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MusicfestNW gets some Bend flavor with Mosley Wotta, Sara Jackson-Holman, DJ Barisone

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

You know I love Portland’s MusicfestNW. And now we know MusicfestNW loves Bend.

On his Twitter Wednesday night, local hip-hopper Mosley Wotta (aka Jason Graham) announced that he has been added to the multi-day, multi-venue, multi-genre extravaganza’s schedule.

When I visited Graham’s house a few weeks back (for this blog post), he told me he had just put together an artsy application to play MusicfestNW. Obviously it paid off. In an e-mail this morning, Graham said he’s slated to play at 8 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Jimmy Mak’s, where the bill also includes THEESatisfaction, Champagne Champagne and Shabazz Palaces. (That is an outstanding bill. My love for Shabazz Palaces is well-documented.)

The whole MusicfestNW schedule is right here, and if you go there, you’ll see a couple other Bend-connected names are on the bill:

– Supernova singer/songwriter/pianist Sara Jackson-Holman will be at Ash St. Saloon at 8 p.m. on Sept. 10, opening a night of music featuring Casey Neill & the Norway Rats, Austin Lucas, The Slants and Hillstomp.

– Former Bendite, cornerstone of our local DJ/hip-hop scene, and current Portlander DJ Barisone (aka Bryan Barisone) is set to play Rotture at 9 p.m. on Sept. 10. After he’s done, the party will continue with Ryan Organ, Tyler Tastemaker and Lazer Sword.

Congrats to all three of these fine folks for snagging a spot at one of the coolest music festivals around. And for representing Bend’s music scene in the big city!

Tags: DJ Barisone, Mosley Wotta, Sara Jackson-Holman
Posted in locals, news, out of town | No Comments »

Emrg+N+See Schedule and Preview

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Electronic music festival Emrg+N+See, now in its seventh year, is this weekend. A bunch of acts who’ve played in Bend — including our own SPL — are among the many worthy artists in Macleay, about 20 minutes outside of Salem.

There are a lot of reasons to make the 2 1/2-ish hour drive out to this festival. One is this shiny, happy promo video, Emrg+N+See Love Hype!, and here are just a few of the others:

Eugene-based emcee and producer Lafa Taylor is playing at 9 a.m. Saturday. Check out his video for Rollin’ Dough. Good stuff.

LYNX and Janover, playing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the main stage, are definitely worth checking out. This duo is made of a female MC (who beatboxes!) and a nationally renowned hammered dulcimer player. Good beats and airy melodies make for a pretty chilled-out, mostly downtempo experience. (Also check out LYNX with Kyrstyn Pixton at the Nectar Pot Stage, 2 a.m. Sunday — I have no predictions but Pixton is a formerly Portland-based, now San Francisco-based keyboardist with a great voice. She’s also playing at 4:30 a.m. Saturday at the D’Ohm Stage.)

Bend native SPL, a.k.a. Sam Pool, will be playing at 8 p.m. Saturday at the D’Ohm Stage. This producer has been, according to his bio, venturing recently into the “depths of dub-hop infused hyper-bass music,” making his show a “unique and highly energetic experience.” Listen local! (And eat local — DJ Smoke of Spork and The Grove fame will also be at Emrg-N-See with a Grove food booth.)

saQi Ensemble is playing at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Classically-trained composer and trumpet player saQi of Portland will be backed probably by multi-instrumentalist Russ Liquid and Taylor Aglipay on guitar and sax. I’ve only seen him perform solo, but it was pretty funky with those horns over electronic sounds and beats. Likely to be dancey.

Of course if you’re into bass, you can expect and enjoy plenty of heavy dubstep from the likes of Bass Science, Free the Robots (“devastating drums”), SPL and others.

You can see the full schedule here. Who else is worth checking out? Leave your pitch in the comments.

(Disclosure: I am in a romantic relationship with one of the artists playing at Emrg+N+See this year.)

Tags: Emrg+N+See, festival, Jamie Janover, Kyrstyn Pixton, Lafa Taylor, Lynx, saQi, SPL
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Festival Lineups: Portland’s MusicfestNW, San Francisco’s Outside Lands, Seattle’s Bumbershoot

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Late-summer festival lineups are starting to take shape, and here are a few that might matter to you.

