NARITA MUNEHIRO (of High Rise):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7kK5nYGRXc
MOON DUO:
https://moonduo.bandcamp.com/
R.I.P. :
https://braveinthegrave.bandcamp.com/releases
Bryan Ferry
From his earliest recordings with Roxy Music at the beginning of the 1970s, Bryan Ferry has taken his place as one of the most iconic and innovative artists to emerge in popular music. In his work you hear a vocal and lyrical brilliance that merges the intensity of Lou Reed, the poise of Sinatra and the charisma of Serge Gainsbourg. But then there is something extra - a verve and performance so ultra-modern that it continually breaks new ground.
When Ferry’s group Roxy Music first appeared on ‘Top of The Pops’ in 1972, performing their debut single, ‘Virginia Plain’, their impact was instantaneous. For here was a group which appeared to have taken the history of modern popular music, from French chanson to Elvis to progressive rock, by way of soul and the avant-garde, and fused their different inspirations into a seamless and glittering pure pop moment. More or less overnight, the band’s audience was secured - from screaming teenage fans to highbrow rock critics. And in many ways, Ferry’s creation of Roxy Music was one of the great statements of Pop Art – with all of the musicians, designers and stylists whom he had brought together combining their talents to make an intoxicating and radically new montage of musical and visual styles.
The revolutionary electronic treatments developed by Brian Eno for the first two Roxy Music albums would join with Andy Mackay’s mesmeric sax and woodwind playing, Manzanera’s dazzling guitar work and Paul Thompson’s thunderous drumming to provide the haunting, futuristic and filmic ambience of the founding Roxy sound. And subsequent to Eno’s departure in 1973, and across the further six epoch-defining and chart-topping studio albums recorded by the band over the following ten years (including ‘Stranded’, ‘Siren’, ‘Manifesto’ and ‘Avalon’) these co-founding members of Roxy Music would combine their talents with Ferry’s songwriting, vocals and artistic directorship to more or less chart the potential futures of popular music.
Since 1973, Bryan Ferry’s career as a solo recording artist has run in parallel to his work with Roxy Music. His first solo album, ‘These Foolish Things’ (released that same year) would introduce what Ferry has described as his ‘ready-mades’ - cover versions of recordings by artists whom he admires, which he then interprets in his own style. Like all great singers, Ferry turns the cover version into a form of self-portraiture.
Bryan Ferry’s vocal genius lies in his peerless ability to merge and where necessary mutate musical styles – from hyper-stylized cabaret chanson, through classic soul crooner to hard-edged rock - creating the sheen and pure drama that has become his artistic signature. This was certainly the case with his thunderous, pulsing version of the northern soul classic, ‘The In Crowd’, which became a hit for Ferry in 1974.
It was likewise at this relatively early stage in his career that Ferry was perceived by his vast pop audience to be the living embodiment of the worlds of high fashion, high society and high living that his songs, personal style and performance brought to life with such romantic intensity. In one sense, above and beyond his musical accomplishments, Ferry had ‘become’ his art – a feat shared with performers such as Little Richard, Sinatra and later Prince.
As also defined by his work with Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry’s solo recordings have long achieved a perfect tension between languor and brooding passion, whether in his own songs or in his interpretations of works by other artists. Many of Ferry’s greatest compositions describe the fate of the lonely, isolated romantic - always on the outside, even at the heart of the grandest party or the most exotic city. Ferry has said of himself, “I feel always to be on the inside looking out, or the outside looking in -” – the classic situation of the artist.
In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the musical style of Ferry’s recordings acquired a lustrous and pristine flawless sheen that enhanced their darkling mood - well suited to such tracks as ‘Can’t Let Go’ from the album ‘The Bride Stripped Bare’, released in 1978. As a lyricist, Ferry combines the language and proportions of classic pop songs with a modern, angular imagery that exactly mirrors his style as a vocalist. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he would further hone and perfect this pared down, glistening refinement of his recordings to produce some of his greatest work in the three solo albums, ‘Boys and Girls’ (1985),
‘Bete Noire’ (1987) and ‘Mamouna’ (1994). With their high gloss surfaces and dark folds of sound, these albums might be seen to comprise a great triptych of recordings – a musical statement about Bryan Ferry’s founding themes as a lyricist and singer, invoking – like the writings of one of his literary heroes, F. Scott Fitzgerald - the timeless capacity of romance and glamour to shape destiny. In many ways, ‘Boys and Girls’ and ‘Bete Noir’ are Ferry’s most consummate achievements as a singer and songwriter, enfolding the listener like a carefully lit film set, and providing the defining soundtrack of an era.
Throughout the 1990s to the present, Ferry has continued his work on both the ‘ready-made’ and his own compositions, exploring specifically the music of the 1930s and 1920s (‘As Time Goes By’ (1999) and ‘The Jazz Age’ (2012)) and the songs of one of his great musical idols, Bob Dylan (‘Dylanesque’ (2006). In 2002 Bryan had released ‘Frantic’, his first album to feature original material since ‘Mamouna’ and including tracks with Dave Stewart and Brian Eno, who co-wrote ‘I Thought’ - one of the finest tracks on the album.
