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And we're done!

We had great sets from Norkfolk and Western and the New Bloods to bring us home. Thanks to everybody for coming out to PDX Pop Now! 2008. We'll see you next year! In the meantime, you can get involved by going to pdxpopnow.com. Bye!

Ok. Things are getting serious. We just had a string of amazing sets and Sandpeople are soundchecking right now, so this is gonna have to be quick.

First, we finished up the outside set with Eat Skull and White Fang. Eat Skull brought the authentic alternative rock ruckus, loud guitars, singer flopping around. They even whipped out a cover of 90s classic "Nic Fit". It was a solid set and I'm sure there's more to say about it, but my memory's been wiped clean by the one-two combo of White Fang and Liv Warfield.

White Fang's set created total pandemonium. Their mosh pit filled the stage as well as the first fifty feet from the stage. Instruments got destroyed, chairs moved under their own volition, crowds were surfed, a bass drum emerged from nowhere, etc. Check out the last 90 seconds:

One of the few reasons the band survived was Adam Forkner of White Rainbow (in the green hoodie) who just came back from tour with them played camp counselor from the side of the stage.

After that madness, we moved inside for The Liv Warfield Experience. Warfield's explosive voice and incredibly tight band had the audience completely in the palm of their hand from the first second of their set. And I don't think many people there will forget their cover of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" anytime soon.

Sandpeople are on now, but I just had to sit down to catch my breath. We've only got two more bands left before we're done...

In a classic PDX Pop turn of events, we just had three great sets that were totally all over the place stylistically and yet each awesome in their own way.

First Dragging an Ox through Water brought his unique brand of noise-damaged folk. Whereas his set last year was during the day and feverishly focused, this year's took place in deep enough darkness for his Candle Organ to function:

There was also a greater song-emerging-from-noise thing to this set with his little gems of folk songs rising out of totally chaotic burblings and bubblings.

After Dragging an Ox, the stage was quickly cleared for JonnyX and the Groadies who got their sound and light system into place rapidly. They were pure theatrical entertainment. Solid glam-infused metal at ear-splitting volumes, a dude in a skeleton costume, and a dude dressed like Brett Michael. Plus they had wireless attachments for their bass and guitars, so the costumed members of the band were able to wander through the crowd (the bassist even sat for a minute at the PRA table), eventually meeting back up in the middle of the mosh pit for a face off.

Plus, a smoke machine!

After the smoke cleared, Pure Country Gold got things started outside. Someone once described punk as "Chuck Berry on speed". Well, PCG are something like Willy Nelson on speed, like punk grown from the seed of country instead of rock.

Eat Skull are playing now on the outside stage. They're about halfway done so I think I'll run out to catch a bit of it before they finish.

Ok. We're starting to get all kinds of awesome unexpected stuff happening. First of all, Dragging an Ox through Water showed up and, in addition to the other merch he has for sale, he's offering a hand-build musical instrument that he designed. It detects light and generates a set of frequencies designed to sound pretty based on what it sees. He calls it a "Six Oscillator Candle Organ" check it out at right (-->).

We're going to be selling it via silent auction. I've already got a bid in...

After the arrival of the Organ, my salad arrived, which was aweome, but meant that I missed most of Bark Hide and Horn, but it was worth it to get to eat some green things. The festival is great in lots of ways, but it can definitely lure you into eating a lot of junk food (Voodoo Doughnuts' amazing infinite donation for the green room didn't help too much in that department).

Luckily though, I ended up without a musical deficit at all. Just as I was finishing my salad and Bark Hide and Horn were winding up their set, intriguing sounds started to emanate from the neighboring loading dock. I headed down there to find that it was Why I Must Be Careful playing a guerilla set! They'd setup a carpet, a drum kit, and an organ, and they timed things perfectly to not interfere with any regularly schedule music.

And, as a bonus, they were totally awesome! They're a little bit like Portland faves, the Watery Graves (spazzy jazzy), but with a greater ability to read each others' minds.

Why I Must Be Careful finished up just in time for people to hustle back inside to hear A Weather who are on now. They've been playing a lush set, full of rich textures and instrumentation. Plus,they have a female drummer, which seems to be one of the big trends this year.

With Dragging an Ox and Johnny X still to come, the rest of this set promises to be epic. I'm gonna go get in position.

