Simplicity Parenting Coming to Portland
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. To address this "cumulative stress disorder," Portland Waldorf School is bringing internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne, M.Ed., to Portland for a lecture and workshop on April 17 and 18. Mr. Payne’s work helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. In his book, Simplicity Parenting, he shows parents how the extraordinary power of less allows them to raise calmer, happier and more secure kids by following doable, orderly, and effective pathways:
* Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter – as well as the lights, sounds and general sensory overload.
* Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed.
* Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing.
* Scale back on media and exposure to adult concerns. Manage your children’s "screen time" to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation.
To learn more and meet Kim John Payne, attend these local events:
Simplicity Parenting Lecture, with Kim John Payne
$40 tickets
To order tickets: http://portlandwaldorf.org/simplicity-parenting/
Simplicity Parenting Coming to Portland
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. To address this "cumulative stress disorder," Portland Waldorf School is bringing internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne, M.Ed., to Portland for a lecture and workshop on April 17 and 18. Mr. Payne’s work helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. In his book, Simplicity Parenting, he shows parents how the extraordinary power of less allows them to raise calmer, happier and more secure kids by following doable, orderly, and effective pathways:
* Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter – as well as the lights, sounds and general sensory overload.
* Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed.
* Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing.
* Scale back on media and exposure to adult concerns. Manage your children’s "screen time" to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation.
To learn more and meet Kim John Payne, attend these local events:
Simplicity Parenting Lecture, with Kim John Payne
$20 tickets
To order tickets: http://portlandwaldorf.org/simplicity-parenting/
Your friends at Art Spark will be featuring RACC's Work for Art. Work for Art is a workplace giving program and the sole umbrella fund for arts and culture and arts education programs in the tri county region. The community partner at the next Art Spark will be Miracle Theatre Group. As the home to Teatro Milagro, their mission is to share the diversity of Latin America and advocate for global unity through theatre.
venue Website: Vie de Bohème
Share, like, tweet, boost, reply, comment, pin, blog, friend, discover, click, reach, PTAT, promote, gigg, join, snap, message, plus, circle, convert, sync and queue. Does all this seeming like a bit much for you? Social media strategy - what it means and how to make it work for you. We'll cover the if, when and who of hiring someone to manage your social presence
Cost: $30
XRAY is teaming up with KPSU as part of KPSU's 30 shows in 30 days series:
https://www.facebook.com/KPSUPORTLAND/eventsJoin us as two great independent radio stations bring the city of Portland one kickass show featuring performances by:
The Minders
http://theminders.bandcamp.com/
Rio Grands
https://soundcloud.com/rio-grands
It's another $3 Sound Select show curated by XRAY.fm!
Gardens and Villa, Helvetia and Grandparents at Bunk Bar.
Important: Entry is not guaranteed. Events are first come first served based on venue’s capacity. Arrive early for a better chance of admission.
The Prids, Soft Kill, The Estranged, Arctic Flowers, Shadowhouse, Underpass, Lunch, Vice Device, VATS, Dead Cult and COMM.
Presented by Songs from Under the Floorboard radio show andSoundcontrol PDX as a benefit for XRAY fm
$8.00 in advance/$10.00 day of show; ticket purchase details to be announced
XRAY says THANK you to Dave Cantrell for organizing this fundraiser for XRAY.FM!
Featuring Soft Kill, The Estranged, Arctic Flowers, Shadowhouse, Underpass, Lunch, Vice Device, VATS, Spirit Host and COMM.
Presented by Songs from Under the Floorboard radio show and Soundcontrol PDX as a benefit for XRAY fm
$8.00 in advance/$10.00 day of show; ticket link: http://holdmyticket.com/event/198035
You have a great story to tell, but where do you begin? Learn to construct a story that will resonate with your audience, inspire actions that benefit your bottom line, and evolve over time as your relationship to fans and consumers changes.
