Blog: LocalCut

So, local indie pop outfit Derby has a very special 7-inch release party show on Jan. 28 (even though the wax and accompanying digital download EP is technically out in Febuary, we're guessing you'll be able to pick it up at this show), and we want to send you there. We also want to give you a Derby 7-inch. And damnit, while we're at it, we'd like to get rid of this Death Cab For Cutie book (no offense to excellent band photographer Autumn de Wilde, but we're just not big enough superfans to geek out on DCFC [...]

It's that time again: Time for John Isaacson to get a little bit metal. This week's Feedback finds him catching a trio of heavy outfits at that most loveable Alberta dive, The Know, and having his shoes shaken (not stirred) in the process. Links: Knelt RoteSpot AnhedonistSpace AcephalixSpace As always, click on the comic to make it bigger and nicer-looking.

Discerning Portland fans may have noticed that Zack Osterlund—better known as the primary force behind local electronic act Breakfast Mountain—wasn't performing much in the latter half 2010. Once highly active in the Portland scene, Breakfast Mountain was off the map for close to six months until Osterlund and a live drummer popped up in 2011 on the Holocene stage for a birthday party earlier this month (and again this past Saturday at Rotture for SuperFresh 2.) Even with the recent appearances, it's unclear what will become of Breakfast Mountain, especially considering Osterlund's brand-new project, Jerome Kersey. The [...]

Luck-One is a lyricist more than he's a rapper. Not to say that the Portland MC can't rap—he certainly can—but his primary objective is to put ideas on the page and get them across to his listener. I think that's an important distinction to make: A rapper likes the way he sounds; A lyricist has something to communicate. In the video, Luck gets up in the morning, starts hustling on his front porch (a message of community building and strength in numbers ousts dope or diamonds in the classic hustle narrative) and keeps hustling throughout the day, [...]

Two weeks ago, we announced—along with the rest of the Internet—that B rent Knopf, one of the three original members of Menomena, was leaving the band to focus on his solo project and on recording a few records for his friends. Since then, Menomena has mostly keep quiet, but both Knopf and Seim were kind enough to answer some of my questions on record about the future of Menomena. Here are the important bits from my email conversations with two of Portlands best (and most forthcoming) musicians. WW: Why did the band decide to carry [...]

A Night Goes Through (Gorbie International) [THE OL' SLOW 'N' SAD] Barry Brusseau is a man with many gifts: a clear, low-register voice that reminds of Smog's Bill Callahan; dexterous hands that convey soul and patience in his guitar playing; a knack for minimal arrangements. Those gifts help craft songs like "Thrift Store Buzz" and "Fall to the Wayside" into rich, slightly melodramatic vignettes worthy of the Magnetic Fields or the Red House Painters. Brusseau sounds like he's been writing songs for a long time. And he has—except that [...]

By The Metal Shakespeare Company In the Bard, a man of humble origin didst ascend to become the finest author of any land or any era. Naturally, this tale of triumph doth itch the monied and powerful and they do it scratch by giving the Complete Works to some other figure. O'er five years, the Metal Shakespeare Company's purpose hath been to drown such claims in waves of metal, pulled forth by the true Bard's moon. Thou must this struggle continue. Francis Bacon A knave of the [...]

The Northwest's largest hip-hop crew has to be seen to be believed. Northwest hip-hop wasn't born when Oldominion formed in 1999. But the expansive Portland/Seattle crew united the local underground rap scene for the first time, and in the band's 12-year run, its influence is still being felt far and wide (a new full-crew album is rumored to be in the works as well). So what does Oldominion look like? We attempted to put it on paper. Now get to Googling! SEE IT: Oldominion plays Someday Lounge for [...]

Local producer branches out with his own band. IMAGE: Patrick Torres [PRODUCER POP] Talkdemonic. Blind Pilot. Horse Feathers. World's Greatest Ghosts. If you peruse the liner notes of many of the best indie rock and folk albums released in Portland over the past five years, you'll notice one common name scrawled in every booklet: producer Skyler Norwood. The 30-year-old musician spends most of his days holed up at Miracle Lake Studios in the basement of his father's three-story home in Camas, working on music for other people. Finding the time [...]

IMAGE: Paula Court Born: 1946 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Sounds like: Steve Martin playing a banjo concert at a Delaware prep school. For fans of: Pete Seeger, Bob Seger, Richard Thompson, Kate McGarrigle, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Seth Rogen. Latest release: 10 Songs for the New Depression (2010). Why you care: Despite being nominated as a "new Bob Dylan" (what singer-songwriter from the '70s wasn't?), Loudon Wainwright never dove headfirst into fame; instead, he keeps [...]

