This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Upcoming / News New Concert Series at the Rose Festival
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:32 PM
Portland's annual Rose Festival returns at the end of May! We know: SNOOOZ.
But look lively, music lovers: This year, they're offering a NEW concert series in the NEW RoZone entertainment venue in the NEW CityFair. (Translation: ???)
Most of the acts over the course of the festival look like mainstream country artists (yech) but on Saturday, May 28 the headliner is the soul pop of Fitz and the Tantrums. They're kinda good! I might even go to see this show! Fitz and the Tantrums do this song, which doesn't completely suck.
These will be ticketed shows, and you'll have to go through Ticketmaster to buy tickets, starting tomorrow. Here's the full rundown for the "RoZone Concert Series":
Tonight! Tonight in Music: Talib Kweli, Seasick Steve, Helmet, and much more
Posted by Colleen Smyth on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:08 PM
TALIB KWELI, FASHAWN, ANIMAL FARM, T&E(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) With razor-sharp lyrics and a delivery that's at once laidback and powerful, Talib Kweli's a hell of a hiphop artist in his own right, even if he's most famous for his collaborations (Mos Def, Hi-Tek, Madlib, some guy named Kanye). Tonight he's in Portland, no doubt doing a few tracks off of his latest solo album, Gutter Rainbows. ERIK HENRIKSEN
SEASICK STEVE(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) Seasick Steve is your average sixtysomething former carnie/farmhand/hobo turned globally acclaimed blues musician that just so happens to be huge in the UK and who only recently inked a record deal with Jack White. Yawn. In all seriousness, Seasick Steve is one of those rare musical anomalies that is easy to root for—even if his music veers toward gimmicky at times—as he barks and yammers with a sandpapered yelp and hammers away at a series of instruments that look like they belong in, or were rescued from, the trash heap. His Third Man Records debut will be out later this year and success on this side of the pond is likely to follow. If not, he can always go back to being a carnie. EZRA ACE CARAEFF
HELMET, SAINT VITUS, CROWBAR, KYLESA, RED FANG, HOWL, THE ATLAS MOTH(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) Why do some metal shows have to be a six-hour endurance contest? By the time you get to the headliners your neck is jelly, you're deaf, and you can barely stand anymore. This juggernaut of a bill features seven bands with girthy sonic endowments, to say the least. Crowbar has the hardcore sludge, Saint Vitus brings the classic crawling doom-and-roll, and Helmet's Meantime in its entirety will no doubt be a treat. And that's just the old guard. Do yourself a favor, take a pre-show nap, carb up, and come early to see the new kids on the block: Red Fang, Howl, Kylesa, and the Atlas Moth. Someday the dinosaurs will be extinct, and this next generation will be all that's left. ARIS WALES
O'DEATH, HELADO NEGRO, LEE COREY OSWALD(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) The twisted folk and bluegrass sound of O'Death was an odd fit for a Manhattan-based band—insert joke about them living on Avenue A(ppalachia) here—but it worked wonders on their debut long-player, Head Home. By 2009 the band had picked up steam; that is, until drummer David Rogers-Berry was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (a cancerous bone tumor that has the word "coma" in its name—worst disease ever!) during the middle of a tour. As he underwent chemo, O'Death shuttered for a year, returning only now with the captivating Outside. Frontman Greg Jamie has grown more vocally confident along the way, barking out songs like Isaac Brock (in Ugly Casanova) only to quickly return to a hushed whisper, which only further entrenches the band's backwoods haunt. EAC
A complete listing of this week's shows can be viewed here.
News / MP3 This Week's Mercury Music Section
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Another week, another Mercury music section to console yourself with while you put your house back together after renting it out to Prince. Seriously, if I rented my house to Prince and he didn't install a purple waterfall, I'd be disappointed.
With Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, My Chemical Romance have created a post-apocalyptic rock opera, plus an accompanying line of designer jackets! If you're gonna survive the end of the world, you might as well look sharp.
LISTEN:
My Chemical Romance - "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)"
Caitlin Rose grew up on Nashville's inside track. But if anything the young singer/songwriter is the anti-Taylor Swift.
LISTEN:
Caitlin Rose - "Shanghai Cigarettes"
The Dodos returned to Portland to record their latest record, No Color. But art doesn't come easy. The casualties along the way included the band's vibraphonist, and possibly a few red-and-black caterpillars.
