Oregon Voice Magazine » Music

Take That Portland!

Stephen — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:53:30 +0000

The alternative-rock juggernaut the Pixies are taking to the air and hitting the road this fall as part of their Doolittle 20^th anniversary tour. The Pixies, known to many as the band that popularized now mainstream stop-start/loud-soft dynamics and influenced cult-status bands like Nirvana and Weezer, will be crossing the Atlantic Ocean to perform in England, Belgium, France and Ireland, before returning to the United States to wrap-up their tour.

As far as the Pixies playing in Oregon, they’ll be making one stop in our state. Not in the major-market Portland like you may expect, but in lowly Eugene (This, of course, is likely because Black Francis resides in our fair town while not touring.) As reported on Pitchfork.com, the Pixies will make a stop in Eugene to play at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts on November 14^th, before continuing East to Colorado. Who says all the good shows are in Portland? Take that PDX!

Tickets go on sale August 14th.

20th Anniversary Issue Out Now!

Stephen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:53:16 +0000

Our latest and most rewarding/colorful/longest effort of the year is now available to be viewed on the Internet from anywhere around the world, yes, even from Norway, New York City or Chicago! The print version is available around campus and will be distributed to the greater Eugene area via bike brigade shortly.

If you’ve left for summer vacation and want us to mail you a print copy, let us know via the contact form and we’ll gladly accommodate you.

Special thanks to all the past contributers who found time in their busy schedules to send us a remembrance and for allowing us to reprint their words. Hopefully you enjoy the issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

While this was our last issue of the school year, don’t think we’re going to be simply taking it easy until school starts up again in the fall. Here’s a list of the projects we have in store for the summer months:

Revamp website
Acquire new distribution boxes
Paint new distribution boxes
Replace broken Plexiglas in boxes around campus
Scan and archive Volume 14 and others not on website
Create master distribution list, distribute to more places
Clean/Reorganize office
Plan Rent-a-Pooch IV
Organize U of O Student Media Summit
Bind and archive volumes not already in library
Blog, blog, blog
Build roller-coaster
Drink beer

If you want to give us a hand and hang out with cool people, get at us.

Blitzen Trapper announce Black River Killer EP

Scot — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:03:41 +0000

News fresh from Sub Pop. The new EP will be in stores August 25th. We’ll do our best to get some advanced listenings of it this summer.

According to Stereogum, it’ll pull together many divergent sounds, making a hard rock departure from their usual home-spun melodies. I’m offering a special prize to the person who can figure out the name of the ’80s Libyan pop star. Worth a look.

Blitzen Trapper is playing Pickathon this year with Dr.Dog, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down and square dancing?

Tonight at the WOW Hall: Jens Lekman and Tig Notaro

Stephen — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:33:48 +0000

Forgive the late notice. We’re sorry.

But.

Swede Jens Lekman performs tonight at the WOW Hall starting at 8 p.m. Lekman, formerly known as Rocky Dennis, is a singer-songwriter who blends melodic guitar with digital samples (think Andrew Bird) to produce a sound that can be experienced here. Heavily influenced by Modern Lovers front-man Jonathan Richmond and the Scottish rockers Belle & Sebastian, Lekman is now on Secretly Canadian and is on tour in support of his epic 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortadela. His performances often take different shapes ranging from just him and his guitar to a cappella to a full choir and string quartet. While I have no insider information to what he’ll pull from his bag tonight (Save for comedian and actress Tig Notaro as an opening act), I’m sure it will be well worth the $15 inside the WOW Hall tonight. If you’re not engulfed in course work, check it.

4/20 with 40 Oz. to Freedom

Noah — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:47:25 +0000

On 4/20 at the WOW Hall, a Sublime-cover-band called 40 Oz. to Freedom performed in celebration of the counterculture holiday. A faint cloud of reefer smoke hovered above the audience as the band played from the Sublime songbook. The crowd cheered whenever marijuana references came up in the lyrics. 40 Oz. to Freedom, comprised of four Sublime-obsessed San Diegans, perfectly recreated the original band’s sound (down to the police dispatcher sound-bites), and their performance exceeded my expectations by far.

I couldn’t help but laugh at their character. Every five songs or so, the band members would down shots in unison. In between songs they would engage the audience, especially the females. The bass player once shouted, “Women above 18, raise your hands.” I reveled in their sleaziness. The lead singer later questioned, “Where the after party at?” but there was no response.

I thought that my tastes had elevated above bands like Sublime. There’s nothing subtle or artistic about it, I told myself. Sublime’s self-titled 1996 release was an essential part of my middle school experience. So as 40 Oz. to Freedom played songs that I had once loved and memorized, I was transported back to my rebellious adolescent epoch, and I rediscovered why Sublime (and ska music in general) is brilliant.

There’s nothing pretentious about Sublime. They wrote songs about what they knew: sex, drugs, and riots. And it’s incredibly accessible: reggae-influenced punk-pop driven by a strong emotive singer. It’s catchy yet grungy, heavy yet melodic, angry yet irie. I get it.

