It's another wild dance party at the Spare Room brought to life by the fine folks at THE GET DOWN.
THE GET DOWN is a fun, monthly dance party that is always a night to remember. Come party Friday, February 27th with XRAY DJs and the fine folks of THE GET DOWN.
DJ KM Fizzy
DJ Jen O
DJ Montel SpinozzaDJ Nathan Detroit
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+
"TOPS are a four-piece band from Montreal, equal parts girls and guys, delivering a raw punk take on AM studio pop. Their new record, Picture You Staring, is a lush array of timelessly crafted songs.
Picture You Staring gathers strength through intimacy. Self-written, recorded, produced, and the result of 12 months holed up in Arbutus Records’ Montreal warehouse. This album contains 12 impeccable examples of pop craftsmanship that will reward repeat listeners.
Singer Jane Penny gives a voice to the silent girl at the edge of the circle, disillusioned but honest and unpretentious, a tone complemented by David Carriere’s seamless guitar playing and the measured drumming of Riley Fleck. TOPS’ songs are delivered with a cool restraint that blend with the individuality and self-assured desire of their female lead.
David and Jane met in middle school, but didn’t stay in touch until they reunited in Montreal where they’ve been collaborating since 2009. Unintentionally initiating a pop music scene in Montreal, their strange homemade recordings have gained an international following. In 2011 they joined Riley Fleck and started jamming at the loft space La Brique where they wrote and recorded their first record, Tender Opposites. TOPS continue to engineer and produce their own records and make their own videos in collaboration with fellow artists and filmmakers. In opposition to commercially driven pop music, TOPS pursuit lies in creating moving songs that succeed earnestly, disregarding trends and myth-making."
About Tender Age:
"Portland-based dreamy shoegaze band Tender Age has been around since 2012. The five-piece released a self-titled EP in late 2013, which is a hazy, three-song journey through dreamy riffs and light vocals. Tender Age is influenced by such bands as Echo and the Bunnymen, Slowdive and Cocteau Twins. They most recently released a single in August 2014, 'Get High', from their upcoming album."
About Satsuma:
"A melted haze of jangly-melodic pop from Portland, OR."
XRAY.fm Presents a winter's evening of gorgeous and haunting tunes from buzz-building songwriters
KEVIN MORBY
JESSICA PRATT
February, 22nd, 2015
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$12.00
Harlem River features eight interweaving tales of tragedy and misfortune; a series of desperate characters playing out their dramas with the city as backdrop. A departure from some of the signature sounds of his better known projects, Morby’s songs glisten with a haunting intimacy and while he maintains that the songs are stories about other people, it’s hard not to feel a piece of him in each one; a half-imagined, half-painfully personal world of lost love, addiction, violence and prayers for the departed.
The album was recorded in Los Angeles in February and March of ’13 with producer Rob Barbato who recorded The Babies’ second album, Our House On The Hill, and whose guitar and bass work figure prominently on Harlem River. The album also features drummer Justin Sullivan (The Babies) as well as contributions from Will Canzoneri, Tim Presley (White Fence), Dan Lead, and Cate Le Bon.
We want scribes and songbirds to tell us so—and sometimes they do and then it is. They point their pens and focus their lens where they will and surprise us to our soul. On Your Own Love Again is a record that does it to us, with songs from a spine-thrilling new place and a gifted young singer with her own musical logic.
Jessica Pratt’s self-titled 2012 debut has been much-murmured about in the time between yesterday and today. People respond to the austere, pristine clarity of the performances, the gentle strength, marveling at how much comes from so little: just a voice and a guitar or two! They remark on the timeless nature of the songs and the voice, scrupulously informed by the folk-rock of ages past, but sung without bags (none in hand, nor beneath eyes). They speculate on just who is the personality behind this Jessica Pratt? It is hard not to respond to the sound of her music, not to want more right away.
