My girlfriend’s cousin Peter is in a band called Just People, and he was arguably somewhat instrumental¹ in getting her to stay in Eugene, OR, rather than flying off to Hawaii and never being heard from again. Peter is about to move up to Portland, and the rest of the band is already here, so whenever they play a Portland venue, we go, because they’re genuinely a good band, and Peter is an excellent guitar player, and their shows are always fun and lively.

Last night we made the trek to the Doug Fir to see these three bands play. I hadn’t been to the Doug Fir in a long time. Their burgers are still delicious. Their bartenders still take forever to acknowledge your existence. That mannequin in the window still freaks me out.
The venue wasn’t especially packed the entire night, which is a shame because Portland, for god’s sake, you need to go and enjoy this kind of music. No more Horse Feathers. No more twangy jangly Appalachian music. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of going to see a show and getting four dudes with huge beards, and one woman playing quarter notes on a violin, like before the show they gave her a goddamn lobotomy or something. It’s ridiculous. It’s time to embrace the funk. It’s time to, as Technotronic said back in 1989, “pump up the jam.” And thankfully, that’s what happened last night.

First band up was Volifonix, a quintet from Eugene playing a jambandesque funk mix that was immediately enjoyable. The lead singer reminded me of a jammier version of Electric Six (minus the humor). They also had elements of early Living Colour in their sound, which is always a plus in my book. Also their bass player, Elijah, was pretty knocked out, but really, he kind of has to be, considering that genre of music demands a strong rhythm section.

Anyway, they blasted through a great set, really set the bar high for the entertainment for the night. The highlight, of course, was when their saxophone player, Tomo Tsurumi, hailing from Japan, performed some awesome Japanese rap over a song called, I believe, “Wow Wow Wow Wow.” A woman I can only assume was his mother was in the audience, dressed, for reals, in what looked like a traditional Japanese kimono, and just looking happy as a god damn clam watching her son take the stage. I loved it. I lover her maybe more than the song itself, to be honest. It was sentimental, okay? So Tomo, thank you for that, and kanpai!

After Volifonix was my unexpected highlight for the show: Excellent Gentlemen. I must admit, up front, that I am a huge Stevie Wonder fan, as well as all the funk music I’ve gotten my grubby paws onto. So when Excellent Gentlemen began playing (I had no idea what I was about to listen to), I was blown away. They wear their influences on their sleeve – Stevie, of course, and some modern day Cee Lo as well², and generally any funk band that uses a talk box (Roger Troutman, for example). They blew the roof off the place, to be honest. They were tight, they were confident, and their music was perfectly composed and excellently performed. And their drummer looked like he was a line cook at a restaurant. I just have to say that. Kind of off topic, I know, but never before have I seen anyone, much less a drummer for a band, and immediately thought, “That guy looks like a line cook!” I don’t know. It was the black baseball cap coupled with his shirt. He looked like a line cook! It was uncanny.

I would like to go off on a tangent for a bit. If you haven’t signed up for Spotify yet, please do so. It’s amazing, and even more importantly, you can listen to all the bands from this review there! It’s a hell of a lot easier to do this than to try and find their music to steal online. Look, I’ve stolen a lot of music online in my day, and that’s because there was no outlet to listen to music before I bought it. Spotify solves this. You can listen to an album and not feel too bad because there are some ads (or you pay a fee to remove the ads) and at least the band gets some of the profit. Not a lot, I know, but some.

Obviously, the best way to support a band is to see them live, and/or buy their merch, especially if their merch is self-released. The more money that goes straight to the artist, the better, I say. But at least with Spotify, you’re not outright stealing music from the internets. The internets is bringing you music! It’s saying, “Hey, here’s some music for you to listen to. Yeah, there’s some ads, and yeah, they are some of the most annoying ads you’ll ever hear, with some of the worst music you’ve ever heard, but at least you’re not a dirty thief, right?”

Alright, back to the topic at hand. Just People! I’ve seen them play a couple of times now and they always impress me. They’ve got a great following and really lively, engaging jamband music, without being too jambandy. You know what I’m talking about. I’m not a huge fan of the jamband scene, so I get leery at listening to those kinds of bands, especially ones I’ve never heard of before, but JP puts on a great show, and they defy the jamband stereotype by having strong lyrics and tight songs. Very upbeat and powerful. I was worried that, after the awesome performance from Excellent Gentlemen, maybe they wouldn’t be able to compete, but they did, and then some. Not that music is a competition, except maybe a friendly competition, wherein all candidates try to out-funk each other³.

And that was it! A really stellar night. This company called AudioGlobe was streaming the show for free on their website, and making copies of the show for people who wanted to pay five bucks. So I now have a live set of Excellent Gentlemen from that night. Pretty sweet!

I decided this year to get myself involved in the “end of the year music list” sort of stuff that always goes around, so I picked out 30 of my favorite tracks and wrote a little blurb about each one of them.  I also made you a mix!  I did it because I love you.

Here’s the link to the mix, which you can download and then listen to while you’re reading this friggen blog entry!  It’s the future!  The future is simultaneous!

Enjoy!

(Oh, and these aren’t in any particular order. I hit “randomize” on Winamp like ten times and this is the order that it set up.)

01. Blue Giant – Blue Sunshine (from Blue Giant) Blue Giant is a band from Portland, OR, consisting of Anita and Kevin Robinson of Viva Voce fame, and some other people.  It used to have Chris Funk from the Decemberists in it, but not anymore. Either way, they are well on their way to bringing back the southern rock genre, and doing it well, too. The whole album has great tracks, but this is a solid hootenanny kinda song.

02. Hot Chip – One Night Stand (from One Night Stand) The Warning is probably one of my favorite electronic dance pop whatever it’s called album ever, and “Over & Over” is one of my favorite songs, period.  While One Night Stand can’t ever achieve my level of love for The Warning, it is a great album regardless.

03. Vampire Weekend – Cousins (from Contra) VW is the band everyone wants to hate, but can’t. Preppy white kids making catchy music? God damn it! (The secret is that most good indie bands are fronted by preppy white kids.) At first I was leery of Contra, but it’s really just a damn good album.

04. Pomplamoose – Telephone (from the internets!) Pomplamoose is an Internet Band; most of their songs are on YouTube and stuff. They’re pretty good, if kinda twee. But this is a great cover ofthe Lady Gaga song, and their other covers are pretty good too.

05. Laura Marling – Made by Maid (from I Speak Because I Can) This album came out of nowhere for me, and it was a pleasant surprise.  That’s really all I have to say about that. Once you listen you may agree (and if you don’t, I’ll fight you).

