Keeping score of Battles’ musical configuration from album to album can be perplexing, but the effort is more than worth the confusion. They began as an instrumental band (EP C), to add vocals (Mirrored), then lose vocalist Tyondai Braxton...
October 9th, 2011 – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR EMA When EMA and her backing band took the stage at the Doug Fir lounge Sunday night, the first thing I noticed was the word “TRUE” emblazoned across the front of the eponymous...
September 16th, 2011 – Pioneer Square Courthouse, Portland, OR MusicfestNW is a festival unlike most festivals, because most of it takes place indoors. Within the past few years, the good curators have added a stage in downtown Portland, or as...
September 15th, 2011 – Rotture, Portland, OR After sleepwalking through a night and a half of slick, mismatched suburban rock of MusicfestNW, the scent G-funk spilled forth through the weathered slabs of inner SE’s Rotture was like blood...
September 15th, 2011 – Dante’s, Portland, OR Alex Zhang Hungtai’s desert-dwelling, sunburnt Suicide jams didn’t really do much for me on his debut LP as Dirty Beaches, but the man’s set at Dante’s on Friday night...
September 15th, 2011 – Branx, Portland, OR Suuns — which, for the confused, and for me prior to MusicFestNW is pronounced “soons” — play exactly the kind of dark dancey art rock that works for me. The Montreal...
September 15th, 2011 – Holocene, Portland, OR I have eternally been confusing Twin Sister with Twin Shadow, and that confusion had led me to be less than interested in Twin Sister. Thanks to MusicFestNW, consider me relieved from my stifling...
Between the well-dressed band members of The Walkmen and the heavenly harmonies and musings of Fleet Foxes, the show last Wednesday at the Greek Theater in Los Angles was like going on a date with perfect gentleman. With Griffith Park serving as a...