Portland, OR 97202
USA
December 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th
"Jane Siberry's music is most commonly compared to artists such as Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and Laurie Anderson. Her music has drawn from a wide variety of styles, ranging from new wave rock on her earlier albums to a reflective pop style influenced by jazz, folk, gospel, classical and liturgical music in her later work. She has citedVan Morrison and Miles Davis as being strong creative influences." wiki
Tender Loving Empire's Hawthorne store's grand opening celebration on December 4th, starts at 6pm! They'll be celebrating the release of the local Christmas compilation PDXMAS with live christmas tunes from...
Ritchie Young of Loch Lomond
Lots of delicious beer compliments of Fort George Brewery, and a food truck. They'll be raffles every 1/2 hour from 6:30-9:30 giving away...
TONS MORE RAFFLES!
About Tender Loving Empire:
Tender Loving Empire is a record label and Handmade goods store based in Portland, Oregon. Conceived in 2006 by Jared and Brianne Mees as a vehicle for releasing the art of friends and family, TLE has grown over the last eight years to release over 50 different albums on its record label by bands such as Typhoon, Radiation City, Y La Bamba, Finn Riggins and The Family Crest. In November 2014 TLE will open its second brick and mortar retail location at 3541 SE Hawthorne Blvd in Portland.
What's the first thing you think of when someone mentions Thee Oh Sees? Probably their riot-sparking live show, right? Visions of a guitar-chewing, melody-maiming John Dwyer careening across your cranium, rounded out by a wild-eyed wrecking crew that drives every last hook home like it's a nail in the coffin of what you thought it meant to make 21st century rock 'n' roll? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Thee Oh Sees are a band from San Francisco, California, USA. The group began as an outlet for John Dwyer to release his instrumental, experimental home recordings, and over the course of several albums evolved into a full band. The band is noted for both its prolific album releases, energetic live shows, and their whimsical visual aesthetic that juxtaposes cartoon imagery and horror.
What's the first thing you think of when someone mentions Thee Oh Sees? Probably their riot-sparking live show, right? Visions of a guitar-chewing, melody-maiming John Dwyer careening across your cranium, rounded out by a wild-eyed wrecking crew that drives every last hook home like it's a nail in the coffin of what you thought it meant to make 21st century rock 'n' roll? Yeah, that sounds about right.
Thee Oh Sees are a band from San Francisco, California, USA. The group began as an outlet for John Dwyer to release his instrumental, experimental home recordings, and over the course of several albums evolved into a full band. The band is noted for both its prolific album releases, energetic live shows, and their whimsical visual aesthetic that juxtaposes cartoon imagery and horror.
The two met in the Summer of 2011 when Takako saw Dustin play in Tokyo. He was a fan of her music from the past, and through that meeting they began corresponding. They found many similar interests in music, the universe and mythology. When Dustin was in Japan they went into an hourly rehearsal studio to do some loose musical improvisations, which lead to a natural collaboration. Toropical Circle is the result of that collaboration and was produced and recorded by Wong and Minekawa at home in Toyko.
The music strikes a lovely balance of homemade coziness, experimentation and charming humor. Their musicality and human qualities galvanized into something brilliantly heartwarming. Dustin Wong’s minimal-yet-imaginative sounds combined with Takako Minekawa’s graceful and eloquent voice, samples, drum machines and keyboards resulted in a colorful and fantastic world. The sounds roll and change organically, gently taking the listener by the hand through a forest and to the sea.
Alvvays are two women, three men, a crate of C-86 tapes and a love of jingle-jangle. Convening in Toronto, the group have been making music since since dusk or maybe dawn, when stars were appearing or fading off. As a result, their debut self-titled album is both sun-splashed and twilit—nine songs concealing drunkenness, defeat and death in tungsten-tinted pop that glitters like sea glass. The resultant album is loud and clear and sure. Flood your ears.
An evening of beautiful, folk music from singer-songwriter Noah Gundersen with special guest Rocky Votolato
Doors at 7, show at 8pm.
Ticket information can be found here.
This event is all ages with parent or legal guardian.
first album on his dad’s Tascam Studio 8 reel-to-reel home tape machine at 13.