Two years on, and Jessica’s very new On Your Own Love Again is here for us, playing her further adventures in different pastures. If they feel removed from the first songs, it may help to know that the recordings of the first album were made some years back with no expectation of making an album. They sat quiet on the shelf for a long time, appearing on the internet eventually. It all seemed harmless, but when Birth Records honcho Tim Presley rolled up in his long white limousine
and began to spin tales of folk rock glory, who was she to say no? Sure, Mr. Presley, fence me a record!
The nice part about learning that people dig your sound is that it gives you the chance to think of what else you’d do. After deep consideration, Jessica found new songs within her and an urgency to make another record, marked with a strong sense for rendering it exactly the way she heard it in her head, spending time with her tunes and crafting the smallest details. In this way, she truly was able to inhabit her own skin as a singer of her songs — and make On Your Own Love Again the first Jessica Pratt album constructed to be an album.
What makes On Your Own Love Again new? Everything, and yet everything woven so subtly into the presentation leaves you unaware that you have been modulated upon. The album was recorded entirely by Jessica in the fashion of “Night Faces” and “Dreams,” from her first album, and mixed in collaboration with Will Canzoneri. Touched lightly with additional instrumental and vocal parts, the songs ripple beneath the surface with lyrical details that morph almost subliminally from the personal
into fantasy. When Jessica’s playful nature bubbles up, she sends her voice traveling into strange places to see what it finds there. The music too is deceptively accomplished, providing subtle hallucinatory
nuances to the tunes. The orchestral organ stop working in the shadows of “Wrong Hand,” the reverberant percussion floating through “Game That I Play,” the clavinet panned out on the side in “Moon Dude,” Jessica’s sudden vocal dip into her lower register on “Greycedes”— all pull at the ears, highlighting her unique pop sensibilities with craft and humor, giving the album’s inherent romance a greater heft. Perhaps most significantly, On Your Own Love Again was recorded at home — at places in Los Angeles and San Francisco, over the past two years. This process sands the surface of her more active multi-tracking approach, allowing a sound as delicate and singular as her former recordings. On Your Own Love Again Jessica is fully alive in a space all her own; with isolation in the breeze, the sound resonant in the natural light and a gauze of clouds in the sky, under which she can relax, unwind and let herself be.
That’s everything we want from Jessica Pratt — On Your Own Love Again.
General $12 | Student/Senior $11 | Child $9
Multi-film passes available
More info:festivals.nwfilm.org
"Welcome to the 38th Portland International Film Festival, the Northwest Film Center’s annual showcase of new world cinema. With this year’s 97 features and 60 shorts, we celebrate the world’s filmmakers—and those who love their work—no matter the language spoken. As with November’s annual Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival, which surveys the perspectives of our region’s makers, we hope you set aside some time for a bit of armchair travel, discovery, and inspiration.
The programmatic centerpiece of this year’s Festival is a showcase of Hispanic language films from ten countries, and the accompanying Cine-Lit Conference on Hispanic Film and Literature co-produced by the foreign language departments at Oregon State University, Portland State University and the University of Oregon. This is the eighth such Festival and Conference collaboration, a sharing of films, visiting directors, scholars, and students that enriches one another and the community. Our warm welcome extends to the many guests traveling from throughout the world to Portland for both events.
The Festival continues to flourish for countless reasons—enthusiastic audiences, Silver Screen Club members, generous sponsors, volunteers and staff, film industry and media supporters, and of course, filmmakers who continue to surprise, delight, inform, and energize with their vision of our world. They bring the Festival to life, and we thank them all.
For the Film Center, the Festival is not an end, but a means. We want this annual sampling of the vitality of international cinema to be more than a special event, but rather to be the impetus for a deeper dive into the art of film—whether it is on the big screen or in the palm of your hand. Between Opening and Closing night the choices are many, and we hope you find among them the gems that will keep you searching for more."
PLAY SCULPTURE
Playwriting Class with Matthew B. Zrebski
Saturdays: February 21, 28 and March 7
10AM - 1PM - $125
"Taught by multi-award winning playwright and PCS Resident Teaching Artist Matthew B. Zrebski,
this class is for writers who have an idea they wish to fully develop.