Comprising mostly original Ferry compositions, ‘Olympia’ – like ‘Boys and Girls’ and ‘Bete Noir’ before it - was a dark masterpiece, spectrally lit, on the eternal subject of obsessive love. Inspired in part by Edouard Manet’s painting of the same title – and featuring postmodern muse Kate Moss on the album artwork – the album involved many different collaborators and recording sessions while possessing an uncanny artistic unity and defining filmic atmosphere. From the self-penned ‘You Can Dance’ and ‘Reason or Rhyme’, to the Tim Buckley classic, ‘Song For The Siren’, this was an album of rich emotional intensity – its mood at once nocturnal, urban and elegiac.
Last year Ferry celebrated the 40th year anniversary of his career as a singer and songwriter by rearranging his own compositions and recording them in a 1920's style with his very own Jazz Orchestra, The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, for the instrumental album 'The Jazz Age'. It was after hearing ‘The Jazz Age’ that Baz Luhrmann asked Ferry to record the 20's music for the film 'The Great Gatsby'. This included rearranging elements of the score and also recording in a period style the contemporary songs that Luhrmann and Jay-Z had selected for the movie, all of which have been recently released on the companion Gatsby soundtrack album 'Yellow Cocktail Music'.
Prior to embarking on his forthcoming 2013 UK tour, Ferry will perform for the first time orchestral arrangements of his songs at Proms In The Park, combining both his band and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Judith Owen
British singer/songwriter Judith Owen's eclecticism has seen her records shelved in the rock, folk, and jazz sections of record stores. She was born the daughter of an opera singer and began writing songs as a teenager. Becoming a professional musician, she met and married actor/musician Harry Shearer and contributed vocals and keyboards to his 1994 album, It Must Have Been Something I Said. Her debut solo album, Emotions on a Postcard, was released on her own Dog on the Bed label in 1996. Among its songs was "Hand on My Heart," which was featured in the 1997 film As Good as It Gets and appeared on the soundtrack album. Owen befriended singer/songwriter Julia Fordham and appeared on Fordham's albums East West and That's Live. Another musical association was struck up with Richard Thompson, which led to Owen's appearances on the Thompson albums Mock Tudor, 1000 Years of Popular Music, and Old Kit Bag. She released her second solo album, Limited Edition, in 2000. "Creatures of Habit" and "Get into It" from the album were featured in the film Olive Juice. 12 Arrows (2003), her third album, boasted guest appearances by Fordham and Thompson, and it featured Owen's cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." It earned her an opening slot on a k.d. lang tour. In 2004, Owen released a holiday EP, Christmas in July, including her cover of "Christmas with the Devil," a song by her husband's fictional group Spinal Tap. She also placed her song "Dreaming" in the film P.S., then used it on her fourth album, Lost and Found, released on her newly formed Courgette Records label in 2005. Her cover of the Kinks' "I Go to Sleep" was featured in the TV movie Mrs. Harris, and she then included it on her fifth album, Here, released August 8, 2006.
The Selecter
The Selecter is led by their iconic frontwoman Pauline Black, whose recent series of shows on BBC 6Music were hugely well received, and whose book ‘Black By Design’ continues to sell in droves worldwide, alongside an incredible talented band of musicians, including Neil Pyzer (Spear Of Destiny) Will Crewdson (Rachel Stamp) and co-fronted by original member Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (who features extensively on Subculture).
The anarchic passion that fuelled Selecter gigs during the 2 Tone era, when they toured with the Specials and Madness at the peak of their early fame is still there, except the pair (Pauline & Gaps) seem more driven than ever. Their confidence is sky-high and they’re also writing the best songs of their career, which is saying something given the enduring popularity of hits like Three Minute Hero, Missing Words and On My Radio.
Steve Earle & The Dukes
If you ever had any doubt about where Steve Earle’s musical roots are planted, his new collection, So You Wannabe an Outlaw, makes it perfectly plain. “There’s nothing ‘retro’ about this record,” he states, “I’m just acknowledging where I’m coming from.” So You Wannabe an Outlaw is the first recording he has made in Austin, Texas. Earle has lived in New York City for the past decade but he acknowledges, “Look, I’m always gonna be a Texan, no matter what I do. And I’m always going to be somebody who learned their craft in Nashville. It’s who I am.”
In the 1970s, artists such as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, Billy Joe Shaver and Tompall Glaser gave country music a rock edge, some raw grit and a rebel attitude. People called what these artists created “outlaw music.” The results were country’s first Platinum-certified records, exciting and fresh stylistic breakthroughs and the attraction of a vast new youth audience to a genre that had previously been by and for adults. In the eighties, The Highwaymen was formed by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings. Their final album “The Road Goes On Forever” released in 1996 began with the Steve Earle song “The Devil’s Right Hand.”
Steve Earle’s 2017 collection, So You Wannabe an Outlaw, is an homage to outlaw music. “I was out to unapologetically ‘channel’ Waylon as best as I could.” says Earle. “This record was all about me on the back pick-up of a Fender Telecaster on an entire record for the first time in my life. The singing part of it is a little different. I certainly don’t sound like Waylon Jennings.”
The Mastersons
Don't bother asking The Mastersons where they're from. Brooklyn, Austin, Los Angeles, Terlingua; they've called each home in just the last few years alone. If you really want to get to know this husband-and-wife duo, the better question to ask is where they're going. Perhaps more than any other band playing today, The Mastersons live on the road, perpetually in motion and always creating. Movement is their muse. On tour, in the unpredictable adventures and characters they cross, in the endless blur of skylines and rest stops and dressing rooms and hotels, that's where they find their greatest inspiration, where they hone their art, and where they crafted their brilliant new album, Transient Lullaby.