Happy belated 4/20

Up In Da Club: A Night of Bollywood in Portland

Noah — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:01:47 +0000

Usually, I’m Noah DeWitt, age 18. Last night, however, I was Max Neumeyer, age 22. The security guard at the Someday Lounge didn’t think twice. I paid him my five bucks, flashed him my dubious ID, exposed my wrist for him to stamp, and entered the crowded club event Filmistan, a set composed solely of songs featured in Bollywood movies. Filmistan is put on by DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid, a Portland pair who have been DJing Indian and international parties for the past 8 years. On Friday, I met Anjali (aka Anju Hursch) and the Kid (aka Stephen Strausburg) for an interview, where they shared their thoughts on the interaction between the music of the African Diaspora (reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, house) and the Indian diaspora (bhangra, classical, filmi). Andaz (every last Saturday at the Fez) and Atlas (every 2^nd Saturday at Holocene) are their monthly efforts to “resist sonic monoculture.”

At Filmistan, vintage clips of outlandish Bollywood dramas looped on the projection screen behind them. DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid took turns spinning song after song of vibrant, hypnotic Bollywood techno. The crowd was diverse: whites, blacks, browns; hipsters, hippies, businessmen; old folks, twenty-somethings, minors. What did they have in common? They were looking to get down! An Indian mother wearing traditional attire displayed quirky steps and graceful hand movements. “Her” song came on. One bearded fellow had exemplary moves, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite emulate them. A circle formed and individuals grooved their ways into the center to show off their skills, one at a time. Thanks to DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid, my first experience up in da club was completely insane.

They also do weddings.

A concert that happened over a week ago…

Zegalia — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:28:29 +0000

…was The Helio Sequence at WOW Hall in support of their new album Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop, 2008), with Eugene locals Yeltsin giving a solid performance as the first opener. By far the best thing about Yeltsin is their lead singer’s beard, which has to be a good foot long and swayed majestically during their entire set. The next supporting act was the disappointingly unbearded Audrye Sessions. Their lead singer did sport a fledgling mustache, which is a pretty decent metaphor for how their music stood up against Yeltsin’s. Thankfully the main event came onstage soon after and rocked off everyone’s socks pretty thoroughly. The onstage lineup of Brandon Summers, Benjamin Weikel, and a laptop is one of the tightest combinations I’ve ever heard live. Weikel is maybe the happiest person to ever get his hands on a drum set, and Summers sounded like a three piece band on guitar for the entirety of the set, which lasted almost an hour. They played songs from every album, especially Love and Distance and the new one. That the band sounds great live isn’t surprising, considering that they’ve been together for over ten years. What is surprising is that this was only their third Eugene concert in twelve years, so I’d definitely recommend catching them when they come around again in 2012.

Hot, Sticky, Jazzy

Grace P. — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:29:36 +0000

I’m only twenty for three more days, and the terrible age still plagues me. I got a tip-off about this band playing at Indigo tonight, but I can’t legally attend. After listening to their album last night, I want to hear the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey spit fire. I want it so bad! I’m telling you this because I expect you, if legal and able, to attend this show tonight. I hope to live vicariously through you, because I know you will love the experimental, jazzy madness that will envelope your entire body when you hear it. The Oregonian blog even used the word “soundscape.” Woah. Not yet convinced? Look at this hot picture of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey wrapped in caged lights. Jazz blazer, jazz hair, jazz light. You have to go.

4/20 came early…

Tuula — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:46:19 +0000

and it was freaking awesome.

If you’re on facebook, check out the photos by clicking here:
Album #1
and here:
Album #2

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the Oregon Voice at our fundraiser show last Friday. Also thanks to the Campbell Club for hosting, the Party Tigers, The Daveys, the Arithmetic Danger Club, Last Trains and the band formerly known as The Mood for playing, and every staff person who helped out that night for holding it all together. We managed to collect a good amount of cash, which will go toward printing two more fabulous issues this year.

Peace, Pride, Patriarchy… yeah.

Tuula — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:35:08 +0000

It’s proof that a concert has motivated you to live up to your potential when you can go home and write the review immediately just because you know that the longer you wait, the less of the show you’ll remember and the more it will suck.
Firmly on the list of things that don’t suck, however, is Ani Difranco.
I arrived at the show shortly after she started and didn’t spend much time looking for the friends I knew were in the theater somewhere. It was a weeknight concert and I just wanted to chill out and listen before I went home to crash. And if you can’t listen to an Ani concert alone, with all her individual-empowering vibes, what is there left in this world to enjoy solo?
As I settled into listening mode, I was immediately glad I hadn’t skipped this one. Her guitar playing, captivating on record, was nothing short of impressive live. The band, especially the xylophone player with Einstein hair, also sounded good and were fun to watch. The combined effect had me grooving subtly with the packed McDonald audience, despite my tiredness. As I swayed in the back and brooded about schoolwork and various responsibilities, Ani slowly worked into my subconscious with her effervescent personality and poignant lyrics.
Eventually, her strategy worked and I decided such worry was useless if I was a Woman In Charge, not pretty and definitely not a fucking Napoleon. Instead, I zoned out while people watching for a while. Lots of girls high on estrogen and quite a few men, too, trying hard to look unthreatened. A couple of drunk, clingy chicks annoyed me for a while, but they eventually faded out into the audience. The overall mood was good and definitely more about the music than any sort of cause.
Ani brought my attention back to the stage with an, er, interesting song about the divinity of atoms (actually, it’s a good point – they are mighty powerful and inflict the burdensome punishment of nuclear waste when you try to destroy them). Then she said a few words to the effect of “patriarchy… damn it… nobody even says it enough, patriarchy!” I’m not really sure, I was starting at her boobs.
Just kidding! A highly recommended concert for people of any musical and political persuasion. It will get you back on your feet and leave you with catchy riffs in your head all week long.