06. Kanye West – Monster (from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) Really, everyone’s loving on this album (because it’s good), but this song is especially great because of Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj’s parts. Kanye’s not even that great. Nicki’s is the best part. Just … yeah.

07. Weezer – Ruling Me (from Hurley) Weezer’s back! Again! Kinda. Sort of. Okay this album isn’t Blue material but it’s a much better output than Raditude. This is a good Weezer song because it has the solid Weezer sound while not being about taking your girl to Best Buy, which I’m pretty sure is what every song on Raditude was about.

08. Daft Punk – Derezzed (from TRON: Legacy) I picked this song because it’s the only Daft Punk song in the entire soundtrack. I have a gripe with the whole thing, really: if you’re going to have Daft Punk compose your movie soundtrack, why would you not let them sound like Daft Punk? What’s with all the strings? Seriously, this could’ve been a great opportunity to revolutionize the music that comes from soundtracks, making an all electronic/techno sound. But no, strings. It’s not bad, it’s just … soundtracky. It’s a soundtrack!  It’s not a new Daft Punk album. Oh well.

09. Belle and Sebastian – I Want the World to Stop (from Write About Love) Since Dear Catastrophe Waitress, B&S have been putting out great, poppy music. They’re kind of like a butterfly now, I think, that has matured out of its larval stage. Their old stuff is good, it’s just not as good as this stuff. There, I said it, I’m not taking it back, and I will fight you. Again.

10. Jeremy Messersmith – Dillinger Eyes (from The Reluctant Graveyard) Another album that came out of nowhere (well, based on positive word-of-mouth). Jeremy has a beautiful voice and incredible songs. The Reluctant Graveyard is all about death, and each song has its own amazing story. And you know what? You can download it on Bandcamp for whatever you wish to pay. So do it! DO IT NOW!

11. Arcade Fire – We Used to Wait (from The Suburbs) Yeah yeah, Arcade Fire. This song is great, the Google interactive music video thing is awesome, blah blah Arcade Fire.

12. The Thermals – Your Love is So Strong (from Personal Life) The Thermals are one of the best bands from Portland. Seriously. Their punk-pop lofi aesthetic is infectious and catchy. Their newest album takes them in a different direction, but it’s still great.

13. Robyn – Time Machine (from Body Talk) Robyn! It was hard to pick one song from her trilogy of albums; they’re all great. But this one talks about a Delorean and so it gets the pick.

14. Local Natives – Airplanes (from Gorilla Manor) This album is just really good. I don’t know much about the band, only that my friend Paul gave it to me on a DVD. I didn’t listen to them for a long time, and then I did, and I’m glad I did.

15. The Apples in Stereo – Dream About the Future (from Travellers in Space and Time) You really can’t go wrong with the Apples. They consistently pop out great music. Again, it was hard to pick a winner for the mix, but this one is pretty classic Apples.

16. Reggie Watts – A Future in the Future (from Why Shit so Crazy?) Reggie Watts opened for Conan O’Brien during his You Can’t Do That On Television tour1. He is, quite frankly, great. He loops and makes these amazing songs and then sings the most ridiculous stuff over them. This is a perfect example of one of those songs. But the whole album is hilarious and awesome, and you should get it.

17. Superchunk – Crossed Wires (from Majesty Shredding) I didn’t know that much about Superchunk until I grabbed this album. It’s great! And this is one of the catchiest songs on the entire damn thing.

18. The New Pornographers – Silver Jenny Dollar (from Together) It’s funny that one of the best songs on Together sounds like Dan Bejar’s laziest songwriting attempt ever. I saw them on tour recently and it was great, but you could tell that Dan was A) drunk and B) not into the band anymore. Regardless, for Bejar, this is really poppy and straightforward.

19. Laura Veirs – Carol Kaye (from July Flame) Another Portland musician, Laura is amazing. That’s all. I was fortunate enough to get this album in 2009 because I saw her at the Laurelthirst, a bar here, and she was selling them. Great album, the end.

20. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – The Stick (from The Brutalist Bricks) I don’t really know what to say about Ted Leo. He’s great, energetic, and prolific. I like this song cause it’s just so hammering.

21. Caribou – Odessa (from Swim) Caribou’s previous album, Andorra, has a definite 60′s feel to it. This, not so much, but this track in particular is just really great.  I’m running out of adjectives, but it’s great. Great great great.

22. Die Antwoord – Beat Boy (from $O$) Yeah! Die Antwoord! I picked this song because it’s the song to this video, which is what introduced me to them. I love them, even if they’re incredibly weird. Also, despite her stupid haircut, I totally have a crush on Yo-Landi.

23. Yeasayer – Madder Red (from Odd Blood) This album, aside from its ridiculous first track, is a fantastic album. I thoroughly enjoy every track (except the first one). I picked this one because I may like it the most, but really, they’re all equally amazing.

24. Massive Attack – Girl, I Love You (from Heligoland) I don’t have much to say about this track, other than this album is really good, and I wonder if people make bad trip-hop.

25. Wild Nothing – Chinatown (from Gemini) This is kind of the only track I enjoy from Gemini. I mean, it’s a decent album, but it’s not my vibe, really. But this track is great.

26. Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes (from Plastic Beach) Gorillaz, I could never do a list without you. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Plastic Beach, seeing as my interest in the band waned during Demon Days. But they’re back, and they’re still pretty catchy, which is always good.

27. LCD Soundsystem – One Touch (from This is Happening) Augh, I’m so mad that LCD got put all the way down here. Definitely one of my favorite bands of the 2000s, hands down. This track is great because it has the James Murphy “low voice,” which just sounds so amazing, I wish he would do a side project where he just sang like that. I would buy it. Fifty times.

28. Expendable Friend – I Am Your Adult (from Leaving Before Last Orders) Expendable Friend is a fellow FAWMer, and her album was released for FREE on Up Your Legs Forever, and seriously, it’s great. It’s really, really great. It’s “make you jealous” great. You should download it immediately and enjoy the other equally amazing songs.

29. Spoon – The Mystery Zone (from Transference) Transference is kind of a weird Spoon album. But it’s okay, because Britt Daniel makes really fantastic weird songs (see “The Ghost of You Lingers”).  ”The Mystery Zone” is definitely a weird kind of track, but it’s so good, it’s almost unexplainably good.

