[ELECTRO-POP] With its elaborate makeup and custom-made sexed-up costumes, Fleshtone has always put its own twist on the rock opera. Past shows have included softcore porn-ish hot-dog outfits, jungle gyms and grown men in diapers—all of which has made the troupe one of Portland’s more controversial, not to mention polarizing. But, considering a recent […]

However Amelia’s Napster designation may read, the band’s music has never been what you’d call “easy listening.” A homegrown trio borne upon disciplined songcraft and a drum-playing chanteuse, Amelia’s sentiment-free chamber-roots music has won the hearts of contemporary adults throughout the Northwest—despite an absence of DayGlo hooks and easily parsed lyrics. Still, even for Amelia, […]

It’s overcast and getting dark over the front steps of Southeast Portland venue/artists’ collective the Artistery. The five members of self-described “gnar shred” oufit White Fang return from a trek down to 39th Avenue for smokes and snacks. They don’t need much prodding to start talking about their band, which is spending the afternoon here […]

Amid the ruckus of sound checks and merch-table set-ups, New Bloods drummer/vocalist Adee Robeson and violinist/vocalist Osa Atoe took a moment to catch up with WW during the hectic few hours before a recent show at Portland’s Hippodrome. The all-female, all-queer post-punk outfit has inhabited the dankly romantic basements and backyards of Northeast Portland for […]

[ECLECTRO-POP] When Hiram Lucke talks about his band, the Harvey Girls, he makes a clear distinction between the Internet and real life. “Now we’re a real band,” the slightly buzzed thirtysomething tells me from a squeaky Southwest Portland barstool. “We started as just a recording band, and we’ve moved in kinda small increments.” The biggest […]

Based solely on context clues—the well-fitting, deep-red sport coat; the smooth blasts of trumpet and dark, eerie keyboard sounds; the black derby cap and stoic stage presence; collaborators like country chanteuse Shelley Short and folk charmer Laura Gibson—you’d never guess Cory Gray considers himself “not very cool.” But that’s just how the Carcrashlander frontman-songwriter describes […]

[ART FOLK] Pigeonholers often categorize music as either high or low—as “art” or “folk.” But composers have long been transforming folk songs into something more complex. And today’s postclassical tunesmiths draw on the very roots of such “common” art to create powerful modern works.
Take George Crumb’s River of Life, the major work of local avant-ensemble […]

[BLUEGRASS, ETC.] Now in its fourth year, the RiverCity Bluegrass Festival bills itself as the area’s “largest and most significant” music event. While Musicfest NW organizers might take issue with that description, the bluegrass fest does reside on two stages at the gargantuan Convention Center, and it’s headlined this year by national names such as […]

[QUIRK POP] Gregory Miles Harris can’t sit still. Adjusting and then readjusting his green knit cap, the quirky local songwriter shifts in his chair, pulling at his sweater sleeves. He stops bouncing his foot to untie and then retie his sneakers. “The fact that you even know who I am,” he says, “is flippin’ awesome.”
You […]

Their music scenes may seem worlds apart, but Kevin Robinson (of husband-wife psych-pop duo Viva Voce) and Milton Campbell (a.k.a. MC, DJ and producer Ohmega Watts) have an awful lot in common. Both of these PDX imports— Robinson from Alabama and Watts from Brooklyn (by way of Florida)—have found success since relocating to the Rose […]