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Sights + sounds: Mosley Wotta, Laurel Brauns, All You All

Friday, January 6th, 2012

How ’bout a quick roundup of new music or moving pictures from locally rooted artists? Here we go:

–Local hip-hop sage Mosley Wotta released a new EP called “Amalgam X” on New Year’s Eve, and now it’s on Soundcloud. Take it for a spin right here!

AMALGAM X by MOsleyWOtta

Also, OPB Radio recently did a story on MoWo, aka Jason Graham, which you can listen to by clicking here. (Full disclosure: I was interviewed for the story and they used a couple of my comments.)

–Laurel Brauns — former Bendite and current Portlander who still plays here often (she’ll be at portello winecafe on Jan. 21) — released a video for the song “Kaleidoscope Eyes” from her 2011 album “House of Snow” (one of my favorite local releases of the year). It was shot by Bend’s FAR from EARTH Films at Dillon Falls. Enjoy!

–Last but not least, local dance-rock band All You All put out its first EP, called “Fluorescence,” right around the turn of the year. I’m still letting this one sink in, but I definitely hear a little Modest Mouse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, White Denim and White Stripes in the band’s urgent, bouncy sound. Check the EP out below!

Fluorescence EP by All You All

Also, please note that five days into 2012, All You All is currently in the lead for best cover art of the year:

Tags: All You All, FARfromEARTH Films, Laurel Brauns, Mosley Wotta
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Near/Far 2011: The “Bonus Disc”

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

In case you missed it: Near/Far is The Bulletin’s free, legal, two-disc compilation of some of the best songs of the year. The 2011 version — all 36 tracks of it, including Fleet Foxes, Yuck, Washed Out, Other Lives, The War on Drugs, Shabazz Palaces, Larry and His Flask, Laurel Brauns, Empty Space Orchestra, Erin Cole-Baker, Anastacia and more — can be downloaded by clicking here.

We’ve been doing Near/Far annually for the past five years, and you can still grab 2007 and 2008 here and 2009 here and 2010 here. That’s 174 awesome songs … for free. Get ‘em.

But that’s not enough! Each year, there are inevitably tracks I can’t use on the official Near/Far, either because I run out of space, or I can’t get permission to use them. So I’ve put together a “bonus disc” of great songs that didn’t make it onto the 2011 comp, and by “bonus disc” I mean YouTube playlist for super easy streaming.

Click here to listen. (Please note that some tracks — and one band name — may include coarse language.)

Here are the artists in this mix: The Decemberists, Frank Ocean, Wilco, Patrick Stump, The Vaccines, Big K.R.I.T., Robin Pecknold, F–ked Up, Givers, Kendrick Lamar, Pistol Annies, Clams Casino, Wavves, Purity Ring, Purling Hiss, Archers, Peaking Lights and Jovontaes. Again, you can hear all this right here.

Also, sorry if you run into an advertisement. I tried to avoid them. Ditched Foo Fighters, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and more because of ‘em. But they’re sneaky little dudes.

Tags: Archers, Best of 2011, Big K.R.I.T., Clams Casino, F--ked Up, Frank Ocean, Givers, Jovontaes, Kendrick Lamar, Near/Far, Patrick Stump, Peaking Lights, Pistol Annies, Purity Ring, Purling Hiss, Robin Pecknold, The Decemberists, The Vaccines, Wavves, Wilco
Posted in lists, mixtape, music on the web | No Comments »

Playlists for your 11/11/11 listening pleasure

Friday, November 11th, 2011

I’m a huge nerd. So I went through my iTunes and picked out a bunch of my favorite “track 11″ songs … you know, like they were the 11th track on their album … and compiled them into five different YouTube playlists.

So there are 55 songs here (all track 11s), and they’re all awesome. Or at least I think so. Just click on the style of music that fits your taste or current mood and let it play. Then, come back here, let me know what you thought, and try another!

Happy 11/11/11!

