We already heard a new Typhoon song this morning, but there's much more Music Monday!

Local DIY punk-folk-goof-etc. band the Taxpayers have a new album on the way titled Cold Hearted Town, and and here's the opening title track, in two parts: "Cold Hearted Town Pt 1" and "Cold Hearted Town Pt 2." A rollicking, seasick-drunk jaunt with ragtime overtones, the two-parter is lively, dark, and immediately gripping—"Pt 2" in particular is really outstanding. The album comes out digitally on June 1, then June 15 on CD via the band's own Useless State Records, and will also be issued on vinyl in July. It's available for pre-order on Bandcamp, and those pre-sales will fund the physical release.

Carcrashlander, the musical project of Portland's Cory Gray, has a new record on the way as well. A Plan to Tell the Future is slated for release on August 13, but things being what they are in this crazy computer age, you can hear all of it right now over on Bandcamp. Here's the album's second track, the spectacularly moody "All My Light Begins to Dissipate," a song that's thick with clattering boxcar percussion, rusty guitar moans, barroom piano, and Gray's own trumpet emitting golden shafts of light through the darkness. Go over to Bandcamp to hear and buy the whole thing; a vinyl edition will be available on local label Jealous Butcher, and cassettes to come via Curly Cassettes.

More Music Monday—with tracks from Alela Diane, Dust, the Ecstatics, and an EP stream from Black Prairie—after the jump!

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Quick, before it's too late! It's Music Monday!

I'm pretty nuts over the new Night Mechanic album. Earlier I posted the terrific "Attempt to Steal" (which you will want to listen to here) from their new album Working Late, and now here's the album opener, the just-as-terrific "Send in the Clowns." Do not get nightmares of Sondheim stuck in your head; this is a full-tilt, utterly catchy rocker with a magnificent chorus and a devious bridge. You can read more about Night Mechanic in the upcoming issue of the Mercury; they play a release show for Working Late this Friday, May 10 at the Record Room.

Wampire's upcoming album Curiosity comes out on Polyvinyl on May 14 and it will hip the rest of the world to the band and their easygoing, sexy jams that Portland's known for years. Here's another track from that record, the straightforward, gently bummed-out love song "Trains," which was indeed written on a train. Wampire plays their record release show on Tuesday, May 14 at Mississippi Studios. [UPDATE! You can stream the new album in full over at Pitchfork right now.]

LISTEN: Wampire - "Trains" [DOWNLOAD]

That's enough rock 'n' roll for right now, kids. Let's get into some swingin' ragtime with Ashleigh Flynn, and her new song "Prohibition Rose," which has more than a hint of Dixieland jazz in it. Which is fitting, as the song is about Portland's most notorious bootlegger—a lady, to boot. The track comes from Flynn's new album A Million Stars, which was produced by Chris Funk (the Decemberists, Black Prairie) and comes out May 14.


I've been posting all the new Radiation City tracks for you as they pop up across the far reaches of the internet—the new album, Animals in the Median, will be available for all on May 21 via Tender Loving Empire—and here's another new one. "So Long" is a bubbling, whirring engine with rapid-fire chorus vocals and a spy-movie aura. On the day of Animals' release, Rad City will play an in-store at Music Millennium before kicking off a tour that brings them home for a show at the Wonder Ballroom on June 28.


Did we skip spring altogether? I'm guessing you're okay with the summertime weather we've been having, and Dropa has a summertime jam for us now, too. The title "Sunkissed" pretty much says it all, but this is a lightheaded, warming track with some lovely synth tones and an enveloping chorus. This beautiful track is a preview from Dropa's upcoming double album The Hours Till Daylight, the songs for which are based on an indie film that Dropa's Micah Tamblyn was writing the soundtrack for.


Last up! Another new track from Eluvium's forthcoming record, which also is a double album, titled Nightmare Ending. This is the album's final track, the reassuring and lovely "Happiness," and it includes an appearance by Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo—it's the only track with vocals on the record. Like the Wampire and Ashleigh Flynn albums, Eluvium's album comes out May 14 and will be on the Temporary Residence label. Oh hey, need to hear more? (Yes, you do.) The album, which is really quite gorgeous, is now streaming in full over on NPR.

Man oh man, it's Music Monday!