Utilizing both instructor and peer-driven critique, this class is for writers who have an idea they wish to fully develop and solidify for drafting. These ideas will pass through various filters: how should the story be told; what aspects of the story must be seen (or hidden); when does the story climax. Outlines will be formed, reformed, turned upside down and sideways. Drafts will be written, trashed, and written again. By the course’s conclusion, your first draft will be well on its way and the shape of the play will be coming into focus.
Matthew B. Zrebski has had numerous original plays produced in Portland and Dallas, TX. As Portland Center Stage’s Resident Teaching Artist , Matt serves as lead instructor for the Visions & Voices high school residency program and frequently leads adult playwriting workshops. He is a two-time recipient of the Rosenfield Playwriting award and has been a guest instructor for Portland Actors Conservatory and Literary Arts' Writers in the Schools program. He holds a BFA in Acting, Directing, and Playwriting from Southern Methodist University".
XRAY fm and HipHopDX are proud to sponsor The Rapture World Tour featuring Zion I with guests Los Rakas and LockSmith, on February 20th at the Doug Fir Lounge, The California indie hip-hop duo is touring in support of upcoming live album, The Rapture. Ticket info and more information at zionicrew dot com or xray dot fm slash events.
TIcket info can be found right here.
The Instigators Presents
An Evening of Roots Music
8635 N. Lombard Street · Free Admission
Meredith Axelrod
pre-1930s American pop music. She
plays guitar, ukulele, cello, and
other instruments. She’s performed
with Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur,
Jim Kweskin, Ramblin’ Jack Eliot,
Cindy Cashdollar, David Grisman,
Robert Crumb, the Cheap Suit
Serenaders, and Craig Ventresco."
Frank Fairfield
"A player of down-home, old time
folk music on fiddle, guitar, banjo,
he supported Fleet Foxes on their
2008 tour, and moved on to play
with such acts as Charlie Louvin,
Pokey Lafarge, Charlie Parr and
Blind Boy Paxton. He has also
become a popular act at the annual
Pickathon festival and appeared on
NPR's Morning Edition."
with Colleen Green and Larry Yes
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$12
21+
About Sonny & The Sunsets:
"Sonny & the Sunsets are a beautiful west coast thing. Birthed from the sand, the surf, and twilight campfires down in Ocean Beach, Sonny & the Sunsets' busted beach-pop songs spark recollections of doo wop's otherworldly despair, a dose of goofball humor from the Michael Hurley school, and positive possibilities exuded by Jonathan Richman. Helmed by the singer / songwriter, playwright, author & onetime troubadour Sonny Smith, The Sunsets have featured a revolving door lineup that have included Shayde Sartin, Ryan Browne, Kelley Stotlz and Tahlia Harbour. Adopting a range of sounds Smith's sardonic, laid-back style is interwoven throughout his compelling songwriting and vocals."
About Colleen Green:
"One thing that's for sure: she's a songwriting phenomenon. She sings lovely, catchy, fuzzy songs that range from 80s pop goulash to psychedelic drone; from 90s power punk to homemade Sebadoh-style songs of heartache. Think of her as a sort of female Daniel Johnston, with her at home making comics, armed with a seemingly unlimited amount of well-composed songs, her lamentations on out-of-reach love, her self-medication, her bedroom recordings. She proudly displays her musical heroes' influences on her sleeve. She plays live shows alone on stage with only an electric guitar and a drum machine to accompany her.
Is she a genius? Who knows.
So let’s get down to the bare bone facts. These are the things I know about Colleen Green to be true: Colleen Green sprouted up some years ago in Massachusetts, deep within the forests of the Merrimack Valley. She was raised by a loving family that brought her up on a steady diet of delicious oldies and sugary cereals. Colleen Green went to school, learned how to speak the language of the streets, and by second grade was rapping on school grounds. By the age of 11 she had discovered punk rock and never looked back. From that point on she was obsessed with music.
