"[LOVE COP] The washed-out, blown-out love songs of Love Cop can be found on a handful of cassettes released on acclaimed underground record labels like Burger Records, Gnar Tapes and Lolipop Records. Using lo-fi recording equipment to capture its guitar, keyboard and electronic drumpad-centric creations, Love Cops' ballads sound as if they’re originating from a David Lynch movie or an exceptionally bizarre '80s public access show. Somber and sullen within its hopelessly romantic visions, even when the duo chooses major chords and uplifting tones, its eerie vision creeps through."
"[TOUGH FUZZ] Originally from San Francisco beat freak
Tough Fuzz. Part of the short lived experimental group "CASCADES" and "MAID VISIONS" has been producing music since 96' relocated to Portland in 2010 and started the "volume series" in 2012 with the help of EWE OF NOW RECORDINGS The 4th entry was recently released. "
21+ \\ Donations
More Info:
Mar. 21-16 | Opening night Mar. 27
By Lauren Weedman
Directed by Rose Riordan
"Portland is garnering lots of attention lately—for our leadership in sustainability; for our food scene; for being, well, weird. And we caught the attention of writer/actor Lauren Weedman and former Daily Show correspondent. What does Portland look like through Lauren Weedman’s unique lens?"
General Performance Times:
Evenings: Tuesday - Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
Matinees: Saturday and Sundays at 2 p.m.
View the season calendar.
Run Time:
Approximately 90 minutes; no intermission.
Note:
The People’s Republic of Portland is recommended for ages 14+; contains mature language. Children under 6 are not permitted at any PCS production. There is no late seating or re-entry in the Ellyn Bye Studio.
"Linework NW is an illustration and comics festival taking place in Portland, Oregon. Our inaugural event was held in April of 2014. Linework NW’s goal is to focus attention on the creators who continue to inject new energy and vitality into these venerable mediums that share so much in common, whether their work is to be found in comic books, original art, graphic novels, prints, or other forms. Drawing upon a wealth of talent from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, Linework NW seeks to cultivate a vibrant cultural experience for creators, readers, art lovers, and collectors alike."
Free and Open to the Public!
More info: http://lineworknw.com/about
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
A Very Limited Amount Of Ticket And Record Bundles For The This Show Are Still Available At Jackpot Records (3574 SE Hawthorne) & Everyday Music (Downtown Location 1313 W. Burnside) For Record Store Day. On-Sale Now.
This event is 21 and over
About Neko Case:
"It is our pleasure to announce that Neko and Anti- Records will re-issue Neko’s classic album “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood” on limited edition RED VINYL to celebrate Record Store Day 2015.
Neko will host a special live performance on Record Store Day 4/18/15 and 4/17/15 at REVOLUTION HALL in PORTLAND, OREGON!
Record + Ticket bundles are available at Jackpot Records, and Everyday Music (Downtown Store). Please join us in supporting these great independent record stores and reserve your copy of “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood” for Record Store Day. Available while supplies last!
RECORDS are only available for pre-order through your local record store. Pop in for a visit and reserve your copy today. They will be available on 4/18/15 in retail stores only.
A limited amount of ticket and record bundles for the 4/18 show are available at Jackpot Records (3574 SE Hawthorne) & Everyday Music (Downtown Location 1313 W. Burnside) for Record Store Day. On-sale now.
Neko Case has always been brave, but with her latest album she proves herself fearless. With her forthcoming Anti- release, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, the singer known as much for her restless musical curiosity as her clarion voice charts a powerfully personal course across the rocky landscape of childhood, love, and loss.
Case's 2009 album, "Middle Cyclone," was her most ambitious to date, vaulting her to new heights of critical and commercial success and netting two Grammy nominations. But if "Middle Cyclone"–laced with frogs, tornados, and killer whales–was Case's exploration of the potency of the natural world, the new album sees Case turning inward. The Worse Things Get... plunges into the wilderness of human experience, revealing Case at her most emotionally raw and yet, paradoxically, in steely control.