MELLOW
R.E.M., Nick Drake, Adele, William Fitzsimmons, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Alexi Murdoch, Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens, Wilco

ROCK
The Promise Ring, Superdrag, Foo Fighters, New Pornographers, Sunny Day Real Estate, Pearl Jam, Flashing Lights, Pavement, Modest Mouse, The Dismemberment Plan, The Clash

POP
Throw Me The Statue, Brendan Benson, School of Seven Bells, Elliott Smith, Ben Kweller, Liz Phair, The 6ths, The Minders, The Beach Boys, Of Montreal, Silver Jews

ROOTS
Slobberbone, The Band, Blue Mountain, The Backsliders, Son Volt, Dixie Chicks, The Byrds, Old 97s, The Avett Brothers, Miranda Lambert, Cornershop

BEATS
Black Star, Aesop Rock, Outkast, Amadou & Mariam, Gui Boratto, Das Racist, Guru, DJ Shadow, Janelle Monae, The Very Best, Black Moth Super Rainbow

Tags: 11/11/11
Posted in mixtape, music on the web | 1 Comment »

What I’m listening to / prepping for “best of 2011″ / Patrick Stump

Monday, November 7th, 2011

I get more requests for album reviews, I think, than anything else.

I’d love to do them. I’d love to do a ton of them, both in print and here on Frequency. I’ve been wanting to do them since I took this job.

There have been a few different obstacles over the years, but right now, the main one is time. To review albums properly would take some time, and extra time is not something that I have available to me.

I say this to point out the “Frequent spins” section of the sidebar over there on the right. I just switched out the album covers this weekend, so it really reflects what I’m listening to a lot right now. Consider that an endorsement and go check ‘em out. (I am also going to try to keep that section more up to date going forward, FYI.)

All six of the covers over there are 2011 releases, and that’s because I’m deep into my process for determining my favorite albums of the year, so that’s about all I’m listening to. To that end, I’ll have actual thoughts and words on each of those albums in my “best of 2011″ coverage that’ll run in GO! Magazine at some point in the next several weeks. So keep an eye out for that. I’m tentatively planning something similar to previous years, which means the best albums of the year, best shows of the year, and a compilation of the year’s best songs available for free download on this here blog, dog.

I will say one thing, though: The biggest surprise of 2011, for me, is “Soul Punk,” the new solo album from former Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump. If you’re familiar with his previous band, put that stuff completely out of your head. There is no mall-punk emo to be found on this thing. Instead, it’s highly potent, punchy club-pop music that’s just exuberant and dynamic and lots of fun. Think Michael Jackson if he’d remained as awesome as he was in the early 1980s, but stuck around until 2011 and modernized a bit. That’s very high praise, and maybe it’s a tiny bit of an overstatement, but seriously, the MJ influence is strong here, and I can’t stop spinning this record. It’s terrific and will finish high on my 2011 list.

I don’t know how long this link will work, but for now, you can stream all of “Soul Punk” by clicking here.

Last but not least: I do tend to talk more about nationally released, non-local albums on Facebook and Twitter, so if you’re not already snuggling up to Frequency in the social media sphere, you should be.

Tags: Patrick Stump
Posted in administrative, music on the web, supernovas | No Comments »

Empty Space Orchestra announces new EP, new video, Halloween date with Rubblebucket

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Local post-rock heroes Empty Space Orchestra have just released a new EP called “Dark Matters” and it contains a couple of new songs that are available for free download at their Bandcamp site. Click here to grab ‘em.

The band performed one of those tracks, the jarring, jet-fueled “New Breed of Skank,” in a dark room in Los Angeles in June. Fortunately, the folks at TerrorEyes.tv were on hand to film that performance, and the resulting clip makes ESO look like actual rock stars!

ESO’s next two local shows will be at the Bend Roots Revival on Sept. 24 and a just-announced Halloween night show at the Century Center with the excellent Rubblebucket!

Tags: Empty Space Orchestra
Posted in music on the web, news, video | No Comments »

Have you heard this new EP from The Autonomics?

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

If not, you should.

It absolutely smokes.

Frequency and its big print sister, GO! Magazine, are longtime fans of The Autonomics, a powerful rock trio that formed a few years ago in Bend and moved to Portland last year. Click here to read about how they blew my mind at the 2009 Bend Roots Revival, or here to read my feature story on the band from January, 2010.

Anyway, the fellas are back with a new EP called “Hot Doom” and did I mention it smokes? Because it does. It’s a huge step forward for The Autonomics, and if you like catchy, buzzy, urgent rock ‘n’ roll, you need to hear this. It’s terrific. I’d say more, but I’m saving it for this Friday’s GO! (The band is playing an EP-release show Saturday at Century Center as part of the Rise Up Spring Jamboree.)

Stream or download all five tracks at the band’s Soundcloud, below, or visit their Bandcamp.