"When you travel like we do, if your antenna is up, there's always something going on around you," reflects guitarist/singer Chris Masterson. "Ideas can be found everywhere. The hardest thing to find is time."
For the last seven years, The Mastersons have kept up a supremely inexorable touring schedule, performing as both the openers for Steve Earle and as members of his band, The Dukes, in addition to playing their own relentless slate of headline shows and festivals. It was Earle, in fact, who pushed the duo to record their acclaimed debut, Birds Fly South, in the first place.
Wet Dream Committee
Møtrik
To say Møtrik is simply a krautrock band would be a gross oversimplification. The '70s masters may have showed Møtrik the way, but the band defines its own route. Progressive rock, funk, '80s garage rock and indie sensibilities shape the Portland, Oregon band's sound, and that collision of influences allows the band to go any route it wants to get “there."
The Northside Four is what happens when you take members of various other Rockabilly, R&B, Jump Blues, Country, Punk, Rock bands and put them together alone in a room. When the dust clears, you have a new band of misfits we call The Northside Four. This band plays classic and obscure tunes from a variety of artists and genres from the 40's and 50's. From Bob Wills to Ray Charles, Little Richard to Joe Clay, Buddy Holly to the Sonics this band will play music from a time period that will be impossible not to dance to!
$5 suggested
All ages!
There is no wrong time to play 'Bam Bam.' Every summer belongs to 'Bam Bam.' ... A perfect song.” — The New Yorker
In the words of her iconic 1982 single “Bam Bam,” Sister Nancy is “one inna three million,” an artist whose talents truly “come from creation.”
Regarded as the first female star in the male-dominated world of Jamaican dancehall, Sister Nancy continues to blaze new trails 35 years after the release of her first and only album. Recently recognized by Pitchfork as The Best Dancehall Song of All-Time, “Bam Bam” has been sampled, quoted and referenced in tracks by Lauryn Hill, Wiz Khalifa, Too Short and Kanye West. Its ethereal and inherently cinematic tones have made it a popular choice for films, too, leading to memorable scenes in 1998’s Belly and Seth Rogen and James Franco’s The Interview (2014).
Born Ophlin Russell, Nancy grew up in Kingston, Jamaica’s Papine district, in a large family that included dancehall pioneer Brigadier Jerry. Her familial ties afforded her an opportunity granted few, if any, Jamaican girls at the time: To deejay (or chat) songs on sound systems, the local DJ crews that form the backbone of dancehall culture. After learning of her talents from artist General Echo, Winston Riley of Kingston’s storied Techniques Records label brought her into the studio to record her first single, “Papa Dean,” in 1979. Returning to the studio to complete what would be her first and only album, One Two, in 1982, Nancy lent her voice to a haunting, minimalist version of Riley’s Stalag riddim, a popular instrumental track voiced by countless artists since 1973. Co-opting a lyrical refrain (“Bam bam bi lam, bam bam, what a bam bam…) from Toots & the Maytals’ identically-named 1966 hit, Nancy created an anthem of female empowerment, repurposing the skepticism she encountered as the lone woman on the sound system circuit into a supremely-confident mission statement.
“One Two,” the title cut from her album, would become her signature hit in Jamaica, leading to international tours and collaborations with dancehall’s then-reigning king, Yellowman. Little heard at the time of its release, “Bam Bam” would find its audience in New York, first in the city’s Caribbean Diaspora and then in hip-hop. In the early 1990s, it was sampled by golden-era rap acts Main Source and Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and remixed into a hip-hop version by legendary radio DJ Stretch Armstrong. It wasn’t until Nancy herself relocated to New Jersey, where she would take a job as a bank accountant, later in the decade that she became aware of her song’s and her own iconic stateside status.
Hype Williams’ 1998 film Belly cemented Nancy’s place in the pop culture canon, in an unforgettable scene in which “Bam Bam” soundtracks the movements of the stunning Jamaican femme fatale, Chiquita. That same year, Lauryn Hill echoed Nancy’s “Bam Bam” chorus on “Lost Ones,” from her Grammy-winning and career-defining album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, passing Nancy’s patois inflections on to a new generation of listeners.
Since then, the samples, covers and placements —including a 2014 Reebok TV campaign featuring model Miranda Kerr —have become ever more frequent. In 2016, Nancy received the ultimate co-sign, or at least some really great exposure, when Kanye West used “Bam Bam” prominently on “Famous,” arguably the most controversial song and video of his always-provocative career. The New Yorker’s Carrie Battan went so far as to dub “Bam Bam” the Song of the Summer for 2016, describing it as “a perfect song” and a “reggae classic that only grows more lustrous with age.”
Now retired from her bank job and fully focused on music once more, Nancy began 2017 by performing in Jamaica for the first time in decades at Rebel Salute, the island’s top reggae festival, and appearing at Winter Music Conference in Miami. At a time when dancehall has re-entered the mainstream via pop hits by Rihanna and Drake and a new generation of Jamaican artists led by Popcaan, Spice and Kranium, Pitchfork celebrated “Bam Bam” as the best dancehall song of all-time in a list published in March.
XRAY FM is throwing a big, free "bazaar style" party with some of your favorite XRAY radio show's broadcasted LIVE from the White Owl patio, also featuring performances by musical acts like Cool Nuts, Surfer Rosie, Motrik, Anjali and the Kid, AND THAT'S NOT ALL. Over 40 vendors and pop up shops selling art, vintage, books, records, jewelry, free samples, and so much more out on the patio and adjacent street. Join us at the White Owl on August 12th from 2pm on for a summer event to remember.
