Music Dear MC Chris,

You seemed totally startled at the fanatical devotion the crowd at Berbati's Pan poured at you on Friday. Why was that? You are, after all, you—and this is, after all, Portland.

Seriously, have you been here before? Have you gone for a drink and some Tetris at our barca...   More

Music When you go to a "battle of the bands," you usually have a pretty good idea what you're in for. A band will play a set. Then another band will play a set. Then another, and so on. And at the end of it all, somebody gets declared a winner. A "battle of the bands" is just a concert with value...   More

Music The good, the bad and the awesome spaghetti-western soundtrack band.

There’s something very Portland about sticking two things together that, at first blush, make zero sense. Bacon...on a doughnut? An arcade...that’s a bar? Film composers...who play rock clubs? That’s Federale, which creates soundtracks for imaginary spaghetti-western films. “We just really l...   More

Music Stories There’s something very Portland about sticking two things together that, at first blush, make zero sense. Bacon...on a doughnut? An arcade...that’s a bar? Film composers...who play rock cl ...   More

Music "It's like we had to sit through a Decemberists concert to get to a Decemberists concert."

That's how one person in the crowd described the band's July 19 concert at McMenamins Edgefield. And he was dead on.

The Decemberists took the stage as part of the Edgef...   More

Music The former Dagger of the Mind explains what’s in a name.

[BARDCORE] In 2008, local theme-metal act Dagger of the Mind faced a dilemma likely unprecedented in the whole history of rock ’n’ roll: Stay a band—or become a metal theater group? “We agonized over it,” says frontman Jason Simms (known as Lord Simms, Liege of Albuquerque, onstage). But in ...   More

Music Stories [BARDCORE] In 2008, local theme-metal act Dagger of the Mind faced a dilemma likely unprecedented in the whole history of rock ’n’ roll: Stay a band—or become a metal theater group? ...   More

Music Amanda Palmer—solo performer and she of Boston punk-cabaret act the Dresden Dolls—was in PDX this week to talk to important people (Laika; Dark Horse Comics) about important things (movie scores; comics and books). And to play ukulele in the North Park Blocks for a crowd of fans she...   More

Music Yann Tiersen's Portland show was a case study in misplaced expectations.

It can be hard, when going to see someone like Tiersen, to know what you're going to get. Yes, he's best known for scoring the adorably-whimsical French film Amélie using both new compositions and ...   More

Music Last Friday, Loch Lomond and Hush Records introduced that whole "sustainability" thing to music: They released a digital EP made entirely out of recycled content.

Loch Lomond's new Trumpets For Paper Children EP, which is available for download on a "pay as you will" don...   More