Finn Riggins « Frequency blog: Music news and reviews from Bend and Central Oregon, by Ben Salmon

Posts Tagged ‘Finn Riggins’

Tons to do tonight!

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Here’s your friendly reminder that Finn Riggins is kicking off their fall tour tonight at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom at 24 N.W. Greenwood Ave., in Bend, with the Portland band Church opening. Start time: 8 p.m.(ish). Cover: $5. Download a song from the new Finn Riggins album “Vs Wilderness” by clicking here, and here’s the band playing another new tune last week in Portland:

Also tonight! Three of Bend’s best and best-known hip-hop acts are doing a free show at Boondock’s Bar & Grill, 70 N.W. Newport Ave., in Bend. Top Shelf, Mosley Wotta, and Cloaked Characters will be there, as will DJ Hit-n-Runn. Click to watch Mosley Wotta’s nifty video for “Boom For Real,” or stay right here and watch the Cloaked Characters’ clip for “Lost Package.”

Also tonight! The Bend Roots Revival officially kicks off. We’ll have full coverage of the weekend’s events in tomorrow’s GO! Magazine, but tonight, there’s a meet-and-greet and open mic at Parrilla Grill at 6 p.m., followed by some Grateful Dead cover action from Back From the Dead (5:30-7 p.m.) and Rising Tide (7-9 p.m.) over at the Victorian Cafe.

Also tonight! Heavy, heavy, heavy metal of the local variety at Ye Olde Underground … ahem … The Underground, which is at 2221 N.E. Third St., in Bend. We’re talking Wache The Dead, Almost Is Nothing, Booze Devil and Dusk’s Embrace. The brutality will begin at 8 p.m., and $5 gets you in. I’m too lazy to copy in all the MySpace sites for these bands, but they’re listed on the flyer, so here’s that:

Also tonight! Necktie Killers at The Summit, ’80s night at Players, Rough String Band at Northside, The Quons at 28, and much more. Find it all on the events calendar at The Bulletin’s Web site.

Tags: Bend Roots Revival, Church, Cloaked Characters, Finn Riggins, Mosley Wotta, Top Shelf
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September 18 in GO! Magazine

Friday, September 18th, 2009

The quiet week in between the Sisters Folk Festival and the Bend Roots Revival isn’t so quiet after all. You’ve got several options for hearing great music over the next seven days, and here are some of them:

Gimme Indie Rock, Part I: These United States roll into the Silver Moon with a punched-up sound and a new album that reflects the mood of post-election America.

Gimme Indie Rock, Part II: Memorable country-rock songs seem to pour naturally from the pen of John McCauley, the twentysomething driving force behind Deer Tick.

Gimme Indie Rock, Part III: The Northwest churns out more interesting, experimental pop bands than anywhere else, and two of them — Finn Riggins from Idaho, and Church from Portland — are heading this way.

Here is my review of Todd Snider, Peter Rowan and Kelly Joe Phelps at the Sisters Folk Festival.

Also, the Domino Room hosts gangster rappers Mr. Capone-E and Mr. Criminal, Bend’s Erin Cole-Baker and Elliot are playing a back to school concert, Blue Turtle Seduction returns to town, The Autonomics invade JC’s, and some of Bend’s best rappers (Top Shelf, Mosley Wotta, Cloaked Characters) will throw a free show Thursday at Boondock’s.

One thing that didn’t get much ink in the print version of GO! Magazine: The Bend Roots Revival will kick off Thursday night with a meet-and-greet and open mic at Parrilla Grill at 6 p.m., followed by some Grateful Dead cover action from Back From the Dead (5:30-7 p.m.) and Rising Tide (7-9 p.m.) over at the Victorian Cafe. You should check that out, and then pick up next Friday’s GO! Magazine for full coverage of the rest of the fest.

And pick up today’s GO! for access to all the articles linked above, or subscribe online, otherwise you may run into the paywall.

MP3 Download: new music from Finn Riggins!

Monday, September 14th, 2009

You remember Finn Riggins, right? The Idaho-based jitter-pop trio played at Silver Moon Brewing a couple months back, and I had a good time.

If you missed ‘em then, you’re in luck, because they’re coming back to the Moon on Sept. 24, and this time, they’re bringing the fine Portland band Church with them, as well as a new album called “Vs Wilderness.”

Actually, they played songs from the new album back in June, too. I highlighted “Wake” for its roller-coaster hook, and it shows up on “Vs Wilderness.” The recorded version is every bit as fun as I remember the live version being. Here, you should just check it out for yourself:

Download Finn Riggins, “Wake (Keep This Town Alive)”

Finn Riggins is heading out on tour with Built To Spill in November, and there’s absolutely no reason they couldn’t come off that bill a much better-known band than they are today. What that means is that you should check them out for $5 at Silver Moon while you can, OK?