This interactive workshop covers:
- Seven steps to productive communication
- Reaching new audiences without increasing your budget
- Best practices to get more out of your online content
- How to promote your work while remaining authentic
- Why asking questions can be more productive than trying to answer them
Cost: $30
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+
About Twerps:
"Cheeky, charming and touchingly direct, Melbourne foursome Twerps are international pop champions. Formed in late 2008, Twerps were called "the best new band in Australia" by Uncut on the basis of their debut self-titled EP and toured the US in support of their 2011 full-length Twerps including heralded appearances at CMJ and SXSW.
“Shoulders” is the gentle closer to Side A of Range Anxiety, the new full-length from Melbourne’s Twerps, out January 27 in the US and February 3 in Europe."
About La Luz:
"Seattle's La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small trailer on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable "no-AC-in-the-van" summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of coolness isn't about distance or affect; it's a mood, and—sue me, but I'm about to totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about this music vibrates to the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows. So yeah, that kind of cool.
Still, La Luz's live shows, more than most these days, are about connection. It's evident that the four ridiculously talented ladies on stage are not only playing music with each other, but for each other. And they engage their audience as well. Like a proper punk band—which they are not— they give you shit for not dancing. They convey a gritty self-possession, a sense that they've been there and back again. And, like the expert, but seemingly effortless, surf licks and meandering bass lines that rise and fall throughout their songs, their mocking is playful and dreamy and disarming enough to get most of the crowd (and sometimes the keyboard player) dancing down the center line of a soul train.
But as any half-assed Freudian will tell you, there can be no meaningful connection without first weathering some dark and lonely times. Here comes the chilly part: What makes La Luz stand out—and stand out fast—the band has only been playing together for a year and people took notice almost immediately—is that this is a band that embodies that most elusive slant on the human condition: longing, and the fleeting relief that tags alongside deep desire.
In Spanish, La Luz means "light" and that's the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band's signature—and you'll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.
Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record It's Alive – the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face – with their friend and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie chords of "Sure As Spring", the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts. On "What Good Am I?", the lead vocals, and the swirl of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of Mazzy Star's misty-eyed super hit. Smack in the middle is the title track. "It's Alive" is a jangly rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of ooohs, and a marauding narrative that nails down the misty logic of the rest of the album. Two instrumentals, "Sunstroke" and "Phantom Feelings", showcase the band's beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly between the chilled out heartache that surrounds them."
About Woolen Men:
"The Woolen Men are three — two Oregon natives and a Washingtonian. They play punk influenced DIY music in the Pac-NW tradition of Dead Moon and the Wipers. More than a sound or style, that means a kind of work ethic — do-it-yourself and do it a lot. The band is happiest touring up and down the I-5 or bunkered in their practice space with the cassette 4-track rolling. And it shows. Live, the band is thunderous and energetic and the magnetic chemistry of the three of them playing together shines through in the recordings.
This self-titled album released by Woodsist Records is their debut LP, following a handful of largely self-released EPs. Instead of changing their technique of recording fast and loose to capture the live energy of their sound, they recorded and recorded and recorded until they had enough songs to make up an album only of material with that elusive spark of a great recording. The ten tracks here represent five different sessions, and as many songs made the cut as were left behind. The LP was made to endure, with little attention payed to current trends or “in” sounds — what matters to the band is that the songs are well written and executed with integrity. The whole thing was recorded to analog tape.
The Woolen Men are Alex Geddes, Lawton Browning and Raf Spielman. They live and work in Portland, OR. Raf previously released an album of solo material under his Polyps moniker for the Woodsist sister label Hello Sunshine.
This show celebrates the release of their live Banana Stand recording."
About Will Sprott:
"With the Mumlers, Will Sprott's penchant for conjuring the specters of haunting '60s folk butts heads with Big Easy brass and bright organs. He wears his influences on his sleeve, borrowing from heyday rock 'n' roll just enough to leave room for his own embellishments, of which his soulful voice stands as a distinct highlight. Sprott's solo work is stripped of some of the Mumlers' pizzazz, but you'll find that even more exposed, his talents are given wiggle-room to burst and bloom."