30. Wolf Parade – Palm Road (from Expo 86) Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary was my favorite album in 2005. Seriously. I listened to it constantly. Then On Mount Zoomer came out and I was like, “What the hell is this?” Then I realized that all projects involving Spencer Krug become Spencer Krug Projects, and that made me kind of sad (side note: Sunset Rubdown’s Dragonslayer is a great album).  Then Expo 86 came out and I was like, “Oh, yay! It sounds like Wolf Parade again!” And now they’re broken up. :\  Such is the ways of life!

Thanks for reading!  Happy New Year!

I’ve got about ten tracks, written during FAWM 2010, that rock, and I am putting them into an album for you, the reader and eventual listener, to enjoy.  The album is tentatively titled Last Night in America, and will be released sometime in January 2011.  Here’s the tracklist:

01. Saturday
02. Tumbler of Love
03. Listen (is This the End?)
04. Last Night in America
05. Row You Row Your Boat
06. Maybe Not
07. Back Where We Started
08. I Give Up¹
09. Counting the Days
10. Listen, This is the End

(You should think of the album like a vinyl, with two sides, 1-5 is side A and 6-10 is side B.)

I don’t have cover art or even finally mixed tracks (I have to redo the bass parts with the actual bass I now have, instead of pitch-shifting my guitar down an octave), but I’m shooting for a release date of January 25, 2011.

The rest of the year will, hopefully, see the release of three more albums (one every three months or so) as I clean out my back catalog of material.  I have a lot of stuff I’d like to get out there for you to hear, it’s just a matter of preparation!  Each album will have a totally different feel from the last.

Anyway, stay tuned to this blog for more updates on Last Night in America and other music news.  In the meantime, why not take a stroll down my Bandcamp (that sounds naughty) and listen to some of my other stuff? Yeah? You like that?  Yeah, you like that.

So I didn’t get a pass to MFNW this year.  I know that’s become a sort of big thing that I write about on this blog¹, but I was relatively broke and I only wanted to buy a VIP pass, considering how awesome it was to have a VIP pass last year.  But I couldn’t afford it and then they sold out of them so blah blah whatever.

But by various circumstances, I was lucky enough to snag my friend Lisa’s second ticket to the Decemberists show in Pioneer Square tonight, and in a word, it was excellent!  The show, not the ticket.  The ticket was quite average looking.

The lineup was Weinland, Blue Giant, Laura Veirs, and The D’s.  These are all bands that are local, and all great.  So let’s just start from the start, shall we?

the keyboard player was exceptionally weird

Actually, before I begin, I want to talk about something that I noticed.  Particularly with Weinland.  Now, Weinland is a pretty well known group locally.  They have a following, and they’re a lot of fun to watch live.  But at the show today, everyone around me seemed totally disinterested.  Sure, they would clap and hoot and holler after the songs, but during them?  Motionless.  I was like, what the fuck, Portland?  These are your homies!  They live here, they play music here all the time, why aren’t you enjoying yourselves?  Surely you haven’t succumbed to some Hipster Anti-Dance law so soon, have you?

Lisa and I were standing right towards the front of the stage and I looked around and realized that all these kids were underage.  They probably had never seen Weinland play before.  It’s a tough thing to think about, because I don’t think Weinland would ever play an all ages show, other than to open for the Decemberists tonight, of course.  But on their own?  Doubtful.  They clearly like beer.  And really 21+ shows are just awesome.  I’m sorry, kids, but it’s true.  You don’t think it’s true now, but one day you’ll be 21 and you’ll get into a 21+ show and you’ll thank the ever loving merciful music gods that you’re not in a room with annoying 16 year olds.  You’ll just have to trust me on this one.

So, not a lot of people who were up front had heard of Weinland.  And of course a lot of the kids up front were waiting for the Decemberists, and were thus being annoying during other acts.  Dear Kids Immediately to the Left of Me: Shut the fuck up.  Music is for listening to, not for talking louder than.

That being said, Weinland kicked ass.  I honestly hadn’t heard a lot of their stuff prior to this show, but they set a wonderfully high bar for the subsequent acts, a bar that was met and surpassed as the night progressed, in my opinion.  They were tight, the dobro player was excellent, it was lovely to see Rachel Blumberg playing drums (didn’t expect that), and the song structures were wonderful.  I couldn’t really hear what Adam was singing about, but I don’t really care too much about that.

The highlight was when they played a cover of Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son.”  It was excellent.  I really don’t know how else to describe it, other than I’m sure that if I had seen a Kansas concert in 1976 it would sound like that, just so full of energy and fun.

After Weinland, while Blue Giant was setting up, a guy wearing a yellow “I <3 America” t-shirt, some kind of windbreaker, and gray-colored spandex pants, began to dance and jump around to the changing music being played over the speakers.  He was behind us, the smallish group of people at the stage, and in front of the brick seating area of the Square.  So we didn’t even know he existed until the people sitting started clapping and cheering for him.  Then we turned around and were bathed in his half-assed glory.  He danced to the Rolling Stones and did awful somersaults and various ninja-esque moves, before becoming tired and sitting on the ground, which elicited another round of applause for the guy.  Then people started coming up to him, taking pictures and video².  God I love Portland sometimes.

(Brief side note: So I’m looking up photos tagged “MFNW 2010″ on Flickr, and apparently the appeal of Major Lazer is that they pretend to fuck onstage?  Or something?  That’s … awesome?)

(Side note #2:  I’m reading tweets on Twitter hashtagged #mfnw³, and saw this gem: “JasonMGlover Smashing Pumpkins show was incredible. Billy Corgan is by far the best guitarist I’ve seen live. #mfnw”  Jason M Glover, you need to see more guitarists.)

Next up was Blue Giant:

i felt like i should be chewing on a piece of wheat or something

I really, really like Viva Voce (the other Robinsons project), and Anita Robinson is just a sexy guitar player, but seeing the band come out looking like they had just time traveled from 1974 was a bit nuts.  I was kind of surprised.  The keyboard player looked like he literally used to be in Lynyrd Skynyrd, and, well, vests, and white jeans, and that bass player’s mustache, etc etc etc.  Little did I realize that Blue Giant was about to revive the southern rock genre — and do it right.  Sorry Toby Keith, or whoever the fuck is popular in country music right now.

seriously, the guy on the left, pretty sure he was in skynyrd

Blue Giant’s stuff has always been kind of southern rock, but this time it was extended solos, rhythm changes a la Skynyrd, and some serious Rickenbacker slide guitar from Anita.  It was awesome.  Much like Weinland’s Kansas cover, I suddenly realized how fantastic it would be to see Skynyrd and other such bands during their heyday: there’s something just so American about the whole thing, something amped up and folksy and rootsy and loud and fun and everything.  I hadn’t seen Blue Giant live before this, but I had seen Viva Voce, which is a totally different sound, but regardless, this was a great set.  It started to make me wish I had bought a VIP pass anyway, damn the cost, because I have a feeling the entirety of MFNW was amazing this year.

