Past Best New Bands at a Glance

[May 7th, 2008]

2007: The Shaky Hands

Last year’s Best New Band poll saw jangle-pop quintet the Shaky Hands take the title—and boy have they run with it. The half-hippie/half-rawk outfit threw down at last year’s MusicfestNW, nabbed a spot opening for mega-popular neighbors the Shins last fall, scored play on MTV2 with its Oregon Coast-set video for “Whales Sing,” and is repping Portland hard as part of this year’s mind-blowing Sasquatch! festival lineup. Who knows when a follow-up to the band’s self-titled debut (released last year on local label Holocene Music) will hit us, but with U.K. label Memphis Industries releasing the Shakies’ debut abroad—and the BBC giving the Hands air-props (for reals!)—the sky’s truly the limit.

2006: Copy

Since gracing the cover of WW’s 2006 Best New Bands issue with keytar in hand, Copy, a.k.a. Marius Libman, has been quite the busy fellow. He released a follow-up to his excellent debut, Mobius Beard, on local electronic label Audio Dregs (that’d be last year’s dance-tastic Hair Guitar). He’s also whipped up three fancy, limited-edition CD-R releases: a “Diva” mixtape featuring funked-up tunes by the likes of TLC and Whitney; a similar disc crafted with neo-disco outfit Do N’ Dudes (the trio, of which Libman’s a regular member, chose more classic gals like Grace Jones and Diana Ross as its divas of choice); and an entire album of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony restylings. He also DJs and plays live all over town, but Libman’s apparently found time in between to work on yet another full-length. As his site instructs: “stay tuned.”

2005: Talkdemonic

Kevin O’Connor and Lisa Molinaro, the viola and beats duo also known as Talkdemonic, have been touring their butts off since holding WW’s Best New Band title in 2005. The pair’s opened for the Walkmen and the National, and managed to release 2006’s lovely Beat Romantic (on Portland’s Arena Rock Recording Company) in its downtime. Somewhere in the mix, Molinaro became a touring member of the Decemberists (she’s the gal who sang Laura Veirs’ part on “Yankee Bayonet”). Now, the duo’s set to release its third full-length, Eyes at Half Mast, in September—after a few West Coast dates with fellow PDX heavy-hitters the Helio Sequence in June. Says drummer/sequencer Kevin O’ Connor: “The best thing about winning the New Band contest was telling our parents. It’s hard to calculate validation as a musician, but something like this translates for moms especially. Before we won, my mom was always hounding me about getting a full-time teaching job. She hasn’t mentioned teaching since 2005. Thanks, WW!”

2004: Menomena

Back in ’04, Menomena—the trio of Danny Seim, Justin Harris and Brent Knopf—was crowned WW’s first Best New Band. Since, the experimental pop outfit has inked a deal with Seattle’s Barsuk Records (which released last year’s amazing Friend and Foe), toured like crazy, challenged fellow Portlanders to a few games of foosball (see LocalCut.com’s coverage of Record Store Day) and got itself nominated for a Grammy—or at least its album art did. The Grammy might’ve gone to Bright Eyes, but Friend and Foe did receive a PLUG award for Best Packaging of the Year—thanks to the stellar work of graphic novelist Craig Thompson, also a Portlander (go figure!). Drummer Danny Seim (who’s releasing a solo album under the name Lackthereof on Barsuk this summer), expounds on the trio’s BNB experience: “Before Menomena was crowned Portland’s first Best New Band, we were young, idealistic and bursting with spontaneous creativity. Now we’re all in our 30s, burnt out on life in general, and artistically bankrupt. Thanks for nothing, Willamette Week.”