LISTEN:
The Dodos - "Black Night"
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
They Live Here Get Creepy with The Reservations "Live Forever"
Posted by Travis Ritter on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 3:21 PM
I have to applaud whoever called The Reservations "Booker T. and the Black Sabbaths." The band pits '60s psychedelic organ swells and swampy guitar riffs for deliciously dark results. This very low budget video for The Reservations' "Live Forever" superimposes a constantly panning shot of the band, which includes Mattress' Rex Marshall and former Of Montreal bassist Matt Dawson, over grainy black and white footage of cemeteries and burial chambers, creating a paranormal aesthetic that fits the songs vibe like the suit on a corpse in a casket. Go on and dance with the dead.
The Reservations will be releasing a full-length in the near future on Gnar Tapes. They play the Know (2026 NE Alberta) on Saturday, April 9.
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Tonight! Tonight in Music: Sharon Van Etten, White Fang, and more
Posted by Colleen Smyth on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 3:00 PM
SHARON VAN ETTEN, LITTLE SCREAM, SONNY PETE(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Sharon Van Etten has a rare knack for turning the utter desolation of heartbreak into something transformative: Her fierce, intimate songwriting is confident and confessional, lacerating and redemptive. Even rarer—the Brooklyn-by-way-of-New-Jersey-and-Tennessee performer puts on one hell of a live show. ALISON HALLETT Also, read our article on Little Scream.
WHITE FANG, THE MEAN JEANS, BOOM!, THERAPISTS, DJ E*ROCK(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Now is the part of the paper in which we tell you about the new album from White Fang, set for release at tonight's show. Trouble is, the record—released on local label Marriage—didn't make it it to the Mercury office in time for our press deadline. In fact, we're not even sure what it's called: Some sources say Grateful to Shred, while others say Greatful to Shred—the band, unhelpfully, says it is called "both." So we'll just use our imaginations here: Grateful/Greatful to Shred is White Fang's love letter to Tejano death metal and Christian ska, with strong undercurrents of Don Ho and George Frideric Handel. NED LANNAMANN
A complete listing of this week's shows can be viewed here.
News / MP3 Hosannas Return From Tour With A Free EP
Posted by Charlie Swanson on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 11:32 AM
What more do you need to know? Portland duo Hosannas has been on the road since time forgot it seems, supporting their 2010 release, Together. Now, the boys are back and offering up a brand new EP that's actually been a year in the making.
Thug Life Nicole, named after the albino reindeer who quickly became tour mascot, was initially concieved March of 2010 while the band was still a quartet and as the Together sessions were wrapping. Over the year, as brothers Brandon and Richard Laws restructured the band following the departure of Lane Barrington and Cristof Hendrickson, the songs on Thug Life Nicole matched the shift in tone and style tht Hosannas themselves were undergoing.
You can download the new EP for free, but if for some reason you need more convincing, here's opening track, "Obsolete People." Hosannas are playing a spate of live shows around town over the next couple of weeks, including free shows on April 5 (at Holocene), April 10 (at Rontoms), and the free Record Store Day show at Everyday Music on April 16. Wow, do these guys just hate money?
Hosannas - "Obsolete People"
MP3 New Track From Vetiver, "Can't You Tell"
Posted by Raquel Nasser on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Oh, look! Here is Vetiver's "Can't You Tell," a fancy new track all wrapped up in mellotron and reverberating synths. And the name fits, for this song is telling of their latest album, The Errant Charm, and its divergence in style. Will Vetiver be running through the "Chillwave in 2011" banner after they release this record in June? Not entirely—there are still familiar traces of frontman Andy Cabic's all-too perfect California folk rock all over the place—but this new record is both dreamy and energizing in ways not previously explored with the band's past work. Plus, I've taken a sufficiently-drooly afternoon nap while listening to it, as well as a brisk evening walk, and The Errant Charm has proved stunningly appropriate in both scenarios.
Vetiver- "Can't You Tell"
The Errant Charm is out June 14th via Sub Pop, and Vetiver can be found at the top of an already-glorious (though not even completed!) lineup for this year's Pickathon (August 5-7). Summer dreams, commence!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Upcoming Rigsketball
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Any touring band will tell you that life on the road entails a whole lot of hurry-up-and-wait. You're sitting in empty venues, hours before the show, basically twiddling your thumbs.
The dudes in And And And have come up with a pretty sweet way to beat that boredom: they stuck a basketball hoop on the back of their van.
Better yet, they're planning a basketball tournament against other bands later this year.
And And And challenges any Portland band to compete in our summer basketball tournament!The teams will be the top three players from each band v.s. the aforementioned of other bands partaking in said tournament.
The tournament will be set up in bracket form with the location choice given to the band with less myspace views in each given matchup.
We will also be documenting each game and allowing participating bands to have access to the video/photos gathered of their performance on the court/street/wherever for promotional purposes!
