free mp3 from 6 xo artists!

grab them here:
 http://www.xopublicity.com/xofreesingles.html

Age Sex Occupation ALBUM REVIEW

Daniel Weiskopf is the CEO and chief songwriter of Age/Sex/Occupation (their friends probably refer to them as ASO). He plies his trade on vocals and keyboards as part of a post-urban-dance/art rock trio that aspires to be 70s/80s throwback white soul, and actually winds up being more than that. Although “Dirty Isn’t Dirty” is a little forced and comes across as slightly pandering, they immediately redeem themselves with the next song: “The Day I Ignored Street Signs.” They bust out the keyboards big time on “Hide And Seek” and there’s some strong female vocal action by Nicole Berke on this bouncy anti-love song. “Zombie” is quality work and energetic for a song named after the undead, and “Volcano” is pretty damn good as well. I’m not wild about their funny name, but who the hell am I? Disregard that. They got it going on. As you were.

http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/reviews-cfcf-john-singer-sergeant-frank-lenz

Album Review - The Memorials "Delirium"

Just a year ago I reviewed the incredibly exciting debut album from The Memorials. The self-titled disc was a challenging first listen, full of complex arrangements and progressive approaches to what heavy music can sound like. It truly was a unique album, one that I would not have imagined would be easy to top. After just a year's time, The Memorials are set to release their sophomore disc, Delirium. I've been listening to an advance copy of it for a few weeks now and I must say...

...this album is even better than their first one. Fans of loud music and intricate song structures will find much to enjoy within its notes. The band explores elements of fusion and jazz even further than on their first outing and blend it so incredibly well with their heavy sound.

This is not an album you casually listen to. Don't put it on as background sound because you are doing yourself a disservice. Put on some headphones to enjoy the subtleties or play it loud through your sound system. Either way, don't just listen, but listen to it and you will begin to understand why The Memorials are as good as they are. As I did a track-by-track break down of their first album, it only makes sense to do it again. So on to track one, where right from the start, Thomas Pridgen throws convention right out the window.

"Dream (Future Perfekt Remix)" - You have to have all the confidence in the world and huge brass ones to open your sophomore disc with a remix of a song from your debut album. The Memorials pull it off in style with Mitchell Wilcox' Future Perfekt remix of "Dream". The track swerves across the EDM map from D+B to Dubstep but does so in excellent fashion. This is not a throwaway mix meant as B-side filler.



"Fluorescent's Unforgiving" - This song feels like it could have been the opener, but again, props to The Memorials for thinking outside the box. Viveca Hawkins goes from dropping lyrics like a pro to dishing out potent urban spoken word for good measure without missing a beat. The chorus is haunting and beautiful amidst the angst ridden message. A jazz trumpet at the bridge takes the piece in a wholly unique direction, followed by an acoustic guitar breakdown and Hawkins vocalizing in a Middle Eastern/Goa style, until the heavy riffs punch you in the face on the out. 



"Gone" - A computerized percussion assault opens this one, quickly shifting to a live drum and funky wah pedal guitar attack held together with an all to underused organ line. It is a curious mix of 70's funk and hard rock. Nick Brewer is melting faces and strings with his relentless riffing throughout the song and Viveca Hawkins' vocals, especially in the chorus will remain stuck in your head right alongside it. 

"Heavyweight" - Here is a slice of metallic jazz fusion you had no idea you wanted to hear. This one has a cleaner tone and trademark Viveca Hawkins multitracked vocals, which are just as key to The Memorials sound as the instruments themselves. Hawkins has a truly distinctive singing style, one that needs more ears to hear her. 

"Daisies" - A love song positively dripping in 80s metal riffage. The melodic guitar open slams into a heavier version of itself backed by a syncopated rhythm. Hawkins rocks a great vocal against Thomas Pridgen's pounding drums and Nick Brewer's six string. On its surface, this one seems much more straight forward and less progressive, but listen specifically to Thomas Pridgen's masterful stick work to reveal what is driving this song. 

"Delirium" - If by this point on the album you aren't convinced Thomas Pridgen is one of the best drummers currently active then obviously you weren't listening close enough. What starts as seemingly an in the pocket performance similar to the previous song, branches out with some wicked snake charmer riffing from Nick Brewer and a killer, drum powered breakdown at the bridge. Again, props to Thomas Pridgen for his subtle use of organ tones.

"So Anti Me" - With a heavy beat bordering on mosh inducing, Pridgen goes positively off the deep end, playing enough drums for three songs yet holding it all together and never drifting into drum noodling territory. Further use of an organ adds a nice extra tone to the track. The song downshifts into torch song jazz lounge mode and it totally works. This is another example of actively listening being a better experience. The piece further develops into just a throbbing bass line backing Hawkins as it pulses to a close.

"Mr. Entitled" - Running nearly 12 minutes, this is an epic way to close the album. Every note from The Memorials' play book is here: heavy riffage, masterful drumming, Hawkins in full effect and unexpected but deftly executed shifts into a jazzier space. A well placed flute accents the second section quite nicely. It runs back to heavy and then into a jazz realm again before an eye-popping synth bridge that I would love to hear more from The Memorials on album number three. Another furious, heavy assault and the piece ends on soft synths and a sax solo from Adrián Terrazas-González, who played with Pridgen in The Mars Volta. For an extended length song, it certainly does not feel overly long and the 12 minutes passes all too quickly.