–MusicfestNW is tons of fun and will go down Sept. 9-12 in a bunch of clubs (and, new this year, Pioneer Courthouse Square) around Portland. There are lots of Portland bands here and lots of indie rock, with some other stuff mixed in:

The Decemberists, The National, Okkervil River, Major Lazer, Sleep performing “Holy Mountain,” Menomena, The Thermals, Wiz Khalifa, Ra Ra Riot, The Walkmen, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, The Helio Sequence, Justin Townes Earle, Baroness, David Bazan, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Gories, No Means No, Man Man, Laura Veirs, Bobby Bare Jr., Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood, Akron/Family, Crooked Fingers, Shonen Knife, Japandroids, People Under the Stairs, Cold Cave, Frank Turner, The Builders and the Butchers, Phantogram, Washed Out, Black Prairie, Thee Oh Sees, Abe Vigoda, Big Freedia, MEN, Laser Sword, From Ashes Rise, Devin Phillips, The Suckers, Trash Talk, Scott Kelly, Rocky Votolato, Blue Giant, The Minus 5, Dan Mangan, Jeff the Brotherhood, Marc Olson, Red Fang, The Zeros, Let’s Wrestle, Pierced Arrows, The Bellrays, Weinland, Portland Cello Project, The Magic Kids, DJ Beyonda, Richmond Fontaine, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, Tu Fawning, Death by Stereo, Princeton, Kisses, White Hinterland, BOAT, Damion Suomi, Typhoon, Y La Bamba.

More bands will be announced, including those playing the early-evening Nike shows, which are always a treat. Watch for updates at the MusicfestNW website.

–The third annual Outside Lands festival is set for Aug. 14-15 in San Francisco, and it has a little more of a cosmopolitan flair to its lineup. This one is worth keeping an eye on, because Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater has booked bands coming to and from Outside Lands in past years:

Kings of Leon, Furthur featuring Phil Lesh & Bob Weir, The Strokes, My Morning Jacket, Phoenix, Al Green, Social Distortion, Gogol Bordello, Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, The Levon Helm Band, Cat Power, Empire of the Sun, Wolfmother, Bassnectar, Chromeo, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Temper Trap, Pretty Lights, Janelle Monáe, Amos Lee, The Devil Makes Three, Tokyo Police Club, Beats Antique, Rebirth Brass Band, Wild Beasts, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, The Budos Band, Aterciopelados, Garage A Trois feat. Stanton Moore, Marco Benevento, Skerik & Mike Dillon, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Langhorne Slim, The Pimps of Joytime, People Under the Stairs, Electric Six, Vieux Farke Touré, Dawes, Nneka, The Soft Pack, The Whigs, Little Wings.

Get more info at the Outside Lands website.

–Finally, Bumbershoot has been happening in Seattle for, like, ever. This one has a little something for everyone, from the Mary J. / Weezer crowd to the indie-rock kids and underground hip-hop fans. I copied and pasted from The Stranger’s Line Out blog:

Bob Dylan / Mary J. Blige / Weezer / Hole / Rise Against / Neko Case / The Decemberists / J. Cole / LMFAO / Billy Bragg / Ozomatli / Angelique Kidjo / Solomon Burke / The Dandy Warhols / Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros / Jenny and Johnny (featuring Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice / Jamie Lidell / The Raveonettes / Balkan Beat Box / Motion City Soundtrack / The Thermals / Ra Ra Riot / The English Beat / Justin Townes Earle / Booker T. / Surfer Blood / The Bouncing Souls / Japandroids / Bob Schneider / Anvil / Bomba Estereo / Jay Electronica / Aterciopelados / Baroness / James Cotton “Superharp” Blues Band / David Bazan / Meat Puppets / Crash Kings / This Providence / Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express / The Moondoggies / The Whigs / Greg Laswell / Civil Twilight / Trampled By Turtles / The Clientele / Atlas Sound / Laura Veirs & The Hall of Flames / The Budos Band / Bobby Bare Jr. / Horse Feathers / Vienna Teng Trio / HEALTH / Plants and Animals / Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime / Wheedle’s Groove / Hey Marseilles / Kings Go Forth / Sweet Water / Delorean / JEFF The Brotherhood / Chris Pureka / Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra / Garotas Suecas / The Maldives / The Constellations / Coryell, Auger, Sample Trio / Grynch / Visqueen / Victor Shade / Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs / Fresh Espresso/ Pete Molinari / Sista Monica’s “Singin in the Spirit” / Lay Low / Unnatural Helpers / Idiot Pilot / The Round / Wild Orchid Children / The Cute Lepers / Feral Children / Fences / Caspar Babypants / The Tripwires / Fatal Lucciauno / Loch Lomond / The Physics / THEESatisfaction / School of Rock All Stars / See Me River / Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers / People Eating People / Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme / Brent Amaker & The Rodeo / Born Anchors / Slender Means / BOAT / McTuff Trio / Parlour Steps / The Redwood Plan / Helladope / Lisa Dank / Greta Matassa Quartet / The Lonely H / Matt Jorgensen Quintet / Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies! / Great Waves / Brian Vogan / Johnny Bregar.