Well we here at End Hits want to issue our own roundball challenge to the boys of And And And. The proposed stakes, as concocted by Ezra:
If they win, they can post anything they want on End Hits for a week. If they lose, they have to break up. Actually, we like them, so if they lose they have to record and play live a cover of "Kokomo."
Well, dudes, what do you say? You got game?
Upcoming / Vinyl I Want To Believe: Grouper "Alien Observer"
Posted by Travis Ritter on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 4:00 PM
The folks over at Pitchfork are giving us the first taste of Grouper's forthcoming double LP release, A | A, with the title track to the second LP entitled "Alien Observer." (To lessen the confusion, each LP of A | A is individually titled: Dream Loss and Alien Observer, respectively.) On "Alien Observer," Liz Harris creates an expansive yet spare and nuanced dream-like state, with hushed piano chords and airy vocals that drift into the cosmos and explore whatever else is out there that might never be known. It seems rather introspective and lilted with strange, enigmatic beauty that has always been the case with Grouper's music, but even the smallest sampling of it has me hungry for more.
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Tonight! Tonight in Music: Wye Oak, Davila 666, Holcombe Waller, and more
Posted by Colleen Smyth on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 3:27 PM
WYE OAK, CALLERS, AAN(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our article on Wye Oak.
DAVILA 666, THE MEAN JEANS, THE OUTDOORSMEN(East End, 203 SE Grand) Fueled by the classic garage sound of the '60s, Puerto Rican rockers Davila 666 fuse party-time jams with squealing guitar solos and ass-poppin' tambourines to produce what will surely be an evening of T-shirt-soakin' sweat and fun. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
CHRIS PUREKA, HOLCOMBE WALLER<(The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie) Portland troubadour Holcombe Waller recently made the New York Times' ArtsBeat blog when he, along with two other likeminded musicians, performed during SXSW on the foot of a bed in a room in the historic Driskill Hotel, smack in the heart of downtown Austin but greatly removed from the hustle and bustle of the streets outside. It was by all accounts an ideal setting for Waller's hushed, impassioned songs and gossamer singing voice, showcased to brilliant effect on his latest Into the Dark Unknown collection, a dramatic but not melodramatic (okay, maybe just a little melodramatic) affair that's captivatingly, meditatively gorgeous. Tonight Waller kicks off a tour opening for Massachusetts folksinger Chris Pureka, whose songs are delivered with intensity and urgency that belie their laidback, acoustic instrumentation. NED LANNAMANN
A complete listing of this week's shows can be viewed here.
Contest Win Tickets to Deftones!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 3:06 PM
While it's easy to hate their peers, there's always been something respectable about Deftones. The Sacramento band has freed themselves from the clutches of nü-metal, and the gutter that is hard rock radio, managing to stay relevant well into their second decade together (this, despite a 2008 automobile accident that put longtime bassist Chi Cheng in a coma).
Currently touring on last year's Diamond Eyes, Deftones will be at the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday, April 16, but that show is waaaaay sold out. Bummer. But dry those eyes, the band has announced an additional date on the previous night, Friday, April 15. Not only that, but they'll be joined by Dillinger Escape Plan and Funeral Party as well.
So, you wanna go?
Just comment below and explain why you deserve to see this show. Best comment by tomorrow (Wednesday, March 30) at 4pm will win a pair of tickets. Good luck.
Commenting not for you? That's cool. Just buy your tickets here.
UPDATE: This contest is closed and the winner has been notified.
News Cloud Over Amazon
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 3:01 PM
(BBC) Amazon has unveiled an online music service that lets users upload songs and play them from a range of devices.The 5Gb is yours for nothing. If you buy an album, the corporation will give you 20Gb. Wake up, this is the future we are in.The internet retailer launched its Cloud Player in the US, ahead of rivals Apple and Google which are rumoured to be developing similar systems.
Users are given 5Gb of storage space, roughly equivalent to 1,200 tracks, but can opt to pay for additional capacity.
I Hate You! Paris Hilton Interrogates Lil' Wayne for Interview Magazine, Asks About His Dreams
Posted by Raquel Nasser on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 1:33 PM
In the April Fools issue of Interview magazine, whose glossy pages are catching the light on newsstands somewhere near you, you can find a curious dredging of Lil' Wayne's brain, care of Paris Hilton (with lucky sap Dimitri Ehrlich acting as moderator—something unspeakably perverse wishes I could have taken his place).
