The 6th Ever Quiet Music Festival of Portland
On June 24th and 25th, 2015, Chris Johanson’s sixth annual Quiet Music Festival of Portland will
once again transform contemporary art space Disjecta into a tranquil cave of sonic serenity. Tuning
in and zonking out are equally encouraged as this year’s line-up takes you through soft sets
tailored to the festival’s ethos while you float on a sea of plush surfaces.
Celebrating the power of turning the dial down, the lowest-key festival in the land spans two
nights in Portland. Valet, Larry Yes, Sun Foot and Bouquet will all perform and Mary Gaitskill will do
a reading. The full list of artists will be released in April.
Mississippi Records’ Eric I returns to helm the festival’s DJ booth and spin copious amounts of medicinal vinyl.
The festival will be recorded by Seth Lorinczi (2-Track Mind Studio) using a vintage 2-track 1/4” tape
deck. Past recordings can be found at quietmusicfestivalofportland.bandcamp.com. The technology is
old, clunky and obsolete, but the recordings capture the special hush and tranquility of the QMF.
About Chris Johanson
Chris Johanson established the Quiet Music Festival of Portland in 2011 as a community listening
experience. His recent exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Malmo
Museum, SFMOMA, and UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Johanson’s work has been included
in the Whitney Biennial, the 8th Istanbul Biennial, and the 4th Berlin Biennial. In 2013 publishing
house Phaidon released his monograph as part of its Contemporary Artists Series. Johanson created
the record label Awesome Vistas which produces limited edition vinyl records and publications, and
the creative enterprise J and C Arts in collaboration with his partner, Johanna Jackson.
About Disjecta Contemporary Art Center
Founded in 2000, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center builds ambitious programs that promote artists
and engage communities. These dynamic programs showcase new work and fuel collaborations
between artists, curators and viewers that impact and intervene in the larger contemporary arts
dialogue. Disjecta’s reach extends far beyond the arts and encompasses the true essence of a cultural
facility: a place where ideas, dialogue, creativity, and diversity flourish.
Images are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/disjectapdx the first section is last year— Photo credit is Sean Ongley/THRU Magazine.
And these are from previous years https://www.flickr.com/photos/disjectapdx/collections/72157651361195357/
JESSY LANZA
Made in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, with production partner Jeremy Greenspan from Junior Boys, the plaintive, reverb drizzled mood of the first album has all but given away to a more direct, self-assured and joyful album. As with many artists whose hometown lie off the usual network of cultural hotspots, 'Oh No' is driven positively by the idea of making music that isn't inspired by where she lives. Instead, the album resonates more with the philosophy of experimental pop of Japanese 80s electro outfit Yellow Magic Orchestra and Jessy's breathless, pitched vocals are reminiscent of YMO collaborator Miharu Koshi. Playfully laced with cascading arpeggios, crispy drum machines and breezy songs, 'Oh No' has an infectious energy that has been brewing in her live shows since her first album. As Jessy says 'I want to make people feel good and I want to make myself feel good'.
The album oscillates between the languid, coiled, arpeggiated slow jams of 'New Ogi', 'GoingSomewhere', 'Begins', 'Could be u', 'I Talk BB' and the low slung 808 groove of 'Vivaca', where Jessy's vocal gymnastics run wild over minimal drums and synths, and the catchy upbeat boogie of 'VV Violence', 'Never Enough', 'OhNo' and the high point of 'It Means I Love You" which has a sparse addictive bounce with a pitched up vocal refrain and a nod to Shangaan electro.
The trials of dealing with nervousness are also encrypted into the artwork, such as the plants that recur in the sleeve and videos.As Jessy remarked, "I became obsessed with surrounding myself with tropical plants. I've been convinced that the air quality in our house is slowly killing us. It might sound crazy but the plants have made a huge difference."
Anxiety and botanical remedies or not, 'Oh No' is a bold second album from Jessy and a marked step forward for her sound. Catch her as shetours with Junior Boys in February, plays EU headline shows from May to June, and in July has a North American Tour.