That’s just the music. Bumbershoot has all kinds of fun stuff, including literary events, comedy, visual and performing arts, and more. Keep up at their website.

So what say you, Frequency reader? Any of these jump out at you? Are you going to attend any and/or all of them?

Tags: Bumbershoot, festival, MusicfestNW, MusicfestNW 2010, Outside Lands
Posted in news, out of town | No Comments »

Review: Wilco at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

For my money, the best concert in Bend over the past four years was Wilco’s mind-blowing, marathon performance at Les Schwab Amphitheater in 2008. (Read my review of that show here.) So when I saw that Jeff Tweedy and the boys were playing in an entirely different kind of venue last week — a historic theater in downtown Portland — I was really curious about what kind of show it would be. At the last minute (like, minutes before the show started) I asked Ethan Maffey of Bend — a live-music fanatic who’ll detail what it was like to see 100 live bands in 2009 at Ignite Bend later this month — if he’d write a review for Frequency. He agreed. Click below for his thorough report and a video of the band playing a Neil Young cover at the show.

A beautifully rare sunny and wintry evening in downtown Portland leapt at the chance to welcome America’s hardest working and possibly most underrated rock band, Wilco, to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall last Tuesday night. Relaxed and ready, Wilco multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone was found prior to the show in the adjoining Heathman Hotel restaurant, surrounded by friends and willing to autograph tickets to past Wilco shows for fans. Ninety minutes later, he would be found contributing clichéd rock star poses and adding solid depth to the six-member group as they rocked Portland’s former movie house.

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Tags: Wilco
Posted in guest posts, live review, out of town | 4 Comments »

2010 Sasquatch festival lineup announced

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

The lineup for the 2010 Sasquatch music festival, scheduled for May 29-31 at The Gorge in Washington, was announced tonight at The Crocodile in Seattle. Here it is, per this poster, posted by the Ear Candy blog:

My Morning Jacket, Massive Attack, Pavement, Ween, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Band of Horses, The National, LCD Soundsystem, Tegan & Sara, Broken Social Scene, Passion Pit, She & Him, Public Enemy, Nada Surf, The New Pornographers, The Xx, Dirty Projectors, OK Go, Drive By Truckers, Kid Cudi, Deadmau5, The Long Winters, Minus the Bear, The Mountain Goats, Quasi, Camera Obscura, Fruit Bats, Brother Ali, Midlake, Dr. Dog, The Hold Steady, Caribou, Simian Mobile Disco, City & Colour, No Age, The Temper Trap, Vetiver, Miike Snow, Portugal. The Man, Telekinesis, The Middle East, Mayer Hawthorne, Why?, Girls, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, Wale, The Lonely Forest, Japandroids, Boys Noize, Yacht, Laura Marling, Patrick Watson, Freelance Whales, Past Lives, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Low Anthem, The Very Best, Phantogram, Neon Indian, Hudson Mohawke, Nurses, The Tallest Man on Earth, Fresh Espresso, Mumford & Sons, Jets Overhead, Tune-Yards, Shabazz Palaces, Fool’s Gold, Morning Teleportation, Z-Trip, Dam-Funk, Local Natives, Avi Buffalo, Booka Shade, A-Trak, Yes Giantess, Craig Robinson, Rob Riggle, Garfunkel & Oates, Luke Burbank and more.

First thought: This is a pretty great lineup. I’ll have more analysis, including what it could mean for the summer concert series at Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater, on Tuesday.

Tags: festival, Sasquatch
Posted in news, out of town | 4 Comments »

Pickathon (near Portland) announces 2010 lineup (plus links to Bonnaroo’s dog-and-pony show)

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

If you’re on the Internet today, you may have noticed that the ginormous Tennessee music festival Bonnaroo is taking no fewer than NINE HOURS to announce its lineup, one excruciating band at a time. I’m all for creative announcements and hit-count-inflating promotional efforts, but it’s pretty ridiculous, really.

But, people are interested. You may be too. If the Bonnaroo Web site doesn’t work for you, try the MySpace or the Twitter.