They also did a cover, but I don’t know what it was, but it was good too.

Okay, so after that was Laura Veirs.  The I <3 America guy didn’t show up, unfortunately, between sets.

Oh, but before I continue, I want to showcase this amazing couple that just happened to be near me⁴:

really? seriously?

Everyone in the crowd is enjoying themselves, and then you’ve got these two lovebirds.  I was enamored with them; they would stand like this and the guy would lightly caress his girlfriend’s arm or whatever, and they would just stand there, doing that.  I’d look back and they’d be normal.  Then, a minute later, Tactile Sensual Time again.  It was ridiculous.  Look, I’m all for women’s rights and all that, but I’m also getting kind of sick of dudes becoming all sensitive and shit⁵.  These were obviously teenagers, and it was obvious that their love was transcending space and time at that very second, as though the heavens themselves were opening up above them, and god’s finger was  – oh, give me a break.  Just fuck, you two.  Just Fuck.  Stop acting like lightly caressing your lover with your fingertips is So Awesome.  It is pretty awesome, but it’s not like you talk about it the next day at the water cooler.  ”Hey Jim, what’d you do last night?”  ”Well, the lady and I rented Sleepless in Seattle and I gently caressed her shoulder with my fingertips for over an hour.”  ”Oooooooh!  Sensual!”

Goddamn teenagers these days.

On the other hand, at the New Pornographers show a couple months back (which I totally should’ve blogged about, oh well), we all had the luxury of standing next to two lovers happily strung out on DMT or E or some other consonant, making out and touching each other and not paying attention to the music whatsoever.  And looking generally greasy and sweaty.  Like, drug sweaty, not “I”m dancing or exercising” sweaty.

Anyway, Laura Veirs.

karl blau. new favorite dude.

Laura’s band was herself, Alex Guy ( keys and viola, on right), Karl Blau (bass and guitar, on left), and Tucker Martine on drums in the back.  Tucker and Laura are a couple (and are married? I don’t know) and she somewhat recently had a baby, and she looks pretty good post-baby.  I know that’s a dumb thing to say after someone’s had a baby, but people talk about it all the time.  ”You just had a baby?  I’d never know, you look so great!”  It’s not like people say, “You had a baby?  I can tell by your disgusting stretch marks!”  Cause that’s just rude.

Laura was amazing as always.  She really never disappoints.  She’s such a great guitar player and her songs are so rich and lyrically interesting.  I said this before on my Twitter and I still feel embarrassed by saying it, but I must: Alex Guy has pierced nipples, and I could tell cause you could see the barbell through her shirt.  I only mention this because it was kind of sexy, but at the same time, ouch.  You know?  Also, pierced tongue.  She’s from Seattle, it’s what they do there.  I guess it just strikes me because I don’t Laura Veirs doesn’t write very sexy music, nor does she exude sexiness (other than hot librarian sexiness), so seeing something like that was a little jarring, to be honest⁶.

But anyway, I keep going off track because there’s not much more to say about Laura other than she’s fantastic.  I’m not sure if I enjoyed Tucker on the drums; he was a little overpowering at times and, I dunno, just didn’t sound right.  He sounded like a producer who wanted to play drums.  But he plays well at least.

My only wish is that she had played some Two Beers Veirs stuff.  All the right people were there: Nate Query, Chris Funk, and Annalisa Tornfelt.  It was a perfect moment for a hoedown, Laura!  Admit it!

Oh, but my favorite part of Laura’s set wasn’t her songs.  It was Karl singing.  He sang a song called “That’s How I Got to Memphis” and it was fantastic.  Tucker supplied this great floor tom rolling beat and Karl’s voice is pretty beautiful, really.  It was just a great song.  Catchy and simple.  It sounded like a song straight out of the 50s.  Really great stuff.  You can listen to a version of it on his Myspace page, but it pales in comparison to the version I heard live.  Seriously.

Alright alright alright, let’s talk about the Decemberists.

this was probably before one of the many times colin knocked the mic stand over

I’ve seen the Decemberists many times.  Not as many as some⁷, but enough to know their shenanigans.  But they really did play an excellent set tonight, with plenty of not-so-surprising surprises (1. Laura Veirs singing “Yankee Bayonet,” 2. Started “O Valencia!” without the annoying “Dracula’s Daughter” intro … good … good … oh shit he put it in the middle of the song!  Fuckin’ Colin!  God damn!  I just want to hear that song without the damn Dracula’s Daughter!).  Their new album is coming out somewhat soon and so they’re playing new songs, and they’re good, but they kind of lack the quirk and lyrical vocabulary that is classic Colin Meloy.  I don’t fault the guy for trying new stuff and taking on certain themes (the new album is probably going to be very rustic sounding), but I hope that there’s some kind of Always the Bridesmaid-esque EP series where they release the quirky songs.  Because to me the Decemberists are kind of quirky first and foremost.  I mean you don’t write a song about the ghost of a dead baby lying in a ditch without being a little quirky, you know?

But they’re nice songs, and it’s great to hear Funk use his pedal steel and Colin’s playing a harmonica with his guitar, so now he’s officially a singer-songwriter, right?

I’m sounding a little sarcastic, but it was a good show.  The D’s always put on a good show.  That’s just what they do.

Overall, A+ show for the day.  Really solid from beginning to end, and not one band or performance that sucked.  It was all amazing, and with beautiful weather and no rain or anything.  Couldn’t have asked for a better day.

But when you look at the direction of Weezer — or really, Rivers’ — songcrafting, rather than his songwriting (which, let’s be honest, is pretty crap lately), the whole spectrum has changed.  Weezer went from an emo-indie rock quartet to a bloated mainstream power-rock-pop explosion, except instead of writing the type of songs a typical rock band would write, Rivers writes songs about going to the mall.  So, his images are a bit more positive than they used to be.  He’s a happy guy, what can you do?

The Green Album and Maladroit, however, were both still in the vein, musically, melodically, as Blue and Pink.  There were slight deviations, but for the most part, it was the Weezer Sound, complemented with Rivers’ pure, honest vocal quality.  And in the end, you had two great albums, albums that arguably defined a generation, and then you had a long break followed by two good albums, but poor albums when compared to the first two.

And then you had Make Believe.