I'm not sure exactly why I'm saying this to you, but it's worth a read. (You can find a hearty chunk of an excerpt if you click there). Yes, Hilton's questions are mostly shit and yes, Wayne's answers are certainly typical (although—plot twist!—I didn't expect him to say he kept sharks as pets).
However, there are some finer moments worth recognizing. For instance, what's not to appreciate about Wayne's—no Lil' necessary when we're talking business—metaphor regarding his extracurricular music-listening (which doesn't even exist!)
WAYNE: Honestly, I don't listen to nobody else's music but my own. It's kind of like sports to me. You don't see Kobe Bryant at a LeBron James game-he just works on his own game. And that's what I do. I only listen to me, so I can criticize and analyze and all those things.
Another notable: when Hilton and Wayne commiserate about their various stints in solitary confinement—Wayne for possession of an illegal iPod (presumably full of his own music), and Hilton for safety precautions; they didn't want her organizing the other prisoners for another run of My New BFF. Jail is hard enough.
HILTON: How happy are you to have your freedom now?WAYNE: Words cannot explain.
HILTON: Yeah, I know how you feel. [laughs] It's the best feeling in the world when you come out.
The best/worst part? When Hilton takes Wayne's hand and drags him through a trash alley of interrogations—"What's your sign?" "What do you dream about?" "Do you have Twitter?", thus prompting Ehrlich to cut in and ask the two about their future goals.
HILTON: Me? I'd really love to finish my album, because I've been working on it for so long, but I've had so many other projects that it's hard to focus on one thing. I'd also love to just continue doing my businesses, and be more confrontational with people, because I let a lot of people get away with stuff because I don't say anything. So, personally, I wish that I would be stronger with people.EHRLICH: Wayne, what about you?
WAYNE: I want to bank a cool $50 million at least. At the end of this year, I want to be able to say that I banked $50 million. Not generated $50 million, but actually banked $50 million.
How truly enlightening. What are your goals for the near future, Ends Hitsers?
And on a related note, can anyone point to more entertaining celebrity interview flops? Or, better yet, any instance where this relatively banal scenario—famous person interviews other famous person, finds common ground, plans future collaboration!—has actually proved thought-provoking? I can only think of one off-hand, which is this fantastic q&a session Ed Norton conducted with Bruce Sprinsteen.
News Newspaper Responds to Radiohead with Banjo Cover of "Creep"
Posted by Dave Bow on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 9:45 AM
In response to Radiohead's little sashay into the journalism industry The Guardian newspaper has retaliated with a little sashaying of their own:
...Here is what we were thinking: if Radiohead were really going to publish a newspaper alongside the release of their latest CD), shouldn't the Guardian mount a response? If a band could wade so recklessly into the Guardian's area of expertise, could we not wade into theirs? It was immediately decided that the Guardian would put out its own music CD to promote the release of Monday's paper.
Yes!
At 4pm the full band — hastily christened Radioeds — got together for the first time. Our last-minute keyboard draftee — one Alan Rusbridger — was obliged to sight read the sheet music. Lead singer Ed Vulliamy declared himself unfamiliar with both the lyrics and the melody, though he was able to draw on a severe toothache as an emotional touchstone. He may only have heard the song for the first time that morning, but in his vocal one hears a raw howl of angst induced by genuine pain and, quite probably, painkillers.
What resulted was a version of Radiohead's "Creep", filled out with banjo, trombone and a strange, bravura performance by Guardian writer Vulliamy. Watch it here.
I expect Radiohead, who've basically disowned their first single, to be pretty tickled. They really don't mind "Creep" getting a ridiculous cover treatment or two. Just wait'll they hear the Mercury staff's blistering cover of "Push/Pulk Revolving Doors". That'll teach 'em to come onto our turf!
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News New Album from 31Knots! New Single from 31Knots! New Joe Haege Solo Project!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 8:05 AM
What a welcome surprise. Seems that Joe Haege has been so busy these days playing with Tu Fawning, (occasionally) touring with Menomena, and acting like a creep during music video shoots, that 31Knots was completely dormant.
Well, guess I was wrong.
On June 7th (a date that will forever be known as National Joe Haege Day) Polyvinyl will release the new 31Knots long player, Trump Harm, AND the debut from Vin Blanc, Chroma Key, which is yet another solo project from the 31Knots frontman. In fact, Haege plays all the instruments on Vin Blanc and the album was recorded during the last 31Knots' European tour. He also drove the van on that tour, sold merch (while playing guitar and singing), and then made a fresh Schnitzel for the band and crew after every gig. What a guy!
LISTEN:
31Knots - "Candles on Open Water"
LISTEN:
Vin Blanc - "Red Thread"
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