FB RSVP HERE!
Enjoy our street fair and patio full of pop-up shops, jewelry, vintage, food/drink samples and more. Shop for zines, books and records inside the bar. Street fair is all ages, inside the bar and patio is 21+.
VENDORS/POP UP SHOPS: 2pm-8pm
MUSIC + PARTY: 2pm-1am
2-3pm DJs Jené and Shira of Everyday Mixtrapes (Live Broadcast)
3-5pm DJ Honest John of Savage Beat (Live Broadcast)
5:15-6pm Surfer Rosie
6-7pm Serious Moonlight and Palm Dat of Intuitive Navigation (Live Broadcast)
7:15-8pm Cool Nutz & DJ Fatboy
8:00-9:30 Anjali and the Incredible Kid (of XRAY's Chor Bazaar)
9:30-10:20 Motrik
10:20-1am Heavy Metal Sewing Circle Afterparty with DJs Nate Carson and Triple M
This party is made possible by our friends at Stumptown Coffee Roasters,New Deal Distillery, Hifi Farms, and Secret Aardvark Trading Company. Poster by Tony Cohen. Thank you!
**** Interested in becoming a vendor? Email events@xray.fm *****
If there were a Mt. Rushmore for gangsta rap icons, one could definitely make a case for the inclusion of Scarface. His iconic voice and knack for consistently delivering soulful vitriol through a hardcore Houston, Texas, lens have made Scarface a virtual deity in the South, and his influence on hip-hop is celebrated just about everywhere else.
A few years ago, while in a tour van somewhere in Idaho, the members of Chastity Belt--Julia Shapiro, Gretchen Grimm, Lydia Lund, and Annie Truscott--opted to pass the time in a relatively unusual fashion: They collectively paid one another compliments, in great and thoughtful detail. This is what we like best about you, this is why we love you. I think of that image all the time, the four of them opening themselves up like that, by choice. It's hard to imagine other bands doing the same. But beyond their troublesome social media presence--see: the abundance of weapons-grade duck face, the rolling suitcase art--and beyond the moonlit deadpan of say, "IDC," lies, at the very least, an honesty and an intimacy and an emotional brilliance that galvanizes everything they do together. Which is a fancy way of saying: They're funny, but they're also capable of being vulnerable. "Giant Vagina" and "Pussy Weed Beer," two highlights from their aptly titled 2013 debut, No Regerts, were immediately preceded by a sublime yet easily overlooked cut named "Happiness." I saw a younger, still unsettling version of myself all across 2015's Time to Go Home. This June marks the release of I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, their third and finest full-length to date. Recorded live in July of 2016, with producer Matthew Simms (Wire) at Jackpot! in Portland, Oregon (birthplace of some of their favorite Elliott Smith records), it's a dark and uncommonly beautiful set of moody post-punk that finds the Seattle outfit's feelings in full view, unobscured by humor. There is no irony in its title: Before she had Chastity Belt, and the close relationships that she does now, Shapiro considered herself a career loner. That's no small gesture. I can make as much sense of this music as I can my 20s: This is a brave and often exhilarating tangle of mixed feelings and haunting melodies that connects dizzying anguish ("This Time of Night") to shimmering insight ("Different Now") to gauzy ambiguity ("Stuck," written and sung by Grimm). It's a serious record but not a serious departure, defined best, perhaps, by a line that Shapiro shares early on its staggering title track: "I wanna be sincere." When asked, their only request was that what you're reading right now be brief, honest, free of hyperbole, and "v chill." When pressed for more, Truscott said, "Just say that we love each other. Because we do." This is who they are, this is why I love them. --David Bevan, February 2017 "They're funny, and slightly goofy, and gently vulgar, and they play with an appealingly loose, relaxed confidence." - Pitchfork "In between pelvic-thrusting sexual innuendo and self-mockery, Chastity Belt filter feminist theory, cultural commentary and general intellectual bad-assery...Chastity Belt isn't the band 2013 wants--it's the band 2013 needs." - CMJ "The guitars on this record...have a nice ring to them, like Liz Phair's recordings." - NPR
RLLRBLL have long been one of Portland’s best artrock bands. Dusty Santamaria is one of the best songwriters on the planet. They’re joined by a friend of the east for a rad rockin’ evening.
Rllrbll relishes in experimentalism, crafting weirdly catchy art-rock in expanses as varied as syncopated acid-jazz dust-ups and bat-shit loony tunes.