The first issue arises in the title: it’s not a color album.  The routine was set: Blue (color), Pinkerton (nicknamed Pink but not technically a color), Green (color), and Maladroit (not color).  Make Believe broke that mold, and ended up breaking a lot more molds in the process.  Musically, the sound had changed.  Lyrically, Rivers gave up writing about things close to his heart and started writing incredibly insipid lyrics.  Again, the band was having fun, but at the cost of, well, musical credibility.

And now we’ve had Red, Raditude, and now Hurley.  There have been some good songs on these albums, but none of them sound like the Weezer Sound.  They have a new, more surfacey rock sound that’s just not very unique anymore.  Gone are the quirky songs like “Undone (The Sweater Song)” or “El Scorcho.”  In place are songs like “Beverly Hills” and truly awful songs like “We Are All On Drugs” and “Heart Songs.”

However, there are songs that have a Weezer Sound to them.  ”Perfect Situation” is a good example.  It opens with a rising riff that is reminiscent of the summer 2000 demos.  The lyrics aren’t great, but hell, you have to acknowledge that Rivers guitar riff at least.  I think “Perfect Situation” is the best song on Make Believe (and not just because Elisha Cuthbert is in the video…).  I like songs like “This is Such a Pity” because they sound different from the typical sound, but they also just don’t sound like Weezer.  ”Peace” actually sounds vaguely Weezeresque too, but it’s just too cookie cutter.  ”Pardon Me” also has a Weezer Sound opening.

The funny thing about Red and the albums that follow is that the b-sides actually sound a lot more like Weezer than the albums proper do.  ”Turn Me Round” is great, and “All My Friends Are Insects”¹ from Hurley is really enjoyable.  It’s short, it’s got a fuckin rad guitar solo, and it’s lyrics are simple but suggest something more (as in, all my friends are insects because I’m a loser).  Really, Hurley in general seems to hearken back (both in style and literally in the lyrics) to the “old days,” which I guess for Weezer is back when educated people over the age of 16 gave a shit about them.  It’s not anywhere near Blue or Pink, but it sounds more raw and emotional.

So I’m going to write one more blog about Weezer; specifically, I’m going to compile my ten favorite post-Green album songs in what I would consider to be a Good Weezer Album.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and now I get the chance.  I just like to talk about Weezer in this “I sound like I’m stoned” sort of way.  They’re a band that really influenced my entrance into the world of indie rock and power pop, and despite their later albums not being so great, they’re really fascinating to follow.  So now, sleep, and tomorrow (maybe), another blog!

Such is the case with Weezer’s first two albums.  The Blue Album is an anthem to nerds everywhere.  That’s just it.  Lots of people around my age love that album, but some of us identify with it.  Pinkerton is even more of that kind of vibe, an anthem of frustrated and sometimes unrequited love.  It’s a theme that a lot of people, men and women, identify with.  It’s why most people prefer Pinkerton to Blue.

I, like many people, first found Weezer through the “Buddy Holly” music video, which was brilliantly placed on the Windows 95 CD.  It couldn’t be any more perfect — me, and countless millions of other nerds, were delving into the CD, this new format which holds music and data — pouring through file folders, and we all found the hidden cache of videos and demos.  And that was it.  Buddy Holly was ours.  (It arguably is one the greatest songs of the 20th century.)

And like many other people, I found myself a bit obsessed with the band.  After they began to play in 2000, I started downloading tracks from their summer demos, and eagerly awaited their “comeback” with the Green Album.

When it arrived, it was quick, but it was good.  It wasn’t Blue or Pink good, but it was good.  It still contained that Weezeresque identity, and a lot of fans who were following the demos knew the songs from there.  Which was a lot of fun.

But, this was also the beginning of the “We want another Blue/Pink” syndrome, in which fans longed to hear an album from Rivers that contained the same fervor, the same frustration, the same … something, that powered Weezer’s first two albums.

Now we’re on, what, album seven? Eight? And it’s called “Hurley.”  And it has a picture of Jorge Garcia (aka Hurley from LOST) on the cover.

The point, I think, is that Rivers doesn’t give a shit what his fans want.  He just wants to have fun.  And a new gaggle of kids are latching onto that.  The rest of us, the old fans, are angry, but who cares?  We’re starting to be angry at all kinds of hipster bullshit things¹.

The past few albums have had a lot of terrible songs on them².  But there are some genuine good songs there as well.  And this album has an edge to it that I haven’t heard in a long time.  There seems to be a power to Rivers’s voice that wasn’t there before.  I suspect a switch to Epitaph is the reason behind this.  But regardless, it’s not a great album, but it’s not a bad album either.  Like, I might listen to this one all the way through.  More than once.

It seems that as Rivers gets older, he just doesn’t feel like writing sad songs anymore.  Any why should he?  It’s not like he’s having a bad time with his life right now.  So he writes this power pop stuff and some of it is awful, but some of it’s not bad either.

So far the best stuff I’ve heard from Rivers recently were the B-sides to the Red Album.  It’s the closest to that 2000-era level of songwriting (especially “Turn Me Round).  Nothing will touch Blue or Pink.  I think Rivers knows that, which is why he’s just enjoying himself.

Unfortunately, when he enjoys himself, his music’s not that great.

Still, I follow Weezer and steal all their albums, because they’re fun to listen to sometimes.  One of these days I’ll compile a “Top 10 Tracks Beyond Green” blog, because their first two albums were only 10 tracks, and it would be fitting to find the best of the rest, if you know what I mean.

I feel like I rambled a bit here.  My point is that I like Hurley, even if it sounds like some kind of All-American Rejects bullshit occasionally.

Friday night started late again; Paul and I were determined to get some sleep before we headed out to a very long night of music.  I ended up taking a two hour nap, but Paul wasn’t as fortunate (this totally makes us sound gay, like we were sleeping in the same bed or something.  We weren’t, but if it makes you feel better to imagine that we were, that’s fine.), so I was nice and refreshed and he was still a little bleh.  We found ourselves getting food instead of seeing the 8pm bands (we hadn’t heard of any of them).  Food was sushi.  A quick tangent¹ about sushi: I love it.  I grew up hating seafood.  I still do, really.  In landlocked states, fish is smelly and disgusting, having been frozen for some time.  Once you get over the cascades, it generally tastes better.  I can eat salmon, because there is fresh salmon in Idaho, but other than that, get it away from me.  Lobsters, shrimp, etc?  No way, dudes.  I don’t want to eat ocean bugs.

cucumber rolls: the training wheels of the sushi world

My first experience with sushi was with an ex girlfriend and a platter from Fred Meyer².  It tasted awful, but since I didn’t know what sushi tasted like, nor did I want to look stupid, I said it tasted good.  After that, I didn’t eat sushi again until I moved to Portland, and it was with another ex girlfriend, and it was at Dragonfish, and it was a lot better.  I hate, hate, HATE tuna fish in the can; I think it smells awful, tastes awful, and I pitied my cat when he got some, but the tuna sashimi I had at Dragonfish was great.  Probably because it didn’t taste like fish, which is the number one comment about good fish, something that strikes me odd — let’s eat something that doesn’t taste like what it is!