Born in the tiny town of Centralia, WA—about midway between Portland and Seattle—
Gundersen has honed his craft through a series of albums, both solo (with his sister
Abby, an expert string player) and with their band The Courage. He’s already placed
songs on TV shows like Sons of Anarchy (the title track from his 2011 solo album
Family, “David” and “He Got Away,” a track he sang written by the show’s creator Kurt
Sutter and music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr.), Vampire Diaries (“Family”) and One Tree
Hill (“Middle of June” from his 2009 EP Saints and Liars).
His latest album, Ledges, self-produced and recorded at Pearl Jam guitarist Stone
Gossard’s Studio Litho in Seattle, represents the latest stop in a journey which began in
his strictly conservative, religious home growing up, where he was strictly forbidden to
listen to secular music. Instead he grew up listening to Bob Dylan’s gospel albums,
along with Christian artists such as Keith Green, Larry Norman and Rich Mullins.
“I’m not a religious person anymore, but I’ve learned that spiritual energy transcends
religion and that’s something I’ve attempted to incorporate into my music,” Noah
explains.
An impressive personal work, Ledges co-mingles the sensual and the sexual with the
spiritual, often using religious and biblical imagery like Leonard Cohen to plumb the
depths of everyday emotions and feelings. The album explores doubt and faith, sin and
redemption, mortality and transcendence in 11 songs that get underneath the skin and
cut to the heart.
From the acappella gospel chant that opens “Poor Man’s Son,” a song that channels
poverty’s effect on the soul and the Jackson Browne-like narrative of the autobiographical title track (“I take a little too much/Without giving back. I want to learn
how to love”) to the Don Henley-like metaphor of “Cigarettes,” comparing one bad habit
to a relationship that just can’t be ended even though we know it’s bad for us, Ledges is
a confession that boasts universal appeal.
“This is the first record where I finally got to a comfortable place in the studio,” he says of
the experience. “Something about Litho was very inspirational, offering a safe
environment to experiment and create. It’s not overly produced; we left a lot of the
mistakes in..”
The songs work on different levels, inspired both by a ruptured romance and a
questioning of dogma in all its forms.
“The spiritual element of music is something I’m very much drawn to and motivated by,”
says Gundersen. “Religious imagery was a large part of my upbringing. It’s still beautiful,
powerful and timeless. I believe in the elevation that music and art can bring to people,
but I’m still trying to define myself as an individual outside of structures or organized
religion. I’ve come to a place in my writing where I’m less focused on the outside forces
of spirituality and more on how it relates inwardly to my own life.”
To that end, his songs capture snapshots of events in his life, including an encounter
with a woman in another relationship (“Isaiah”), whose tattoo is inscribed with a biblical
passage that doubles as the song’s chorus (“Fear thou not/My right hand will hold you”).
“Poison Vine” tells the tale of a co-worker who succumbed to a drug overdose,
pondering the thin line between life and death, while “First Defeat” illuminates the feeling of the first heartbreak.
“Much of the album was written toward the end of a period of being single and reckless,”
he says. “I’ve lived a great deal compared to most people my own age. I’ve traveled the
country playing music, doing what I love for a living. But, in terms of emotional experience, I’ve swept a lot of things under the rug. I started asking questions to people I
respect about what it means to be a man and, in a larger sense, a decent human being.
This record is the culmination of that process.”
Ledges was also very much a family affair, with Noah joined by his sister Abby, who
conveys the wordless emotions through violin, cello and piano, and younger brother
Jonathan on drums.
“The chemistry Abby and I have is unlike any other I’ve experienced in music” he says,
pointing to the album closer, “Time Moves Quickly,” as a song she wrote the music for
and plays piano on. “She’s an essential part of what I do.”
And while major labels have come sniffing around, Noah is determined to maintain his
independence as a musician and artist. Having built up a following through touring and
social media, Gundersen is determined to maintain the kind of creative control that
makes Ledges such a powerful, intimate work.
“I’ve had some offers from major labels, but it’s not a direction that’s viable for me in
terms of a long-term career and forging a lifetime in music,” he says. “I want to give my
fans the music they’ve come to appreciate without going through any other filters.”
Ledges is about making that existential leap of faith, it’s about taking responsibility for
the choices you’ve made, with sometimes painful honesty. Noah Gundersen’s voice
comes through loud and clear.