Starting the week off is a marvelous new song from Portland band Lubec that moved here from Virginia a couple years ago (and named themselves after a town in Maine). The song's called "Local Celebrity" and it boasts dueling male-female vocals and fuzz-drenched guitars to give it a charming shoegaze-twee feel. The song is a preview from their upcoming album The Thrall, which they're currently recording with Robert Comitz of Nucular Aminals at his Frawg Pound Studio, and it's currently available as a free download over on Bandcamp. Meanwhile, Lubec plays the Alhambra Theatre (formerly Mt. Tabor) on Wednesday, May 8.

The Builders and the Butchers' fourth album is on the way, and here's the first preview track from Western Medicine, which comes out on Badman on July 2. It's a good one: The rollicking "Dirt in the Ground" suggests a slightly brighter sound from the B&TB, at least sonically—the band varies their instrumentation subtly but substantially, incorporating electric guitar and layered backing vocals. The lyrics still suggest their typically black-hearted take on gravedigging folk, however, and the album was reportedly influenced by the cheery, smiley writings of Cormac McCarthy. The band plays a record release show on June 22 at Mississippi Studios.


Lindstrøm recently did a remix of an Unknown Mortal Orchestra song, so it's only fitting that UMO return the favor. This cover of Lindstrøm's "Rà-àkõ-st"—I have no idea how to pronounce it—has been given the full Unknown Mortal Orchestra treatment, with lots of well-laid fretwork and plenty of what sound like a giant envelope filter. Putting Lindstrøm's melody through his lead guitar, Ruban Nielson gives the instrumental track a very progressive/krautrock feel; things get especially fancy around the four-minute mark. UMO has the rest of 2013 filled with tour dates, although another hometown Portland show is not scheduled among them.


Local drums/synth duo Wishyunu have a new EP called Futuray coming this June, and here's the lovely single from it. "Sprayy" is a languid, yawning track with ambience as thick as fog. Making a Beach House reference would be easy, but I think this has quite a bit more going for it, including a sci-fi late-night vibe and a driving beat. This is also available as a free download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.


Earlier we premiered (in an early mix) the opening track from TeenSpot's upcoming EP, Aggressive Inline Skating, which is now finished and up on Bandcamp. The power-pop ensemble includes Shaky Hands/Spookies' Mayhaw Hoons, Paper Brain's Mike Wroblewski, Profcal's Asher McKenzie, and Your Rival's Mo Troper (full disclosure—Troper is a Mercury contributor). The band is working on putting Aggressive Inline Skating onto 7-inch (jampacked with six songs), but take a listen to the EP's closing song, "On the Floor" above, and check out the whole thing on Bandcamp.

Mmm, mmm, it's Music Monday!

Portland jazz-and-beyond ensemble Blue Cranes will release their fourth album, Swim, on June 4 via Cuneiform Records, and the record was produced by Decemberists bassist Nate Query. As tenor sax player Joe Cunningham says of the album, "It’s a lot denser than our other records. It’s got this heaviness to it, and a lot of dissonance. I think we were all sort of okay with that because of how we were feeling. It’s dark, but it’s not all dark." Here's an advance song from it, the reassuringly titled "Everything Is Going to Be Okay," which was written as a tribute to alto sax player Reed Wallsmith's sister in law, Franya Berkman, after she was diagnosed with cancer (Berkman has since passed away). Blue Cranes will play a release show on May 24 for Swim, which will be available on blue vinyl—you can pre-order it here.

