The Days of Lore

MFNW + TDoL = NSFW

Thursday, September 9th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

I’m not really sure what that headline means. But I like it. The Days of Lore will be covering this year’s MusicfestNW like a solitary glitter glove. Stay tuned here, as well as for occasional Tweets and Facebook updates.

Tags: MFNW, Portland music

Menomena: Whaddya say?

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I was telling a friend about Menomena’s song “TAOS.” Much like the rest of the band’s latest record, Mines (Barsuk), it’s vicious, sprawling, confusing, beautiful, spastic, loud and waggish. I was blown away by the song (which made it on to the TDoL Summer Mix). Yet, for the many sonic qualities it possesses, the only thing that managed to come from my mouth was: “This song will punch you right in the dick-hole.”

Now I realize this might sound a bit over the top, sophomoric and, quite frankly, stupid. Add the fact I was standing in the middle of the ice cream aisle of a crowded Fred Meyer, and it’s even more ridiculous. What can I say? I was very excited. Here’s what else I can say: Mines is a gem through and through. The members of Menomena know how to make every single note and every little sound heard. Fuzz bass dances with piano, horns, guitars, and drums that sound as if your head is stuck inside of the kick (listen to the aforementioned “TAOS”). Arty, but not pretentious, this is a band that makes over-thinking sound fun.

I’ve recently read some reviews of Mines that seem to make it a point to be unnecessarily verbose (guess which?). Of course, “This will punch you right in the dick-hole” isn’t what I’d call a shining example of eloquent wordplay … then again I am a firm believer that when it comes to most things—including music—it’s best not to mince words.

“TAOS” - Menomena

“Five Little Rooms” - Menomena

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Tags: Barsuk Records, Menomena, MFNW, Mines, Portland music

It’s now Horse Feathers’ duty to completely drain you

Friday, August 20th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

Is Nirvana one of most oft-covered bands of the past two decades? I know I’ve unleashed my version of “Polly” at every party I’ve been to since 1994. But that’s me.

Portland’s Horse Feathers actually bring something new to their interpretation of “Drain You.” The song—which they performed recently at the Doug Fir—will appear on Horse Feathers’ forthcoming 7-inch. I’m still holding out for an acoustic version of “Milk It.”

Tags: "Drain You", Horse Feathers, Nirvana, Portland music

Y La Bamba y nosotros

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | 5 Comments

Luz Elena Mendoza is a striking woman—6 feet tall, elegantly dressed, thoroughly tatted—otherwordly might be a more accurate descriptor. You definitely wouldn’t miss her in a crowded bar.

Her band Y La Bamba makes music that could be qualified as otherwordly. Once a solo project of Mendoza, the Portland seven-piece (also, not surprising, elegantly dressed) brings a breathtakingly fleshed-out take on her songs on their forthcoming LP Lupon (out Sept. 28 on Tender Loving Empire).

The songs bring disparate music/worlds together. And like Mendoza herself, one can’t help but notice her stunning vocals. Lupon is a long time coming (the record’s been complete for months now). “Juniper” will have to hold you till September, but I have a good feeling it will be worth the wait.

“Juniper” - Y La Bamba

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Photo by Alicia J. Rose

Tags: "Juniper", Lupon, Luz Elena Mendoza, Portland music, Tender Loving Empire, Y La Bamba

Blitzen Trapper can’t keep a secret

Friday, May 7th, 2010 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Live: Blitzen Trapper and friends at The Woods, 5.05.10

It was a casual affair as evidenced by Blitzen Trapper frontman Eric Earley’s casual attire—beige shirt, and faded black jeans tucked into the tongues of a pair of old-school, white (and rather clean) Converse.

More A-List party than rock show, Blitzen Trapper celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a low-key bash at the cozy confines of Portland’s funeral-parlor-turned-music venue The Woods. Wednesday night’s not-so-secret, secret show had the band in loose, fine form. And seeing the Trappers again—especially in such an intimate space—reminded me what makes them such a good band.

Blitzen Trapper’s set was largely comprised of songs from their forthcoming LP Destroyer of the Void (June 8 on Sub Pop), which offered fleeting glimpses into ’70s Southern rock, Abbey Road-era Beatles and even a little Queen pomp—the title track might have included all three. While it certainly doesn’t hurt that Earley is a fantastic songwriter/storyteller and a musical wunderkind (he bounced from banjo to piano and then proceeded to effortlessly rip into some guitar shreddery), it’s the rest of the crew that makes Blitzen Trapper a keeper. Guitarist/keyboardist Erik Menteer traded his own echoey solos with Earley throughout the night, and added spacey noise on keys. Same with Drew Laughery, who cut in and out with rumbling keyboard bursts while guitarist Marty Marquis and drummer Brian Koch contributed to those stunning harmonies. A musical collective in the truest sense.