“Writing ‘Ledges’ was a purifying process for me,” he says about the album’s epic title
track. “In three verses, I was able to sum up exactly where I was in life, with no real
answer, but a declaration of hope and uncertainty.”
“How long, how long should it take/For you to learn your lessons from all your mistakes,”
he sings in “Dying Now.”
On Ledges, Noah Gundersen goes from a boy to a man before our very ears. It’s a
journey well worth taking with him.
Rocky Votolato
Television Of Saints, Votolato's newest effort, wears the tracks of those endless nights on its sleeve – yet communicates that hung-over wisdom with a newfound lightness and maturity. During his time on the road Votolato has developed a loyal, extremely devoted core group of fans across the US and Europe that love him for the personal impact his music has had on their lives. Building off of and inspired by that connection, with this record Votolato has created something real, classic, and timeless. Hard won truths resonate underneath the concrete images and visual color splashed throughout the record.
Marking Votolato's first self-released record, much of Television Of Saints was funded by a generous outpouring of love and support from his fans via Kickstarter. His relationship to the people he is making music for has never been so direct.
Teaming up with long time friend and producer Casey Foubert (Sufjan Stevens, Pedro The Lion) and with the help of an outstanding cast of musicians, including his brothers Sonny (Slender Means) and Cody Votolato (The Blood Brothers, Telekinesis), Television Of Saints delivers on the promise hinted at with Makers. Lean and to the point, Television Of Saints is both Votolato's most intimate and most immediately accessible work to date." More information can be found here.
"Ages and Ages is more than a band. It's a collective of like-minded souls that believe in the power of music to change the world and elevate the spirit. Their music is bright and uplifting, with lyrics, penned by bandleader Tim Perry, that deliver serious introspective messages full of insight and consideration for others.
"When we made this album, we wanted a word to describe how we felt and what we were going through as individuals and a band," Perry says, "so we made one up. 'Divisionary' signifies a group whose vision of 'right' is upsetting to the existing power structure. It includes a philosophical, spiritual, and physical 'breaking off' from the status quo. It also references the individual inner conflicts that arise as you struggle to make the right choices in life. Visionaries don't always create conflict, but they challenge the establishment with new ideas and with the threat of change. Where there is change, there is usually resistance, controversy, division.
"The songs on our first album, Alright You Restless, described a group of people leaving a selfish, destructive society for a place safe from the madness. That was like starting a band, wanting to establish new rules and a language to put some distance between themselves and the noise outside. Those songs were optimistic, energetic and self-righteous because that's how a group of people who broke off from society would feel. As the group faces the struggles of actually making their community work, reality sets in and things get more complicated. Divisionary details the second phase of the journey."
Alright You Restless was made in eight days of feverish creativity. Divisionary evolved over months of experimentation at Portland's Jackpot Studios with veteran producer Tony Lash (Elliott Smith, The Dandy Warhols, Eric Matthews), as well as the home studio of Ages bass player Rob Oberdorfer. During the process, the band suffered the loss of a number of close family members and dear friends, so the songs became a kind of road map for anyone attempting to avoid darkness, without becoming consumed by anger in the face of life's difficulties. "There were also great things happening," Perry adds. "One of us had a child, another got married. Life was tipping both ends of the scale; there were a lot of changes going on."
Perry spent ten days on a silent meditation retreat, formulating the direction of Divisonary, and his calm, centered vision is at the core of the music. The intricate harmonies, celebratory choral vocals, churchical piano and organ, inventive counter melodies, bright acoustic guitars, and exciting, interlocking rhythms set off aural fireworks to frame the grounded emotions conveyed in the lyrics.
The title track, "Divisonary (Do The Right Thing)," is a secular gospel song with inspirational harmonies, sanctified piano and smooth violin adding muscle to a simple refrain: "Do the right thing, do the right thing….don't you know you're not the only one suffering." A stomping, exuberant bass drum pushes the giddy pop vocals of "I See More," as it reassures listeners that, "It's all OK, I'll be on your side." The jaunty folk pop of "Big Idea" holds a flickering candle up to the darkness with intricate handclapping, gentle harmonies and the candid admission that, "All of my ins are on the outside. And I want you all to notice, cuz I have no will to hide."