Executive produced by Case, The Worse Things Get... was recorded by Tucker Martine in Portland, Oregon, as well as with Chris Schultz and Craig Schumacher in Tucson and with Phil Palazzolo in Brooklyn.
Martine, Case, and Darryl Neudorf mixed the album, on which Case is supported by a battalion of musicians including guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, longtime backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, Kurt Dahle, and John Convertino. Other guests include M. Ward, Carl Newman, Steve Turner, Howe Gelb, and members of My Morning Jacket, Los Lobos, and Visqueen.
This far-flung set of collaborators mirrors Case's own peripatetic path to creative maturity. Born in Virginia in 1970 and raised, for the most part, in working-class Tacoma, Washington, she's lived and worked in Seattle, Vancouver BC, Chicago, and Tucson, before moving five years ago to a 100-acre farm in rural Vermont.
Now 42, Case is reluctant to talk about her family. "I am related to some stellar, beloved people," she says, "but very few." What she will say is that her parents were young and unprepared and divorced when she was five years old. She bounced around between mother and father until she left home for good at age 15. Marked by alcoholism, drug addiction, and neglect, her childhood was traumatic. "I should have been an abortion," she said once, her characteristic bravado masking a harder truth.
From art school in Vancouver to early years making music in Seattle and beyond, Case has been on a lifelong quest for self-definition. During the making of this The Worse Things Get... she granted herself a long-held desire, committing fully to the life she's created: tattoos on her forearms reading "Scorned as Timber" and "Beloved of the Sky," from an Emily Carr painting. "I wanted them for 20 years!" she crows. "No bank job for me!"
With her new roots finally taking hold in Vermont–the place she says she plans to die–she says she's now grounded enough to grab the past by the throat and let it take her for a ride. "I wanted to be in control, as much as I could be anyway," she says. "My 40s are a lonelier place than I imagined, but I can look myself in the face and know that it was my choice. So anything that happens to me from here on out is mine. I'm at square one again."
The Worse Things Get..., her sixth studio album, emerges from a three-year period the artist describes as full of "grief and mourning," in the wake of the deaths of not just both her parents, but several intimates as well.
"I fought hard against the feeling of grief all my life," she says, "but about three years ago I finally had to give in and mourn the dead. I had to look inward more than I wanted. It was sobering, and I often felt like I was blurring the lines of mental illness.
"When I stopped fighting it," she adds, "it took me where I needed to go."
The Worse Things Get... traces an emotional arc that reveals Case in all her thorny contradictions, each track in the 40-minute song cycle its own short story. "I like to have a linear flow," she says of the album's structure. "I wanted to have faith in the songs as a group rather than stacking the deck with all the upbeat songs at the top."
From the prickly power-pop aggression of "Man" to the dreamlike "Where Did I Leave That Fire?" and the hopeful uplift of the album's closing track, "Ragtime," she displays uncommon dynamic range and lyrical clarity, taking a leap of faith that listeners will hold on for the full journey.
"I just want people to feel like I was straight with them, and messy, because I just let go and trusted them completely."
Early songs on the album show Case at her most lyrically playful, slip-sliding along the edges of gender, family, and identity. The first track, "Wild Creatures," throws her themes into bold relief: "When you catch light, you look like your mother," her voice soars, before asking, "Would you rather be the king's pet? Or the king?"
"I grew up in the United States in the 70s," says Case, with feeling. "The new mantra on children's television then was 'you can be whatever you want.' I take that to heart so hard it's my religion; it's my personal American flag and Constitution. It makes petty societal obstacles crumble and I want every person in the world to feel it."
Or, as she proudly proclaims on the single, "Man": "I'm a man's man, I've always been. But make no mistake what I've invested in. A woman's heart is the watermark by which I measure everything."
"Is a lioness not a lion?" she says rhetorically, when asked to decode the lyrics. "We are all 'men' – 'man' or 'woman' doesn't cut it for me unless I'm at the gynecologist."