DJ TAYE
LEAD BY LORENE BOUBOUSHIAN
As an interdisciplinary, improvisational performer and workshop facilitator, I am captivated by the underlying motives for any action. In workshops and lab-based environments, often it is assumed that we should follow our “interests” or “intentions,” when in fact our in-the-moment actions are a result not of clear-cut decisions but our relationship to the organism of bodies, room and objects around us colliding with what’s inside us. What do we want and why? What if we derailed ourselves, worked with our own insincerity, faked ourselves out, played tricks? Is it possible to create a realm where all is valid and nothing is right? For anyone interested in performing, from any discipline. Bring objects you are interested in.
here is a more general description and some video of past classes. this refers to more sonic based stuff i've been doing with matthew gantt, but it's still nice to watch i think:
https://lorenebouboushian.org/teaching/
SUGGESTED DONATION (snackz provided!)
photo credit ying liu
its our 1 year annniversary so come thru ~~~
~w special guests~
MAGIC FADES (dj set)
https://soundcloud.com/magicfades
& sets from ur hosts
MISS CLEO
https://soundcloud.com/i-am-miss-cleo
187 MOOCHIE
https://soundcloud.com/187moochie
PHRSLN
https://soundcloud.com/prhsln
~WITCH HOUSE/TRAP/EXPERIMENTAL~
visuals by champagne bukkake
ERIN TOBEY (BLOOMINGTON, IN)
http://erintobey.bandcamp.com
STEPHEN STEINBRINK (WESTERN US)
http://stephensteinbrink.bandcamp.com
WEIRD CACTUS (PORTLAND, OR)
http://katydavidsonandfriends.com/
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St
8PM
$6
Course Description
This 3-part workshop will focus on the basic understandings of operating and manipulating turntables, mixers, and a power amplifier (PA) in the context of creating a live DJ mix.
We will begin by introducing the basics behind these pieces of gear, both individually and their relationship to each other. Next, our focus will turn to practical listening as we work to comprehend rhythms and the ways our records work together to create a momentum of sound. These two basic tools of DJing – electronic hardware and human intuition – will be reconciled in the final session as we identify systems for sequencing records in a live setting.
We will discuss ways of training our bodies to react to our ears and translate those reactions to the turntable & mixer. Core concepts touched on include beat-matching, identifying tempos, and developing an identity as a dj based on each individual’s tastes and strengths.
Each week, in addition to the guided session, there will be a day of open equipment hours to practice the concepts that were taught in each class.
Bio
John Kammerle is a DJ and producer based in Portland, Oregon. John received a BA in Audio Engineering from the Evergreen State College in 2009. He currently works as a teacher at Ethos Music Center in North Portland with a focus on digital music composition and beat making for middle school students. John performs regularly in and around the Pacific Northwest under the moniker, Rap Class.
Enrollment
Introduction to DJing is a 3 part series with open deck nights included in cost of class. There will be 3 different sessions, June, July, and August. Students are not required to bring any material, but are encouraged to bring their own music on vinyl. You must be at least 16 years old to enroll. If you are a minor, please contact us for further instructions: s1portlandinfo@gmail.com
June Session
Monday June 6
Monday June 13
Monday June 20
Open Deck Nights: Wednesday June 8th, 15th, and 22nd
All Classes are from 6:30pm-8:30pm & Open Deck nights 6:30-8:00pm
July & August Sessions also available
Visit our website for more details www.s1portland.com/workshops
"They've got the far-off, dreamy vocal wash of the shoegazers, but their guitars and hooks are anything but subtle, invoking the tone of early Kinks or Nuggets acts on 'Psychological Thriller'." - Pitchfork
"Austin-based act Holy Wave blends garage and surf rock with heavy reverb and echo to create a sound that is dreamy and hazy." - Nylon
"Freaks of Nurture is an intimate piece of pastoral psychedelia which replaces oddball freak-outs with gorgeous melody." - Line of Best Fit
Sanctuary Sunday is Ambient/Experimental every third Sunday of the month at various Portland haunts. The monthly line-ups represent varying genres of electronic music, from Glitchy IDM to Ambient, Drone and coolly Experimental soundscapes.
A night filled with delicately blended electronic sounds, samples, and live instruments guaranteed to bring the electronic heads out of their basements and into this cozy sanctuary.
