August 2007 Archives

Woohoo! And we're done! Blitzen Trapper just closed out this year's fest with some good ole fashioned 'merican rock n' roll! And wolf-howling!

Thanks to all the thousands of you that made it down this year! Thanks to all the bands! I can't feel my legs anymore! See you next year!

Sharing their name with both Star Wars' Tusken Raiders and a threatened tribe in the Namibian bush, Sandpeople are a giant Portland hip-hop crew -- with 8 people, one of whom is basketball-player tall, they more than fill the stage with a riot of long waving limbs and bountiful bounding backup shouters. Their tracks combine bone-crunchingly loud bass and bass drum (I think at this point Yellow Swans-ish might be the appropriate honorific) with delicate flute/guitar/other-high-pitched-musical-sound samples. Their lyrics range from helpful advice ("Don't drive with drugs up in the front, put 'em in the trunk") to relevant aphorisms ("Fuck the deadbeat dads of modern music!").

Like other PDX Pop hip-hop acts before them, they worked incredibly hard to get our relatively dance-resistant crowd to move their feet and wave their hands. And it worked! And now we've only got Blitzen Trapper left before we bring this year's fest to a close! Holy cow!

I think my heart's stopped. Yellow Swans just played the loudest most physical 20 minutes of music I've ever heard. Their entire set consisted of an impossibly loud sustained buzzing, roaring, delay-soaked madness. It was less like listening to music than like having it performed inside your own chest cavity -- ribs, heart, lungs, and other important things vibrating wildly.

Now, Sandpeople.

Evolutionary Jass Band were just totally incredible, but even though they're one of my favorite bands in town, I don't have time to say too much more about that right now because Yellow Swans are getting started. One of them just gave a great opening speech thanking EJB, pointing the crowd to the 250 extra earplugs we bought for their set (they are known to be a ridiculously loud band), giving a shoutout to all-ages music, and calling for the kids to take fixing the world into their own hands. Pretty much all the PDX Pop g-spots!

They're really starting now though (I can tell because the inside of my head is shaking from the volume even though I'm sitting halfway across the room), so I'm gonna get off my duff and get in there.

And now, Ebeth on Dat'r:

A chemist can hardly resist a lyric like "Only electrons from here until your eardrums," because, HEY! electrons! Whoa! Beyond that, Dat'r was a shot of caffeine into the evening in conjunction with the Nice Boys following the mellow earlier set block. The game console-controller conducted music, partnered with Paul's risk of impalement on his cymbals and Matt's wailing vocals, makes you appreciate how an Inferius must feel in Voldemort's underground lake of death, all clawing elbows and murky bumping into one another in the middle of the final outdoor set of this year's fest. It also makes you appreciate the extra pair of underwear you packed for the fest just in case you got this sweaty. What, you didn't?

Just caught the end of the Nice Boys' set. They play classic feel good punk. There was some argument as to whether it's better dated 1977 or 1981, so we'll split the difference and go ahead and say 1979.

Right after the Nice Boys finished, we heard music coming from the loading dock of one of the adjacent warehouses. I didn't see it myself, but I just got a comprehensive report from Jason, Audio Cinema's webmaster, on what went down. According to him, it was a band called Rainbow and the Kittens, who are friends with Dat'r, playing a gorilla set. Jason shot some video which he reviewed for me.

Here are the facts as we know them: their singer's name is Why Not, their accordion player's name is Ally, and the their drummer was named Shawn and was wearing a horse costume. Their CD (see below), "Rainbow Kitten with Wings" is apparently the "soundtrack to a musical". When they finished, they tried to send people over for the start of Dat'r's set, but the crowd demanded an encore!