On "Over It," acoustic guitars played in open tunings dance across a complex musical landscape to Eastern melodies and counter melodies, leading to the group declaring over a swaying 6/8, "I have no remorse for the way that I am anymore. No, I feel no shame." The band's funky hand clapping folk rock rhythms move "The Weight Below" as Perry and the band belt out a soaring chorus to release the feelings that cause stress and suffering. "And the weight that we left behind, we're all better off without it, and it ain't even worth our time, so I ain't gonna worry about it." The complex structure of "Light Goes Out," bounces along on a stomping bass line, bright, piano shenanigans and the band's joyously dislocated vocals: "I kept up with the verses in my head, running right along beside 'em all day. At some point, well I found myself wondering if I was even running or just running away."
The harmonies and intricate instrumental interplay on Divisionary are carefully crafted, but never sound forced, with complex arrangements that are naturalistic, invigorating and free. The clash between the band's stirring folkadelic sounds and emotionally thorny subject matter makes for a bracing listen, "as if the internal conflict is happening in real time," Perry says.
"We live in a country where a substantial amount of the population would rather discard science than admit climate change is happening. A culture which, more and more, considers higher education to be some kind of liberal indoctrination. A culture that does not value critical thinking and a power elite that perpetuates misinformation, apathy, and ignorance because it preserves the status quo. I don't blame people for feeling daunted, apathetic, powerless, and overwhelmed, but I believe that facing the darkness is a necessary step in overcoming it."
"Ultimately I think the band all feels hopeful and blessed," Perry concludes. "These songs reflect that optimism, but they don't do so lightly or try to dodge the struggles we're dealing with individually and as a band. It was an exceptionally long, hard road this time around but in the end, we're all really proud and excited to share this record."
Ages and Ages is: Rob Oberdorfer – Bass, vocals Tim Perry – guitar, vocals John McDonald – guitar, vocals Levi Cecil – drums, vocals Becca Shultz – keys, vocals Annie Bethancourt – percussion, vocals Sarah Riddle – percussion, vocals"
By turns cuddly and chaotic, San Francisco's Deerhoof mix noise, sugary melodies, and an experimental spirit into sweetly challenging and utterly distinctive music. Evolving over the course of ten studio albums and two decades, Deerhoof reins in an eclectic mix of sound spanning from no-wave to niche-pop tendencies.
Possessing a hyper-literate, intellectual style of rapping augmented with dizzying elocution that would tongue-tie even the fiercest auctioneer, Busdriver is eclectic and eccentric enough to cite vocalese jazz singer Jon Hendricks as a primary influence.
Release Date: August 25th in Europe & August 26th
in North America via Sub Pop.
It makes perfect sense that I was asked to write abio for J Mascis. Let's face it, he and I have a long history. It all started the first time I saw him live. It was in New York City. I don't remember when or where, but I think he was walking around. I was probably walking around, too. The second time was also in New York, at a Mexican restaurant in the East Village (the one that takes credit cards now,but didn't used to). Years later I actually met him at the SXSW festival though a friend who works at Sub Pop. I guess that meeting went well, because when that friend from Sub Pop got married, she sat me at the same table as J. Sounds unbelievable? I suggest you look at the picture below. Nowkeep staring at that picture until August 26th. That's when J'snew acoustic album Tied to a Star comes out on Sub Pop Records. It features appearances by Ken Maiuri, Pall Jenkins , Mark Mulcahy, and Chan Marshall. Had I been in the area, I'm sure I would've been asked to play on
it, too. - Todd Barry more >>>
XRAY.fm Presents Modern Kin at Mississippi Studios
"Following a busy festival summer, and fresh off of a US tour this September and October, Modern Kin is closing out the year with a few headlining shows in the NW. This promises to be a special weekend of music - we hope you'll join us as we stretch out a little and weave some new songs in between the album tracks you already know.
Shows are best with friends...
Joining the bill is Portland band The Ghost Ease, and Seattle's Kithkin will open the show."
Title: Art Spark by RACC
Location: The Oregon Public House, 700 NE Dekum
Date / Time Thursday November 20th 5-7 pm
Text: Artist! Come to Art Spark to meet, share and learn about each other’s projects and about how RACC's supports Portland's creative community. Featured guest this month is Drink and Draw, a meetup group that offers art-focused recreational social gatherings for artists of all experience levels. So bring a pencil and pad and come on down and get your sketch on!