This month welcomes:
| Coastlands |
cathartic cinematic Post Rock
https://coastlands.bandcamp.com/
| The OO-Ray |
Erik Satie meets My Bloody Valentine
https://ooray.bandcamp.com/
| Ant'lrd|
Sun-drenched swirls
https://antlrd.bandcamp.com/
DJ set by: Mike Jedlicka
Sunday June 19th
7:00pm - 11:00pm
$5
Booking/Promotions:
Coco Madrid - djchachapdx@gmail.com
The Switch No. 35--CAConrad, fresh from Norway, and Singapore, and other world travels, along with David Buuck from Oakland, and Portland's own Emily Carr. More info: http://theswitchpdx.blogspot.com/
Bridge Club presents, CLUB DESTINY
An adventure in futurism, CLUB DESTINY is an one-night-only Pride exclusive.
CRUISING WANTED
Featuring:
Asmara aka MA DEE JAY (LA, Nguzunguzu, Fade to Mind)
https://soundcloud.com/ma-deejay/ma-mix-up-2015
Chanti Darling DJs
Hold My Hand
Troubled Youth
Casual Aztec
Prince$$ Dimebag
Visual Artists:
RAKEEM
Megan Holmes
Installation:
ANGEL THUG1
Photography:
RAKEEM
8pm // $10 // 21+
** Brought to you by Bridge Club and Destiny **
With-
Jeph Nor
Science Patrol
Polly Dactyly
https://soundcloud.com/polly-dactyly
Høltech
LoFi Freq
Ciguatera
Notingworld
https://nothingworldofficial.bandcamp.com/
---------------------------------------------
All age show
$5.00 donation at the door, 100% of the fund will go to the Kenton Masonic Educatinal Fund
Experience the wide variety of entertainment available at Oregon Renaissance Faire. Jugglers, musicians, gypsies, bards, and magicians gather to entertain and amaze. Whatever you desire, find it in Dunrose!
For more information, visit http://oregonfaire.com/
Spend The Night 1 Year Anniversary!!
w/ the Detroit legend:
DJ Stingray 313
(Drexcyia, Planet E, Urban Tribe) - Detroit
https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/djstingray
https://www.facebook.com/DJ-Stingray-182977445069234/
+ Spend The Night residents
Ben Tactic & Graintable
Sherard Ingram aka DJ Stingray has been a strong presence in the world of techno for over twenty years. Growing up in Detroit, this school friend and DJ partner of Kenny Dixon Jr. realised his Urban Tribe project in 1991 with the now classic 'Covert Action', a track released on Retroactive's seminal 'Equinox' compilation, a milestone in the city's rich technosoul history. A couple of years later London's Mo'Wax label released his debut album 'The Collapse Of Modern Culture', which featured collaborations with friends and peers such as Anthony 'Shake' Shakir, Moodymann and Carl Craig. His most illustrious work might have been as part of Drexciya's live unit - he was named Stingray by Drexciya's James Stinson. Reppin' Detroit's 313 with masked performances around the world, and three dozen releases - including records on labels like Planet E and Mahogani Music as well as collaborations with Dopplereffekt's Heinrich Mueller (also known as the other half of Drexciya) - Ingram has since turned label head with Micron Audio Detroit to release the work of fresh, upcoming talent from across the globe.
21+
Funktion One sound
The music of The Growlers is unmistakable.
Sure, you can hone in on some influences baked into the work of this California-bred band. Heck, even they’d cop to a few, like Ricky Nelson and The Clash. But once those same RIYL tags have been filtered through the minds and hands and voices of this five-piece, there’s simply nothing else like it.
The Growlers took the phrase “Beach Goth” as an apt descriptor of their music. Sunburned and salty, that term perfectly describes their distinctive melding of reverb heavy surf guitar and Bakersfield-style honky tonk with ‘80s post-punk.
This is especially true of Chinese Fountain, The Growlers’ fifth full-length set to be released on September 23rd via Everloving Records. The 11 songs found on it are some of the strongest that they’ve committed to tape yet; a byproduct not only of eight years in the trenches together, but finely honing their gypsy folk dirges and psychedelic sea shanties to fans at close to 150 shows each year. The connection between vocalist Brooks Nielsen and guitarist Matt Taylor (the principal songwriters of the group) has only grown deeper.