Dat'r did finally manage to lure the rest of the crowd over when Rainbow and the Kittens finished up, but we'll have more on that from Ebeth in a bit. In the meantime, here's what Rainbow's CD looks like:

Laura Gibson just played a hypnotizing set to a seated crowd that filled most of the floor in here. Gibson sings what are essentially torch songs (all break-ups and loss) in a warm rich nearly-affect-less voice reminiscent of Canadian chanteuse, Feist. At least for tonight, her ensemble of musical saw, keys, trumpet, and bowed vibes provided the most minimal and tasteful of accompaniment, adding texture to what was at core a solo set. Gibson's music has the kind of near-universal appeal that makes seeing a relatively unknown artist feel like getting in on the ground floor of something. Tonight felt a lot like the last night that you'll be able to say you saw her when.

Well. That was odd. After walking into the venue about a minute before his set started, Robot Ate Me played a barely-there set of endless swells of single-chord acoustic guitar and quite a long period of plain old catatonic silence. There were a few seconds of singing in there but they would have been easy to miss. From one point of view, that was the most disruptive, punk rock thing that's ever happened at the festival. From another, it was the most disappointing. Either way you see it, though, it was certainly strange.

I've returned, I'm refreshed, and I'm ready to go. Unfortunately in my run for a spicy black bean garden burger from Burgerville and coffee from Tiny's I missed Blue Skies for Black Hearts and System and Station. On the upside, I managed to make it back in time for the amazing Blue Cranes. We've been hearing The Cranes described as one of Portland's leading jazz lights and now I know why. They just played the heck out of a bunch of songs, ranging from originals to a cover of Portland mainstay (and PDX Pop alums) The Kingdom to a few standards. Keeping tightly to the charts, The Cranes intersperse wild out wailing with elegant straight ahead melodic soloing. Reed (their leader and alto player) walks that tightrope particularly well, using honks, squawks, and runs to enliven choruses and add dramatic tension to his solos. Their rhythm section drives the whole proceedings with a near-rock style straight beat decorated just the slightest forward-leaning swing.

We're lucky, living in a town so far from New Orleans, New York, LA, and the other centers of American jazz, to have the Blue Cranes and Evolutionary Jass Band (coming up later tonight!) and the other truly excellent original groups that we do.

Ape Shape just threw a pretty rad raggae party outside. We're coming up on our 24th hour of festival pretty soon here and I think my brain's stopped working, so I don't know how much you'll be hearing from me for the next little bit while I try to recover...

Gejius just put on a full on multimedia dance party: anime! smoke! bubbles! breakdowns! vocoderized shout outs!

Ape Shape's already going outside though, so I'm gonna go check that out rather than jabbering any more here.

That was extremely pleasant. Kele Goodwin just finished his set of very well-crafted traditional 60s folk songs. Its really impressive to watch one horn-rimmed glasses-wearing, skinny white tie-wearing guy entrance 100 people with nothing more than a classical guitar and his rich mellow voice. At their best, folk songs like these, that manage to build something dramatic, personal, and catchy out of nothing but the most minimal elements, make all other kinds of music feel extraneous and pushy.

But, on the other, hand Gejius just flipped on his smoke machine and the whole crowd just popped to their feet, so there's probably something exciting going on over there that involves more than just a guitar and a voice. I'm gonna go find out what.

Bright Red Paper play an interesting combination of a bunch of styles. There's a good dose of Godspeed You Black Emperor's epic crescendos, some Phish-style jamming, and Tori Amos-ish vocals. They also brought the first ever cello to PDX Pop as part of their unique ensemble, which also included 5-string bass, guitar drums, and female voice. The mid-afternoon crowd was definitely into it, nodding happily through the set.

Wowsers! Here Comes a Big Black Cloud just finished up an awesome set of Monster Mash-style 'evil' rock, fully decked out with blood and toxic waste splattered outfits, choreographed dancers, gongs, theremins, and a finale that involved giant plastic Godzilla costumes! If you weren't smiling in the last half hour, you probably weren't here.

Those strains of cello probably mean that Bright Red Paper are starting up now, so I'm gonna run...