Local singer/producer/musician Natasha Kmeto has a new album on the way, and she premiered the opening track from it, "Take Out," on Fader last week. Here it is, a minimal but very upfront track with Kmeto's voice front and center that gains momentum as it goes along, with Kmeto fastening R&B together with electronic music in some surprising and unconventional places. The new album, Crisis, comes out on June 18 on Dropping Gems and includes track titles like "Morning Sex" and "Vodka Diet," and no doubt will be further evidence of Kmeto's awesome ability to inventive, introspective club music that sounds like nothing you've ever heard.
Portugal. The Man have another new song—and the new video premiered today as well, check back on Vriday for that—from their upcoming album Evil Friends, which was produced by Danger Mouse and comes out on Atlantic on June 4. (We told you a little bit about it back in March, and showed you the video for the title track.) Here's the terrific "Purple Yellow Red and Blue," which includes guest vocals from two members of Haim and has the catchy tagline "I just wanna be evil." P.TM just played Coachella and will appear on Jimmy Kimmel tonight; no word on a hometown show just yet.
Bear & Moose, the local drums and guitar duo, have a new album on the way. Inside the Eyewall will be out June 8, and that night they'll perform a release show at the Doug Fir. Inside the Eyewall follows up Bear & Moose's double-album debut, and this track "Dreamer" finds the energetic, noisy interplay in the duo along with hints of pop and blues.Man-loving metal band Gaytheist have two new songs from their upcoming album Hold Me...But Not So Tight (previously posted news on that here) available for internet listening—they're not embeddable, but listen to "Spread 'Em" over on Exclaim and the ingeniously titled "Wisdom of the Asshole" over on Metal Underground.Lastly, Grouper (AKA Liz Harris) did a 35-minute mix for FACT magazine called "The Image of True Death." I can't embed this one here either, but you can listen to it, and download it, on either FACT's site or Soundcloud. It's a weird assemblage of spooky folk and the deep-burrowing sound excavation that Harris is known for. She declined to provide a track list for the mix, but it includes tracks from Jandek and Ivor Cutler. It's beautiful and chilly and weird.

A rough news day. Here's some music to help a little, maybe, hopefully.

Radiation City premiered a second track from their upcoming album Animals in the Median on Nylon last week. "Zombies" is an outstanding piece of work, a lush, immaculately crafted pop symphony that feels far greater than its three minutes. As it moves through a complicated series of sounds and sections, it incorporates an army's worth of voices, clicks, guitars, organs, percussion, synth blurbles, and more, but never loses the thread or gets overwhelmed. In other words, it's the kind of infatuating pop tune you'd expect from Radiation City. The group kicks off a tour as soon as the record comes out (on Tender Loving Empire on May 21) before returning to Portland for a homecoming/record release show at the Wonder Ballroom on Friday, June 28.

Here's another track from the forthcoming Eluvium album, Nightmare Ending, due on May 14 on Temporary Residence. "Entendre" is one of the record's more modest tracks, a simple piano piece that still conveys a very palpable sense of space and time, as it moves through different chordal positions, and a flexible rhythm that rises and falls like human breath.

Here's a track for Street Nights' long-awaited full-length, You Have My Word, which is available now on vinyl via the band's Bandcamp. This track opens up side 2, a classic-rock slow-cooker with lots and lots of guitar—and I mean the good kind of guitar. Street Nights are on a bit of a break after lead guitarist Dan Wilson left town, but the album is out now, and it includes a cover of a song by Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers, who passed away in February.

PDX rapper Tope has a new one: "Stuck" is the preview track from his upcoming EP Trouble Man, which comes out this summer on Amigo/Amiga. Produced by Tope, this track is styled after "a summer type Madlib style beat," offering a gossamer Philly-soul backdrop for Tope's tale of romantic woe about being "stuck" with a girl who smokes all his weed and won't cook him dinner. Hang in there, Tope.

Last song, this one from the sorta-Portland duo She & Him. Since M. Ward lives here and part of their upcoming album Volume 3 was recorded here, we'll count 'em. This is actually a very appealing track written by Zooey Deschanel, with girl-group echoes and a wistful melody over some super-creamy, lush production. Say what you like about She & Him, but I always appreciated their ability to evoke AM radio's golden era, when pop and soul and country and everything else shared the same spot on the dial. She & Him have a summer tour coming up, although no Portland date is scheduled.

My my my, it's more Monday musics!

Here's the new track from Luck-One, from his upcoming "fralbum" (that's free album, for all you accountants) Curse of the Pharoah, which is due out this summer. Simultaneously invective, self-reflective, and musically stampeding, "Strange Fruit" was produced by Samerei, and Luck himself says it's possibly his greatest lyrical performance yet. I don't disagree.

Last night Charts released their brand new EP Vacation at last night's show at Rontoms. Its four great tracks see the band squeegeeing off the lo-fi grime of their past recordings, and the clarity shows their songwriting chops are stronger than ever. Here's the first track, the wide-eyed and possibly ironic "Settling Down," with a bouncing beat, crushed-out bass, and tropical guitar.