“The band played better than they’ve ever played,” says Nielsen. “We’ve got the process down now. There’s less screwing around to get the songs laid out and we weren’t waiting around for take after take. We knew it and we played without much time to spare.”
That confidence bleeds through every track on Chinese Fountain, with the band assured enough to layer in shades of many new influences: the loping ska beat of “Dull Boy” and “Going Gets Tuff,” the playful disco beat behind the title track, or the Teardrop Explodes-like agitation of “Good Advice.”
Not that the band left themselves much room to second-guess anything. The five spent about three weeks writing the tracks, and about half that time in the studio recording them. That may sound rushed, but it’s not as if you can hear any strain on the finished product; Chinese Fountain is as rock solid and watertight as anything in their still-growing discography.
There’s evolution to be heard in Chinese Fountain as well, courtesy of some of Nielsen’s most pointed and poignant lyrics to date. He takes our obsession with the online world to task on the funky title track. When he drops the bomb that obliterates that most famous of Beatles’ claims with "The internet is bigger than Jesus or John Lennon” he re-contextualizes Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message" in the same breath. He urges positivity no matter the obstacles (“Going Gets Tuff”). Too, he reveals a tattered heart to the world on tracks like “Rare Hearts” and “Love Test.”
“This is my chance to let it all out,” Nielsen says of these songs. “I kind of bottle things up and don’t really get emotional. But I think if I don’t open up, I’d be a really stale person.”
All Ages | Bar w/ ID
SONNY AND THE SUNSETS
On previous records, the Sunsets have plundered a wide spectrum of musical appropriation (garage-rock, forgotten AM radio fodder, Modern Lovers, late-era Clash, Doo-Wop, and the Velvet Underground, to name a few.) Mood Baby Moods follows suit, and on this outing we find the Sunsets, along with producer Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs,
repurposing early ‘80s funk and new wave with rap beats and collages from both sides of the ocean (be it Niles Rogers, Jah Wobble, The Gap Band, Orange Juice, Trans-era Neil Young or The Tom Tom Club.) These are songs that juxtapose the haze of today with a vibrant and colorful explosion of sounds and 180 degree turns.
Sonny’s gift for vivid storytelling is no secret. His last album with the Sunsets, Talent Night at the Ashram, was peopled by characters he’d created for scripts that never saw the light of day. He greeted 2016 with a solo LP (Sees All Knows All) that involved no singing at all — a winding tale of one musician’s quest to find himself set to music.
Moods Baby Moods is no less inventive and arguably more musically sophisticated than Smith’s previous records. “Death Cream Part 2” picks up a comic book tale started on 2009’s Tomorrow Is Alright, tracing that titular tube of heinous goop back to a grocery store/hell. “Modern Age” transfers from a party to a string quartet, with elements of
dub, while the narrator comes to grips with meaninglessness – ‘modern age/nothing to say.’ “Well but Strangely Hung Men” bridges a gap between Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud and Richard Brautigan over a driving post disco beat.
The real life cast supporting Moods Baby Moods is fittingly rife with outsider talent. Garbus’ voice can be heard throughout. Shayde Sartin’s bass, Edmund Xavier’s drum machine beats and Smith’s guitar form the foundations, and regular Tahlia Harbour continues her back and forth banter with Smith. Cold Beat’s Hannah Lew brings a Kleenex/Young Marble Giants flavor to the songs. Shannon Shaw and Jibz Cameron drop by for a skit, and Kaznary Mutoh of Tokyo’s Boys Age lends guitars and garbles the outro of “Modern Age.”
Lyrically, Smith is playing with the grand themes of today. In his search for purpose in the cruel realities of the modern age, he’s trying to make sense out of chaos and suffering, and to find a way to live and be real. This is not an easy task in a time of synthetic feelings (“Moods”), computer created confusion (“Modern Age”), climate change
(“Dead Meat on the Beach”), civil rights abuse (“White Cops on Trial”), and the uneasy feeling of numbness in our chaotic world (“Check Out”).
But in the final moments of Moods Baby Moods, Sonny delivers a line that not only speaks truth to his philosophy as played out across his career, but to what it means to be human in any era, regardless of our relationships with technology, spirituality, authority, or art: “I’m full of love, and shit, all the time.”