Just finished a strange and wonderful first hour. While the The Sort Ofs were on stage, it turned out that Libretto wouldn't be able to make it for his 12:30 slot. After scrambling a bit to get in touch with some of our backups, we decided to turn to PDX Pop's best resource: the people of Portland. We put out the call to the crowd for an impromptu open mic and got a great response! PDX Pop's own, Ross Beach, Ben from Meyercord, a gray haired protest singer, and a trembling young dude each played a song a piece, entertaining the crowd with everything from odes to Portland to anti-Bush protest songs.

They turned what could have been an awkward few minutes there into another memorable Portland moment.

Due to the scrambling, I didn't catch enough of The Sort Ofs' set to really do them justice, but here's what they looked like at least:

Well, the bagels are toasted, the green room spread is setup, the merch is displayed, the Honey Buckets are stirred, the sound is checked, and The Sort Ofs are onstage.

We've got a big day ahead of music ahead of us, so check back frequently. I'm gonna go check them out and I'll be back with a report shortly.

But, first! Ebeth on The Snuggle Ups, the love of her life:

Nothing says love like one hundred sweaty bodies pulsating around you in a totally platonic fashion. Or not platonic, depending. While we have to regret that this is the next to last show EVER for a band that does more justice to their name than most other could ever dream of, it's hard to feel any shred of disappointment when you have your elbow pumping and hips thrusting and feet bouncing and face grinning as you scream along with Brett and Liam, "Your love is like organic produce, once you try it you can't get enough!" and the seratonin and all those other natually ecstatic chemicals surge through every pore and zoom out finger tips and toes and lips and more than anything, sweat glands. Slick with music love, your best friends on the weekends, the best hug on a bad day, oh the Snuggle Ups.

We're winding down the super dance party that Copy and The Snuggle Ups put together at the end of the night. I'm totally wiped. I had to sit down a little early; I don't nearly have the juice left to keep blogging (let alone dancing), so I'll save my wrap up for tomorrow morning when my wits have found me again...

Good night and see you in about 11 hours for the final day of PDX Pop Now! 2007

Wow. Just wow. (more later)

Well, the eclectic hours have begun. We just moved, in quick succession from Hungry Mob's outdoor set of live r&b to the intimate acoustic duo of The Ocean Floor. And things aren't getting any more sensible since we're about to dive into Black Elk's serious metal (he's screaming "fucking check!" right now, which I guess mean's they're sound checking...) followed by Copy's irresistible 8-bit beats (if you do the right search on Flickr you might be able to find some semi-embarrassing pictures of the PDX Pop board dancing to his set at last year's fest). Gotta love the diversity of music in this town, it's kinda shocking when you see it all in one place.

Re: The Ocean Floor: What's up with Longwood, Florida? So many of Portland's blond-haired goofy-glasses-wearing musical savants seem to be Longwood transplants (Skyler Norwood of Point Juncture, Alan Singley, and now The Ocean Floor). What's in the water down there?

Black Elks is launching into their set right now, which means my ability to think (and therefore, probably, blog) just went out the window! Blorfffgrgghhhhh...

Just caught a brief bit of Swim Swam Swum's set (still mostly hanging out back here minding the merch booth so merch master Mike can enjoy the hard rock as he likes to do). They play a fast-moving, hook-intensive flavor of mid-western emo and they managed to create what may be the youngest and smiliest mosh pit I've ever seen.

There's lots of people milling about; it looks like we're heading towards a capacity crowd just like last night...

I haven't updated in the last two hours because we just came through a block of non-stop awesomeness and I couldn't bear to miss a second! First, it was Point Juncture, WA outside. A PDX Pop mainstay, PJWA are a little bit Sonic Youth, a little bit Yo La Tengo, and a little bit Tortoise. They play a sonically rich mix of instruments including some exotic ones like vibes, organ, trumpet, drums, and baritone guitar and their music is expansive and luxurious. They felt great outside in the sun and wind!