Oh well.

After sushi we traveled to a place I’d never been before — Jimmy Mak’s.  We went to listen to M64, a band I’d never heard of.  At first I figured it was an older build of M83, but then I got wind that it was a jazz club, so I figured it was jazz.

We got in and the place was packed enough to force us to stand.  The lady in M64 (it’s a lady and a guy who is a DJ, I think?  I wasn’t paying attention) was singing and doing that jazzy shit that jazz singers do, and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed.  Where’s the muted trumpet?  Where’s the oboe?  All jazz bands require an oboe, I think it’s in the Jazz Constitution³.  The venue was great — small and dimly lit, bright sexy red everywhere.  It truly was one of the few places where hazy cigarette smoke would’ve really just made it perfect.  We ended up going upstairs into a narrow balcony overlooking the stage.  There were a few seats and tables, and the seats were all taken.  We might’ve stayed anyway, but there was only one problem — our feet.  As in, they were hurting from the previous two nights.  So we decided to leave.

Off, off, off we went to Holocene!  Another place I hadn’t visited yet.  My hipster cred is low; right now I’m at Level Two: Unironic Eyeglasses, well past Level One: Still Shops at Walmart.  Only a few more XP before I level up to Level Three: Heard of Sonic Youth, But Don’t Like Them⁴.

Holocene is a bar (obviously).  I find that I’m not describing these locations as much as I should be, but I don’t really know how to describe Holocene.  It’s a bar, there’s a hallway and an offshoot room where the bands play.  That’s about it.  Really, when you’ve seen one bar, you’ve seen them all, even the trendy ones.  Bars are broken down into three easy categories: dive, sports, and trendy.  Sometimes the trendy ones are called “clubs.”  Remember this when you turn 21, young readers.  The mystery of bars is solved.

Really, turning 21 is fun for about a weekend.  Then you drink too much, then you realize that the best reason for being 21 is having a beer with your buddies, not going nuts every weekend.

the prids

Anyway, the band that was up when we got there was the Prids.  The picture here isn’t quite accurate — there was a girl playing keyboards, but I can’t find a picture of her.  The Prids have actually been quite a mainstay in the Portland scene.  They formed in Missouri in 1995 but moved here soon after and have been kicking ass since 1998.  They play bass-driven “dark-pop” music, and it’s very good.  They were also involved in a pretty heavy car accident in 2008, where everyone was injured to some degree and their equipment was destroyed.  Pretty nasty stuff.  Fortunately they looked good and rocked at Holocene.  This weekend was a lot of new bands being awesome, and the Prids were no exception.

I should mention at this point that some girls were handing out Red Bulls, and I took one, and I hadn’t drank a Red Bull (or similar energy drink) in about two years.  So I was pretty intense for the rest of the night.

explode into colors

Next up was Explode into Colors, three hot girls playing hot rhythmic dance rock music stuff.  I don’t know how to explain them (use the photo for reference): the girl on the far right was short, played a simple bass line on a regular guitar (and sometimes some scales), made a lot of “OOOHHH” noises into a microphone, and seemed upset because her sample pedal wasn’t working.  The girl on the far left was probably one of the most proficient drummers I’ve ever seen, playing beats that looked impossible with flawless precision.  The girl in the middle was playing some toms and cowbells and whatnot, and sometimes a keyboard, and sometimes a melodica, and was also whooping rhythmically whenever possible.  It had a raw energy to it that I haven’t heard replicated on any tracks of theirs I heard (a similar issue I had with Finn Riggins — I’ll write about this in general tomorrow).  I tried to explain them to my coworkers that Monday.  One of them took a listen to their stuff and didn’t get it, and the other said, “Oh yeah, I made out with 2/3rds of that band.”  Go figure.

Anyway, I really enjoyed them, and their grand syncopation.  It takes a lot to sound that good, rhythmically.  I think they could’ve benefited with some extra instrumentation — it was kind of weird to just listen to a bass line and a lot of drums — but overall, really cool stuff, and, in a way, my introduction into this kind of dance/rhythm indie rock (live, at least).

We quickly ditched the Holocene after Explode into Colors, because part one of my whole reason to go to MFNW was about to happen at Berbati’s — THE LONG WINTERS!  I can’t say how much I love John Roderick and his cryptically-honest lyrics and pop sensibilities.

the long winters

The last time I got to see the Long Winters was when they opened for the Decemberists back in … 2005?  06?  Something like that.  I remember them rocking my face off⁵, and then buying their albums and saying, “Hmm, these don’t rock as much on CD.”  But they quickly grew on me regardless, Mr. Roderick’s lyrics being heart-wrenchingly honest at times, yet still behind a haze of obscurity — like listening in on someone telling stories of past loves: names you don’t understand, places you’ve never been, jokes beyond inside.

So you can imagine my glee at seeing them play again, after three (or four) years.  I had been watching the 13 Songs With John videos on YouTube, so I was aware of A) his long classic rock hair, B) his broken front tooth, and C) his love of Air Supply.  I won’t get into it, but the set was awesome — and the crowd was not nearly as packed as it should’ve been.  I mean, I understand.  John hasn’t released an album since 2006′s “Putting the Days to Bed” (a wonderful album), and he hasn’t really toured that much since then, so I can see why his popularity would wane.  Fortunately, those in the crowd were pretty hardcore fans and knew all the lyrics (even me, having them be sucked from my brain and popped into my mouth without even realizing it), and John and crew seemed to be having a great time.