Experimental Dental School are an interesting mix of influences. Maybe it's just the two-person guitar-drums thing, but they're a bit like the White Stripes crossed with Deerhoof. They employ Deerhoofs rapid-fire part switching and thrilling recklessness, but they also mix in a little bit of the Stripes' classic Loud Rock Guitar (tm).

Unfortunately, I missed Cower while organizing a food run for some of our people. I did see that there were a few people made up like zombies in the crowd for that set, so it must have been interesting.

Bark Hide and Horn just started outside and Seth just delivered my Spinach and Tempeh salad from Laughing Planet so I'm going to head out there for an eat and listen.

Seth just walked over and dropped me a note that reads "David Lynch on Prozac does electronic music". The phrase was underlined. It's not a bad description for Mattress (as you can see for yourself below). I'd have to throw a little bit of damaged gospel preacher into that description as well just for accuracy.

That was refreshing.

Each year we seem to have an ambient artist on Sunday afternoon just when I'm starting to lose it from music overload and need the mental equivalent of a long soak in the tub.

This year, Grouper played the role admirably. Unlike most ambient/noise artists, vocals play a large role in Grouper's sound. She combines delicate unearthly singing into the warm wash of reverberant guitar and noise that forms the basis of so much of this type of music. The result sounds just a hint like something from the Twin Peaks soundtrack, like Angelo Badalmenti and Julee Cruise dunked into a bath of static.

Now we've got Mattress. I thought he was going to be starting imminently, but now he's crawling around the stage whispering "the music is lost" into the microphone. I think that's a sign of technical difficulties rather that the actual start of his set, but I can't be totally sure. I'll have to go in for a closer look to confirm...

Seth:

Lots of folks have been writing about the music this weekend. I wanted to take a few minutes to write about the gestalt of the PDX Pop Now! fest. This is the second year volunteering and third year attending the festival, so I've been lucky enough to work with and see dozens of bands. What stikes me most about PPN! is the attitude of everyone involved. The performers are all, to a person, not just happy but downright enthusiastic about playing the festival. They are kind, gracious, and incredibly generous with their time to come out and play for free. The folks who put on the festival love the music, love the scene, love the people - audience and performers - who make PPN! what it is. The audience turns out for everything that comes and loves every minute of it. As organizers, stylistically we throw everything and the kitchen sink at the audience and they enjoy and support every minute of it. Everyone involved - audience, bands, organizers - are so thrilled to be a part of what's happening. The sense of community, of a shared experience, is is palpable. To me, that's what really makes PDX Pop Now! so remarkable, even unique.

Podington Bear just delivered a set that was a tribute to one of Portland's most beloved arts: karaoke.

He brought up all-stars from around the Portland music world to sing along to his own instrumental interpretations of hits from the 80s. Nick Jaina, Rachel Blumberg, multiple folks from Loch Lammond, PDX Pop Now's own Ross Beech, and others came up to sing all the karaoke classics: "Eyes without a Face", "Love Cats", "Tainted Love", "Rocket Man" etc. One of the highlights was Nick Jaina doing a tortured rendition of REM's "Everybody Hurts".

Each song was accompanied by projected video that including the lyrics so the audience could sing along as well as fragments of short black and white films: a monkey undergoing a checkup, kittens in boxes (for Love Cats, obviously), etc.

It was all done in a lighthearted and playful spirit that made the Portland music scene feel like just a bunch of friends haning out in their local neighborhood karaoke bar (which is often what it is).

The sun's finally starting to poke through the clouds out there and I think that World's Greatest Ghosts might deserve some of the credit. They played a set of loud upbeat synth-touched sunny spazzy melodic pop.

The Ghosts were good enough to play our Parkrose school show this year and it was fun to see them again.

After The Ghosts, Meth Teeth took the the stage, direct from a touring gig in Missoula, Montana. Meth Teeth are like a blast of fresh air straight out of the nineties. They make authentic alternative rock: slashing harsh guitars, pounding drums, strong melodies, concise songs. It's not hard to imagine them opening for Mudhoney or Jesus Lizard back in the day.

Unfortunately, I had to miss a little bit of their set to go pay our port-a-potty vendor who was stopping by for a cleaning. Ah, the glamorous life of a music festival organizer...

Anyway, Poddington Bear is getting setup now. His sound check a second ago was so realistic that everyone was fooled into thinking the set was starting. That's probably a sign that it won't be long before he's ready to go. He's got a great big screen setup so it should be a multimedia treat.