Review: Finn Riggins at Silver Moon

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Finn Riggins rocks out at Silver Moon Brewing Friday night. Photo by Ben.

Oops … meant to get this up on the blog over the weekend, but more music and bratwursts and sunshine and walking around town and Ping-Pong and corn on the cob and more music got in the way. I love summer.

Anyway, Finn Riggins, the Idaho trio that played Silver Moon Brewing on Friday night, may be my musical soulmate. Not because I love them above all others — I don’t (though I like them a lot) — but because I’m not sure I’ve heard a band that employs as much “WHOA-OOOH-OOOH!” action as this one.

I love adding my own “WHOA!” parts to songs where — hello! — they obviously are needed. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a pop song.

Finn Riggins fills in their own “WHOA!” parts everywhere, sometimes three voices at once, and the result is charming. The band’s album, “A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer,” is good, but it’s one frenetic noiseburst after another, and it can be overwhelming to the ears at times. A hyperactive child is pretty cute … for a while.

You might expect that frenzied aesthetic to ratchet up a notch in a live setting, because that’s how live music usually is. It’s louder, it’s more energetic, and subtleties can be lost.

Finn Riggins goes the other way. On Friday night, the band seemed more in control of its music to me, more in tune with each other, more willing to let the songs breathe and to thrash and skronk in moderation. As a result, their pop soul shined.

It was most evident on a new song, “Wake,” that rode a roller-coaster “WHOA!” hook sung by guitarist Lisa Gibson, and an older song, “Detamble Wings,” with its insistent “GO! GO! GO! GO!” refrain. The theme here, obviously, is simple, visceral, memorable melodies that still have me humming along, two days later.

That may disappoint Finn Riggins, I don’t know. Not all bands want to make music so catchy it sticks in heads for days, and Finn Riggins’ goal may very well be to cloak their pop songs in an experimental veil. Or they may be evolving into a slightly more accessible sound.

All I know is I left Silver Moon Friday night liking the band and its show more than I expected to when I walked in. (Over?)analysis aside, that’s a good thing.

June 26 in GO! Magazine

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Another Friday, another blog post about the music stuff that’s in GO! Magazine. And let me assure you, reader: The articles linked below are the most important music news happening right now. Nothing could possibly be bigger or more important. Nothing! Well … maybe not nothing.

-Tonight, the wonderfully rollicking, hyper-catchy Idaho trio Finn Riggins visits Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom. Opening will be Empty Wotta, a hybrid band that includes Mosley Wotta and half of Empty Space Orchestra, so get there on time.

Oh! I almost forgot: Download some Finn Riggins goodness, won’t you? Here you go:

Download Finn Riggins, “Hraka”

-Local folk duo The Erins perform tonight at The Summit, and then Erin Cole-Baker will play a solo gig Sunday at Les Schwab Amphitheater.

-Lindy Gravelle, a longtime fixture on the local scene, has a new CD out called “One Lucky Lady.” She’ll have it with her when she plays at Bo Restobar tonight.

-Tonight is busy! If you’re in Sisters (or want to be), you can check out the Western swing of Portland’s Lisa and Her Kin at Angeline’s Bakery.

-Two rock bands are teaming up for a Domino Room show on Tuesday night. Local quartet The Commerical Underground will open, and Idaho’s Under Wicked Sky will headline.

-Saturday will mark Deschutes Brewery’s 21st birthday, and they’re throwing a party featuring music by Tuck and Roll, Goodbye Dyna, Blackstrap and Scott Fox.

-You can catch two solid local acts within a few dozen feet of each other on Saturday night. Head to Silver Moon at 8 p.m. for bluesman Eric Tollefson, and then wander next door to the Tulen Center for the Person People show. Tollefson says he’s getting started early so everyone can see the PP set. How considerate of him! (Note: If you click that link, you’ll also see a blurb about David Bowers playing McMenamins on Wednesday. That is not happening. The Bowers Colony canceled, and the Portland-based electro-jam band Alpaca will perform instead.)

So yeah, click the links. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll be able to read them. If you’re not, you’ll either need to subscribe or pick up a print version of The Bulletin.

Rest in peace, Mike.

Tags: Blackstrap, Empty Wotta, Eric Tollefson, Erin Cole-Baker, Finn Riggins, Goodbye Dyna, Lindy Gravelle, Lisa and Her Kin, Person People, Scott Fox, The Commercial Underground, The Erins, Tuck And Roll, Under Wicked Sky
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