SARAH BETHE NELSON
Ms. Nelson doesn't exude the brassy confidence of a chanteuse; nor does she wear the mask of false naivete favored by some of her "indy" musical contemporaries. Rather, Nelson and her plaintive, unforced voice seem to hang in the balance, and the source of her songs seems a mix of genuine heartbreak and stark resolve. Her music is reflected in that not-extreme dichotomy; in it there is warmth and beauty, as well as a genuine mean streak, softened barely by her well-crafted melodies.
As a long-time member of San Francisco's close-knit rock and roll community, Nelson has obviously inherited her peers' sense of pensive melody. Most striking, though, is the seeming simplicity of the songs; the two-word chorus of "Impossible Love", repeated over and over, not to bore the listener, but to key us in to her sense of educated hopelessness, a "been-there, done-that" kind of boredom, followed by a gorgeous, unexpected chord-change turnaround, which paints a wholly different picture of elevation and release. The songs are simple, but they throw these great surprises at us. Recorded at the home studio of song wizard Kelley Stoltz there is a sense of sonic adventure creeping throughout the record. With a crack engineer and a who's who of great musicians giving life to Ms. Nelson's weary yet inspired observations Fast-Moving Clouds is a beautiful, mysterious journey to heartbreak and back.
-Tim Cohen
GONZO
Poetry Press Week aims to radically change the way poetry is presented, publicized, published, and perceived.
There will be presented new works of poetry by established and emerging PNW poets to an audience of publishers, the press, and the general public.
All work is available for publication the moment it is presented.
Doors: 7pm
Show: 7:30pm
Suggested Donation: $5
Come align your chakras with the DUG fam at the first open mic//art mixer of our summer series @ Service.
Snugsworth
Open mic
Closing with a ~ guided discussion ~
As always, sign ups upon arrival, so get in there before 7pm if you'd like to perform.
With his second non-soundtrack album, Lost Themes II, set for release in April, horror master John Carpenter will perform his first ever live shows this summer, including a date at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Hall on June 15.
John Carpenter will be performing a musical retrospective of his work, his first solo record of non-soundtrack music Lost Themes, plus brand new compositions. The Horror Master will also be joined on stage by both his son Cody Carpenter, and his godson Daniel Davies (both of whom co-recorded Lost Themes), in addition to a full live band and spectacular stage production.
John Carpenter has been responsible for much of the horror genre's most striking soundtrack work in movies he's both directed and scored, such as Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987) and They Live (1988) to name a few.
Composers before him had used minimalism to create terror, whether it was two piano notes for a killer shark or the stabbing strings of a mother-obsessed psychopath, but it was Halloween's brilliantly interwoven synth melodies that truly took genre scoring to a new, more sinister level.
Carpenter’s first recording of non-soundtrack work achieved numerous international milestones, including NPR First Listen; features in dozens of press outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Guardian; three magazine covers; and Top 200 chart success in the U.S. and the U.K.
So widespread was the acclaim for Lost Themes, that the composer was moved to embark on something he had never before entertained – playing his music live in front of an audience.
Keep your eyes peeled for John and his co-writers to hit the road this summer performing both lost and newly found themes, in addition to retrospective work from Mr. Carpenter’s multi-generational career. Lost Themes II will be released on April 1st, 2016 on Sacred Bones Records.
Get Tickets: http://bit.ly/JCarpentPOR2016
Tickets on sale Friday 2/19 at 10am
All Ages • Reserved Seat show
LEAD BY LORENE BOUBOUSHIAN
As an interdisciplinary, improvisational performer and workshop facilitator, I am captivated by the underlying motives for any action. In workshops and lab-based environments, often it is assumed that we should follow our “interests” or “intentions,” when in fact our in-the-moment actions are a result not of clear-cut decisions but our relationship to the organism of bodies, room and objects around us colliding with what’s inside us. What do we want and why? What if we derailed ourselves, worked with our own insincerity, faked ourselves out, played tricks? Is it possible to create a realm where all is valid and nothing is right? For anyone interested in performing, from any discipline. Bring objects you are interested in.
here is a more general description and some video of past classes. this refers to more sonic based stuff i've been doing with matthew gantt, but it's still nice to watch i think:
https://lorenebouboushian.org/teaching/
SUGGESTED DONATION (snackz provided!)
photo credit ying liu