For our newest edition of RIYL (that's an acronym for "recommended if you like"), we're turning over control of End Hits to the sons and daughters of Grandparents, one of Portland's most promising up and coming acts. Their outstanding new record Sugar Beach is a banquet of experimental rock motifs, with representation from five musical food groups: shoegaze, krautrock, garage, tropicalia, and all things psychedelic. Because each member brings such a variety of ingredients to the table, End Hits asked them to share some favorites from their eclectic recipe books.

Check out Grandparents' new single "HeadCleaner" below. Then, after the jump, you can read about and listen to some of your Grandparents' favorite music, including Comus, Caetano Veloso, and Belong.

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The psyched-out sounds that define Portland's Sun Angle have been steadily evolving over the course of the last year. The diffusive combination of longtime locals Charlie Salas Humara (Panther), Papi Fimbres (paper-upper-cuts), and Marius Libman (Copy) have lead to an improv- and effects-laden trip through cracked coastal rhythms and dynamically visceral experimentation.

Coming off their impressive self-titled debut EP, released two weeks ago, the band has been busy bringing their bent and wildly celebratory style around town, culminating in next week's Into the Woods Fall Party at Mississippi Studios on Sunday, November 27, alongside other favorites Hosannas and Log Across the Washer. Expect new videos and some of the most festive face shredding of the season.

We got the chance to shoot a couple of questions over to the band about what's led them up to now, and where they're headed from here. Check 'em out after the jump and then take a listen to the EP's opening track, "Timesnakes."

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Oregon writer Matt Love recently posted his personal liner notes to Nevermind on the Powell's blog, inspired by the album's 20th anniversary rerelease:

Cut to 1989: Portland was cheap. I was a high school social studies teacher living in a spacious $350-a-month, two bedroom apartment (with balcony and a yard!) in the Belmont neighborhood. It was the good gray time in Portland, before the invasion of irony and long conversations about beer in dive taverns. I could afford to drink cheap Pacific Northwest lagers then still brewed in the Pacific Northwest by union men, and watch band after band and contract hangover after hangover in the exquisitely seedy rock club Satyricon, (don't go there, it's not there anymore) waiting for a sonic Red Sea to wash away all the leather-clad hair metalers. I remember seeing Nirvana at least a half-dozen times and thinking, well... nothing. I never once had any interaction with the band or their various hangers on, or with anything connected to the burgeoning scene at the time. I just went there to get drunk, listen to loud rock and roll, and throw glasses against the wall.

In the same post, Love links to the YouTube channel for the "Newport High Friday Lunch Jam," which is an open mic he hosts in his classroom every Friday. It is adorable. Newport!

Local dream pop fuss-abouts, Radiation City, have officially declared that their debut LP, The Hands That Take You, will be re-released on September 27th via Tender Loving Empire. While the musical marriage between these two is not exactly breaking news—the local imprint, known best for its vehement hatred of all things Portland, announced the signing in late May—it's nice to finally see a calendar date, as well as a release show (September 24th at the Doug Fir), on the books.

In further news that is not all that new, The Hands That Take You has possibly been stuck in the tape deck of your LeBaron for some time now. It was first brought into this world on cassette via Apes Tapes, which band members Cameron Spies (guitar/vocals) and Lizzy Ellison (vocals/keyboards) conceived in 2010. So, it's possible that because of that—as well as a handful of live performances the band has played around town—you are already familiar with their modernly gossamer interpretations of 50s pop and 60s Brazilian jazz. But surely, the prospect of listening to this fantastic record on CD and vinyl excites you, right?

...What's that? You want it on eight-track and MiniDisc, too? Well, now you're just being ridiculous.

Here is the first single:

Radiation City- "The Color of Industry"

And hooray! You can catch the band live quite a bit in the next few months:
July 14 - Portland, OR- Holocene "Into The Woods Quarterly"
July 24 - Portland, OR- PDX POP NOW! @ Refuge PDX
July 29 - Portland, OR- Doug Fir w/ Tu Fawning
Sept 24 - Portland, OR- Doug Fir (CD Release Show)

In this week's print edition I wrote about Group Doueh and their taste-making world music label, Sublime Frequencies. Co-founder Hisham Mayet lives in Portland. We talked about a lot, as the Libyan-born Mayet has been traveling the globe since he was a young boy.

END HITS: GROUP DOUEH JUST ARRIVED IN THE STATES FROM THE WESTERN SAHARA AND YOU FLEW OUT TO MEET THEM. ARE YOU OFTEN THE GUY SHEPHERDING BANDS ON TOURS FOR THE LABEL?
MAYET: Every tour that they've been on I've managed the tour and kind of been the utility guy—translator, tour manager, recorder, logistics, you name it, even prepping the visas from the get go. It's pretty extensive.