They played their last song, got a raucous round of applause, and then came back on for their encore.  For some reason Paul and I weren’t expecting it so we started to leave.  The encore was “Nora,” which was really cool, except that it started becoming a jam session.  Now, I love you Long Winters, but I do not like jam sessions, and also we had a VIP party to go to, so we left before you were finished.  My apologies, but it was worth it because we got to the party just in time to see…

THE THERMAAAAALLLLS

Arguably the best band in Portland (who doesn’t play Portland a lot because they’re constantly touring) was the band playing at the VIP after party, which started long before the Long Winters start, but didn’t have the Thermals until we arrived.  We walked in, they started playing, and we rocked out for about an hour or so.  When I say “rocked out” I mean I haven’t danced that much since I graduated college, where I was taking dance classes all day.  The after party was held at BodyVox dance studio, which is definitely the largest dance studio I’ve been in, so that helped.  The Thermals played in front of the giant rehearsal mirrors that lined the far wall of the studio.  We were very close and just to the right of the speakers (saving our ears).  Close enough to see the sweat fleck off of Hutch’s hair.  The Thermals are such a good band because they have fun, but are tight and play each song just the way we want to hear it.  They’re loud, simple, and fucking awesome.  I danced like a maniac, that’s all I’m saying.

It’s really hard to encompass the sheer sense of … home that I felt at MFNW that night.  I finally felt like I was in Portland, and not just a really far borough of Boise.

Tomorrow I promise promise promise that I will write about our final day of Musicfest (yes, final — we didn’t see Modest Mouse on Sunday.  I’ll write about that, too).

Also, mix CD!  Yes.  I have to find good tracks for you.  All in good time.

Paul also had a softball game on Thursday, and I had no way to get to the Wonder to see the Helio Sequence (damn it), so we didn’t end up going out until ten o’clock.  The first band we saw was Cymbals Eat Guitars at the Doug Fir. Cymbals Eat Guitars is a band name that, unfortunately, can be somewhat true depending on how the sound it set up at a venue.

cymbals eat guitars

This show was good for what it was: a pseudo-stoner rock out.  The lead singer (the guy in the middle of that pic) kept either checking the tuning on his guitar or just completely retuning it during breakdowns in the songs.  It was somewhat annoying to me, and I can’t quite place why — something about not being able to play an entire song in one tuning, or, alternately, being so anal about making sure your guitar is in tune that it detracts from the songs.  Either way, they weren’t my cup of tea.  They were good musicians, but not my cup of tea¹.

Also, before the show started I was recognized by a girl, who had seen me at Berbati’s the night previous.  I responded by having a coughing fit and seemingly ignoring her.  I don’t think I’ve ever been that bad with a woman before.  I mean, yeah, I can be shy and standoffish sometimes, but I don’t usually drop conversations like that.  It went something like:

HER. Hey, I saw you at Berbati’s last night!
ME. Yeah!  Man it was Hot. In. There!
HER. Yeah, it was so hot.
ME. [SUDDENLY COUGHS HIS LUNGS OUT]

Awkward pause.  She leaves.

I feel bad.  It was downright disrespectful.  She could’ve become a new friend, a new lover, even!  Plus she was holding TWO beers!  Double fisting, for Chrissakes!

Lady at the Doug Fir, if you ever read this: I’m sorry. I will use you as a reminder to not be a douchebag to people, especially people holding two beers who are also women.

When CEG (ugh, what an awful band acronym) was finished, we proceeded to Dante’s to see Scottish bands the Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit.

As if by some karmic sense of balance, Paul met some girl within minutes of us being there, and got her number a few minutes later.  Even he was shocked by this strange turn of events, but I like to think of it as an act of cruel fate, teaching me, again, to not be a douchebag around women with beer.

the twilight sad

I don’t have much to say about the two bands that played.  They were both really good, both similar in music structures (the Scots must have something against resolving chord progressions until the last possible second), and they both faced the same problem with Dante’s sound system.  The Twilight Sad is one of a few bands these days to feature a lead singer who doesn’t play an instrument.  That takes some balls, I think.  I’m in the camp where everyone on stage should play an instrument unless they’re a REALLY GOOD singer, and he wasn’t, but he was Scottish, and his accent dripped through the lyrics, and it was very cool.  So I forgave him for that.  Oh, and their drummer looks  like a little babyfaced cherub.  He’s adorable.  I just wanted to feed him applesauce all night long.

At the very end of their set, though, the left half of their stage, soundwise, went dead, effectively ending their last song.  It cut out, the band couldn’t hear, so they just got up and left.  It, again, was kind of cool and Scottish of them, the lead singer saying “Thanks” and then leaving.  You could tell that they were pissed at it but they also had that air about them that was like, “We’re so much better than that stupid sound system,” which, in the right moment, is really cool and actually pumps up the audience more.

frightened rabbit

Frightened Rabbit was like Twilight Sad, except poppier and generally more pleasant.  They also had Scottish accents but they weren’t as pronounced.  They seemed happy to play in the States and everyone loved them, including me, who had never heard them before.  I’m glad I did!

Unfortunately they also suffered from the sound system problem, except they were halfway through their set.  Unlike Twilight Sad, though, they fixed the problem!  I forget who left to fix it, but one of their band members got a new cable or something while the lead singer played a song on the keyboard, bypassing the faulty monitor as it was being repaired.  By the end of the song it was fixed and everyone was happier than ever!

You know, in music reviews the reviewer is supposed to supplement the band’s sound with words — as in, adjectives replace notes, creating a textual compromise in lieu of being able to see the show itself.  I’m really bad at this.  I tend to give up and just say, “They was good.”  I can’t think of anyone who Frightened Rabbit sounds like.  They sound like a band.  A good, tight poppy² Scottish band.  There will be a song of theirs on the mix CD (which will be available on Friday).  It probably will be that song where he sings “I am working on my backwards walk,” because, come on, that’s a cool lyric to start a song with.

Anyway, I just say that because I’m not sure if words can replace music, and if they can, I don’t think my words can replace the music I’ve listened to.  So I don’t try.  But believe me, this was a Good Night of music, that lasted very long and made me very sleepy at work that Friday.

Tomorrow: THE LONG WINTEERRRRS.  And the VIP after party!  You know you love it.

But this is Musicfest, not the fucking Beatles, and this is a blog, not some goddamn Rolling Stones feature. So let’s get into it.

Wednesday had only one lineup of bands, all playing at Berbati’s Pan.  Berbati’s can be kind of a clusterfuck sometimes: basically, it’s a bar that needs rock bands, or bands that exude a lot of energy; not quiet acts.  I am reminded of last year, when we entered Berbati’s to watch I dunno who, Langhorne Slim, I bet, and Alela Diane was playing something quiet and probably beautiful but you couldn’t tell because everyone was so loud. I remember some guy shouting “SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP,” which, while I agree with that sentiment, sure didn’t do anything to sweeten Alela’s music tea, if you get my drift.

(Quick cast of characters:

Me: Me
Paul: Paul

We know each other primarily from the Decemberists message boards and have quickly become concert buddies, and he teaches me about cool Portland bands and gives me rides in his car and in return, I say funny things. I think that’s how it works.)