Green moved to Oakland, California in 2008 in search of hot sun, good bud, good buds, and nice boys. Fortunately, five of her best friends decided to join her, the best of which being Kayla. Along with their friend Steve O, Green and Kayla created the Full House House in West Oakland and invited countless great bands from across the nation and world to play in their living room. Kayla can be seen on the front cover of the “Green One” 7”, and is also one of two main characters in Green’s comic strip, "Real Shit Daily".
Recently, Green retreated to a cave in Los Angeles, where she can now be found sleeping, smoking, baking magical treats, and staring at the wall. Within two lonely months, Colleen had written and recorded Milo Goes to Compton; within five she had released both that tape and the 4 Loko 2 Kayla CD-R EP as well. Both of these albums have been in heavy rotation since the day they arrived in my mailbox.
Anyway, that is just the beginning of the Colleen Green story. If you can, get to know her. And text her. You will love her."
About Larry Yes:
http://larryyes.bandcamp.com/
Join us for an annual Mardi Gras parade
Starts at Ecliptic Brewing, heads to Prost!, and returns to Ecliptic Brewing.
6:30pm-7pm
Masks, beads, and costumes encouraged. Free and all ages.
Celebrate with two free shows at 7:30pm following the parade:
The Transcendental Brass Band at Bar Bar
Too Loose Cajun Band at Mississippi Pizza Pub
Doors: 6:00 pm / Show: 7:00 pm / Show: 10:00 pm
Early Show SOLD OUT
$22.00 ADV/$25.00 DOS
This event is 21 and over
Tickets still available for the recently added late show on 2/16 at 10pm!
Tickets: aladdin-theater.com
"Hannibal Buress is a wildly popular Emmy and WGA Award nominated comedian, writer and actor who The New York Times praises as having an “irresistible” comedic presence that lands squarely between “cerebral and swagger.” He is a cast member on the hit Comedy Central series “Broad City,” which will premiere its second season in 2015, and is the co-host of Adult Swim’s “The Eric Andre Show,” which will premiere its third season in November 2014. This summer he also appeared in the blockbuster comedy feature “Neighbors,” starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, and later this year he can be seen in the film “Flock of Dudes,” starring Chris D’Elia, Eric Andre, and Hillary Duff.
Hannibal’s highly-rated second hour standup special “Hannibal Buress Live from Chicago” premiered on Comedy Central on March 29th, 2014, with GQ declaring “He makes us ugly laugh. Hard.” His first hour special, “Animal Furnace,” premiered on the network in May 2012. Hannibal also recently shot a pilot for his own Comedy Central series, and has been featured on several comedy-fan favorite TV shows including FX’s Louie, Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and The Mindy Project, Comedy Central’s Kroll Show, and Adult Swim’s China, IL. He has written for NBC’s Saturday Night Live as well as 30 Rock, where he also appeared on camera several times. He is a regular on the late night TV circuit, with appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$16.00 - $18.00
21+
About Cursive:
"Cursive’s 2015 tour will come hot on the heels of Saddle Creek’s November 24th, 2014 release of an expanded, deluxe reissue of their 2003 breakthrough album, The Ugly Organ. Each night’s setlist will feature songs culled from across the band’s seven albums – including their most recent, 2012’s I Am Gemini– in addition to drawing heavily from The Ugly Organ. A cellist will also accompany the band throughout the tour to perform on any The Ugly Organ-era songs.
Cursive is the longtime trio of Tim Kasher (vocals, guitar), Matt Maginn (bass), and Ted Stevens (guitar, vocals), with Patrick Newbery (keys) and Cully Symington (drums). The band is known for their vital, magnetic live show, earning rave reviews from outlets including the Cleveland Scene’s C-Note music blog (”[Tim Kasher’s] effect on the crowd was chilling last night…Cursive was focused and on-spot, composed and gripping”), Nuvo Weekly (“…the five-piece slashed through a near-perfect set of songs from their last nine years of albums”), and the Orlando Sentinel’s Soundboard blog (“…the band still knows how to rock on stage…[Cursive] thrashed away with an abandon that heightened the passion of Kasher’s dense, emotionally charged wordplay.”)."