Last week, the We Shared Milk hastily released their second album a few short months after their first full-length. Lame Sunset was recorded in their practice space and is a bit more lean and focused than their first, which was recorded with lots of other Portland bands; this is the We Shared Milk standing on their own feet and finding a bit more of their own identity. Here's the second track, the churning, chugging "Gross Deathbeds."

Lastly, here's one from a Portland band called Big Haunt that I don't know too much about. This song and another track called "I Am the Terror" made their way to my inbox, and they show the trio taking on old weird folk. This track, "Quiet Age," has a granite-gravestone-like coolness and a smoky ambience, not to mention the band's eerie harmonies.

So much music for Music Monday! Makes Taco Tuesday look like a puddle of puke!

I'm sorry, Taco Tuesday. I didn't mean it. Let's never fight again.

First up is the unsurprisingly great new track from Radiation City. "Foreign Bodies" is the first single off the forthcoming Animals in the Median, due out May 21 on Tender Loving Empire, and it continues Rad City's trend of effortlessly pouring ingredients from the entire history of 20th century pop music into a shaker and serving them up in a zesty new cocktail. This summery track premiered on Rolling Stone last week, and you can also download it via Soundcloud.

LISTEN: Radiation City - "Foreign Bodies"


The Thermals have another track for you to check out from the upcoming Desperate Ground album, due out on Saddle Creek on April 16. "The Sunset" sees the Portland trio in a slightly sunnier, sweeter mode than opening track "Born to Kill." They're still pumping at full volume, but this time there's a surprisingly lovely melody over the rumbling bass and drums, and the perfectly buffed, rounded major chords. It sounds sad and hopeful. You can also check out the lyric video and download the song via Soundcloud in exchange for an email address. The Thermals play Branx on April 20.

LISTEN: The Thermals - "The Sunset"

More music from Electric iLL, Sun Angle, Brainstorm, and Ghost Feet after the jump!

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It's Music Monday! Here's the best in new Portland music.

Gaytheist announced a new record is on the way, less than a year after their splendid Stealth Beats hit an unsuspecting metal scene last year. Described as a "power (bottom) trio?)," Gaytheist releases Hold Me... But Not So Tight on May 21 on Good to Die Records, and here's the lead track, the quick, rumbling, raging "MANhattan." (You will notice the clever wordplay with emphasis on the word MAN.) Gaytheist—one of Portland's best metal bands, and certainly its gayest—just played a show last night opening for Federation X. The record release for Hold Me... But Not So Tight is May 22 at the White Owl Social Club, and they'll be joined by a little band called Red Fang. In the meantime, Gaytheist also plays April 5 at East End.

LISTEN: Gaytheist - "MANhattan" (Song also on Soundcloud and for purchase on Bandcamp.)

It shouldn't be a surprise that Nick Jaina's new album is worth listening to; he's been one of Portland's most reliable songwriters for years, over the course of five albums and works for other mediums including ballet and stage. But Jaina's sixth full-length, Primary Perception, is absolutely masterful, perhaps his best work yet and one of the strongest records of the year. Here's the naughty-word-laden lead single, which premiered on Spin last week. Primary Perception comes out April 16 on Fluff & Gravy Records, and Jaina plays a release show of sorts next week at the Doug Fir, on April 3.

LISTEN: Nick Jaina - "Don't Come to Me"

The quickest way to tell you about the Pynnacles is that they're the current band of local legend Sean Croghan (Crackerbash, Moustache, one zillion other bands). But the Pynnacles is decidedly a full band effort, with Scott Fox, John Cox and Dave Busaker of Satan's Pilgrims, drummer Thom Sullivan, and organist Tamar Berk all making vintage garage rock together. It's no surprise to learn that the band formed after one of the annual infamous Nuggets nights. They're releasing their self-titled album this Saturday, March 30 at Tonic Lounge, and here's the opening track, the engine-oil scream of "Donna," which evokes memories of the best Elvis Costello.