Portland songstress Alela Diane also joined in on the fun, adding some understated, beautiful harmonies to new song “The Tree,” as well as playing a few of her own tunes beforehand. Prior to Blitzen Trapper taking the stage, it was a rapid-fire barrage of songs from local musicians, friends and tourmates, including some banjo pickin’ from Earley in his country-covers project Denver.

Blitzen Trapper won’t return to Portland until late July. By then Destroyer of the Void will have been fully absorbed, and the Trappers will be in full-on festival mode. If you were there, consider yourself lucky … you caught them in full-on festive mode.

Photo by Greg Schroeder

“Heaven and Earth” - Blitzen Trapper

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Tags: Alela Diane, Blitzen Trapper, Destroyer of the Void, Portland music, Sub Pop, The Woods

Janet Weiss talks Quasi mojo

Monday, February 22nd, 2010 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

The first time I threw on Quasi’s new record American Gong, I thought I was listening to a different band. Not that it doesn’t sound like Quasi, there’s just a certain—if I may borrow a quote from drummer Janet Weiss—”joie de vivre” to the new record.

Quasi is an interesting band in that it’s almost always felt like the side project to the members’ numerous other projects—multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sam Coomes‘ Elliot Smith collaboration Heatmiser, Sleater-Kinney, and now the Jicks. Not the case here. American Gong might be the strongest, most definitive Quasi record in the band’s 16-year existence, jam-packed with guitars pushed well into the red and drumming that defies … well, everything. It’s also the band’s first record with longtime bassist (and Jick) Joanna Bolme, whose fuzzed-out basslines are solid enough to walk on. If you need more convincing, listen to the entire album here.

American Gong—Quasi’s first on Kill Rock Stars—is out now. And that’s only the beginning. The band is touring Japan, the U.S. and Europe as well as hitting all the totally hot festivals, including SXSW and Sasquatch. A quick glance at the ol’ Quasi planner looks something like this: 2010 = booked solid.

Janet Weiss took some time to talk to The Days of Lore about their new digs at KRS, the beauty of mistakes, and the band’s love of fuzz-bass.

TDoL: This is your first record on Kill Rock Stars … how did that come about?
Janet Weiss: I sent [rough mixes] out to people I knew, Sam sent them out to a couple people he knew. Kill Rock Stars were just really enthusiastic about it, and said they loved the record. Of course, I worked with them for years with Sleater-Kinney. You know, they’re here in Portland now, it was just so obvious and natural. And I love working with a label where the two people in charge are women—strong, decisive, intelligent women.

I interviewed Kathy [Foster] from The Thermals and she said the same thing.
Yeah, I mean that’s important. I come from that background of strong women, and I want to pass along that it’s important to make choices that enable that to continue. You know, try to take bands on tour where there are women performing and try to show people that it doesn’t have to be all guys onstage all the time. You have to let girls see other girls up onstage or they might not have the courage to do it. If some girl wants to go into the business and sees there’s a girl running that label, it’s really inspiring I think. And it’s very important to actively be a part of that.

I’ve been listening to the new album, and it is loud.
[laughs] I guess so, yeah … I suppose it’s only as loud as you turn it up.

It just sounds like it was recorded with the intention of blowing things out …
Yeah, I’d say we were going for a very live, sort of ballsy sound. We wanted to somehow capture what it feels like to be at a live show or be in the room with all of the molecules banging around.

It almost reminds me of the production on The Woods …
Yeah, Dave Fridmann did mix a few of those songs … I think we would love to make a whole record with him. We admire his … just his joie de vivre [laughing]. I think he’s really unafraid to push the sound and make things unusual and strange.

How long did it take to record?
We recorded it in about 10 days. We were ready when we went in; we didn’t have to do very many takes of songs, and the takes that we did do just got better and better as we went along. I feel like a lot of the music I love and that I listen to—music of the ’60s and ’70s—it was all recorded like that. They just went into a studio on tour and made a record, kept the mistakes and moved on. It’s amazing how many mistakes you hear on old records. You don’t hear that anymore—it’s sad. Mistakes can be so gratifying when you’re listening.

Absolutely. That reminds me of a post on Carrie’s [Browstein] blog not too long ago.
I don’t think I read that one … but it’s scary to think of a world where all of our mistakes are being erased when so much of creativity is about that.

Yeah, the human aspect gets wiped out …
It’s our self-loathing … we want to correct everything all the time.

Did you go into the studio with a set group of songs ready?
We knew we had too many songs. We weren’t positive which songs were going to go on the record—we knew what the heavy hitters were, and kinda let the other songs show themselves. So there are a couple extras, there’s a cover. Then there’s the song “The Jig is Up”—[laughing] Joanna and I went out to get burritos and Sam recorded that while we were gone for like a half-hour. He just pulled an acoustic guitar off the wall and recorded that with a few mics. That’s actually one of my favorite songs off the record.