About Beach Slang: http://beachslang.bandcamp.com/
About Slow Bird: http://slowbirdband.com/
February 15, 2015 1pm-3pm
APANO office 2738 SE 82nd
Know Your City is excited to host our Jade Journal newspaper release event Sunday, February 15, from 1pm-3pm, at the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) office. The Jade Journal is the culmination of a KYC youth program with Tim Schulze's 5th-grade students at Harrison Park Elementary School and Program Coordinator and artist Travis Neel.
For twelve weeks students researched the history, sociology and changing demographics of their community and neighborhood. During the class, students benefited from the guidance of guest educators, graphic artists, photographers, community leaders and journalists. The result is a fully student-generated newspaper with interviews, stories and photographs. The paper, printed in English, Spanish and Chinese, will have a print run of 14,000 copies, and will be distributed in news boxes around the neighborhood.
At the release party, there will be a short readings by the students and a slideshow. Food will be provided by neighborhood restaurant, Wing Wa BBQ, and Voodoo Doughnuts.
https://www.facebook.com/events/810215279049705/?notif_t=plan_user_invited
“I remember my first bike—a little pink Schwinn ‘My Fair Lady’ spec’d with a banana seat and a bell! I had the training wheels for half a summer before I declared them useless and in one afternoon I had learned the art of the two-wheeler. Once I had a bike no television could keep me inside—the world was mine to discover. Today I ride a pink Sweet Pea bicycle spec’d with a brooks saddle, bell and no training wheels!”
-Jude Gerace, Owner Sugar Wheel Works
Get your ticket here. And one for your date.
What is Live the Revolution?
Live the Revolution is a collection of stories told live by your favorite Portland personalities. This year’s storytellers are (drumroll):
- Thomas Pikaart, American Coffee and Barista School
- Megan Schubel, elementary school teacher and new mama
- Laura Crawford, Bicycle Tourism Specialist
- Chris DiStefano, Communications Director for Rapha North America
Safe Routes to School For Every Kid. Support the revolution.
We know you love bikes. We also know you love being able to get to a date with your bike safely. We know that if you and your +1 end up with little ones, you’ll want them to be able to bike and walk to school safely. The BTA recently launched a campaign, For Every Kid, that aims to secure critical funding that will educate students and families, fix neighborhood streets, and increase access to transit for every kid in the metro area. Live the Revolution raises awareness for our Safe Routes to School efforts, and we encourage you to sign the petition today"
Show some love to our sponsors. They help make the stories happen.
This year, Live the Revolution is sponsored by XRAY.fm, Sugar Wheel Works, Portland Story Theater, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Bethany Bauman Design, Hotlips Pizza, Brink Communications, Abraham Fixes Bikes, and Visual Aid.
Celebrate Valentine's Day with “2 by 2: An Evening of Duos and Duets” at
Mississippi Pizza on Feb. 13
"Bring someone you love to hear local songwriters team up for an evening of
acoustic duets February 13 from 6-8pm at Atlantis Lounge, otherwise known as the performance space at Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave, Portland. This is an all ages show with a suggested donation of $10/adult.
Kelly Brightwell & Michael Henchman and Avery Hill & Chris Stewart explore
the timeless beauty and power of male/female harmonies -- just in time for
Valentine’s Day!
These four musicians have solo careers and songs that stand alone, but
this show takes their original music to a new level. Those who know and
love them will get to hear their favorite tunes done up with harmonies and
instrumentation, while new audiences get a chance to discover four artists
all at one venue and one price.
The idea for this show began with a question by the artists, themselves:
What happens when solo songwriters, so accustomed to performing alone, let
other songwriters in on their own music? Not unlike tackling the basic
challenges of beginning a new relationship, this show will be a memorable
experience for the artists as much as for their audience, resulting in a
compelling evening of heart-y, original, local music."