Mike Gamble is an adventurous guitarist and multi-instrumentalist whose work with electronic modes of composition are integrated endlessly into his setup. Gamble has spent the last 15 years immersed in the creative jazz, experimental rock and improvised music scene primarily in NYC, with close ties to New Orleans, Burlington, Boston, San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest. He has had the pleasure of recording over 20 albumsand touring the states, Canada, and Europe with his critically-acclaimed guitar trio The Inbetweens, Counter Record’s Cougar, and alongside doom-metal originators Earth. His more recent collaborators have been prestigious drummer Bobby Previte, bassist Todd Sickafoose, guitar virtuoso Nels Cline, and PNW cellist Lori Goldston. Since relocating to Portland Mike has been running a monthly Audio/Visual series featuring local and touring artists, encouraging them to play rare solo, duo, and trio sets with his own audio-reactive projection setup. Among working on soundtracks, web-series, and branded content for small businesses, Gamble currently holds a position as an Audio Production instructor at Oregon State University and is the Artistic Director of Portland’s longstanding experimental music organization, The Creative Music Guild. http://mikegamble.tumblr.com/
Willie Nelson
With a six-decade career and 200 plus albums, this iconic Texan is the creative genius behind the historic recordings of Crazy, Red Headed Stranger, and Stardust. Willie Nelson has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor and activist. He continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force. In the last five years alone he delivered nine new album releases (of which one resulted in a Grammy Award win), released a Top 10 New York Times’ bestsellers book, again headlined Farm Aid, an event he co-founded in 1985, received his 5th degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul, and graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. In 2013, Willie’s albums included Let’s Face The
Music And Dance, an album of deep pop country repertoire classics performed with transformative patented ease by Nelson and Family, his long-time touring and recording
ensemble; and To All The Girls… which features 18 duets with music’s top female singers. In
2014, he released Band of Brothers, a 14-track studio album of new recording that debuted at #5 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart and #1 on Billboard’s Country album chart, and December Day: Willie’s Stash Vol. 1, an eclectic album collaboration of intimate new recordings from
Willie and Sister Bobbie Nelson. This year he adds two more titles. On May 5, 2015, “It’s A Long Story: My Life,” the unvarnished and complete story of Willie, hit bookshelves and landed
him on the New York Times’ bestsellers list. In June, a new album with Merle Haggard titled Django And Jimmie, debuted at #1 on Billboard‘s Country album chart and #7
on Billboard‘s Top 200 album chart.
Kacey Musgraves
Two decades ago — long before Same Trailer Different Park turned her into a Grammy-winning country star with sold-out tours and Top 10 hits — Kacey Musgraves participated in her first (and only) beauty pageant.
"My hometown is pretty famous for its sweet potatoes," she says, "and every year, they hold the Golden Sweet Potato Festival. They crown a Sweet Potato Queen and a Little Miss Tater Tot for little girls. I only competed for Little Miss Tater Tot once, when I was about three, and lost mis-erably to a girl in a sparklier dress."
The pageant world, with its fake smiles and sky-high hairdos, wasn't the best match for Mus-graves. She was more interested in songwriting, finishing her very first tune at 9 years old and learning her first instrument, the mandolin, as a pre-teen. Years later, though, the peculiarities of daily life in a small town — along with the places she's visited (and people she's met) since moving away— are back on her mind.
It's been years since Musgraves lived in Golden, Texas, her childhood home of roughly 600 people, but the whirlwind that followed Same Trailer Different Park — a debut album that topped the country charts, took home two Grammy Awards (including Country Album of the Year) and sent Musgraves halfway across the world on tour — made her think hard about where she came from. Pageant Material, her second album, pays tribute to those Bible Belt roots, shining a light on a hometown girl who's grown up, expanded her worldview and done a lot of livin' since skip-ping town. It's an album about where she's from and where she's going, full of autobiographical details that are humorous one minute and heartwarming the next.
"I really wanted this album to have a classic feel, like a lot of the records I know and love," says Musgraves, who name-checks artists like Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell and Ronnie Milsap as influences on Pageant Material's easygoing stride. "I intended on it having a laid-back yet lush, slightly kitschy, western vibe. And most of all, I wanted it to feel like me."
Appropriately, all thirteen of the album's songs were co-written by Musgraves, who teamed up with the same group of songwriters who'd helped bring Same Trailer Different Park to life sever-al years earlier. Those names may be familiar — Brandy Clark, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, along with additions like Natalie Hemby and Ashley Arrison — but the songs are new, dreamt up during a songwriter's retreat in West Texas as well a handful of sessions back home in Nashville.
During the gorgeous "Late to the Party," Musgraves lingers with her boyfriend before a big get-together, knowing that he, not the party, is the real destination. She kicks back and enjoys life at a slower speed with "High Time," whose twangy chorus — punctuated by a whistled riff worthy of a high-lonesome cowboy — doubles as a nod to the childhood years Musgraves spent per-forming western swing music. On "Dimestore Cowgirl," she breezes through some of the more surreal highlights of her days on the road, from an early-morning European boat ride that took her band past the White Cliffs of Dover to a night spent in the same middle-of-nowhere motel where Gram Parsons spent his final hours. "I'm still the girl from Golden," she admits during the song's chorus, a reminder that no matter how big her career gets, she'll always be a small-town native. Later, with "This Town," she stresses the importance of staying pleasant in a cozy town where everyone knows you, and during "Biscuits" — a song inspired by her mother's advice to "kill 'em with kindness" — she explains some simple, yet important, things she's learned her 26 years.
Musgraves recorded Pageant Material in a unique way, capturing the songs during a series of live studio sessions. The goal was to harness the energy of her concerts, rather than build a record track-by-track and overdub-by-overdub. To lighten the mood, she decorated Nashville's historic RCA Studio A with fluorescent, life-size cacti and served fresh biscuits during breaks. She also brought a handful of plastic beauty pageant crowns into the studio and handed them out to her band, which included members of her touring lineup as well as pedal steel player Paul Franklin, drummer Fred Eltringham, and other top-tier players from the Nashville community. Musgraves pulled triple duty during the recording sessions, serving as singer, songwriter and co-producer on every track.