That one’s great. I really like “Black Dogs & Bubbles.”
Oh cool. That’s maybe one of the oldest songs out of the batch. That one’s been around for a little while. I think we just kind of kept it simple on that one. It sort of speaks for itself … you sort of get that Neil Young-y type of vibe at the beginning. We always wanted to make sure that middle part was shocking.

The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” came to mind when I heard it …
Yeah, I think I’ve heard that from one other person. That’s great, I’m glad you like that one. It constitutes part of the moody center of the album … as I like to call it, “the moody middle.” It’s funny, because I’m usually pretty involved in the sequencing of most records I’ve played on. This one was pretty easy for some reason; it just sort of made sense. The first song was really obvious and that’s always a big help. On the last Jicks record we didn’t really have a for-certain first song and it made sequencing tough. We got it in the end, but it took a lot more time.

Obviously you’re making a record, but are you ever like, “Do people even listen to full albums anymore?” Does that cross your mind?
It maybe crosses my mind a little more now. I think I’ve always been guilty of top-loading, wanting to put my favorite three songs first. On [American Gong] I feel like the last song is the heart of the record. Kind of like the old days when you’d listen to vinyl—like “When the Levee Breaks,” the last song on Zeppelin IV—the last song wasn’t the single or maybe wasn’t even the catchiest, but it represented the heart of the record. It was what they wanted to leave you with. I don’t really know how people … like do they buy three songs, four songs, one song? I don’t understand that so much, so I just do what I know, which is sequence it as a record and try to put a couple strong, catchy songs up at the top.

Besides being loud, the hooks are definitely still there …
Sam started this project Pink Mountain with some friends in San Francisco … I feel like he got a lot of his weirdo side out with that band, and kind of allowed Quasi—at least the structures of the songs—to be a little more pop-oriented. Although we all are very anti-establishment, and anti-conservative, anti-corporate—we don’t want it to sound like easy listening, we don’t want it to be boring—we want it to represent something free and something that’s not passive. I think to make those pop structures palatable to him as a songwriter we had to turn up the volume a little.

Is there much improvisation involved in the writing?
This was definitely our most collaborative record as far as the writing. Sam came to practice with less structured songs, and just parts that needed to be arranged and organized. And he really let me have a hand in that more, which is something that I did in Sleater-Kinney a lot, and something that I love to do. He’s not used to writing like that; he’s used to writing a song from start to finish. I think Joanna made up so many great basslines that I think define a lot of the songs. I end up humming her basslines more than the vocals or the drums and guitar.

Yeah, there are a couple of basslines that are super fuzzed-out that really stood out.
Well, Sam loves fuzz-bass. [laughing] That is one true statement about Sam Coomes: He loves the fuzz-bass. We’d be working on songs and we’d be like “What does this one need?” and Joanna and I would just laugh and look at each other, “Fuzz-bass!” We know he’s going to say it. That’s the answer for everything. Luckily we like it, too.

You’re about to head out on the road. I take it you like touring …
I’m really into touring, I love touring. Especially these shorter ones, anything under three weeks is totally doable. I mean I like coming home, but I really, really like going out. And I love playing. There’s nothing like playing live, nothing quite like it at all. Gotta keep your chops up.

“Repulsion” - Quasi

“Black Dogs & Bubbles” - Quasi

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Tags: American Gong, Janet Weiss, Joanna Bolme, Kill Rock Stars, Portland music, Quasi, Sam Coomes, Sleater-Kinney, the Jicks

Delicious musical contaminants

Monday, November 30th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

Neo-psychedelic garage rock has been done to death. It’s sorta lost its oomph, lost its lovin’ feeling … lost in translation, lost in space. Portland’s Bodhi—which I’m hoping is named after Patrick Swayze’s character in Point Break—is an exception. Sure, all the elements are there: Swirling synth, reverbed guitars and unhinged vocals, but the four-piece pieces it together into their own damaged rock ‘n’ roll narrative.

Bodhi quietly released its debut full-length Secondhand Runner, an album recorded here and there in Portland—here being Revolver Studios in southeast Portland, there being the band’s living room. Fortunately the slick production doesn’t undermine the album’s rickety garage appeal—in fact, it makes it even more compelling. Not to mention the band manages to make a country song in “Bystander” feel right at home with the new wave disco of “The Kids Are So Nice” and the pure garage punk of “Honkin ‘44.” What holds it all together are Brian Carr’s vocals, which float and flail in a register somewhere between that of Iggy Pop and David Byrne.

It looks as though the members of Bodhi are finding the drizzly climes of Portland to their liking after relocating here from New York in 2006 … and I must say it’s nice having them here to contaminate the folk and electro-pop gene pool.

Bodhi will perform at the East End, Dec. 12 with Austin’s Woven Bones and locals The Whines.

“Bystander” - Bodhi

Tags: Bodhi, Brian Carr, Portland music, Secondhand Runner