the second part of that trilogy and it features Krueger collaborating with Southerly bandmate Eli Savage and Gardening, Not Architecture‘s Sarah Saturday.

The album’s first single “Granfalloons II” is a slow-burning, introspective and shoegazey track consisting of dirge-inspired power chords, soaring backing vocals, swirling electronic and feedback and anthemic hooks paired with Krueger’s earnest and yearning baritone underneath the arena-filling bombast, the song sounds as though it could be a moody, shoegazer-inspired version of Live‘s “I AloneI Alone” — but with an art school sheen.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of founding members Clint Sargent (guitar, vocals) and Luke Strahota (drums), along with Colin Sheridan (bass) and Kaitlyn Ni Donovan (vocals, guitar), the Portland OR-based shoegaze quartet The High Violets can trace their origins to the breakup of The Bella Low, which featured Sargent, Strahota and another founding member Violet Bianca Grace (who left after a few early gigs). After a lineup change that resulted in their current lineup, the quartet released the their EP Dream Away, their full-length debut 44 Downin and their critically applauded third effort To Where You Are through Irish label Reverb Records. And as a result The High Violets saw a rapidly growing profile across North America as they played sets at NXNE in Toronto and SXSW in Austin, TX and then released a remix album, Satellite Remixes, which featured remixes from the renowned Ulrich Schnauss, Carmen Rizzo and others.  

Although the band is currently on hiatus from touring and live shows, they have remained active in the studio. The band’s fifth full-length effort, Heroes and Halos is slated for an April 1, 2016 release through Saint Marie Records and the album’s first single “Bells” has the band pairing layers of shimmering guitars and a propulsive and steady rhythm with Ni Donovan’s gorgeously ethereal and wistful vocals in a way that nods towards The Sundays “Here’s Where The Story Ends” but with a cosmic glow that belies a subtly modern production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Currently comprised of Willy Vlautin (vocals, acoustic guitar and electric guitar), Dave Harding (bass, backing vocals), Sean Oldham (drums, percussion, vibes and backing vocals). Dan Eccles (guitar) and Paul Brainard (pedal steel, piano, vibes, acoustic guitar, trumpet and backing vocals), the Portland, OR-based alt country quintet Richmond Fontaine can trace its origins back to 1994 when the founding duo of Vlautin and Harding met at Portland Meadows Racetrack and pored over the racing form and talked about music. Bonding over their mutual love of Husker Du, Willie Nelson, X, The Blasters and The Replacements, the duo decided to write and play music together. After expanding to a quartet, Richmond Fontaine developed a reputation for a sound that meshed elements of rock, country, punk and folk and paired them with Vlautin’s narrative-based songwriting (which has interestingly enough have been compared favorably to the short stories of Raymond Carver and Larry Brown). And as a result, the band has been praised by a number of nationally recognized and internationally recognized outlets including Uncut, Q Magazine, Mojo, The Independent, The Sun and others.

Interestingly, over the past 8 years or so Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin has also developed a reputation as a critically acclaimed novelist. His debut novel The Motel Life won a Silver Pen Award from the state of Nevada and landed on the The Washington Post‘s Top 25 Books of 2007 — and it was later adapted into the critically acclaimed movie, The Motel Life which starred Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson. Northline, Vlautin’s second novel was published in 2008 and was a San Francisco Chronicle Top Ten Bestseller. His third novel, Lean on Pete was published in 2010 and won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and was Hot Press’ book of the year. And his last novel, The Free was published two years ago. Along with nine full-length albums, an instrumental soundtrack for Northline, two live albums and an EP,  Vlautin and company have been incredibly (and exhaustingly) prolific.

After a three year hiatus from recording, the members of Richmond Fontaine returned to the studio with their long-time producer John Askew to write and then record their forthcoming tenth full-length effort, You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To, which is slated for a March 18 release through Fluff and Gravy Records across North America and Decor Records across Europe.  The album’s first single “Wake Up Ray,” is a jangling bit of alt country that tells a story with such exquisite narrative details that it creates a very real, lived in world in which the song’s characters wake up every day to a life and a house that they hate and yet feels largely inescapable — all while reminiscing over the time that’s passed and a love that’s long been over. And although wistful and mournful over the things that can’t be, there’s an acceptance of things being impermanent and a quiet joy in once knowing those things.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of husband and wife duo, Keith Kenniff (multi-instrumentalist/producer), also known for his work as Helios and Goldmund and Hollie Kenniff (vocals and primary songwriter),  Portland, OR-based duo Mint Julep started in 2007 with relatively modest intentions –an attempt to get the normally shy Hollie Kenniff to sing more. Initially, the duo’s sound drew from early 90s shoegaze but eventually their sound gradually became influenced by electronic music through the duo’s admiration of rough edged sounds of industrial electronica, which Hollie was a big fan of, and punk rock, which Keith was a big fan of. As Keith Kenniff explained in press notes, “It took us a while to suss out whether this was something we were just going to have fun with, or if we’d actually release our music. But we ended up keeping at it, and now we’re at the point where we’ve created something with its own sound that’s very unique to us.”

The Portland-based duo’s sophomore effort, Broken Devotion was written over a four year period with the duo’s sound reportedly being more lush and intricately layered than their debut effort, Save Your Season while thematically the material explores both the light and dark dimensions of love. “White Hot Heart,” Broken Devotion‘s first single pairs a driving, motorik groove, layers of shimmering and undulating synths and Hollie Kenniff’s ethereal coos in a slickly produced and moody pop song with a shimmering and breezy melody. Sonically, the song is clearly indebted to the synth pop of Pet Shop Boys — think of “West End Girls” for example — as the song possesses a hazy nostalgia over a love affair that has slowly unravelled before the narrator’s eyes while being danceable.