XRAY is proud to sponsor the 2014 PDX Pop Now! It's the festival’s 11th year this July 18-20th. Join XRAY for a free and all ages music festival showcasing an array of genres representative of Portland, Oregon’s thriving and diverse musical talent. The three day event will feature 41 local bands, food carts, and a street fair, carrying on the tradition of being one of the most interactive and inclusive festival experiences.
This year’s festival will feature sets by Alameda, Barra Brown Quintet, Blouse, Brownish Black, The Bugs, Cambrian Explosion, Coma Serfs, The Cry!, The Estranged, Etbonz, Eyelids, Fringe Class, Grandparents, Gulls, Hustle and Drone, IllMacuLate, The Lonesome Billies, Lunch, Old Age, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Philip Grass, Portland Cello Project, Psychomagic, Purse Candy, The Resistance, Rio Grands, Sad Horse, Sama Dams, Souvenir Driver, Spellcaster, Stewart Villain, Summer Cannibals, Tezeta Bands, Thanks, Tre Redeau, Usnea, Vikesh Kapoor, Wampire, We Miss The Earth, Wishyunu, Zirakzigil.
More information and updates at http://pdxpopnow.com/
Yoshida's Sand in the City features fun for all ages with incredible sand sculptures, interactive youth exhibits, live music, entertainment and more!
The excitement begins on Friday, July 18th, when amateur corporate sponsored teams have only six hours to build an elaborate sand sculpture, designed with the help of an architect and sand mentor. The teams will have trained and practiced for more than six weeks in an attempt to win the coveted Golden Shovel award. Competition is fierce on building day!
In addition to the visually stunning sand sculptures, Yoshida's Sand in the City hosts outstanding activities for kids at the Children's Inspiration Village. Families can inter-act with the Kids on the Block puppets, experiment with science and do sand art projects! After enjoying food and drinks, kids can build their own castle in our giant Sand Box, have their face painted, or take in one of our live performances happening all weekend.
New Zealand-based haunting indie folk artist with new release Brightly Painted One.
Nashville-based garage/punk/pop band playing with self-described satanic outlaw country band.
Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack have been playing music together
and apart in Baltimore for most of their lives. On stage, they perform
with raw energy and sophistication, creating a surprising amount of
noise for two people. Their music can be classified as 21st-century folk
music, imbued with dense shoegaze guitars, nearly melodic rhythms, and
impeccable splashes of electronic color. More info.
Join Hand2Mouth for a world beer brunch to kickoff summer and support their tour of PEP TALK! They will be pouring beer from Lompoc and Widmer Brothers, dishing out tamales from La Bonita, flipping fresh waffles, and mixing up Bloody Marys to order.
Sports fans and sports avoiders are all welcome. Cuz everybody likes brunch, right?
Sunday, July 13 at Shout House (210 SE Madison)
11am - 3pm or until the game is over
$5 - $50 sliding scale at the door for all-you-can-eat bunch. Kids under 8 are free.
More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1452961981618703/
Portland Zine Symposium is truly out of this world! After a long day of zine work and play, blast off and get down with friends from near and far, far away. With cosmic music from Lizard Music on XRAY.fm and Reverse Couple-Skate of XRAY.FM
Satisfying snacks!
Zero-gravity drinks from Ninkasi Brewing and New Deal Distillery
Prizes all night long
$5 = corsage + raffle ticket + foil hat
More info:
"Celebrate with us July 11, 12, 13, 2014 and delight in our world class entertainment, hand-made crafts, delectable foods, educational displays and magical surprises at every turn of the path. We invite you to join us in our wooded setting, 13 miles west of Eugene near Veneta, Oregon for an unforgettable adventure."
The 45th Annual Oregon Country Fair has hundreds of world class entertainers and performers, hand craft artisans, gourmet food creators lining up to provide, once again, an experience unequaled in the festival world. Absorb other-worldly path ambiance, parades and surprises around every bend. Dress up and come ready to participate in a time-of-your-life cultural immersion. The Oregon Country Fair creates a world unlike any other in a magical wooded setting embracing the meandering banks of the Long Tom River.
The Oregon Country Fair creates events and experiences that nourish the spirit, explore living artfully and authentically on Earth, and transform culture in magical, joyous and healthy ways.
Order Tickets here
More information at their website
From the heart of that city's on-going rock & roll renaissance, San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys come to town behind their new record House of Spirits. More info.
Come join XRAY for some music in the sun!
Featuring:
Wampire, Litanic Mask, Billions and Billions, We Miss The Earth (PRIDS), Lost Cities (MATTRESS), Panther Power (No Tomorrow Boys, Soda Pop Kids), Honey Bucket (Gnar Tapes/Burger Records)
$5
All Day
More info: http://www.eastendportland.com/
Celebrate 4th of July at Dig a Pony with Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Summer Cannibals, and Eyelids, with DJ Sets by XRAY's own Freaky Outty & Maxx Bass
Every Friday XRAY's own Theo Craig invites you to kick off your weekend with him from 6 to 9pm at Valentine's. Each week has a broad theme and you're invited to bring a few records (think tote bag rather than crate of vinyl) to share on the turntables.
This week's theme: "white"
Party with Dig a Pony on July 3rd and 4th, featuring DJ sets by XRAY's own Strange Babes and musical performances by Aan, Thanks, and New Move.
And on July 4th, the party continues with Wooden Indian Burial Ground, SUmmer Cannibals, and Eyelids, with DJ Sets by XRAY's own Freaky Outty & Maxx Bass
The Waterfront Blues Festival is Oregon Food Bank’s largest annual fundraiser.