Eternal Tapestry (Thrill Jockey Recs)
Hornet Leg
***PLUS DJ Set from:***
Selector Dub Narcotic (aka Calvin Johnson of K Recs)
Nashville's JEFF the Brotherhood was dropped by Warner Brothers Records, and will now release Wasted On The Dream via their own Infinity Cat Recordings on March 24th. The band has released the following statement....
8pm (doors open at 7pm). .
$18.00 advance tix from Cascade Tickets.
$20.00 at the door.
1507 SE 39th Ave, Portland, OR (MapQuest)
"Peter Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. After the duo went their separate ways, Rock continued with a solo career that has garnered him worldwide respect, though little in the way of mainstream success. Along with groups such as Stetsasonic, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Gang Starr, Rock played a major role in the merging of elements from jazz into hip hop music (also known as jazz rap). He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, the RZA, and J Dilla as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. Pete Rock is also the older brother and younger cousin, respectively, of rappers Grap Luva and the late Heavy D.
ABOUT SLUM VILLAGE -
When Slum Village emerged in the late 1990s, the highly regarded Detroit trio of T3, Baatin and Jay Dee made a startling admission: their group was a liquid association with members coming and going during the group's evolution. True to their word, Slum Village has already gone through a number of line-up changes.
Rapper-producer Jay Dee left after the group's first national album, 2000's Fantastic, vol. 2 (Barak) and rhymer Elzhi was added to the mix for 2002's Trinity: Past, Present and Future (Barak/Capitol). Now, with the release of Slum Village's new and best album, the stunningly impressive Detroit Deli (Barak/Capitol), the group consists of just T3 and Elzhi. Throughout the changes, Slum Village's musical mission has remained constant: to deliver soul-stirring sonics that represent Detroit to the fullest. That vision is fully realized on Detroit Deli. Throughout the sensational 15-cut collection, T3 and Elzhi give listeners an intimate look at life in The D, from where they shop, hang with friends and eat to the type of cars they drive (check "Zoom") and what clothes they wear.
Slum Village represents the Midwest's funk heritage on the inspirational "Do You," which was produced by Jay Dee, and teams with Chicago's Kanye West on lead single "Selfish," a sly, piano-driven song where T3, Elzhi and West rap about their desire to have a monopoly with women. They then team with Ol' Dirty Bastard on the riotous "Dirty" about having to battle for a woman and deliver a Player's Hand Guide of sorts on the sensuous "Count The Ways," Both produced by BR. Gunna.
Even though Slum Village excels at making this type of lighthearted music, they show on Detroit Deli that they also hit hard with more serious subject matter. On the moving, guitar-driven "Keep Holding On," they rap about people not losing faith in their lives, while on the stirring "Old Girl/Shining Star," T3 and Elzhi send a open letter of hope and support to single mothers working hard to survive.
"The inspiration came from my boy's niece who has a gang of kids and is out here struggling," Elzhi says. "She's stringing her kids around on the bus, just to get by. By me just looking at that, I'm like, 'I need to write a song because I know she's not the only one going through it.' Slum Village has never touched on ladies like that and everybody is calling girls hoes and Bs, dissing these ladies, so we wanted to touch the ladies in a different way."
The group also takes a different route on "The Reunion." Jay Dee joins T3 and Elzhi on the insightful cut, which offers three different takes on the group's status. "It's like you're going through three state of minds at one time kind of in reverse," T3 says. "What we're trying to say is that we wish we were together, we might be together and then we're not together at all. We're trying to give you all the aspects of how people are coming at us, the type of stuff we're dealing with and kind of give you a glimpse of the stuff we're dealing with in the group."
