So, local indie pop outfit Derby has a very special 7-inch release party show on Jan. 28 (even though the wax and accompanying digital download EP is technically out in Febuary, we’re guessing you’ll be able to pick it up at this show), and we want to send you there. We also want to give [...]

It’s that time again: Time for John Isaacson to get a little bit metal. This week’s Feedback finds him catching a trio of heavy outfits at that most loveable Alberta dive, The Know, and having his shoes shaken (not stirred) in the process. Links: Knelt RoteSpot AnhedonistSpace AcephalixSpace As always, click on

Discerning Portland fans may have noticed that Zack Osterlund—better known as the primary force behind local electronic act Breakfast Mountain—wasn’t performing much in the latter half 2010. Once highly active in the Portland scene, Breakfast Mountain was off the map for close to six months until Osterlund and a l

Luck-One is a lyricist more than he’s a rapper. Not to say that the Portland MC can’t rap—he certainly can—but his primary objective is to put ideas on the page and get them across to his listener. I think that’s an important distinction to make: A rapper likes the way he sounds; A lyricist has [...]

Two weeks ago, we announced—along with the rest of the Internet—that Brent Knopf, one of the three original members of Menomena, was leaving the band to focus on his solo project and on recording a few records for his friends. Since then, Menomena has mostly keep quiet, but both Knopf and Seim were kind enough [...]

A Night Goes Through (Gorbie International) [THE OL’ SLOW ’N’ SAD] Barry Brusseau is a man with many gifts: a clear, low-register voice that reminds of Smog’s Bill Callahan; dexterous hands that convey soul and patience in his guitar playing; a knack for minimal arrangements. Those gifts help craft

By The Metal Shakespeare Company In the Bard, a man of humble origin didst ascend to become the finest author of any land or any era. Naturally, this tale of triumph doth itch the monied and powerful and they do it scratch by giving the Complete Works to some other figure. O’er five years, the Metal [...]

The Northwest’s largest hip-hop crew has to be seen to be believed. Northwest hip-hop wasn’t born when Oldominion formed in 1999. But the expansive Portland/Seattle crew united the local underground rap scene for the first time, and in the band’s 12-year run, its influence is still being felt far and wide

Local producer branches out with his own band. [PRODUCER POP] Talkdemonic. Blind Pilot. Horse Feathers. World’s Greatest Ghosts. If you peruse the liner notes of many of the best indie rock and folk albums released in Portland over the past five years, you’ll notice one common name scrawled in every booklet: pro

p>Born: 1946 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Sounds like: Steve Martin playing a banjo concert at a Delaware prep school. For fans of: Pete Seeger, Bob Seger, Richard Thompson, Kate McGarrigle, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Seth Rogen. Latest release: 10 Songs for the New Depression (2010). Why you care: Despite being nominated as a &#

A good band is a double-sided one. Its head sees all and therefore tends to be a bit prettier, occasionally in makeup and always smiling for the studio microphones. Its tail is scrappier, with bald spots here and there and the wagging freedom of next to no constraint. I saw Peter Wolf Crier’s live side on [...]

A good rock band is hard to find, and I’m always so happy to find one that I feel inclined to pass them on to you. Charming Birds aren’t a new band, but they’re still pretty new to me, and maybe to you. The Portland basement quartet (I can call them that because the “Burned [...]

Oh, look, Yacht is over at VBS, hanging out in bed like John and Yoko and playing with crystal pyramids like crazy cult people. The Portland duo is seen here talking about how the mystery lights in Marfa, Texas changed their lives (and their music) forever; and how tour is basically like going to war. The [...]

The secret that’s not quite a secret is finally out: Thermals frontman Hutch Harris has a new solo project called Forbidden Friends! If you’re smart enough on Twitter (or know some people in this town) you might have heard a rumor that Harris spent a few weeks in 2010 at Jackpot Studios working on a [...]

There are a lot of visual puns going on here. Not only are the mountains at “Higher” elevation than, you know, the ocean—but Cool Nutz may or may not be revealing the strategy he uses to keep those Nutz so Cool. Now, I know that our copy editing squad would take issue with the title [...]