LISTEN: The Pynnacles - "Donna"

Lastly, here's a wonderful, wicked new track from Sama Dams. I wrote about the release show of their innovative new album—that's tomorrow at Bunk Bar, Tuesday March 26, be there—but here's a chance to hear their remarkable, challenging new work for itself. At times "Pretty Ghosts" approaches a conventional indie-pop song, but listen to those staggering drumstick clicks, that drunk-funk bass synth devouring the entire bottom end, those eerie backing vocals that could possibly be the pretty ghosts of the title. It's all deliriously, deliberately off kilter. When you hear No Vengeance, you'll know that Sama Dams is no mere buzz band but a fierce, adventurous musical force to be reckoned with.

LISTEN: Sama Dams - "Pretty Ghosts"

Here are some local musics for your Monday!

First up is a killer track from the amazing new Night Mechanic album, Working Late. It's the Portland band's second album although it's the first one I've heard. This band has it all: Knotty dueling guitars, heat-seeking pop chops, a singing drummer! I had a rough time picking a track from Working Late to post, as the whole album is terrific, but here's track 3, the fantastic "Attempt to Steal." The nasal vocal in the opening verse reminds me of a late-'70s/early '80s-era band I can't put my finger on (someone help me out here?), and the song slowly builds in intensity to a terrific chorus. Except to hear more about Night Mechanic in the coming weeks, including, hopefully, details of an album release show. Working Late comes out April 1 on AIO Records.

Here's a much-awaited new one from Kelli Schaefer, the opening track from her new EP 601, which comes out May 28. "Giants" begins in an elusive manner, a chunky shaker concealing the downbeat until Schaefer's skeletal arrangement fleshes itself out over the track's ticktock rhythm and thick tom toms. The track opens up to surprising depth and fervency, with Schaefer's remarkable voice given plenty of opportunity to shine. "Giants" is available as a free download to those who pre-order the EP, available as a download and on clear, 10-inch vinyl.

Here's a cover of a former Portlander covering another former Portlander—in this case, Heather Woods Broderick covering a song by her brother, Peter Broderick. While both Oregonians have left town (Heather is currently based in New York and is part of Sharon Van Etten's band; Peter resides in Berlin), we're still hanging onto 'em as ours. Heather's "Outside in Here"—her cover of Peter's "Inside Out There," from his recent These Arms of Mine solo album—is absolutely, stunningly, shiveringly good. With a wall of overdubbed vocals and a butterfly piano pattern, this rides a lengthy introduction to the song's lyrical section. While Peter has been happily prolific, this track is a reminder that we need to hear lots more solo stuff from of Heather Woods Broderick; her 2009 album From the Ground was a masterpiece.

Here's another pretty one: Morning Ritual is a new name with some familiar faces. Helmed by local jazz/funk/everything pianist Ben Darwish, the band also includes guitarist William Seiji Marsh and drummer Russ Kleiner. "The Drought," a lackadaisically gorgeous track, also features vocals from the Shook Twins, and will appear on their debut album The Clear Blue Pearl, which will be out in the summer. Morning Ritual plays this Wednesday, March 20 at the White Eagle.

There Is No Mountain is another new name with some familiar faces; the Ascetic Junkies have changed their moniker (possibly in homage to Donovan?). The duo of married couple Kali Giaritta and Matt Harmon now offer the first track under their new name, the unbelievably catchy "Owl Hymn." I first heard them play this during the Ascetic Junkie's guest turn on Action/Adventure Theater's Fall of the Band; it was lovely then, and it's great now to hear the recorded version.

Ready for one more new band from familiar faces? This is Snowy Plover, the duo made of Daphne Faison and the Ocean Floor's Lane Barrington, who have also collaborated under the name Sprinkles. "Frozen Dessert Adventure" will please listeners with a sweet tooth, a giddy electronic pop song with synthesizer shimmers and Faison's inviting vocal. Snowy Plover play this Saturday, March 23 at Kelly's Olympian.

It's Music Monday! Shake the cobwebs outta your ears and listen to some hot new tracks from Portland bands.

Radiation City dropped this gorgeous, lush cover of "Fly Me to the Moon," the standard made famous by Frank Sinatra, although this version owes more to Astrud Gilberto's 1965 bossa nova rendition. Spearheaded by Lizzy Ellison's incredible vocal and a candlelit romanticism, the song boasts a squiggly synth solo that also evokes the space-age futurismo that surrounded the song in its original heyday. This is a beautiful track, whetting the appetite all the more for Radiation City's upcoming 2013 album.