Case's rich, associative lyrics can at times be so elliptical as to be misunderstood by casual listeners. Not so with the a cappella "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu," which marks the tonal shift of the album at midpoint with chilling clarity.
Spare and direct, the lyrics repeat verbatim the words of a mother's verbal attack on her daughter, which Case overheard one night in, yes, Honolulu. "Get the fuck away from me," she sings in affectless, bell-like tones. "Why don't you ever shut up?"
"I died inside for that kid," says Case-who framed the rest of the song as a message to the child to stay strong and to honor the truth of her experience. "But she just kept singing her own little song. She was my hero."
The direct address of "Honolulu" is mirrored three tracks later with Case's take on the Nico song, "Afraid," the sole cover on the 12-song album.
That song's incantatory quality carries the album through to the otherworldly "Where Did I Leave That Fire?" Underscored by the haunting pings of submarine sonar, what starts as a dreamscape of loss — "I wanted so badly not to be me," sings Case – concludes on a note of wry humor. "I do believe we have your fire lady. You can pick it up if you come down with ID."
But for all the pain and confusion that winds through the album, The Worse Things Get... ends on an unequivocal note of hope and power. At her darkest moments over the last few years, Case says, "I was uneasy and distractible. I couldn't listen to music except ragtime. It was so hopeful and busy, like something working like a little factory to fix me." Thus, "Ragtime," the album's final song.
"I'll reveal myself when I'm ready. I'll reveal myself invincible soon," sings Case, as she builds to its ecstatic conclusion, the richly layered chorus of vocals and horns climbing and climbing into one glorious shout from the mountaintop.
"I am one and the same, I am useful and strange," she soars, before closing with a line cribbed from Moby Dick, which she read for the first time while working on the album, and which proved a valuable yardstick: "There's a wisdom that's woe, and a woe that is madness."
It's Neko Case in a nut — and could well give listeners goosebumps."
About Rodrigo Amarante:
"One of the masterminds behind Brazilian band Los Hermanos and founding member of the samba supergroup Orquestra Imperial, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rodrigo Amarante is an inescapable musical figure in his native South American home.
Breaking out of the Brazilian market in 2008, alongside friends Fabrizio Moretti and Binki Shapiro, Amarante formed the group Little Joy and the trio released their self titled debut album which gained critical acclaim in the US and worldwide.
Living in the US since then and recording and performing with such artists as Devendra Banhart, Gilberto Gil, Adam Green, Tom Zé, and Marisa Monte, Amarante is now ready to release his stunning first solo album “Cavalo”, which will be available worldwide on May 6th."
XRAY.FM PRESENTS DANGEROUS DREAMS TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH THE MOVING UNITS: THEIR DEBUT LP PERFORMED IN ITS ENTIRETY
MOVING UNITS, ADVENTURE GALLEY, ADVENTUROUS SLEEPING
SAT, APRIL 18, 2015
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
"Linework NW is an illustration and comics festival taking place in Portland, Oregon. Our inaugural event was held in April of 2014. Linework NW’s goal is to focus attention on the creators who continue to inject new energy and vitality into these venerable mediums that share so much in common, whether their work is to be found in comic books, original art, graphic novels, prints, or other forms. Drawing upon a wealth of talent from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, Linework NW seeks to cultivate a vibrant cultural experience for creators, readers, art lovers, and collectors alike."
Free and Open to the Public!
More info: http://lineworknw.com/about
Simplicity Parenting Coming to Portland
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. To address this "cumulative stress disorder," Portland Waldorf School is bringing internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne, M.Ed., to Portland for a lecture and workshop on April 17 and 18. Mr. Payne’s work helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. In his book, Simplicity Parenting, he shows parents how the extraordinary power of less allows them to raise calmer, happier and more secure kids by following doable, orderly, and effective pathways:
* Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter – as well as the lights, sounds and general sensory overload.
* Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed.
* Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing.
* Scale back on media and exposure to adult concerns. Manage your children’s "screen time" to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation.