Looking back at the LocalCut archives, I realize that I haven’t written a proper off-the-cuff live review in almost two years. But this morning, while laboring through a glut of PR emails and music listings, a funny thing happened: I couldn’t stop thinking about the show I saw last night. Crazy for a music write

Since he got to work on illustrating WW’s year-end cover story, local cartoonist/music geek John Isaacson is back in the saddle for his weekly comics show review column, Feedback. This week’s comic is actually from a show that happened a couple of months ago, but we’ll take what we can get to kick-start Jo

Ringtone City, Baby! There’s a Portland Monthly fashion shoot quality to this latest video from Portland hip-hop duo Living Proof—filmed largely in iconic PDX locales (wait, Fire on the Mountain? Does the director work there or something?) with LP MC Tope sporting at least two different frames throughout. These guy

For frontman John Petkovic, Sweet Apple was a real life-saver. [RIFFS OF LIFE] If anyone ever wanted to do an indie-rock remake of It’s a Wonderful Life, Sweet Apple singer John Petkovic has a few casting suggestions: himself as George Bailey and his bandmates J. Mascis and Dave Sweetapple as his guardian angels. As P

“The Breaks,” Kurtis BlowMay be the funkiest rap song ever made—the breaks in this song are classic b-boy/hip-hop. “Give it Up or Turn it Loose,” James BrownThe anthem for hip-hop, and many don’t know this. “It’s Just Begun,” Jimmy Castor and the Castor BunchMy mentor in

Formed: 1996 in Portland. Members: Frontman Herman Jolly, guitarist Jonathan Drews, bassist Eric Furlong, keyboardist Jeff Saltzman, drummer Tony Lash. Sounds like: Phil Spector recording fucked-up, distorted pop songs from his prison cell. For fans of: The Beatles, Guided By Voices, The Rentals, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., The

The internet most certainly did not kill the Portland video star. This year, the folks behind the Northwest Film Center’s Reel Music Festival had a great, if rather obvious, idea: Why not screen two hours of notable Portland music videos from the past few years on a big projection screen? Then I had a great, if [...]

The King Is Dead (Capitol Records) [AMERICANA] As the Decemberists’ hype machine once again prepares its bayonets for war, we couldn’t help but share some gut reactions from our initial listens to the new disc, The King Is Dead. Look for more in-depth coverage when the band plays Portland next month, but here a

It seems like just the other day (wait, it was the other day!) that we were talking about longtime Portland MC Kenny Mack’s new collaboration with fellow MC Mikey Vegaz, Money Rules. So it came as a bit of a shock to hear that the 36-year-old MC—who seems to be on every hip-hop bill in [...]

We played a small, at times awkward, house show in Nashville. Somehow I managed to jump and get my shoelace wrapped around my guitar at the end of the first song. Luckily, I didn’t hurt myself. Apparently, during the next song, I got a booger stuck in my mustache. Tessa was kind enough to inform [...]

Can’t say I didn’t see this one coming. This afternoon Menomena announced on its website that multi-instrumentalist Brent Knopf—founding member, skilled keyboard player, and the creator of the Deeler looping system used to create all the band’s music—is leaving the band to focus on other projects, incl

Is Grails the best band in Portland? It’s certainly not a popular choice, but for a certain subset of people in this city, Grails is the perfect band, really—a combination of Holy Sons’ wandering desert blues, the knotty guitar work of Richard Bishop, and the sort of expansive, all-conquering B-movie soundtrac

Today, Starfucker’s new label, Polyvinyl Records, announced that you can start pre-ordering the band’s forthcoming full-length (titled Reptilians)—and get an immediate MP3 download of the entire album when you do. Fans will know that this release has been a long time coming, but let’s recap Starfucker&#

A few things have crossed my desk this week—well, very little actually “crosses my desk” these days…crossed my desktop?—that I thought I should share. So let’s zone out on some videos together, shall we? Kenny Mack and Mikey Vegaz, “Iller Nigga” I have my issues with the ol’ 

The underappreciated genius of Eddie Henderson and the Mwandishi group. In the early 1970s, jazz was in the midst of another identity crisis. Tags like “swing,” “bop” and “free” had already stretched the music’s definition over the years, but when Miles Davis fused the openness of j