Indeed, songs such as "Keep Holding On," "Old Girl/Shining Star" and "The Reunion" signal Slum Village's evolution; they mark the first time the group has let listeners in on their personal feelings. "I don't think people really know us and we never really touched on our emotions like that," T3 says. "We wanted to bring some realness, besides just the soul music. Elzhi, as a guy that saw Slum Village on the outside, he brought it to my attention that we never touched on serious topics and that we should try to touch on them more. I was with that and I have a lot to say, so why not?"
Detroit Deli also stands as Slum Village's most musically rich album to date. BR Gunna producers Black and Young RJ, both 20 years old, handled the majority of the beats, while Kanye West produced "Selfish," Jay Dee handled "Do You" and T3 along with young RJ produced "Closer" and "Count The Ways." The beats are as divergent as the album's subject matter, ranging from soulful to futuristic, but they always remain powerful and innovative.
The same can be said for Slum Village's storied career. After releasing Fantastic Volume One independently, Slum Village became one of hip-hop's hottest groups. While working on Fantastic, vol. 2, they were joined in the studio by such luminaries as D'Angelo, Busta Rhymes, Kurupt, Pete Rock and A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, among others. The resulting album became an underground classic and Slum Village was seen as the second coming of the Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul) by member Q-Tip, as well as fans and journalists alike.
Jay Dee left the group after Fantastic, vol. 2 in order to work on his solo career, but Slum Village pressed on, releasing in 2002 the Dirty District mix tape and later that year its third album and first with new member Elzhi, Trinity. Many fans looked at rapper-producer Jay Dee as the group's backbone, but Trinity proved that Slum Village could provide without its sonic architect, as that album's single "Tainted" became the group's biggest hit.
"We've always stuck to our guns," T3 says. "We've never tried to change to get commercial success. We always just did what we did and when you do what you do, eventually somebody's going to have to give you your respect for having the courage to do what you do."
With Detroit Deli, Slum Village earns the respect it craves and deserves.
ABOUT TOPE--
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1985, Anthony Anderson, better known as Tope, always maintained an air of worldly soul. At a young age, he absorbed the jazz, funk and soul records that his mother would play, ingraining in his being a visceral sense of what's been done before.
Tope is most recognizable for his contributions to N.W. hip hop culture through his releases with Living Proof (Roots To Branches '07 & Full Speed '11), his first solo effort Soul Music, and as part of town-famous TxE; but as a true artist and musician, Tope is never satisfied with the expected, or the easy. He hates when producers say, "I got this joint for you, it's a 'Tope' track" -- or whatever. He hates to look back, and by the time you've heard his music, he likely doesn't like it anymore, and is on to the next one.
Tope has worked with distinguished hip hop heavyweights such as Wajeed, Abstract Rude, TiRon, Scarub, Myka 9, Phil Da Agony, and Planet Asia; and opening for artists including Talib Kweli, Mac Miller, Blu, Nappy Roots, Joel Ortiz, The Coup, Mistah FAB; to name very few, and while others in the region, merely hop from trend to trend; Tope refuses to change with expectations while constantly reinventing himself through his art.
Always looking for new angles, Tope has gained universal town appeal by opening himself up to other genres and mediums (*see The Angry Orts, Tony Ozier, Kelli Shaefer, Liv Warfield), while staying true to his vision.
With a new solo effort, Until the Next Time We Meet and instrumental album Free Lemonade, a new Living Proof EP produced exclusively by Stewart Villain, and a full-length produced exclusively by Calvin Valentine, and the long-anticipated TxE full-length all due out in the next 12 months, Tope remains a workaholic; unsatisfied and unrelenting, while always looking...on to the next."
Know Your City (KYC) and Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) will host a release event for Know Your Rights: Don't Get Evicted!, a comic book about the rights of tenants and the process of eviction, at Oregon Public House, a nonprofit brewpub (700 NE Dekum St). The event will include short presentations by the illustrator Becky Hawkins, and from lead organizers from KYC and CAT. Community representatives and CAT members who participated in writing the stories featured in the comic will also speak. A portion of the food and drink purchases will benefit KYC and CAT.