100 percent of donations and revenue from special passes benefit Oregon Food Bank’s mission: to eliminate hunger and its root causes … because no one should be hungry.
Andy Cabic (of Vetiver)
Corrina Repp
Edward P. Davee
XRAY.FM
8:30pm | $7.00 day of show
A Few of My Favorite Things is a recurring event at Holocene, in which a prominent member of the local arts community curates an evening showcasing their favorite artists from near and far, to benefit a nonprofit organization of their choosing. This evening we're pleased to welcome Eric D. Johnson, formerly of the Fruit Bats, who has curated an event with us to benefit Portland's community radio station, XRAY.FM!
The Notwist's Close to the Glass is yet another courageous leap into
the sky of songs. It is a catchy and unpredictable marriage of playing
your heart out on an instrument and the magnetic pulse of precise
programming. While the band always creates music ripe with authenticity
and mood, we find them now defining their edges with no shortage of
bravery or beat. As romantic as it is robotic, Close to the Glass is a
bottomless collage: part pop song, part science, part band, part
storytelling and all Notwist. The sturdy glue between the layers of
Close to the Glass is their newfound synergy as a band, no longer
co-writing parts, brothers Markus and Micha Archer alongside Martin
Gretchmann have finally found their human form and in some ways, at
last, have 'become' The Notwist. With support from Max Punktezahl and
Andi Haberl, they write, re-write, and record songs as one, tapping into
the energy they possess on stage, and naturally arriving at the band
all their exploratory recorded music had cut out for them. More info.
Ohio-based post-emo act Cloud Nothings return to Portland in support of their latest, Here and Nowhere Else. All-ages!
On their third LP Angel it is clear that Pure X have, and always have had, an uncompromising musical vision. Over the course of each full-length the band has tirelessly reinvented themselves, opting to stay true to their own sensibilities rather than placate expectations or regurgitate a "successful" sound. After wooing both critics and audiences alike with their seductive, submerged-in-reverberation debut Pleasure the band pulled an about-face on their sophomore album Crawling Up the Stairs, crafting a follow up that emphasized textural clarity and raw emotionality over its predecessor's intoxicating soundscapes. Now on their third LP, and first as a quartet, the internal upheaval of C.U.T.S. has fully dissipated and given way to a new found serenity, a calm which finds the band in its most potent, refined, and elemental form yet.
Angel was recorded to tape in a concentrated burst over five days at Wied Hall- a massive, rustic, 100 year-old dance hall in rural central Texas. The band isolated themselves to living in the cavernous space during the Fall of 2013 after a year full of touring and writing on the road, seeking a secluded setting to construct what would become their most focused work to date. The results show the group of Jesse Jenkins, Nate Grace, Austin Youngblood, and newly acquired full-time member Matty Tommy Davidson leaving themselves totally unguarded. During their residency the band had time to absorb the pastoral romanticism of the countryside as well as Wied's rich history of having hosted many of country music's finest in the last century. Subsequently, a deliberate patience exudes from the album both in the band's freshly honed songwriting and spacious compositional structure. Lush, layered vocal treatments, dialogues of gently plucked electric and strummed 12-string guitar, reserved percussion, and precariously sensual bass are all allowed ample room to breathe and delicately bathe in the great hall's natural reverb. More than ever Pure X's influences are allowed to show through in full, unveiling affinities which were present in their past recordings but never totally expressed until now. Harmonies such as those on the achingly gorgeous opener Starlight, lead by Jesse Jenkins' silky falsetto, interweave with a complexity and precision that is reminiscent of 70's soul, steadily propelled forward by a stoic groove of bass, guitar, and tightly tracked drum kit. On the 2-step ballad Heaven the spirit of classic country's golden-era is seamlessly assimilated into the band's sound while Nate Grace's lyrics conversely explore the reality of an inner, readily accessible utopia. Elsewhere on Every Tomorrow a sober raga of 12-string acoustic hangs serenely over measured doses of hand percussion and minimal string arrangements punctuated by ascending ladders of buzzing synth. Singers Jenkins and Grace, sharing vocal duties evenly across the recording, boldly explore a full range of motion to share a collection of strikingly honest songs about love, aspiration, and the deep yearning for the authentic unity with oneself.
Pure X's third long-player, written collectively between all four members and recorded mostly live with minimal overdubs, sees the band further refining themselves after a year of being strenuously tempered on the road. These pieces, comprised of ideas stolen away during moments in the tour van and hammered out on various stages across the United States, were brought back home with a distinct purpose, with one concerted intention: to make the album they had always wanted to make. And thus, Pure X have crafted a beautifully genuine pop record whose influences span across genres and generations without reserve while simultaneously coming into their own in the process.
Talkative was born in a noise dream. First existing in Eugene they were originally a performance-art noise duo. Focusing their time on loops, effects, and delay bent vocals, the shows were mentally and aurally intensive. As time shifted forward new forms of performance were explored and they have found a comfortable setup with effects soaked guitars, drums, and keyboards. The sound of Talkative starts in a flurry of digital noise that eventually finds itself ripping through guitar riffs before shapeshifting into rolling drums and sequencers. They've released two full length albums "Strange Luxuries" and "Light Years" which both illustrate a dynamic quality unique to Talkative. "Light Years" shows Talkative's ability to bath in reverb and rebirth itself in melody with the help of guitar, bass, and drums. Their current live set up includes live visuals, booming drums and bass, wild vocals and ripping guitars.
This is a barn burner of an all ages show featuring three of Portland's finest. The Thermals, featuring XRAY's own Kathy Foster (Strange Babes, Mondays 4-6p), headline with best new band runner up Summer Cannibals and The Ghost Ease.