A good band is a double-sided one. Its head sees all and therefore tends to be a bit prettier, occasionally in makeup and always smiling for the studio microphones. Its tail is scrappier, with bald spots here and there and the wagging freedom of next to no constraint. I saw Peter Wolf Crier’s live side on Friday and wish to amend my preview write-up. For those expecting this: Peter Wolf Crier [FROM THE SCHOOL OF M.WARD] With freshman release Inter-Be as its beautifully raspy witness, Minneapolis’ [...]

A good rock band is hard to find, and I'm always so happy to find one that I feel inclined to pass them on to you. Charming Birds aren't a new band, but they're still pretty new to me, and maybe to you. The Portland basement quartet (I can call them that because the "Burned Up" video is filmed in a basement) releases its first EP on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at Doug Fir (sharing a bill with one of our longtime favorite local acts, Wow & Flutter), and there's a lot of promise here. Frontman Will Johnson's vocals [...]

Oh, look, Yacht is over at VBS, hanging out in bed like John and Yoko and playing with crystal pyramids like crazy cult people. The Portland duo is seen here talking about how the mystery lights in Marfa, Texas changed their lives (and their music) forever; and how tour is basically like going to war. The most interesting part is probably Yacht's trip to The Grotto , where they listen to freaky brainwashing music tones and talk about knowing eachother as completely as possible. Okay, it's actually not as scary-culty as I'm making it sound, but this [...]

The secret that's not quite a secret is finally out: Thermals frontman Hutch Harris has a new solo project called Forbidden Friends ! If you're smart enough on Twitter (or know some people in this town) you might have heard a rumor that Harris spent a few weeks in 2010 at Jackpot Studios working on a new band, but the news is official this morning, with word that a 7-inch, "Tiny Hands" b/w "For You," is dropping March 15 on Kill Rock Stars. According to Pitchfork , Harris sings and plays guitar, bass and drums on [...]

There are a lot of visual puns going on here. Not only are the mountains at "Higher" elevation than, you know, the ocean—but Cool Nutz may or may not be revealing the strategy he uses to keep those Nutz so Cool. Now, I know that our copy editing squad would take issue with the title of Cool Nutz's forthcoming record flashed across the screen 36 seconds into the vid ("Cool Nutz='s Dope")—but even the copy desk can agree that far too few rap videos are filmed at Mount Hood, and that Mr. Nutz's jacket is totally gigantic. [...]

Looking back at the LocalCut archives, I realize that I haven't written a proper off-the-cuff live review in almost two years. But this morning, while laboring through a glut of PR emails and music listings, a funny thing happened: I couldn't stop thinking about the show I saw last night. Crazy for a music writer, I know, but that's just the power Carrie Brownstein holds over me when she's playing guitar. So here I present a series of thoughts on the Wild Flag show (I missed the band's first Portland appearance at Doug Fir), with the style totally [...]

Since he got to work on illustrating WW 's year-end cover story , local cartoonist/music geek John Isaacson is back in the saddle for his weekly comics show review column, Feedback. This week's comic is actually from a show that happened a couple of months ago, but we'll take what we can get to kick-start John back into action. Look for him each week right here at LocalCut. As always, click the image to get a bigger, purtier picture. CowerSpace [...]

Ringtone City, Baby! There's a Portland Monthly fashion shoot quality to this latest video from Portland hip-hop duo Living Proof—filmed largely in iconic PDX locales (wait, Fire on the Mountain? Does the director work there or something?) with LP MC Tope sporting at least two different frames throughout. These guys kinda look like they're 15 years old (the stubble isn't really making Prem look any older), so if you mute the sound, you might not think this is the jam. Only, it is: "Full Speed" is one of the funkier, smokier local hip-hop jams to surface [...]

For frontman John Petkovic, Sweet Apple was a real life-saver. IMAGE: Jimmy Hubbard [RIFFS OF LIFE] If anyone ever wanted to do an indie-rock remake of It's a Wonderful Life, Sweet Apple singer John Petkovic has a few casting suggestions: himself as George Bailey and his bandmates J. Mascis and Dave Sweetapple as his guardian angels. As Petkovic describes it, his two old friends pulled him from the brink of self-destruction in 2007. Back then, he had just watched his mother succumb, painfully, to bladder cancer. Sleeping on [...]

"The Breaks," Kurtis Blow May be the funkiest rap song ever made—the breaks in this song are classic b-boy/hip-hop. "Give it Up or Turn it Loose," James Brown The anthem for hip-hop, and many don't know this. "It's Just Begun," Jimmy Castor and the Castor Bunch My mentor in the business. He was called "the imam," because he played every instrument, like Prince. "Rock Box," Run-D.M.C. Classic rock 'n' roll and hip-hop fusion. "The Mexican," Babe Ruth My tribute to the Latinos of [...]