Golden Retriever: Wednesday, Aug. 1

The Portland experimental duo goes big with help from a great label and some magic beans.

Music Stories [EXPERIMENTAL DUO] The announcement of a new album by Golden Retriever was big news within the experimental music community, where the modular synth and bass clarinet duo is one of Portland’s mo   More

 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Velella Velella: Friday, Aug. 3

A tale of one band and two cities.

Music Stories [FUNK, ETC.] “It’s like we’re back from the dead,” Jeremy Hadley says, eyes wide with excitement over his pint glass at Baby Doll Pizza in Southeast Portland. Velella Velella, the resurrec   More

 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 NORA EILEEN JONES

Primer: The Fixx

Music Stories Formed: London, 1979. Sounds like: For those age 45 and above: that delirious moment of pop history when unprecedented racial, sexual and intellectual freedoms glimpsed a better world through spi   More

 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 JAY HORTON

Aged and Warped

What listening to 17 Warped Tour compilations in a row tells us about punk rock.

Music Stories The Warped Tour—that musical ball pit of scrubbed and shiny punk sounds for teenagers—finally turns 18 this year. It is old enough to go to college. To vote. To move out of the house. To royal   More

 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 CHRIS STAMM

A Saint, a Clown and a Bad Seed

Punk pioneer Ed Kuepper on where he’s been and where he’s going.

Music Stories Ed Kuepper has had one of the most admirable careers to come out of the ’70s punk scene, keeping one foot in the...   More

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 ROBERT HAM

Primer: Fiona Apple

Music Stories Born: 1977 in Manhattan.  Sounds like: Nina Simone as a white product of ’90s pop.  For fans of: Patti Smith, Tori Amos, Rufus Wainwright; music with equal parts brain, heart and fingers   More

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 NORA EILEEN JONES

Squarepusher: Tuesday, July 31

Tom Jenkinson rediscovers his roots while reinventing the light show.

Music Stories [A/V CLUB] Having some sort of visual accompaniment—usually films playing behind the musicians or an elaborate light show—is the norm for electronic musicians. Deadmau5 has the colorful mous   More

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 ROBERT HAM

PDX Pop Now! Yearbook, 2012

Getting all sentimental over this year’s eclectic PDX pop crop.

Music Stories Every year, the PDX Pop Now! festival offers a glimpse into the music that’s moving Portland. And despite this city’s recent reputation as a haven for confessional, tattooed singer-songwriters   More

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 CASEY JARMAN

Primer: The Wiggles

Music Stories Formed: In 1991 in Sydney by a group studying early childhood education.  Sounds like: Sixties pop songs about eating fruit instead of making out with girls. For fans of: Afternoon naps, Fisher   More

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 RUTH BROWN

Vinnie Dewayne: Saturday, July 21

A young St. Johns MC puts his whole life—warts and all—on his brilliant new mixtape.

Music Stories [HIP-HOP] In the middle of his 2010 mixtape, Solitary, over a sample from Wings’ “Band on the Run,” 19-year-old Portland MC Vinnie Dewayne crystallized his home life. “My family different/   More

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 CASEY JARMAN