While Fences was playing we got some food (Berbati’s also serves some good Greek food).  We hadn’t heard of Fences before so we weren’t thinking about them one way or another, but Paul heard a bit of their set and said they weren’t bad.  But by the time we got to the stage Portland Cello Project was setting up.

Portland Cello Project

PCP is a collection of cellists from Portland, obviously, somewhat spearheaded by Douglas Jenkins. At least, he seems like a bit of a figurehead, or spokesperson, for the group. It doesn’t really matter, though; the project is a collective, embracing the amoebic osmosis of Portland’s communal music scene².  PCP loves the theatre, too, which gains them a few notches in my book: when I was in “Perfection” earlier this year, PCP graciously allowed us to use their music for our preshow, and we sold CDs for every run.  I won’t go into a rant about how awesome this is for art in general, and how all art forms should be collaborating like this (especially since theatre could desperately take a few notes from the raw, exuberant energy of band shows), but it was still very cool, especially because PCP has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as well.

Unfortunately, Berbati’s is a crapshoot when it comes to the crowd.  The venue is always sweltering, and Wednesday night was no exception.  It was pretty packed for PCP, and when people drink they start talking louder, and when a band starts playing people have to talk louder than the band, because obviously their conversation about the style of shoes they’re wearing is more important than the blood, sweat and tears, the hours of rehearsal, and the intricate musical arrangements and setup these musicians have painstakingly put together for you tonight.

In other words, Portland Cello Project probably did a great job, but it was nearly impossible to hear.  I’m sure if we were closer to the stage it wouldn’t have been as much of a problem, but to be closer to the stage would mean being drenched in sweat, and it was only Wednesday.  Regardless, Paul and I stayed for the whole set, and I enjoyed it, and I was glad that they played their awesome cover of “Toxic,” though it wasn’t as awesome as it is on the CD. I don’t blame PCP for this.

Paul has a friend, Matt, who is in a band whose name I won’t mention because, well, I’m not sure why, really: they’re a great band and deserve recognition.  I guess it’s because I value privacy?  Maybe it’s because I don’t want to name drop.  Yeah, that must be it.  Anyway, he was playing with PCP (on drums) and so afterward we met up with him and he asked if we wanted to go see Laura Veirs at the Woods.  Now, the next act at Berbati’s was Damian Jurado.  I had heard a couple of his songs via Pandora, but the place was so damn hot at this point that we wanted to get into the cool air.  Damian was actually starting his set when we left, and I felt sorry for the guy: the crowd was obnoxiously loud, and it was just him and his guitar.  You couldn’t hear anything from where we stood.

After Damian was Will Sheff of Okkervil River.  Paul and I both love Okkervil River, but we decided that we didn’t want to hear Will Sheff solo.  Plus we love the Woods, and we love Laura Veirs.  So yes, on our first night of MFNW, we ditched MFNW.

You should read this review of the Horse Feathers/Thao Nguyen show for my very strongly worded opinion of the Woods.  In summary: it’s the best new venue in Portland, and possibly the best venue period.  In stark contrast to Berbati’s, the people there were quiet, considerate, and, in a word, lovely.  Just a lovely bunch of people sitting around candles listening to music that can be played a bit quieter than usual.

Laura Veirs

Laura Veirs has a new band, called the Hall of Flames, and that’s just a great band name.  They played a lovely set (again, everything at the Woods is just lovely), including “Saltbreakers,” which is a lovely song.  My only wish would’ve been to hear “To the Country,” but it didn’t matter, it was a good set.  She played a couple of new songs from her new album (which isn’t out yet, I think.  I really should just google it but I won’t) and at the end they brought up a violin player that was in the audience and who plays with Two Beers Veirs, which is Laura Veirs’s awesome happy hour cover band at Lauralthirst, and they played a song with a banjo and it was great.

Now, I refuse to make this blog into a blog about hot girls at these shows, but there was a girl at the Woods who was in a league all her own: as in, she was way out of my league, and arguably out of anyone’s league.  I only mention her because we saw her again on Saturday.

And that’s as good of a cliffhanger as I’ve got.  I mean, nothing interesting happened after Laura Veirs.  I went home and slept, cause I had work in the morning.

Musicfest day two coming tomorrow!  Stay tuned.

Viva Voce @ Doug Fir

I guess the big news is that Paul and I are not going to see Modest Mouse tonight. The reasons are twofold for me: 1, I am le tired. The past four nights have been a bit whirlwind, and for some reason spending four hours (or however long) in one location, the somewhat dismal Crystal Ballroom, is strangely anticlimactic. Friday and Saturday were great nights, and while I enjoy Mimicking Birds and Modest Mouse to a certain extent, I don’t enjoy them enough to go see them tonight. That’s just how it’s going to be.

(Tangent: I’ve found myself, since the huge upswing in Twitter recently, putting only one space after a period rather than two, which is how I’ve been taught since I was taught English. I … I’m not sure how to feel about this. It’s a vital necessity when writing tweets, but this is a blog, a safe haven for proper grammar and syntax¹. A place where the tried and true imprints of the hodge-podge English language are given their proper room to breathe, to exist, to push against the bones of a healthy and well-maintained ribcage. I would go back and edit an extra space in between all of these sentences but … eh, fuck it.)

So I’ll begin writing the MFNW reviews tomorrow. Hm, writing it like that sounds a bit pretentious, as if I’m expecting you all to glean some kind of hip Portland cool from me merely by my typing words on an electronic page. The truth is, I stand out like a sore thumb at these events: tall, awkward, long red hair, unironic eyeglasses², a childlike sense of awe when watching bands, taking utterly shitty photos with my cell phone camera … etc etc. When I walked into Berbati’s to see the Long Winters on Friday night it was like walking into a surprise birthday party, and John Roderick was, figuratively, the icing on the cake. I was rocking out in my own little world, found myself remembering lyrics to songs I hadn’t heard in quite a while, and generally just looking like a dork. Ah well, this is the weight of my silly little life, I guess.

Anyway, I will also be making a playlist of Musicfest bands, including songs that you definitely have never heard of, from bands you probably haven’t heard of, like Monarques, a band that we just missed play at Rontoms, but whose EP, which they gave away for free, is pretty fucking great.

Truth be told, there was only one band the entire weekend that I didn’t enjoy, and I will tell you who that is later.

So yeah, a mix that you can download and enjoy, hopefully as much as I do!

And now, sadly … back to the real world.  At least I have some new music for it.