QUOTES:
"Kelly writes songs that are evolved. With themes that are literary,
meditative... with the smoothness of Sarah McLachlan, but with a bit more
Americana grit and charm." -- Rob Stroup, 8 Ball Studio
"[Michael has a] unique hybrid style that fuses the rhythms of classic
folk, singer/songwriter and vintage pop melodies with a lyrical sense of
humor." -- Skope Magazine
"[Avery] has a memorable, lilting voice and is already penning songs that
could someday be classics. She is an extraordinary young talent." - Tom
May, River City Folk
“With a voice that wanders the halls between folk, country and blues,
Chris’s expression draws from a wide array of influences... The result is
an unmistakable sound that draws the listener in.” -- www.chrisstewart.net
WEBSITES:
http://www.kellybrightwell.com
http://michaelhenchman.com
http://www.averyhilltunes.com
http://www.chrisstewart.net
CONTACT
For more information, promo requests or to set up an interview or
in-studio performance, please contact kelly@kellybrightwell.com or call
503-891-5186
Women Worth Knowing: Betty Roberts: a woman who lit the way
Nancy Golden, Alice Tang, Seema Patel, Nicole Auerbach
Cost is $10 and spaces are limited (RSVP requested).
Please join us for an afternoon of lively speakers from a variety of professions,walks of life, and the community with a keynote address preceding the unveiling of the much anticipated portrait of Justice Betty Roberts. The event will feature a cadre of women whose work has made tremendous impacts in their fields and beyond. From science to business, and from law to the arts, each speaker has followed in the tradition of Oregon’s Betty Roberts, a woman whose long career involved not only overcoming obstacles, but also opening doors and leading the way for women who came with her.The day will conclude with a keynote speech by PAMELA KARLAN, Stanford Professor of Law, on leave to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, and the unveiling of Justice Robert’s portrait by renowned Oregon artist Lynda Lanker.
Amy Johntson
Melissa Aubin
Alice Tang
Nicole Auerbach
Molly Perez
Cait Clarke
Chandra Brown
Mira Kaddoura
Nancy Golden
An exciting evening of psychedelic Cambodian pop
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
$14.00 - $16.00
21+
"The Los Angeles band was born 12 years ago, when brothers Zac (guitar) and Ethan (keyboards) Holtzman discovered the Cambodian rock music of the ’60s and ’70s. Ethan heard Cambodian pop during a trip to Southeast Asia, while Zac collected cassettes of Cambodian surf music during his tenure at San Francisco’s Aquarius Records. When they assembled a band to play Cambodian rock, they discovered three more Angelenos who had been listening to Cambodian pop — bass player Senon Williams, drummer Paul Smith and horn player David Ralicke.
During a trip to a Cambodian nightclub in Long Beach, they met Chhom Nimol, who’d been a star back home before immigrating to Los Angeles. She joined up, and the band set out to introduce the music they loved to American audiences."
About Pigwar:
http://www.pigwarmusic.com/
About Hong Kong Banana
"A local five-piece making stormy garage soul that is not to be trusted. Sure, those needle-sharp guitars, go-go beats, and cottonmouth Sticky Fingers-isms sound plenty irresistible, but they're just gonna get you into trouble. This is music that's not going to bail you out of jail, let alone call you the next morning.
Even the names of the conspirators sound blatantly like a gang of thieves and heartbreakers: There's Nigel Bubblesworth and Amora Pooley sharing the vocals; there's Hillstomp bucket-man Johnny Mao turning tricks on the bass; a guitarist named Justin Thorpe—okay, that could be legit, although sources indicated another ne'er-do-well by the name of Jesse Decker played on the recordings—and a drummer who goes by the alias Stony Buttons. (Sources indicate he's one Chris Hutton, probably using an alter ego to avoid Johnny Law). They have a brand new 10-inch vinyl EP called Now, But Not NOW Now, and we shall post the music here as a public service to show you what you need to look out for. Carefully observe these slambang garage nuggets and glittery gems in the comfort of your workplace or home computer, and learn their tricks so that you can avoid being seduced out in the real world."
