I’m often more impressed with a raw, fucked-up demo than I am with a fleshed-out finished product. I’d be terrible at mixing and mastering—I’d bring the fuzz up in the mix and accentuate the notes a player’s fingers weren’t supposed to pluck. I’d make it sound like most of Texas-to-Portland transplant Tex Winters’ new album, [...]

Six years ago, when he was still Soul Plasma, Soul P. (Easy McCoy on the secondary stage alias tip) knocked the Northwest hip-hop scene on its ass with the release of his freshman LP, Simply Soul, an album filled with Godly references, thickly cut beats with heart and lyrics that packed a message.
At the [...]

Gabe Hascall has been through a lot for a 31-year-old. He went from playing for a decently well known ska-punk band, the Impossibles, in his hometown of Austin, Texas, and collaborating with Impossibles bandmate Rory Phillips to form Slowreader, an Elliot Smith influenced project, to living in his mother’s attic, trying to kick meth, drinking [...]

Our cross-dressing darlings are at it again. With all the hype circling around the band’s self-titled debut, Starfucker’s eight track (ten on vinyl) EP/mini-album Jupiter comes highly anticipated.
Listening to “Medicine,” Jupiter’s first single, heightens my eagerness for the album’s release. The song is not a departure from the electro-pop air of the band’s debut, [...]

It’s rather apropos that the Slaves’ haunting aria “You Could Save Me” is titled as such considering the song sounds like the soundtrack to a plight. Singer Barbara Kinzle’s operatic voice soars over the collage of sounds from Birch Cooper’s oodles of pedals, keyboards and white MacBook. Those samples and scattered electronics, along with [...]

Please excuse Jada Pierce if she gets a bit preachy. It’s hard to avoid these days, amid layoffs and pay cuts and constant fear of poverty and war. One listen and a quick scan of the lyrics sheet later, and it’s pretty obvious what “Make the World Go Away” is about.
Nothing is very [...]

It’s pretty easy to compare local guitar-and-drums duo Experimental Dental School to San Francisco’s avant-rock juggernaut Deerhoof: Both bands feature a cute Asian singer, like their rock with a quirky bent, and put out really freakin’ rad album covers. Yet, despite working from the same instrumental palette, Experimental Dental School’s songs are leaner, even more [...]

“Hard Times,” a new recording by Michael the Blind, is definitely an appropriate song right now. I know the economic crisis has been beaten over our heads way too hard lately, but let’s face it—times are motherfucking tough.
The Portland singer/songwriter (who really is legally blind—he can’t lawfully drive) admits that the inspiration for his new [...]

Viva Voce’s new record Rose City sure comes with a great backstory. According to drummer/singer Kevin Robinson, the band—who recently doubled to a quartet with the additions of Corrina Repp and Evan Railton—finished it in a scant three weeks in a studio built in his backyard. And I’m not just talking about the recording, but [...]

Tara Jane ONeil’s “Drowning” is not your typical pop song. It has no chorus. Or much structure, for that matter. “Drowning” is basically one long meditation: Nearly four minutes of chime-like background ambiance, softly brushed percussion, a rambling, meandering guitar lead and ONeil’s restrained voice. Math rock, this ain’t.
ONeil has come a long way [...]