To learn more and meet Kim John Payne, attend these local events:
Simplicity Parenting Lecture, with Kim John Payne
$40 tickets
To order tickets: http://portlandwaldorf.org/simplicity-parenting/
Simplicity Parenting Coming to Portland
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. To address this "cumulative stress disorder," Portland Waldorf School is bringing internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne, M.Ed., to Portland for a lecture and workshop on April 17 and 18. Mr. Payne’s work helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. In his book, Simplicity Parenting, he shows parents how the extraordinary power of less allows them to raise calmer, happier and more secure kids by following doable, orderly, and effective pathways:
* Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter – as well as the lights, sounds and general sensory overload.
* Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed.
* Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child’s daily torrent of constant doing.
* Scale back on media and exposure to adult concerns. Manage your children’s "screen time" to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation.
To learn more and meet Kim John Payne, attend these local events:
Simplicity Parenting Lecture, with Kim John Payne
$20 tickets
To order tickets: http://portlandwaldorf.org/simplicity-parenting/
Your friends at Art Spark will be featuring RACC's Work for Art. Work for Art is a workplace giving program and the sole umbrella fund for arts and culture and arts education programs in the tri county region. The community partner at the next Art Spark will be Miracle Theatre Group. As the home to Teatro Milagro, their mission is to share the diversity of Latin America and advocate for global unity through theatre.
venue Website: Vie de Bohème
Share, like, tweet, boost, reply, comment, pin, blog, friend, discover, click, reach, PTAT, promote, gigg, join, snap, message, plus, circle, convert, sync and queue. Does all this seeming like a bit much for you? Social media strategy - what it means and how to make it work for you. We'll cover the if, when and who of hiring someone to manage your social presence
Cost: $30
XRAY is teaming up with KPSU as part of KPSU's 30 shows in 30 days series:
https://www.facebook.com/KPSUPORTLAND/eventsJoin us as two great independent radio stations bring the city of Portland one kickass show featuring performances by:
The Minders
http://theminders.bandcamp.com/
Rio Grands
https://soundcloud.com/rio-grands
It's another $3 Sound Select show curated by XRAY.fm!
Gardens and Villa, Helvetia and Grandparents at Bunk Bar.
Important: Entry is not guaranteed. Events are first come first served based on venue’s capacity. Arrive early for a better chance of admission.
The Prids, Soft Kill, The Estranged, Arctic Flowers, Shadowhouse, Underpass, Lunch, Vice Device, VATS, Dead Cult and COMM.
Presented by Songs from Under the Floorboard radio show andSoundcontrol PDX as a benefit for XRAY fm
$8.00 in advance/$10.00 day of show; ticket purchase details to be announced
XRAY says THANK you to Dave Cantrell for organizing this fundraiser for XRAY.FM!
Featuring Soft Kill, The Estranged, Arctic Flowers, Shadowhouse, Underpass, Lunch, Vice Device, VATS, Spirit Host and COMM.
Presented by Songs from Under the Floorboard radio show and Soundcontrol PDX as a benefit for XRAY fm
$8.00 in advance/$10.00 day of show; ticket link: http://holdmyticket.com/event/198035
You have a great story to tell, but where do you begin? Learn to construct a story that will resonate with your audience, inspire actions that benefit your bottom line, and evolve over time as your relationship to fans and consumers changes.
This interactive workshop covers:
- Seven steps to productive communication
- Reaching new audiences without increasing your budget
- Best practices to get more out of your online content
- How to promote your work while remaining authentic
- Why asking questions can be more productive than trying to answer them
Cost: $30
DOORS: 8:00 PM / SHOW: 9:00 PM
21+
About Twerps:
"Cheeky, charming and touchingly direct, Melbourne foursome Twerps are international pop champions. Formed in late 2008, Twerps were called "the best new band in Australia" by Uncut on the basis of their debut self-titled EP and toured the US in support of their 2011 full-length Twerps including heralded appearances at CMJ and SXSW.