Latest tracks by The Autonomics

Tags: The Autonomics
Posted in alum, music on the web | No Comments »

Download Brothers Young’s new EP, see them tonight

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

The chorally endowed, Portland-based folk-pop band Brothers Young is back in town tonight to play PoetHouse Art with their eclectic buddies Hurtbird. Both bands have members that grew up in Bend before moving on to the big city. Want to educate yerself via the magic of links? Read about tonight’s show here, Brothers Young here and Hurtbird here.

Now … enough reading, am I right? Time to exercise those ears. Brothers Young have a brand new EP out called “Friendly Guest” and they’ve made it available for free download. Of course, you should consider clicking the Paypal button on that site and sending them a few bucks to put toward their upcoming debut album.

Tags: Brothers Young
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SPL gives away the Hollow Point catalog for free

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Photo by Daniel Zetterstrom / canphoto.se

Earlier today, globetrotting DJ/producer and Bend native SPL (aka Sam Pool) dropped a downloadable bomb by deciding to give away the entire catalog of his own Hollow Point label — a nearly bottomless supply of massive beats and electronic whomp — to anyone who wants it. For free.

I haven’t listened to the whole thing (there’s a lot here) and I’m not an expert on electronic music, so I don’t know if you would call this dubstep, drum and bass, glitch, IDM, techno … probably a little of all of the above. What I do know is that Sam’s sound is gritty, futuristic and cool, and he’s in demand; he plays this stuff in packed, sweaty clubs all over the planet. Here’s your chance to hear why.

Dude’s only going to leave this up for about 24 hours and the clock’s already ticking, so don’t even step away from the computer to make a sandwich or whatever. Grab it now by clicking here.

Tags: Hollow Point Recordings, SPL
Posted in mp3 download, music on the web | No Comments »

Stream 20 of The Decemberists’ best songs

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

I did one of these for Death Cab for Cutie, so it seems only fair to do one for this weekend’s other Les Schwab Amphitheater headliner, The Decemberists, who play tonight.

Whether you’re unfamiliar with the band’s work, or you’re skeptical that these Portlandian folkies actually have some great songs, or you dig ‘em and need something to get pumped up for tonight’s show, or you simply want some music going while you putter around on a Sunday, this YouTube playlist should do the trick. It’s 20 of The Decemberists’ best songs in chronological(ish) order (I put “The Tain” at the end because it’s, y’know, 20 minutes long), stretching from 2001′s “5 Songs” EP to “The King is Dead,” which came out four months ago. Just press play and let the internet do the work.

Tags: The Decemberists
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Spend Friday learning (or remembering) why Death Cab for Cutie rules

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Here’s the thing: Lots of people like to turn up their nose at Death Cab for Cutie, and I get that. They make lovey dovey sappy emo-pop music that appears in “Twilight” films and on VH1. Teen girls love this band, not you. And that name … ugh. It’s not cool to like Death Cab for Cutie. Saying that you’re more pumped to see Bright Eyes at Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater tonight earns you more cred.

I get all that.

The problem with that stance is that Death Cab is by far the best band on tonight’s bill, and one of the best bands of the past 15 years. I will acknowledge that they have not always been the best live band (I saw pretty mediocre DCfC shows in 2001, 2003 and 2004). And of course, their past three albums aren’t quite up to the bar set by their first four. But those first four set a very high bar. Heck, the first two are two of the best indie-rock records ever made.

What I’m saying is Ben Gibbard and Death Cab for Cutie have churned out an abundance of great songs since 1997, and their hits far outweigh their misses. So if you wanna go into tonight’s show ready to hate these dudes, have at it. That’s your right. But if you wanna go into tonight’s show with an open mind and an ear that appreciates an unforgettable melody, I’m here to help.

Below, I’ve compiled 20 of the band’s best tunes in chronological(ish) order, ranging from their pre-”Something About Airplanes” 7″ records to the new single from their new album, “Codes and Keys,” which comes out Tuesday. There are rocking songs and pretty songs, fast songs and slow songs, angry songs and somber songs, pop songs and shoegazers. It’s a pretty good cross-section of Death Cab’s career so far.

So, it’s Friday and you’re probably sitting at your desk jonesing for the weekend. Maybe you’re going to the show tonight. Maybe you’re on the fence. No matter your situation, click below and let the YouTubes stream. If you can resist this playlist, you must hate great music.