Mudhoney is an grunge band. Formed in Seattle, Washington, USA, in 1988. Mudhoney’s early releases on Sub Pop; the “Touch Me I’m Sick” single and the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP; were influential in the Seattle music scene, and helped inspire the dirty, high-distortion sound that would characterize grunge. Mudhoney were also notable for their mixing of heavy blues rock and punk rock. Although they have found little commercial success during their long career, which has yielded eight studio albums, they nonetheless inspired many grunge and alternative rock musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
Poison Idea was formed in 1980 in Portland, OR by vocalist Jerry A. (aka Jerry Lang). Inspired by Black Flag and other early Southern California hardcore acts. As they grew older, Poison Idea had fully moved beyond the breakneck hardcore of their early records to a potent, driving and ultimately more intricate and sophisticated hardcore/hard rock fusion that incorporated the foot-tapping accessibility and masculine swagger of hard rock without sacrificing the power
Whether seen on HBO’s Treme or at their legendary Tuesday night gig at The Maple Leaf, Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band is a true New Orleans institution. Formed in 1983 by the Frazier brothers, the band has evolved from playing the streets of the French Quarter to playing festivals and stages all over the world. While committed to upholding the tradition of brass bands, they’ve also extended themselves into the realms of funk and hip-hop to create their signature sound. “Rebirth can be precise whenever it wants to,” says The New York Times, “but it’s more like a party than a machine. It’s a working model of the New Orleans musical ethos: as long as everybody knows what they’re doing, anyone can cut loose.” In the wake of the sometimes- stringent competition amongst New Orleans brass bands, Rebirth is the undisputed leader of the pack, and they show no signs of slowing down.
November 9 - 6:30
Eric Robel’s COLOR OF NOISE is an exceptional look at the integrity of the American underground starting in the late 80′s through the mid 90′s, specifically targeting forerunners of the grunge movement, the collision of punk rock and printmaking, and beyond. Followed by a Q&A with the director.
PHIL COOK (MEGAFAUN)
November, 8th, 2014
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$12.00 - $14.00
More info HERE.
Nov 8Th - K Records, Runaway Productions, and Dante's Present - "ALL YOUR FRIEND'S FRIENDS" NW HipHop Compilation Album Release Party with
The Chicharones (Sleep & Josh Martinez), IAME (of Sandpeople/Oldominion) & Goldini Bagwell
Xperience (XP) - Poeina - Karl Blau (K Records) @
Dantes - 350 W Burnside St. Portland Or
ADVANCE TICKET LINK
http://clients.ticketbiscuit.com/DantesLive/EventPage.aspx?EID=218564
ALL YOUR FRIEND'S FRIENDS is a seminal Northwest Hip-Hop Compilation album produced entirely off of samples pulled from the K Catalogue. Featuring over 30 of the most unique MCs from the region including members of mega-crews OLDOMINION and the SANDPEOPLE,
the album also introduces a host of hidden talent from OLYMPIA, WA. K’s sonic stomping ground.
This decades spanning compilation is a creative celebration of the Northwest sound and scene in some of its most striking masks and manifestations. The energy of the album moves fluidly between dark, angsty, and self-reflective to upbeat, nostalgic, and carefree, taking the listener on an underground rap odyssey through the overcast streets, anarchist basements, cramped performance spaces, and stoned-out suburbs of this moody and musical part of the world.
Through kaleidoscopic counter-cultural mashups and topsecret sampling styles, producer Smoke M2D6 has mercilessly deconstructed the classic lo-fi garage soul sound of the iconic indy label, artfully rearranging it all over a thick foundation of classic breaks, 808’s, and of course some heavy bass, allowing old heads to hear this music in a totally different way, while introducing a new generation of fans to a classic treasure trove of northwest creative history.
ALL YOUR FRIEND’S FRIENDS is sample-based Hip-Hop culture at its best, taking something dope from the past and making something fresh for the future.
As many all ages venues disappear from Portland, a new one emerges. Located in the heart of Portland State University's campus, the recently renovated Parkway North space at Smith Memorial Student Union evening will feature FREE performances by Portland legends AND AND AND, and R&B duo Phone Call.
https://www.facebook.com/events/767067520044326/