MUSIC COLUMN
The Big Stink
BY RICHARD MARTIN
rmartin@wweek.com
Big Stink 3
Estacada Timberbowl
Highway 224, Estacada
Noon Friday, July 31
$23
Hold Your Nose: Last year at KNRK's idiotically named summer festival the Big Stink, Radiohead produced one of the indelible memories of the outdoor concert season with a stunning rendition of "Paranoid Android" as a fiery sunset lit up the Estacada Timberbowl. The other bands on the bill that day represented an impressive cross section of the alternative-rock field, with acts such as the Refreshments and Cake, an offbeat electronic collective from Iceland called Gus Gus, some local talent in Pond and the Dandy Warhols, and one of indie rock's most recognizable names, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, playing with his side project Folk Implosion. It was an unusually deep lineup--despite the presence of Candlebox, Meredith Brooks and Matchbox 20--considering the sponsor, a station that nurtures one-hit wonders and kowtows to the trend du jour.
The folks at KNRK corrected this oversight in organizing Big Stink 3, or "Stinkfest '98," as the record label MCA accidentally dubbed the event in a press release promoting its acts Blink 182 and Semisonic, both of which will appear at the Timberbowl on Friday. This year's lineup accurately reflects the disjointed, unfocused mess that is modern-rock radio in 1998.
Present and accounted for at Stinkfest are the mainstream punk band Green Day; the Crystal Method, a Los Angeles electronica duo that has scored with a couple of dancefloor hits and--today's ultimate signifier of success--songs placed in high-profile television ads; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, brought in to lure the all-important retro-swing constituency; thumping hard-rock and hard-techno practitioners Stabbing Westward and Gravity Kills; Blink 182, the closest thing to a skacore band on the bill; and Semisonic (of "Closing Time" fame) and Harvey "Flagpole Sitta" Danger, two pop bands that stumbled onto the charts with hits they undoubtedly hope will not eclipse the rest of their work.
I wish them luck. As the only straight-up alternative-rock station in Portland, one of the nation's top 25 radio markets, KNRK is confirming many a music fan's theory that daring, thoughtful programming no longer exists. In assembling their playlists, such stations are essentially waving a white flag that signals a surrender to corporate interests--the suits who force a reliance on the hit or the trend in order to beef up the bottom line. A band like Semisonic, which boasts other noteworthy songs on its album Feeling Strangely Fine, has little chance of airplay with a second single, because the powers that be are already searching for the next flavor of the moment. KNRK has joined this sad revolution, and it'll celebrate this Friday in the name of Stink.
Release Party Mania: This week also brings a slew of record-release and coming-out parties for local bands. First up is Reclinerland, which Friday plays one of the inaugural shows at the Roseland Grill, the renovated performance space and restaurant below the venerable theater. The band's self-titled record also marks the debut of the locally run label Expanding Brooklyn. Next up is a Saturday fete at the Tonic Lounge for Nine Volt Mile, an alternative-rock quartet featuring ex-members of Love on Ice and Tales Untold that is issuing an eponymous six-song EP. Opening for Nine Volt Mile are Trick Ponies, the brand-new mainstream pop duo of ex-Mavens guitarist and vocalist Josh Millman and former Doris Daze drummer Wayne Thompson. Last but not least is The Planet The, which is self-releasing a full-length debut and performing at Satyricon on Tuesday. The local quartet's jaunty art-punk songs recall the work of '80s bands like Big Black and the Minutemen, with searing guitars, obtuse lyrics and rhythms that borrow ever so slightly from unlikely sources such as jazz and funk.
Correction: In last week's Winners and Losers section of WW, a mention of local acts selected to perform at this year's Bumbershoot in Seattle accidentally omitted Calobo. The Portland jam-rock outfit plays the main stage Saturday, Aug. 29, on a bill that also features Rickie Lee Jones, Jethro Tull, Cracker and Third Eye Blind.
Non-Portland Postscript: The Los Angeles label Epitaph last week announced that it has signed Tom Waits, the enigmatic singer-songwriter-actor who hasn't released an album since 1993's The Black Rider. Waits is recording in a Northern California studio with the same four-piece backing lineup that contributed to his masterpieces Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones; a new album is due in early 1998.
P.A., Straight No Chase (Dreamworks)--Rightfully hyped as hip-hop's next big thing, Atlanta's Parental Advisory unleashes an album of soulful, flowing raps and hardcore beats with a touch of R&B savvy; "Like We Do" deserves to become one of the genre's classic cuts.
Silkworm, Blueblood (Touch and Go)--The durable Seattle trio rebounds from a break with Matador to release a solid album of brainy rock that ranks with the band's best work--especially the winsomely clever "Empty Elevator Shaft."
originally published July 29, 1998