Since Pageant Material is such a personal project, it's only appropriate that several family mem-bers contributed to the album's creation. "This Town" begins with the voice of Musgraves' be-loved Memaw — grandmother Barbara Taylor — who worked as an ER nurse in Texas until her passing in December 2013.
"We always loved to get her going, telling stories about the crazy stuff she'd seen lately at work," Musgraves remembers. "One night a couple years ago, we were all sittin' around her in the liv-ing room and made her tell stories. I secretly pressed record on my phone. I just thought for some reason I should, never thinking I'd end up using it. This particular part of the record has been a source of sadness and happiness at the same time. I really miss her, but it makes me smile knowing that her voice has literally become embedded in my musical legacy."
Likewise, Musgraves' little sister, Kelly Christine Sutton, shot the photographs for the album, in-cluding the throwback cover art. On a record that deals so heavily with Musgraves' roots — where she came from, how she grew up, and what her small hometown looks like from afar — the presence of her relatives adds an authentic touch.
"Pageant Material lives in a western-tinged world, and the songs are like little stories," Mus-graves says. "They set a vibe and a tone, and all make sense living in the same space. I think I'll always be affected by growing up in a small town, so it still inspires a lot of my writing. But there are some viewpoints on this record that I hadn't written from yet. More than anything, it's life and society, making mistakes and my relationships that continue to inspire me."
What can’t Jeffrey Lewis do? He’s the world’s leading authority on Watchmen, a noted comic book artist, and a brilliant (anti-) folk singer and lyricist. This evening he'll swing through Portland for an all-ages solo acoustic show at Turn! Turn! Turn! that's guaranteed to lift your spirits heading into the weekend.
Rough Trade Records (label of The Smiths, The Strokes, etc.) has released six Jeffrey Lewis albums to date; Jeffrey has self-published eleven issues of his comic book series Fuff, and Jeffrey's writing, illustrations, comic books and music have been featured by The Guardian, The History Channel and The New York Times (among other places).
The group was formed by Bogotá native Simón Mejía out of his A.M. 770 project, a recording outfit that utilized salsa, cumbia, electro beats, and dance music. He renamed the group Bomba Estereo in 2005. The group's debut album, Vol. 1, appeared in 2006 as a solo record, with contributions from several musicians and singers including singer/rapper Liliana "Li" Saumet. This pair remain the band's central members and based on the album's strength, Mejía was able to secure a distribution deal with Nacional Records.
Enlisting others players, Bomba Estereo's sophomore album, Estalla, was issued in 2008, and was subsequently released in the United States as Blow Up, based on the global dancefloor and Latin radio success of its single "Fuego." In 2010, they were voted "Best New Band in the World" by MTV Iggy. Later that year, Mejía competed in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, to win a year collaborating with Brian Eno -- he finished second to producer Ben Frost. He also worked with filmmaker Santiago Posada on a field recording project in San Basilio de Palenque.
Bomba Estereo toured globally, and played music festivals including SXSW, Bumbershoot, and Bonnaroo before returning to the studio to work on a new recording. An EP entitled Ponte Bomb was released by Nacional in 2011.
They followed it with the album Elegancia Tropical in 2012 on the Colombian label FM Discos y Cintas. Miles Cleret's Soundway label picked it up and released it internationally. It netted two global dancefloor singles in "El Alma y el Cuerpo" and "Pure Love," and a nomination for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. The band -- which had undergone several personnel changes -- undertook tours of their home country, the United States, and Mexico over the next year and a half.
In 2014, they released the single "Qué Bonito" on FM Discos y Cintas. Late in the year, they signed with Sony Music Latin. Their pre-release single, "Fiesta," appeared in March of 2015, followed by the full-length Amanecer in June.
Local quartet Moon Tiger bring their blend of noise pop and dream rock up to St. Johns for a show at the Fixin' To. They'll be joined by Notel, an up-and-coming instrumental outfit consisting of Becky Miller, Peter Condra, Emily Kingan, and Lorna Dune, along with newcomers Every Minor Arcana.
Join us for a dance party with the sensational Seattle-based disco-pop duo SISTERS!
SISTERS
Like popping the cork on a bottle of bubbly, SISTERS' music is made to make joy, built to build up and up and explode into the highest heights. It's no accident that the 11 songs on Drink Champagne will redline your dopamine level. Andrew Vait and Emily Westman, the soul-siblings of SISTERS, are both lifelong musicians, deeply dedicated and formally trained. Their only goal is to make you feel, and feel good.
GOLD CASIO
WHEN ON HIGH, the Cosmic Mirror Ball first shot forth its multitude of exuberant lights throughout the Universe, came forth from the Chaos, Gold Casio.
Both instrument and entity, keyboard and cabal; A spectral synthesizer permutating all realms of existence, from Internet to Grave. A voice from the urban wilderness, calling out and drawing in; Into dingy basements and darkened dance clubs with visions of sweaty nights. Sweaty nights of ecstatic apparitions and psychedelic nightmares. But what came first, the Fever, or the Dream?
Heed little the human counterparts of Gold Casio, for they are but vessels, merely mechanisms through which the Disco Gods make known their final decree. Party Forever? "Amen!"
Relinquish the curtains of this reality, strip away the layers of meaninglessness until all that remains are Babes and Bass. Only then will you begin to understand.
AND should you choose to behold Gold Casio, Lo, know thine time has come. For no longer can your arms remain tightly across your chest, nor your feet remain steadfastly planted on the ground.
Possessed by sound and light, tonight you will get down. And you're probably going to spill your drink.