After Point Juncture, we moved inside for Per Se. I may be prejudiced because of her former participation in the PDX Pop board (and her continuing excellent leadership of our decoration efforts), but I always find Per Se's sets totally spellbinding. Her songs are both completely quirkily unique and rooted in lots of old school traditions from 50s doo-wop to ethnic folk to barbershop. These influences came through especially clearly with today's larger-than-normal ensemble of bass, drums, and backup singers. She also has a fascinating stage presence -- made up of equal parts beginner's nerves and master's suave -- that seems simultaneously soaked in star power and intimately accessible.

Next up was Ethan Rose's ambient electronics. Rose started with organ and jingling bells and gradually built up whole sound worlds of consonant chords and shiny sonorities that constantly flirted with structured rhythm and melody without ever really allowing them to take hold. Each year there's a set like this in the middle of an action packed day and I always find it thoroughly refreshing...

...which was good because Starfucker followed in quick succession with a super energetic set. Oscillating between guitar and theremin drones and synth- and pounding drum-intensive pop songs, and culminating in the one-two punch of a picture perfect rendition of their track from this year's PDX Pop comp, "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second", and a rollicking rocker that set the crowd (and the band) moshing and stage diving.

Right now, The Maybe Happening are rockin' it outside. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in here minding the merch booth so I haven't heard much of their set, but I did manage to sneak out there for a second to grab to snap this pic:

Also, some dude bloodied his thumb locking his bike and just came to us for first aid. He was embarrassed, but said it was ok for me to blog about it. I wasn't planning on doing it before he mentioned it, but I guess I just have. Nice one, dude!

Just caught the last of The Soda Pop Kids, a batch of heavily mulleted and tight-jeaned Punk Group-style pop punks. Their set reminded me of a quote famously attributed to 80s NY No Wave diva, Lydia Lunch that punk was "just Chuck Berry on speed". The Soda Pop Kids fit the description pretty well, playing basically straight up classic rock, only faster and with more colorful sneakers. Much fun.

Now, I'm outside to grab a good spot for Point Juncture, WA. I can't think of a band I'd rather see outside on such a beautiful day...

Being four years old at this point, PDX Pop has seen some pretty significant changes in the styles of music preferred by Portland bands. Some styles, like 'freak folk' and various forms of dance- and 80s-based pop have risen in popularity while others have fallen. Specifically, the variety of loud, epic, largely instrumental guitar rock that goes by the name of 'shoegazer', which was so dominant the first year or so of the fest (and which was such a mainstay of Portland for so long up to that point) has gradually faded from the scene somewhat.

That's why AristeiA's just-completed set put me in a sentimental mood. They play classic shoegazer, complete with wide guitar-playing stances, swelling, hair-swinging crescendos, and pounding drums. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it does my heart good to hear this kind of thing at least once at the fest every year.

I wonder if at PDX Pop Now! 2010 I'll be singing this same lament about people with broken acoustic guitars and warbly voices...

I think that Gulls might fancy themselves a dance band -- Jesse, its core member and a frequent guest with Evolutionary Jass Band (coming up tomorrow night at 10:30), kept encouraging the crowd with shouts of "move your body". This afternoon, at least, though, their set of fusion trumpet and flute (courtesy of PDX Pop veteran, David from Please Step Out of the Vehicle) with warm buzzy loops and programmed beats played more as ambient chill than anything movement-requiring. Thankfully, a third of the way through this long day of music, that was exactly, what I, and by the looks of it much of the crowd, really needed.

Their set was also accompanied by some cool-looking projections from some buy with a big wrack of strips of film and an army of projectors. Unfortunately, it was a bit bright in here so their detail was a little hard to pick out (though I did catch a nice patch involving the triple-projected American Barricade logo), but they did add nicely to the atmosphere.