21 +
2026 NE Alberta Street ~ Portland, OR 97211
THE BODY
"record release show for collaborative record with Thou, "You, Whom I Have Always Hated" on Thrill Jockey Records"
MUSCLE AND MARROW
muscleandmarrow.bandcamp.com/
R.A.W.
"Stupergrope feat. members of Billions and Billions, Fist Fite, Humours, Mongoloid, and the Habesha Lounge. Liquid Trippery by Underlords Take Acid."
RSVP: Abbie Weisenbloom / 503.233.4945 / abbiew@froggie.com /www.froggie.com
The Fretless:
Karrnnel Sawitsky (Fiddle)
Ivonne Hernandez (Fiddle)
Eric Wright (Cello)
Trent Freeman (Fiddle)
"The Fretless is a string quartet featuring 3 fiddles & a cello that transforms fiddle tunes and folk melodies into intricate, beautiful, high-energy arrangements.
2012 was capped with 3 awards - Instrumental Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards, and at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, the Fretless walked away with both Ensemble of the year, and Instrumental Group of the Year.
In 2014, the Fretless once again won Instrumental Album of the Year at the WCMA's, and Ensemble of the year at the CFMA's."
Visit http://www.thefretless.com
Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb-GQUG9K9A
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
About S
"S started over a decade ago as a bedroom-based side project. Just a guitar, a four-track, and Jenn Ghetto's heartbreaking voice."
This is how most of my bios start. And it's true that my first S record, Sadstyle, was made in my room on a little four-track, and if I had a superpower it would be forced empathy.
I am sometimes known as one of the founding members of the now-defunct Seattle band Carissa's Wierd. We disbanded after releasing our third album in 2003, and some other members (Ben Bridwell, Mat Brooke) went off to form Band of Horses. They were wildly successful.
Suicide Squeeze released my second full-length record, Puking and Crying, in 2004. It was a little less bedroom-y and a little more electronic. I played a handful of shows, and then decided to quit music.
Of course, like many before me who have quit music, I made another record. 2010's I'm not as good at it as you was put out by Own Records, a label in Luxembourg. This album was back to basics — just melodic electric guitars and whispery vocals, once again recorded at home. I toured through Europe as a two-piece with another Carissa's Wierd offshoot, Grand Archives (Mat Brooke's band).
At the start of 2012, in the middle of a break-up, I started writing this record. As with the others, the songs all started in my bedroom, but I convinced my metal drummer friend Zach McNulty to help me flesh them out (you guys, he uses a lot of restraint), along with my longtime friends Betsy Olson (bass) and Carrie Murphy (guitar) because I knew they were talented, I liked being around them, and they both had cars.
We spent about a year getting the new songs livable. We played around Seattle, and then Hardly Art was like, "Hey if you are gonna make another record we would like to put it out." I got to know them when they reissued the Carissa's Wierd catalogue in 2010. And I was like "Yessssss!" So I tracked down Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) to engineer and produce this thing. I had worked with him on a few Carissa's Wierd albums some years back, and thought he would be a perfect fit.
After many months of trying to get our schedules aligned, there we were, in the studio with Chris Walla. As he was setting up my guitar amp combo and pulling gadgets off the shelves and microphones out of boxes he said to me, "This is how you make a Van Halen record." And then we made Cool Choices. I feel pretty good about it and I hope you think it is okay." --Jenn Ghetto
About The Ghost Ease
"The Ghost Ease is Portland's dynamic driven, moody garage rock trio comprised of vocalist/guitarist Jem Marie, drummer Nsayi Matingou, and bassist Lauren Vidal. As a musical entity, the Ghost Ease revel in the warm folds of a sort of soft savagery, pin-pricking holes into the fabric of the astral veil, and creating hypnotic, raw opuses by way of heavy guitars, frenzied drums and lilting vocal timbres."