The first single from Sun Angle's upcoming album also hit last week; here's the frantic whirlwind of "Time Snakes," from the Danny Seim-produced Diamond Junk, which was recorded in a cabin in Zigzag, Oregon, and comes out May 7 on New Moss Records. Drummer Papi Fimbres tears through this track like a hurricane, although Charlie Salas Humara's guitar and vocal lock onto a super-melodic hook, transforming the chaos into something uplifting. After they play Boise's Treefort Music Fest, Sun Angle are going to play Holocene on Monday, March 25 opening for Bad Weather California.


LISTEN: TeenSpot - "The Hero"
Here's the opening track from the first EP from a new band called TeenSpot, featuring Shaky Hands/Spookies' Mayhaw Hoons, Your Rival's Mo Troper (who's also a Mercury contributor), and Paper Brain's Mike Wroblewski, who's just departed the band and has been replaced for live shows by Profcal's Asher McKenzie. With the (probably) ironic line "Get with the hero," this upholds the fine tradition of self-loathing yet joyously infectious power-pop, with chiming guitars and an outrageously high vocal line. TeenSpot plays this Friday, March 15, with Charts at the SoHiTek Gallery in the Everett Street Lofts.


Last week also gave us another peek at the upcoming 1939 Ensemble album, via the track "Sad French Song," which premiered on Pitchfork on Friday. With only two members, the duo of Jose Medeles and David Coniglio have created something gargantuan-sounding in this track, as the drum kit is given room to breathe, accompanied by stark vibraphone lines and electronic ambience. The song will appear on Howl and Bite, 1939 Ensemble's forthcoming album due on April 16 on Jealous Butcher. They play a hometown record release show on Friday, March 29 at Mississippi Studios.


Here's another cover; this one's from Portland's Young Turks, who have tackled Bruce Springsteen's oft-covered "I'm on Fire" to benefit the Green Acres Animal Sanctuary. Their rustic, slightly twanged but ultimately faithful rendition is available for purchase for a $1 minimum donation on Bandcamp, and all proceeds go to benefit the Silverton, Oregon charity, which finds homes for abused and unwanted farm animals. Young Turks is the band of former Broadway Calls bassist Matt Koenig.


Here's the new one from She & Him, which is sorta local since "Him" (AKA M. Ward) lives here, and the new album was recorded partly in Portland. Volume 3 continues the group's tradition of breathtakingly inventive album titles and classic 20th-century pop, as evidence by "Never Wanted Your Love," penned by "She" (that's Zooey Deschanel). It comes out May 7 on Merge and She & Him tour dates are planned, although no Portland show has been announced yet.


I'll end today with the second advance track from Eluvium's upcoming double album: The lovely "Envenom Mettle" features an appearance by Explosions in the Sky's Mark T. Smith, joining Portlander Matthew Cooper on a track that's comfortingly and epically pretty. Eluvium's Nightmare Ending comes out May 14 on Temporary Residence, and marks a return to Eluvium's more instrumental, droning work after 2010's vocally oriented Similes.

It's Monday, so it's time to embed some Soundclouds into the blog!

Wampire have another preview track to listen to from their upcoming full-length, Curiosity, which comes out on Polyvinyl on May 14. "Spirit Forest" is driven by warbling analog synth sounds, slapback bass, and a skating but slightly funky drumbeat. They've been accompanying Unknown Mortal Orchestra on their very successful US tour, and after they play SXSW, they'll open for UMO on April 5 at the Aladdin.

The Lower 48 have a new song as well; the fantastic "Setting Sun" demonstrates the sheer tunefulness of this Portland trio, a sloping, shuffling, almost Beatlesque track (with brass!) that demands repeat listens. The band has an album planned for later this year, and are about to embark on a short Midwestern tour. They've got two Portland shows planned for April: Friday, April 12 at the Doug Fir and Sunday, April 28 at Mississippi Studios.