Well, we're most of the way through what's been a very pleasant afternoon. Corrina Repp and Joe Haegge (of 31 Knots fame) just finished their set. While you might not have guessed it from their separate individual acts, together they sound a bit like Portishead or Chris Isaac: pounding minimal drums, slide electric and strummed acoustic guitars, lyrical dark-tinged melodies.

There's been a solid crowd of 100-200 here consistently all day, including a few old PDX Pop hands. Sum Wu, the administrator of the original PDX Pop mailing list (where the idea for the first festival was originally raised), is around and a few other old friends have poked their heads in.

Gulls are just about to start, so I'm off to listen, and then hopefully eat the burrito someone swore they'd pick me up...

One of my favorite acts I've seen at PDX Pop just finished. Dragging an Ox through Water is a one man band who plays intimate freaked-out folk songs on fluent acoustic guitar interspersed with bursts of noise from a rube goldbergian system of pedals and amps, bits of melody played on a recorder, and the occasional pounding tom. Even sweating through the high fever he had today, Brian (Dragging an Ox's secret identity) somehow manages to make it all heartbreakingly intimate and personal and totally unpretentious. Ever since he first submitted his masterpiece, Aces to the comp a couple of years back, I've been dreaming of the day that he'd play the festival and there couldn't have been a better day for it than today:

Before Draggin an Ox, the surf-punk stylings of The Vonneguts finished up the first outside set. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of their set, but it seemed like their Venice-beach-by-way-of-DC sound suited the perfect weather out there pretty well.

Corrina Repp is getting started right now, so I'm gonna jet. Be back with a report in a bit...

Hurrah Hurrah just finished a highly pleasant set of mid 60s-style jangly pop songs, complete with peasant dresses, big horn-rimmed glasses, and Portland's signature instrument: the plastic glockenspiel. If their combination of youthful shyness, wide-eyed innocence, and choruses of catchy oohs didn't melt your heart, then it must be made of stone or some other fire-proof material.

Also! The audio recordings from last night's sets are online now courtesy of Tables Turned and PRA. Subscribe to the Tables Turned feed of all PDX Pop Now! 2007 sets to download them all.

Over the next few days, they'll be slowly but surely be uploading video as well. The first one, Hooliganship's 3D video extravaganza, is online now (careful, that's a big file and can take a little while to load).

Well, we're off with a bang! Right now, The Pink Snowflakes are finishing up their set of mind-bendingly loud reverb-soaked college rock. In addition to the rousing tunes, they had this dreadlocked dude there giving away free ice cream! Now, how can you complain about that?

Good morning! I'm poorly rested, but highly caffeinated and relatively well fed, so I'm more than ready for 12 more hours of Portland music.

March Fourth's closing set last night was true to their usual raucous form. Their huge tour bus (emblazoned with "Have a Nice Day" on the front where, in its previous professional life, a destination would probably have been indicated) elbowed its way through the crowd filling the street and then disgorged 40 gypsified pseudo-high school marching band-costumed musicians, who proceeded to process through the crowd to the stage, stilt walkers and all:

They played a highly energetic set hour-long set (complete with dancers and the first-ever instance of crowd surfing at PDX Pop) for a capacity crowd before leading them back out of the venue and into the night.

Right now, The Pink Snowflakes are getting started outside so I'm gonna run out and start the day...

That was an intense couple of hours.

After the hard-rocking, skinny-tied Junkface set brought the outside batch to a close, the inside of Audio Cinema really started to fill up. In fact, as The Blow were coming on, it got so full that we reached the capacity of 600 people that was set for us by the Fire Marshall this morning and were forced to stop additional people at the door.

While it's thrilling to have so many people so excited about our event that it fills up, it's not a good feeling to work for a year to make so much great Portland music available to everyone only to have to turn people away.