Here’s something much more exciting, though, and much closer to home: Pickathon, the fast-growing indie-roots festival held each summer on 80 woodsy acres southeast of Portland, announced much of its 2010 lineup today. Last year, Pickathon’s lineup jumped to a new level of cool, and this year appears to be no different, with the following acts on the bill and “notable additions” to follow in the next few months:

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, The Heartless Bastards, Billy Joe Shaver, Langhorne Slim, The Cave Singers, These United States, Richmond Fontaine, Jill Andrews, The Cairo Gang, Frazey Ford, Breathe Owl Breathe, The Deep Dark Woods, T-Model Ford, Chatham County Line, Black Prairie, Megafaun, Michael Hurley, Roadside Graves, Elliott Brood, Stone River Boys, Red Stick Ramblers, Cotton Jones, Black Lillies, Casey MacGill’s Blue 4 Trio, Foghorn Stringband, Martha Scanlan, Seth Bernard and May Erlewine, Weinland, Sallie Ford, Frank Fairfield, Water Tower Bucket Boys, Town Mountain, Woody Pines, Captain Bogg Salty.

That’s a pretty awesome lineup. I can’t wait to see who else is playing. And, the double-bonus for Central Oregonians is that a few of these bands usually stop here and play on their way to and from Pickathon. Last year, we got Vetiver, Breathe Owl Breathe, Town Mountain and The Hackensaw Boys that way.

For more info on Pickathon, including when, where, cost, and so on, visit the festival’s Web site.

Vetiver performing at last year's Pickathon. Photo by Alissa Anderson

Tags: festival, Pickathon
Posted in news, out of town | No Comments »

Review: Brad Paisley in Lexington, Kentucky

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

My sister, Emily, and brother-in-law, Ryan, live in Lexington, Kentucky with their new puppy, which they’ve named Chesney. Yes, that Chesney. So they’re pretty big fans of country music.

They’re also, like most Kentuckians, lifelong fans of the University of Kentucky basketball team, which is currently 21-1 and ranked No. 3 or 4 in the country, depending on which poll you read. Just sayin’.

Anyway, on Jan. 21, they got to combine those two interests by taking in country superstar Brad Paisley’s “American Saturday Night” tour at UK’s home court, Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington. (Miranda Lambert opened the night, but is sadly absent from this review.)

As Frequency readers know, I believe Paisley and Lambert are the cream of the country crop right now, so I asked Emily and/or Ryan to write a short review of the show for me. Ryan came through; he was even nice enough to write a headline and sprinkle in several Dick Vitale-isms (they’re in quotes). Click below to see what he had to say, plus some video from the show:

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Tags: Brad Paisley
Posted in guest posts, live review, out of town, supernovas | No Comments »

Video: Empty Space Orchestra live in Seattle

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Someone shot excellent looking and sounding video of Bend’s Empty Space Orchestra playing at The Q Cafe last weekend in Seattle. And look! Saxophonist Graham Jacobs is back from Central America and playing with the band again!

Tags: Empty Space Orchestra
Posted in out of town, video | No Comments »

Shabazz Palaces, live but still lurking … and rapping about John Wall

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I talked a little bit in my year-end review of 2009′s best albums about the murk and mystery surrounding the amazing Seattle-based hip-hop act Shabazz Palaces (download a song here), but the shroud was lifted — at least partially — last weekend when the group made its live, public debut at Neumos, in its hometown.

I so wish I could’ve been there. Ugh. Fortunately, The Stranger’s Eric Grandy has a detailed review and photos here, and video here. And Andrew Matson, who blogs about music for The Seattle Times, got excellent video of a song called “Show Tonight” that doesn’t appear on either of the two Shabazz EPs.

The song is, of course, terrific — we expect nothing less from these folks at this point — and you should listen to it for that reason alone. But if there’s one thing I love as much as music, it’s University of Kentucky basketball, so my ears pricked up at the John Wall shout-out that goes down at 3:20:

“Ballin’ like John Wall, Wildcat freshman,” Palaceer Lazaro says against a typically sinister, militant beat. Wall is quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon, and I’m glad he’s on my squad, even if only for a short time.

Kudos to the folks in Seattle for covering this show so thoroughly. Sounds like it was stunning.

Tags: John Wall, Shabazz Palaces
Posted in live review, out of town | 1 Comment »

Photos of KISS last night in Seattle; they’re in Portland tomorrow

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I can’t stand KISS, really. Or rather, I can’t stand what they’ve become.

So I’m not heading up to Portland to see Paul, Gene and those other two guys at the Rose Garden in Portland on Tuesday night. If you are, though, send me an e-mail; I’d love to hear about it, and maybe we can post your review here on Frequency.

And whether you’re going or you’re not — or if you’re undecided — check out these terrific photos of the KISS show last night in Seattle, courtesy of Kristen Blush and The Stranger’s Line Out blog.

Tags: KISS
Posted in out of town, supernovas | 4 Comments »