“Shoulders” is the gentle closer to Side A of Range Anxiety, the new full-length from Melbourne’s Twerps, out January 27 in the US and February 3 in Europe."
About La Luz:
"Seattle's La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small trailer on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable "no-AC-in-the-van" summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of coolness isn't about distance or affect; it's a mood, and—sue me, but I'm about to totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about this music vibrates to the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows. So yeah, that kind of cool.
Still, La Luz's live shows, more than most these days, are about connection. It's evident that the four ridiculously talented ladies on stage are not only playing music with each other, but for each other. And they engage their audience as well. Like a proper punk band—which they are not— they give you shit for not dancing. They convey a gritty self-possession, a sense that they've been there and back again. And, like the expert, but seemingly effortless, surf licks and meandering bass lines that rise and fall throughout their songs, their mocking is playful and dreamy and disarming enough to get most of the crowd (and sometimes the keyboard player) dancing down the center line of a soul train.
But as any half-assed Freudian will tell you, there can be no meaningful connection without first weathering some dark and lonely times. Here comes the chilly part: What makes La Luz stand out—and stand out fast—the band has only been playing together for a year and people took notice almost immediately—is that this is a band that embodies that most elusive slant on the human condition: longing, and the fleeting relief that tags alongside deep desire.
In Spanish, La Luz means "light" and that's the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band's signature—and you'll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.
Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record It's Alive – the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face – with their friend and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie chords of "Sure As Spring", the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts. On "What Good Am I?", the lead vocals, and the swirl of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of Mazzy Star's misty-eyed super hit. Smack in the middle is the title track. "It's Alive" is a jangly rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of ooohs, and a marauding narrative that nails down the misty logic of the rest of the album. Two instrumentals, "Sunstroke" and "Phantom Feelings", showcase the band's beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly between the chilled out heartache that surrounds them."
About Woolen Men:
"The Woolen Men are three — two Oregon natives and a Washingtonian. They play punk influenced DIY music in the Pac-NW tradition of Dead Moon and the Wipers. More than a sound or style, that means a kind of work ethic — do-it-yourself and do it a lot. The band is happiest touring up and down the I-5 or bunkered in their practice space with the cassette 4-track rolling. And it shows. Live, the band is thunderous and energetic and the magnetic chemistry of the three of them playing together shines through in the recordings.
This self-titled album released by Woodsist Records is their debut LP, following a handful of largely self-released EPs. Instead of changing their technique of recording fast and loose to capture the live energy of their sound, they recorded and recorded and recorded until they had enough songs to make up an album only of material with that elusive spark of a great recording. The ten tracks here represent five different sessions, and as many songs made the cut as were left behind. The LP was made to endure, with little attention payed to current trends or “in” sounds — what matters to the band is that the songs are well written and executed with integrity. The whole thing was recorded to analog tape.
The Woolen Men are Alex Geddes, Lawton Browning and Raf Spielman. They live and work in Portland, OR. Raf previously released an album of solo material under his Polyps moniker for the Woodsist sister label Hello Sunshine.
This show celebrates the release of their live Banana Stand recording."
About Will Sprott:
"With the Mumlers, Will Sprott's penchant for conjuring the specters of haunting '60s folk butts heads with Big Easy brass and bright organs. He wears his influences on his sleeve, borrowing from heyday rock 'n' roll just enough to leave room for his own embellishments, of which his soulful voice stands as a distinct highlight. Sprott's solo work is stripped of some of the Mumlers' pizzazz, but you'll find that even more exposed, his talents are given wiggle-room to burst and bloom."
Eternal Tapestry (Thrill Jockey Recs)
Hornet Leg
***PLUS DJ Set from:***
Selector Dub Narcotic (aka Calvin Johnson of K Recs)
Nashville's JEFF the Brotherhood was dropped by Warner Brothers Records, and will now release Wasted On The Dream via their own Infinity Cat Recordings on March 24th. The band has released the following statement....