I WANT TO GET A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON THE LABEL BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT DOUEH. HOW DID YOU COME TO BE A PART OF THIS THING?
The label was started officially in 2003 by myself, Alan and Rick Bishop. It was a loose collection of friends who gathered on weekends to show our films and generally have a good time. We all traveled a lot, sort of collecting recordings and shooting video and documenting this stuff for ourselves. One thing led to another, we had some really successful film screenings in Seattle back in 2002 and 2003. The response was kind of overwhelming and so we just decided to give it a go. Me and Alan and Rick officially started it. And about a year later Rick pursued his solo art career. So ever since then it's been a two-man company. We have a solid crew of contributors that include Rob Milis, Mark Gergis, Laurent Geneau, and many others that have made contributions over the years...

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In completely unsurprising news, Portland trio Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who only played their first show at Doug Fir with Smith Westerns two months ago, just signed to blues label indie/garage bandwagon label Fat Possum, home of touring mates Smith Westerns and Yuck.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, which was once a solo home recording project of Ruban, the former leader of New Zealand band Mint Chicks, have readied a tracklist for their forthcoming debut full length, due June 21, and are currently in the midst of a crazy huge North American tour, supporting Smith Westerns, Portugal. The Man, and Telekinesis. The tour sadly doesn't include Portland on the itinerary. But in the meantime, you can also download Unknown Mortal Orchestra's "How Can U Love Me," which will be included on the full-length.

In other UMD news, the band has released a krautrock-ish remix of Little Dragons "Night Light," which you can download here.

Congratulations, Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I don't think you're not going to be unknown for long.

Tracklisting and complete tour schedule after the jump.

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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.

• Josh Haner/The New York Times

When Holcombe Waller arrived in Austin this week for SXSW, he wasn't even registered as a performer. In the midst of a few thousand other artists and musicians, the Portland singer/songwriter didn't have any sets lined up. That is, until he, his manager (former Mississippi Studios booker Alicia Rose), and a few others decided to put together an intimate hotel room show for friends and industry folk. Seems like the New York Times showed up and took in Waller's hushed tones and melodies, along with those of Alessi's Ark and Jenny O.

The performers... all use whisper dynamics to cast their spell — which can be a severe disadvantage at a festival with more clamor per square foot than just about anywhere else in the world.

But at the hotel on Saturday afternoon, they sat at the foot of the bed and played with a delicacy — and a casualness — that would simply be impossible anywhere else here.

Always nice to see a local boy turning the big heads. Like an oasis in the desert of insanity that this year's SXSW became, Waller even managed to squeeze a cello back there (as seen in the video below) to play out his somber and serene music. Back in town and playing the Woods March 29, Waller is continuing to tour in support of his new album, Into the Dark Unknown, booking be damned!

It's that time of year again, local musical friends (and non-local musical friends of friends), for the meanest record label in history—Tender Loving Empire—to begin gathering songs for their compilation, Friends and Friends of Friends Vol IV. In case you're not familiar, this annual release is comprised of two discs—one designated for Portlanders and another for outsiders, or "pen-pals," as TLE so hatefully refers to them—and intends on bringing together independent labels and bands that don't normally have the chance to work together. The likes of Monarques, Y La Bamba, Typhoon, tUnEyArDs, Love Language and more have graced the polycarbonate prisms of past volumes, and this year... well, you could, too.

Here's what to do:
-Write a song, or use one you've already written. It better be good, and formatted as a .wav or .aiff file. Wondering .wtf those are? Check here.
-Go to this website and press the upload button (after filling out the form and reading the terms and conditions, of course).

And that's it! You and your Seoulian friends in that marginal K-Pop band have until May 1st, so get 'em in.

• Matthew Caldwell
• Langhorne Slim in an alley way off Alberta Street

Three hours before a live studio audience of 400 were to arrive for the Live Wire! taping, Langhorne Slim dressed in his stage duds, strolls up to the Alberta Rose Theatre prior to soundcheck. After quick introductions were made, we shuffle across Alberta street and grab a table at the Vita Cafe to talk about this former Pennsylvanian's new hometown.

When did you move to Portland?
I can’t remember the month [smiles] but... about eight months ago.

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While attempting to operate a motor vehicle in THIS MASSIVE SNOWSTORM, I happened upon a few familiar notes from the song "If I Find Love," off of Dolorean's latest, The Unfazed, on the FM dial. And then listened to this:

Dolorean: 'Unfazed' by Life's Challenges, on NPR's Fresh Air

Always nice to see a local band receive some good national press, and especially one that deserves it as much as Dolorean does; The Unfazed has been in the player for a while, and it just keeps getting better. Read the transcript of Ken Tucker's review here.