The Days of Lore

Record Store Day is groovy

Saturday, April 18th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Record/music stores are disappearing faster than … hmm … than a plate of donuts in front of a fat kid’s face? Sorry. But there is hope … for record stores, not for my lack of couth … or child obesity in America.

Record Store Day was first observed in 2007 as a way to celebrate the holiest of places for white males ages 25 to 50. Six months ago I moved from a town that was down to its last record store, not counting the one that had a horrible selection of over-priced CDs and sold more dildos and bongs than it did actual music. But Portland—being the mega-hot indie rock mecca of planet Earth—has several fine establishments where one can peruse for hours on end while the rest of the world passes by and your girlfriend finally comes to terms to the fact that you have a problem. I’ve come home.

So. Take your pick. There will be tons of special releases from a laundry list of bands like [inhale] The Thermals, The Decemberists, Blitzen Trapper, Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello, Pavement, Slayer, Queen (!), Bob Dylan, Jesus Lizard, Obits and much, much more [exhale]. More info on releases and participating stores can be found here.

There will also be loads of live performances and special events here in Portland including Langhorne Slim (1 p.m. at Jackpot Records on Hawthorne), and Loch Lomond and Shaky Hands at the downtown location starting at 2 p.m. Queensrÿche (yes, that Queensrÿche) will sign copies of their new record at Music Millennium at noon. And Green Noise Records will be giving away some goodies from its sister label Dirtnap. Oh, and make sure Exiled Records is on your list of stops today. All of this, of course, leads up to the big Night Owl Record Show—a Portland tradition since 2003—where vinyl junkies come together and do what they do ($2; 5-9 p.m).

In honor of Record Store Day I give you a song from the very first 45 rpm I owned that wasn’t associated with Batman or Star Wars (promise, no more KISS-related posts for at least a few months). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get into some mischief.

“See You In Your Dreams” - Gene Simmons (1978 solo album)

Tags: Green Noise Records, Jackpot Records, Langhorne Slim, Loch Lomond, Music Millennium, Night Owl Record Show, Queensrÿche, Record Store Day, Shaky Hands

Loch Lomond unleashes a storm

Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | No Comments

By the time he was 8, Ritchie Young had started his own newspaper and managed to convince the neighbor kids to help him create “Ritchie Park.” He must have been a charismatic little bugger … hell, when I was 8 I was selling lemonade and reading Spider-Man comic books.

This story came as Young explained the title of Loch Lomond’s forthcoming record Little Me Will Start a Storm. And he is charismatic. In fact, the entire time we were on the phone I had this strange urge to want to fetch his slippers. Although Young says his business savvy peaked at 8, one can’t help but see a slight parallel. Over the past five years, Loch Lomond has gone from a solo project to a full group of revolving musicians ranging in size from six to nine members (the group has included members of the excellent Horse Feathers and Norfolk and Western). By the time the group released 2006’s Lament For Children Loch Lomond had ceased being simply another side project for the members.

Things have been going quite well ever since. Young and his cohorts released the more expansive Paper the Walls in 2007 and in 2008 landed a tour with The Decemberists. Loch Lomond also shot the video for “Blue Lead Fences” (from Little Me) over two days in McIver Park with photographer Alicia J. Rose.

“The reality of the situation is that it was [filmed at] a Frisbee golf course and we were dodging Frisbees the whole time,” Young confesses. You can’t argue with the results. It’s an eerie piece of work where grainy film seamlessly meets Loch Lomond’s lush, dreamlike chamber pop.

Now set at a solid seven members, Young says Loch Lomond will remain busy in 2009 and beyond with the release of Little Me Will Start a Storm. The group is performing at the Noise Pop and SXSW festivals and will warm up Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Aladdin Theater with The Old Believers and Blind Pilot.

While no release-date has been set, the new record looks to match the tone of “Blue Lead Fences”—with Young’s vocals always at center—and, as Young puts it, will step away from the group’s folkier leanings.

“It’s kind of like a cross between the stuff we were doing and early Genesis,” Young explains in an almost confessional tone. “Not the prog-y stuff, but the more sweeping songs.”

Hey Ritchie, you don’t have to tiptoe around me with the Genesis stuff … as long as you don’t get the urge to make the next Abacab.

“Carl Sagan” - Loch Lomond (Paper the Walls)

Video for “Blue Lead Fences”

Tags: "Blue Lead Fences", Alicia J. Rose, Horse Feathers, Lament For Children, Little Me Will Start a Storm, Loch Lomond, Norfolk and Western, Paper the Walls, Ritchie Young, The Decemberists