Eric Roberson has been making music for over ten years and on his latest release, …Left, he showcases that modern day soul still has a heartbeat. His voice is distinctive and strong; his music is personal and meaningful. (more…)
Portland natives Blitzen Trapper have always enjoyed blurring the lines between their own unique experimentation and what their traditionalist contemporaries might consider musical schizophrenia. With Wild Mountain Nation, their self-released follow-up to their 2004 release Field Rexx, these grizzlies takes their mish mash of mountain-man bluegrass, country, and outer-space electronics to a new, messy level of weird. (more…)
A plaintive banjo plucks more emotively with each repetition—each line a sad story or fond memory that bears retelling. Punctuations of glockenspiel ping here and there and a voice enters, timid and tired. Though your ears say “Americana,” the origin is Malmö, Sweden. (more…)
Sub Pop’s newest buzz band, Pissed Jeans, sounds like the kind of guys that will get fucked up with you on a Monday night while your “responsible” friends are already getting their beauty sleep to prep for the next morning. (more…)
2005’s Set Yourself on Fire was critically acclaimed, so, keeping in line with recent trends, Stars decided to create a remix album. Instead of remixing their own tunes, Stars went to their Arts and Crafts labelmates to create the songs for this record. (Hence the title.) (more…)
At worst, Shapes and Sizes come off like the self-consciously quirky “free spirits” who mock your cynicism and discredit your legitimate depression, trying to get you to join sing-alongs and play charades at parties where you’d rather just be left to drink beer and converse. So why is Split Lips, Winning Hips, a Shiner so irresistible? (more…)
More suspension than solution, Rainbow, a collaborative effort between drone/blues/metal pioneers Boris and psych-rock veteran Michio Kurihara (Ghost, White Heaven, the Stars), strikes a rare balance. I can’t be sure, but this sounds like a concept album; with flowing in cinematic passages, each melody invokes character and drama. (more…)
Ben + Vesper, husband-and-wife duo of the same names, are new members to Daniel Smith’s Sounds Familyre family. Accordingly, their latest album, All This Could Kill You, is a challenging, creative expression featuring lyrical non-sequiturs, experimental melodic diversions aplenty, and labelmate Sufjan Stevens on banjo, piano, and assorted woodwinds. (more…)
You’re lying on a couch upholstered in soft corduroy. You’ve been pulling on that enormous joint since breakfast; you’d get up to get some food, but, well, the kitchen is just so far away. At least your water bottle is handy. What time is it, anyway? Aw, hell, it doesn’t matter. (more…)
In presenting their first full-length release, quirky rhythm mashers 