DAN DAN
A trio consisting of spacey, densely-layered synth riffs accompanied by live drums, Dan Dan has been called 'soundtrack-y prog' or 'ambient jam synth' among other things. With a wide variety of influences, Dan Dan manages to forge a sound somewhere between the robotic and the psychedelic while keeping a high level of energy.
SWIRLIES
Then the chaos seeped in slowly...with the first of many churnings of personnel. In early 1993, Morgan Andrews (MADBOX, ROCK/PAPER/SCISSORS) took over bass-related duties and infused them with his own blend of irritating noise. It was this SWIRLIES that made a video for 'Bell' with Linsey Herman (CAKE AND COMMERCE) and went on their first US tour in a stinking minivan filled with fashion magazines. After school ended for the season, Andy returned to join Morgan and the band. Thus, SWIRLIES explored the sensual realm known exclusively to bands with two bass players. Morgan shortly became spent and disgusted and disappeared into anarchist puppetry oblivion. Ben Drucker was oustered (some say unwisely) and went on to use his mind more productively in other areas. Around the time that ‘Brokedick Car’ EP was released, Anthony Deluca (THE PLANTS) signed on -- mainly because Lenny Kravitz found an attractive lady to drum in his nascent band.
After some years with Anthony, and our first small tour of Europe in January 1994, Seana left to form the now defunct SYRUP USA, and guitar/singing duties were taken over by The Otter (a/k/a Christina Files). With this group, ‘They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World Of The Salons’ LP was conceived/recorded over two years at various studios. Anthony departed with hybrid vigor in late 1995, and Gavin McCarthy (KARATE) took over the drum kit for two US tours and a handful of other shows....during which he went temporarily insane and (smelling like a Bowery bum) drove his fancy white van across the country and out of our lives forever. More chaos. The now Gavin-less SWIRLIES (e.g. Damon, Christina, and Andy) played a few liberating analog/digital shows, before somehow managing to absorb drummer Adam Pierce (IRIS, DYLAN GROUP, MICE PARADE).
In 1997, Christina left for glory (including VICTORY AT SEA, MARY TIMONY, and current recording/sound genius). ‘Strictly East Coast Sneaky Flute Music’ LP (our last for Taang!) was released at about this time. This record featured remixes of 'Salons’ LP material, and new pieces heavily influenced by Scituate, MA. Free from contractual obligations, SWIRLIES were blessed by Yahweh to find guitarist Rob '(The) Doctor Laasoko' Laakso (WICKED FARLEYS, THE MATHS, DIAMOND NIGHTS, AMAZING BABY).
Since about 2000, SWIRLIES have more or less maintained the "Damon-Rob-Andy-Adam" arrangement, while also taking on: Mike Walker (LILYS), Ken Bernard (WICKED FARLEYS, CERTAINLY, SIR, STRICTLY BUSINESS), Kara Tutunjian, our old comrade Seana Carmody, Deb Warfield (PUELLA), Doro Tachler (IGLOO), Avery Matthews, Kevin Shea (COPTIC LIGHT, SEXY THOUGHTS, PEOPLE), Junko Henmi (CANDYCANE) and so many others. All of the above helped to make and/or perform songs that became 'Cats of The Wild, Volume 2', the mini-album, EP, or whatever it was (Bubblecore, released 25 March 2003). Touring with a "Damon-Rob-Adam-Mike-Doro-and-rarely-with-bird-researchin'-Andy" arrangement continued for a few years, and briefly ended when Damon moved to Parts Midwest to find better living through psycholinguistics. A smattering of northeastern US shows (mislabeled "reunions") happened in 2009 (and will happen in 2011) with a "Damon-Rob-Andy-Adam-Deb-Shep-plus guests" arrangement.
photo of the sirlies in 2003Some examples of recent activity, also known as Grim Death Throes: 1) SNEAKY FLUTE EMPIRE, our special alter-ur-label with cassette and CD releases; 2) THE YES GIRLS, a sneaky-flute-music-playing group featuring Damon and occasionally some combination of Rob Laakso, Andy Bernick, and Ron Rege; 3) RICHMOND COUNTY ARCHIVES, a label with various tangential releases (like NEVAH HAVE I EVAH: A Sneaky Flute Family Album and BUCK WILD!); 4) SWIRLIES' MAGIC STROP, a series of old SWIRLIES sounds offered as free web releases on this very site.
Stay vigilant always and prepared anytime, and we shall see you at The Spit on the 4th of July.
CRUEL SUMMER
“Though this jangly, syrupy group makes you see bright colors and effervescent tones, there is a level of darkness creeping beneath it all that manages to offset the sweet, laid-back beats with levels of refined depth.” - Impose
“Their sound is somewhat of a throwback to late ‘80s/early ‘90s indie-pop as it bisected with the torrid rush of noise coming from the UK at the time – a la very early Slumberland releases,with which Cruel Summer seems to share many qualities (heavy midrange wash, Sarah Shannon-esque dream milk vocals, a little jangle, a little shambles). ….it’s like the difference between laziness and comfort, between sitting on a couch because you’re bored, or building out the ultimate space for your life to unfold, with everything you want and the foresight to make your ideas into a reality. If more bands could figure this out and represent themselves so completely on record, well, I’d probably like a lot more records, wouldn’t I?” - Still Single
This August, 90s shoegaze veterans Swirlies will play their first west coast dates in 14 years, on the heels of the vinyl reissue of their Blonder Tongue Audio Baton LP (1993), which recently reached #11 on Pitchfork’s list of the 50 best shoegaze albums of all time (see full list of dates below). The lineup will include founding members Damon Tutunjian (guitar/vocals) and Andy Bernick (bass/keyboards), Adam Pierce (Mice Parade) on drums, Deb Warfield (Gold Muse) on guitar/keyboards/vocals, and Elliott Malvas (You’re Jovian) on guitar and keyboards.