Alameda sent us their new song, and have generously offered it as a download to readers. "A Violence" will appear in early May on a 7-inch that the Portland band is preparing for their three-week tour of Alaska. The band's Stirling Myles tells us: "'A Violence' is the first song we've written with our drummer Barra Brown, already in the band. We recorded it at my house (Christmas Horse Studios) and it was produced by Dan Pisarcik. We'll be recording the other song on March 30 at Wavelength Studios in Salem." Alameda plays Mississippi Studios on Thursday, March 14, opening for Harlowe and the Great North Woods.

LISTEN: Alameda - "A Violence" [DOWNLOAD MP3]

Over the weekend Glass Candy dropped a teaser track from the long-awaited After Dark 2 compilation. "The Possessed" is a slow-burning disco number with a glossy, midnight-black sheen but a burning heart underneath. The appearance of this track (still no firm release date for After Dark 2 just yet) comes on the heels of mastermind Johnny Jewel making the 2008-vintage Glass Candy B-side "Geto Boys" available as a free download.

Adventure Galley have a new one that premiered on Nylon last week. "Seminatics"—actually, Brock from the band tells me the track is called "Semantics"—is a nostalgia-tinged pop number with cavernous echo and a head-reeling, romantic sensibility. I'm not sure what's up with the song's abrupt ending, although I'm guessing it segues into another (unheard) track, perhaps? Adventure Galley open for Citizens at the Doug Fir on March 24.

We'll close with a cover song performed by Al James of Dolorean. James takes on a J. Tillman tune from Tillman's 2006 album Long May You Run, J. Tillman (recorded years before Tillman adapted his current Father John Misty persona). That album is being given the complete cover treatment over at the Slowcoustic blog, and there, James tells a story of meeting Tillman on a tour with Damien Jurado and Richard Buckner in 2004. It's worth a quick read.

Brainstorm's new single "She Moves" comes out on Tender Loving Empire tomorrow in digital form. It's the follow up to their 2012 album Heat Waves and Brainstorm says it's an antidote to winter time: "Dear Winter, If it wasn't for your dreary days we may never have holed up in a basement to record these two new songs... Call us escapists, but we need to write tunes that summon sweat and sun burns... These new tracks pine for the care-free bliss of an endless summer in the middle of the dank Pacific NW haze." The A-side's up above and it's a great track, building up to gnashing guitar chords at its climax. Later this week, Brainstorm embark on a tour down the West Coast and to Austin, Texas, for SXSW, and then back up to Boise for Treefort Music Fest.

The new remix for Shy Girls' "Under Attack" just premiered over on Yours Truly. (We posted the original back in December.) The remix was done by "Our buddies THE-DRUM out of Chicago. They're super on-point," Shy Girls' Dan Vidmar tells us. THE-DRUM's remix deconstructs Shy Girls' yearning slow jam into something a little more abstract, and makes it sound more flippant, more casually cool in the process. Shy Girls are also playing Boise's Treefort Music Fest in March.


Eluvium announced a new double album for later this year, to be titled Nightmare Ending, due on May 14 on Temporary Residence. It's the first Eluvium album since Similes came out in 2010, although Matthew Cooper (the man behind the Eluvium moniker) most recently released a record as "Martin Eden." Here he returns to the ambient-inflected, glacially moving work he's best known for. The double album's opening track, the lushly beautiful and meditative "Don't Get Any Closer," is posted above.


Lastly, here's a track that turned up in the inbox from a mysterious act calling itself Wwolfee! It's a catchy, fun psych-pop number that connects a few different moods together, including fuzz garage and space synth, with falsetto harmonies and homespun charm. Wwolfee! appears to be the alter ego of a Portlander named Nick Allard, who I can't imagine is the same guy as the KGW weatherman. [UPDATE: It is in fact J. Nicholas Allard of Portland bands the Village Green and Light for Fire.]

New and newish ones from Portland bands!

First up is one from the Woolen Men's upcoming album, due on March 5 on Woodsist. We played another teaser track—the excellent "Mayonnaise"—at the beginning of the year, and this one is just as good. "Head on the Ground" is a blurry but not incoherent garage stomper, joyously jangling through its three-chord verses at top speed.

Second is "Lonely, Lonesome and Alone," the new track country ne'er-do-wells Denver posted on their site for Valentine's Day last week. They've got it up for now, but it may not be up for too much longer, so go over to Denver's site now for a first glimpse at the band's next record, which is due out 'round summertime. Expect twang, sadness, whiskey harmonies, and a high-whistling harmonica.