Thankfully, you Portlanders were pretty darned sweet about it. Most of you listened to our instructions and were understanding about the situation. Some kids even formed an awesome dance party in the street and sang along with every lyric from Parentheses:

While it's hard having to explain to people why they can't come into a free show when they can see open space just inside the door, it's great to live in a city where everyone is so civil and positive about it. Instead of any grumpiness, we got a big coffee klatch of people hanging out and enjoying a beautiful summer night in Portland.

In the chaos of it all, I pretty much entirely missed Braille's set.

But, on the upside, there's an awesome lady with a tambourine leading a dance-and-clap circle in the back of the room right now to Hey Lover!

I'm gonna go catch the last of their set and then get ready for the March Fourth procession...

Here's what The Blow and Junkface looked like:

The Beauty just rocked the dusk with their super-intense triple-white-man soul. It was fun to see Todd Fadel, former proprietor of the Meow Meow and Portland all-ages elder statesman, play a fest for whose existence he, maybe more than any other individual person, is responsible. In 2004, when PDX Pop Now! was just a gleam in the eye of 14 local music enthusiasts, Todd offered us free access to the Meow Meow (which was the fest's home for the last three years under various names) guaranteeing for the first time that the festival would really happen.

So, thanks, Todd! And thanks to The Beauty!

Right now, people are milling around inside while we wait for Junkface to get setup outside. After he's done, it'll be time to come back inside for the big end-of-night block: The Blow, Braille, Hey Lover, and March Fourth...

Well, that was fun! Pocket Parade just played the first-ever outdoor set at PDX Pop. Pocket Parade is a drums/sax duo with a heavy assist from the ubiquitous on-stage laptop. The weather's perfect out there and it made a great compliment to their sunny 80s synth pop-soaked Architecture-in-Helsinki-ish songs.

It was also great to see our whole area beneath the bridge filled with (mostly) young kids:

Hooliganship just finished their neat, utterly unique set: a synth pop soundtrack accompanying a video which chronicles them through a psychedlic journey in 3D! Their aesthetic -- which is somewhere between the 8-bit style of Portland's favorite videologist, e*rock, and the infantile, transgressive, sweat-suited Fleshtone -- has evolved some since I last saw them at this year's PDX Film Fest. It's slightly darker and more collage-based.

It's neat to see the whole 200-strong crowd staring up at the stage with parallel white 3d glasses:

Also! Portland Radio Authority are streaming the festival live from their website!

The High Violets just finished up a set of mellow slightly Blonde Redhead-ish jams with a little bit of college rock thrown in for free.

Hooliganship is next and they seem to be filling the wall behind the stage with a projection of some kind. Right now, it's mostly someone's messy OS X background with our decorations casting shadows over it.

THIS JUST IN: A public service announcement! We seem to be filling up pretty quickly and we got a hard upper capacity from the Fire Marshall during his visit this morning, so, if you want to guarantee that you'll be able to get in for The Blog, March Fourth, and all the other great acts coming up later tonight, get here early and camp out!

After a flurry of last minute setup including an unexpected to trip to aquire a generator and a few other activities that left the trusty old PDX Pop debit card veritably smoking, music is officially being played at the 4th annual PDX Pop Now! Portland music festival!

Typhoon is on stage rocking and there are actually quite a lot of people here (see below). They seem to be somewhere between The Pogues, Bright Eyes, and Portland's own Builders and Butchers -- kind of pirate-y gentle emo with a lot of people on stage singing, playing acoustic instruments (like trumpet and violin), and boppin' up and down during the loud parts. Sounds like they're just finishing up. Stay tuned for more shortly.

The High Violets and Hooliganship are next. And we'll be here all weekend!

The weather is beautiful and the outside stage is waiting for you:

The festival starts in T-minus 2 hours! The stages are up, the sound systems are in and getting tuned. The green room is stocked, the trash cans are getting distributed. The audio and video podcasting rigs are getting setup, decorations are being installed!

Hope to see you down here at Audio Cinema (at third directly under the Hawthorne Bridge) soon!