SWIRLIES
Then the chaos seeped in slowly...with the first of many churnings of personnel. In early 1993, Morgan Andrews (MADBOX, ROCK/PAPER/SCISSORS) took over bass-related duties and infused them with his own blend of irritating noise. It was this SWIRLIES that made a video for 'Bell' with Linsey Herman (CAKE AND COMMERCE) and went on their first US tour in a stinking minivan filled with fashion magazines. After school ended for the season, Andy returned to join Morgan and the band. Thus, SWIRLIES explored the sensual realm known exclusively to bands with two bass players. Morgan shortly became spent and disgusted and disappeared into anarchist puppetry oblivion. Ben Drucker was oustered (some say unwisely) and went on to use his mind more productively in other areas. Around the time that ‘Brokedick Car’ EP was released, Anthony Deluca (THE PLANTS) signed on -- mainly because Lenny Kravitz found an attractive lady to drum in his nascent band.
After some years with Anthony, and our first small tour of Europe in January 1994, Seana left to form the now defunct SYRUP USA, and guitar/singing duties were taken over by The Otter (a/k/a Christina Files). With this group, ‘They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World Of The Salons’ LP was conceived/recorded over two years at various studios. Anthony departed with hybrid vigor in late 1995, and Gavin McCarthy (KARATE) took over the drum kit for two US tours and a handful of other shows....during which he went temporarily insane and (smelling like a Bowery bum) drove his fancy white van across the country and out of our lives forever. More chaos. The now Gavin-less SWIRLIES (e.g. Damon, Christina, and Andy) played a few liberating analog/digital shows, before somehow managing to absorb drummer Adam Pierce (IRIS, DYLAN GROUP, MICE PARADE).
In 1997, Christina left for glory (including VICTORY AT SEA, MARY TIMONY, and current recording/sound genius). ‘Strictly East Coast Sneaky Flute Music’ LP (our last for Taang!) was released at about this time. This record featured remixes of 'Salons’ LP material, and new pieces heavily influenced by Scituate, MA. Free from contractual obligations, SWIRLIES were blessed by Yahweh to find guitarist Rob '(The) Doctor Laasoko' Laakso (WICKED FARLEYS, THE MATHS, DIAMOND NIGHTS, AMAZING BABY).
Since about 2000, SWIRLIES have more or less maintained the "Damon-Rob-Andy-Adam" arrangement, while also taking on: Mike Walker (LILYS), Ken Bernard (WICKED FARLEYS, CERTAINLY, SIR, STRICTLY BUSINESS), Kara Tutunjian, our old comrade Seana Carmody, Deb Warfield (PUELLA), Doro Tachler (IGLOO), Avery Matthews, Kevin Shea (COPTIC LIGHT, SEXY THOUGHTS, PEOPLE), Junko Henmi (CANDYCANE) and so many others. All of the above helped to make and/or perform songs that became 'Cats of The Wild, Volume 2', the mini-album, EP, or whatever it was (Bubblecore, released 25 March 2003). Touring with a "Damon-Rob-Adam-Mike-Doro-and-rarely-with-bird-researchin'-Andy" arrangement continued for a few years, and briefly ended when Damon moved to Parts Midwest to find better living through psycholinguistics. A smattering of northeastern US shows (mislabeled "reunions") happened in 2009 (and will happen in 2011) with a "Damon-Rob-Andy-Adam-Deb-Shep-plus guests" arrangement.
photo of the sirlies in 2003Some examples of recent activity, also known as Grim Death Throes: 1) SNEAKY FLUTE EMPIRE, our special alter-ur-label with cassette and CD releases; 2) THE YES GIRLS, a sneaky-flute-music-playing group featuring Damon and occasionally some combination of Rob Laakso, Andy Bernick, and Ron Rege; 3) RICHMOND COUNTY ARCHIVES, a label with various tangential releases (like NEVAH HAVE I EVAH: A Sneaky Flute Family Album and BUCK WILD!); 4) SWIRLIES' MAGIC STROP, a series of old SWIRLIES sounds offered as free web releases on this very site.
Stay vigilant always and prepared anytime, and we shall see you at The Spit on the 4th of July.
CRUEL SUMMER
“Though this jangly, syrupy group makes you see bright colors and effervescent tones, there is a level of darkness creeping beneath it all that manages to offset the sweet, laid-back beats with levels of refined depth.” - Impose
“Their sound is somewhat of a throwback to late ‘80s/early ‘90s indie-pop as it bisected with the torrid rush of noise coming from the UK at the time – a la very early Slumberland releases, with which Cruel Summer seems to share many qualities (heavy midrange wash, Sarah Shannon-esque dream milk vocals, a little jangle, a little shambles). ….it’s like the difference between laziness and comfort, between sitting on a couch because you’re bored, or building out the ultimate space for your life to unfold, with everything you want and the foresight to make your ideas into a reality. If more bands could figure this out and represent themselves so completely on record, well, I’d probably like a lot more records, wouldn’t I?” - Still Single