Music  I love how ambitious Portland bands are becoming. It puts a lot of trust in an audience to be willing to throw out songs that push the envelope both musically and in terms of length. Can't think of too many other ambient pop bands willing to drop a 10 minute song on their fans this early on in their careers - nor one that would pull it off as well as Forest Park does here. 
<a...   More

Music Stories [ADVENTURES IN JAZZ] As it has been on previous albums, the cover of David Ornette Cherry’s most recent solo disc, Eternal Monologue, shows the keyboardist’s last name in capital letters and color   More

Music
I've talked to plenty of artists who have made the jump from independent labels to the majors over the years, and the conversation usually ends up exactly like this: "It says it right there in our contract: 'complete artistic control.' They're not going to do anything to our sound. We haven't changed a bit." 
Um.....sure. 
Next time you read something like that in an artist int...   More

Music When the new year begins we here at WW's Music Bunker (located 5,000 feet below the Earth's crust, and directly beneath the former location of Satyricon) begin our countdown, waiting calmly for the next installment of the PDX Pop Now! Festival. We scour the Internet, breathlessly looking for any signs of life in the PDX Pop camp and praying for a...   More

Music Stories   [STRIPPED-DOWN ROCK] Contemporary Portland rock acts seem to fall into two distinct camps: Groups that pile as many bodies as possible on the stage to create a maelstrom of sound and impac   More

Music The project: Run On Sentence Community Supported MusicWho's behind the project? Dustin Hamman, the man behind Run On SentenceWhy does he want your money? Hamman is expanding a project he started l...   More

Music  It has to be the season of gift-giving because the musicians of our fair city are bestowing so many lovely presents upon us in these days leading up to Christmas. Or did you musical kids all get together and decide to celebrate Hanukkah without mentioning anything to us? Works for me, just keep the goods coming. Today's little aural stocking stuffer is from the quartet known as Yours. A...   More

Music  This is likely going to make me sound like the aging music writer that I try to deny that I am, but here goes: back in the days when I was a serious CD/cassette buyer, I used to love picking up CD singles of my favorite bands/artists because it guaranteed a few bonus tracks that gave me another facet of said band/artist that to grapple with. Usually, this meant a cover song or two, a remix o...   More

Music Stories [BRINGING HEAVY BACK] Metal and other forms of heavy rock haven’t had this good a year since the 1991 heyday of Metallica’s black album and Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I and II.    More

Music The project: The Peace SpeakerWho's behind the project? Musician Tommy YasuharaWhy does he want your money? To build a 12 foot tall wooden peace sign that doubles as a speaker cabinet. It will carry 12 12" speakers and be...   More