Oregon continues to top the lists of desirable destinations across the country. More and more people are moving to Portland every day to enjoy our walkable neighborhoods and DIY culture. This national popularity has created a construction boom in the city, but at the risk of increased gentrification in areas home to low-income renters. Renters of all incomes face evictions and rent increases in Portland everyday, and housing justice issues are becoming increasingly pressing. Neighborhood demographics are changing as newcomers and long-time residents alike compete for scarce rental housing. Low-income renters, people with disabilities, and communities of color are facing evictions and are being pushed out of their communities at alarming rates.
Know Your Rights: Don't Get Evicted! tells stories which engage and educate tenants and non-tenants alike. Renters will be able to use this comic as a reference to understand the process of eviction, how to identify an unfair eviction, and what to do if it happens to them. Using graphic storytelling, the booklet covers essential topics such as how to respond to a termination notice, what do do if you are locked out by your landlord, or what to expect if you need to go to evictions court.
"Thousands of tenants across Oregon call CAT's Renters' Rights Hotline every year, and many already have an eviction threat or a court date,” according to Justin Buri, CAT Executive Director. “The evictions process can be complex, riddled with stress, uncertainty, and the real possibility of losing your home and ending up without a roof over your head. This educational tool will help demystify the process, so they can make good decisions, and hopefully stay in their home. It’s also very accessible with great artwork, so people will read it because they want to, and will then be that much more informed."
Know Your Rights: Don't Get Evicted! is the culmination of a year-long partnership between CAT and KYC, and contains compilations of stories from CAT members. Illustrator Becky Hawkins from French Toast Comix was selected from a public call to artists, due to her experience with comics and her accessible style. Using illustration to explain issues such as housing justice and legal processes surrounding eviction makes complex information more understandable and compelling.
The Steampunk Film Festival presents our 5th annual program of the world's finest neo-Victorian retrofuturist cinema, screening another all-new selection of independent feature and short films, plus an evening special feature. Tickets and film details are at http://steampunkfilmfestival.com; follow @pdxsteampunkff on Twitter for news about the festival and other Portland steampunk events.
$15 adults; $7 kids 7-13; under 7 free with guardian. Some programming not suitable for all ages.
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+
"The highest apex of psychedelia, be it art, music, drugs or literature, is to induce a prolonged consciousness shift that affects the consumer far beyond the time they were privy to the act. Moon Duo‘s third full-length LP, Shadow of the Sun, was written entirely during one of these evolving phases -- a rare and uneasy rest period, devoid of the constant adrenaline of performing live and the stimulation of traveling through endless moving landscapes. This offered Moon Duo a new space to reflect on all of these previous experiences and cradle them while cultivating the album in the unfamiliar environment of a new dwelling; a dark Portland basement. It was from this stir-crazy fire that Shadow of the Sun was forged.
Evolving the sound of their first two full-length records, Mazes (2011) and Circles (2012), Moon Duo -- Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada -- have developed their ideas with the help of their newly acquired steam engine, Canadian drummer John Jeffrey (present on the band‘s last release, Live in Ravenna). The unchartered rhythms and tones present on this record are reflective of Moon Duo’s strive for equilibrium in this aforementioned new environment. You can hear it is the result of months of wrangling with a profound feeling of being unsettled – there are off-kilter dance rhythms, repetitive, grinding riffs, cosmic trucker boogies and even an ecstatically pretty moment. Mixing with Jonas Verwijnen in Berlin, allowed for a creative catharsis and dissolved the album’s formal technique into a cool and paradoxically sane sound of confusion.
Shadow of the Sun is available for pre-order now. iTunes’ pre-orders come with an instant download of lead single, “Animal.” In a nod to a great pop tradition, “Animal” will appear as the A-side of a 7-inch, packaged with each copy of the vinyl edition, and exist as the final track of the album on the CD and digital versions. The song has an early West Coast punk viciousness to it that is entirely unique to the Moon Duo catalog."
Join XRAY.fm for Salad Days, a documentary film that examines the early DIY punk scene in the Nation’s Capital.