Next up is the first solo album from Portland resident Johnny Marr. While Marr has played in Portland-based bands like Modest Mouse and the Cribs (and I gather he might have played guitar in some other band before that), this is Marr's first solo album all to himself. He left Portland to record The Messenger in his native UK, but the record's out on February 26 and is streaming in full over on The Guardian. (Apparently it is also streaming at Rolling Stone.)

Speaking of full-record streams, you can also hear Natasha Kmeto's new EP, Dirty Mind Melt, before it comes out tomorrow on Dropping Gems. That's over at Dummy.

Meanwhile, art-rock-folk-psych-etc. band the Harvey Girls also have a new EP, recorded live at KBOO in December. It's the first of four free EPs the Portland group has planned for this year. That's streaming on their Bandcamp page as well as here.


Lastly, Portland "blackened experimental" metal band Eight Bells have their new release, the four-song The Captain's Daughter, streaming in full over at Metal Insider. Featuring members of SubArachnoid Space, Eight Bells is a three-piece that colors outside almost every stylistic border. Here's the stream:

It's Monday! There was a big something or other on TV about music last night, but I'm not sure what happened exactly. You can probably check Facebook and find out. In the meantime, here's a lot of new music that you actually care about.

Not long after announcing the details of their next album, the Thermals have a preview track to listen to. The cheerily titled "Born to Kill" is no vast departure for the Portland trio—it's a loud, brash, uber-melodic, punkish, poppish number that's both caustic and super catchy, all over in under two minutes. Desperate Ground comes out April 16 on Saddle Creek. [UPDATE!] The Thermals will play a record release show at Branx on Saturday, April 20.

1939 Ensemble announced their upcoming debut record, to be titled Howl & Bite and to come out April 16 as well, on Portland's Jealous Butcher Records. The all-percussion duo of Jose Medeles and David Coniglio premiered an advance track over on Spin titled "Sabotage." That one's not available for embedding (boo), so you have to click over to Spin to hear it. A stream has been found! Also, 1939 Ensemble play an album release show at Mississippi Studios on Friday, March 29.


Natasha Kmeto's new EP Dirty Mind Melt is out on Dropping Gems next week (and she's got a full-length due in May). The title track popped up last month, and another track from the EP, "Contranym," premiered on Pigeons and Planes a few days ago. Here it is, an adventurous, weightless-sounding mix of electronic, R&B, and hiphop that ends up sounding like none of those things.

Former Portlanders YACHT got their remixing hands on a track by current Portlanders Parenthetical Girls, reinventing one of the 21 songs from the Privilege series of EPs that will make up the forthcoming, 12-track Privilege (Abridged) full-length, due out next week on February 19, a joint release from Slender Means Society and Marriage Records. YACHT remixed "Young Throats," which you can check out below. (Los Campesinos! also remixed a Privilege track, "Sympathy for Spastics," which you can listen to here.) Meanwhile, Parenthetical Girls play March 6 at Holocene before ducking down to Austin for SXSW. [UPDATE!] You can stream all of the Privilege (Abridged) album over at MTVHive.

Also out on February 19 is the much-anticipated new one from STRFKR, and they've been previewing an ample number of new tracks from that record on their Soundcloud. Here's another advance track (that's not on the Soundcloud); this one's named after the Lebanese author of The Prophet. Reportedly, bassist Shawn Glassford had to re-tune his bass in the middle of recording this track to match the warbling, meandering pitch of Josh Hodges' original demo.

LISTEN: STRFKR - "Kahlil Gibran"
Minden frontman Casey Burge also has a healthy home-recording solo career as well, with a couple releases on the Overland Shark label. This is a new one, a falsetto-sung '70s-gazing bit of glitter pop-funk.


Lastly, here's a song that doesn't exist yet. Tom Filepp, also known as Cars & Trains, is trying a crowdsourcing experiment for a new track. He's asking for people to submit samples—of anything, percussion sounds, melodic sounds, anything at all—which he'll attempt to incorporate into a new song. More info on that, and how to submit your sounds, over on Cars & Trains' site.