It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi, and others released their own records and booked their own shows—without major record label constraints or mainstream media scrutiny. Contextually, it was a cultural watershed that predated the alternative music explosion of the 1990s (and the industry’s subsequent implosion). Thirty years later, DC’s original DIY punk spirit serves as a reminder of the hopefulness of youth, the power of community and the strength of conviction. - See more at:
Join XRAY.fm for Salad Days, a documentary film that examines the early DIY punk scene in the Nation’s Capital.
It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Scream, Void, Faith, Rites of Spring, Marginal Man, Fugazi, and others released their own records and booked their own shows—without major record label constraints or mainstream media scrutiny. Contextually, it was a cultural watershed that predated the alternative music explosion of the 1990s (and the industry’s subsequent implosion). Thirty years later, DC’s original DIY punk spirit serves as a reminder of the hopefulness of youth, the power of community and the strength of conviction. - See more at:
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$15.00
21+
"!!! (generally pronounced "chk chk chk") is a dance-punk band that formed in Sacramento, California, in 1996. The band's name was inspired by the subtitles of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the clicking sounds of the Bushmens' Khoisan language were represented as "!". However, as the bandmembers themselves say, !!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, etc."
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+
About Craft Spells:
"After a dormant period following the release of the Gallery EP in 2012, Craft Spells' Justin Vallesteros is back with the gorgeously ambitious Nausea. It's Craft Spells' second proper full length LP, and first since 2010's critically acclaimed Idle Labor.
Since last on the radar, Justin moved to San Francisco to find a niche in the Bay Area music scene. This proved difficult within the regarded garage rock scene and insular DJ night crowds currently dominating the area's music community. Here, Justin fell into a slump, creatively. With a severe bout of writer's block he retreated to his parent's house in Lathrop, CA. Away from the city, he put down his guitar for a full year in favor of properly training himself on piano, the instrument from which all the tracks for Nausea were written.
Being in limbo between the city and the suburbs, Justin felt actual nausea, added to by his admitted semi-addiction to social media and quickly found himself disillusioned. Vallesteros unplugged from that world as much as possible and completely immersed himself in the music (Emmit Rhodes and the solo works of Yellow Magic Orchestra's Haroumi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi) and writing (the works of Mishima, for one) that would come to form the LP.
The demos came together in early 2014 and Vallesteros flew to Seattle to produce the record with engineer Dylan Wall. Teaming up on the recording with Craft Spells stalwarts Javier Suarez and Andy Lum, the band went into the studio and recorded a whole and complete work, full of ideas and a new found maturity in both songwriting and recording sophistication. Within the first few seconds of lead single "Breaking the Angle Against the Tide" we know we're not listening to the same Craft Spells anymore. This is a bold, beautiful and lush new sound emphasizing the songwriting abilities Vallesteros always had. An album highlighted by loads of piano, real strings and acoustic guitar, this change is like the color coming alive in the Wizard of Oz.
The beautiful "Komorebi" with it's piano chord progression and sorrowful string accompaniment emphasizes this newfound maturity and confidence as a writer that is the next logical step in Craft Spells' career.
Nausea could easily have been a record rife with indecision and anxiety. But like the song for which the album is named, Craft Spells was able to turn the chaos and disillusionment into a work that provides ammo against that very thing, with beauty, vision and melody."
About Bilinda Butchers:
"The Bilinda Butchers are a dream pop group based in San Francisco who take their name from My Bloody Valentine guitarist and early inspiration, Bilinda Butcher. The group experiments with genre-blending and dramatic themes to create sprawling, cinematic music."
About Appendixes:"Portland, OR’s dream-pop trio Appendixes consists of Eric Sabatino, Beth Ann Morgan and Devin Welch. Formed in January 2012, Beth Ann and Eric started preforming lo-fi Twin Peaks/David Lynch inspired tracks to electronic drum beats played through a reel-to-reel. Said to "fill your hear of bittersweet emotion as summer camp ends".