Much like their debut album, I've enjoyed Delirium more with each successive spin, plus each song gets progressively better as you listen. So, for anyone who continually bemoans the "death of the album," I will counter with this.

If you are a fan of loud music, performed with artistry and passion but perhaps most importantly doesn't sound like anything else out there, get yourself a copy of The Memorials' Delirium to wrap your ears around. And if you have not yet experienced their first album, do yourself a favor and listen to both. Delirium drops on June 5th.
-rick

http://www.atlinernotes.com/2012/05/album-review-memorials-delirium.html

Introducing…Black Pussy

The perfect companion track to our earlier post today about Diarrhea Planet comes in the form of Marijuana from Black Pussy.

Another slightly iffy band name, and another track crying out for the open road, beer, and a bag of weed. This one comes barrelling down the road a whoopin’ and a hollerin’, wearing a shit-eatin’ grin and its anthemic heart firmly on its sleeve. Resistance is futile.

The track comes from forthcoming album On Blonde, out in the autumn, and featuring one of the best sleeves of the year too.

Download Black Pussy – Marijuana mp3 (from On Blonde)

http://madmackerel.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/introducing-black-pussy/

The Memorials - Delirium

The Memorials "Delirium",2012
(Bloodthirsty Unicorn)

Often a mix of various genres doesn’t look good on paper but can still sound great. Take Faith No More for example, their fusion of heavy metal, funk, hip-hop, and progressive rock sounds like the worst concept in the universe on paper however the band themselves are great. Similar to Faith No More, The Memorials are also San Francisco dwellers. The Memorials feature drummer, Thomas Pridgen, who was once in the MARS VOLTA and that alone correctly suggests unpredictability for the group’s song structures and a drummer who bangs the rhythm out hard and steady with the sticks.

The band combine hip hop rhythms combined a no-nonsense garage rock approach although there is an interlude where a brass section lays a downbeat jazzy vibe amongst the angst in “Flourescent’s Unforgiving”. In the song, the band lyrically take on the American prison system using free labour and the illegality of the growth of a sometimes medicinal herb. Funky bass rythms blare out in “Gone” as the soothing soulful voice of Vivecia Hawkens smooths out a smattering of the jagged edges although later in the tune the guitarist suprises due to an allowed permit to go wild. Deceptively “Daisies” starts out like an all to familiar radio rock song but then Hawkins sings in the fashion of the Throwing Muses, Kirstin Hersh and is able convince that she genuinely is sorting out her lovelife by picking the petals off flowers. Deftones style nu-metal weighs heavily in the title track but the band’s potpourri of colliding sounds ensures that there is much more for the listener to be dragged in by with soul and progressive rock all hanging out the bait. “Heavyweight” carries a Mike Tyson punch with steady drumming right through and the soul crooning belies the rock layered underneath until concluding with a strong self-assurance. The close to twelve minutes “Mr Entitled” ensures that the song’s duration doesn’t equate tto edium owing to the band constantly surprising.

Often listening to “Delirium” is akin to peeling an onion with multiple layers underneath. A quirky catchiness mirrored with unpredictability provides the often-lengthy songs with an easy listenability. The vocal talents of Vivecia Hawkins are definitely a huge part of the band’s sound with her ability to provide smooth sultry vocals and then rapidly seethe with rage. It’s tough to pick a highlight or a lowlight on “Delirium” as all the tunes are equally electrifying. Those that need a change from their Bellrays albums will find similar yet far gruntier tunes with this album. I haven’t heard The Memorials’ first album but if it’s of the same merit then ownership is mandatory.

5/5

www.thememorialsmusic.com
The memorials on facebook
The small takeover on facebook

http://smalltakeover.blogspot.com/2012/05/memorials-delerium2012-bloodthirsty.html

New video of the day: ‘Every Night’ by the Family Curse

The Family Curse

Every Night by the Family Curse by Joseph Seuferling or JZAR:
Video and free digital download for “Every Night” by The Family Curse. Track is part of a split 7″ release with blackQueen on Fainting Room Collective. Free download of the entire album available here. 
JZAR says:
Video is directed and produced by Iosis Media. Both bands are from Seattle.
I wanted to give the video to “Every Night” a kind of weird, retro, public access tv feel to capture the rawness of the music.
 The song speaks to me of relationship troubles and emotional intensity, so there was no question that we needed to do a live performance that ignored the narrative and was only subtext.
 I thought, if sound is the soul of form, then The Family Curse just gives birth to mutants. Various sized mutants that crawl all over you.
So… I decided to portray them as archetypes on a psilocybin-fueled schizo-trek, but also like condiments on an inedible haunch.
 The video explores themes of:
1. Psychological weather
2. An interior world inhabited by disassociated projections, both paralytic and in flux.
3. A testimony of encroaching danger.
4. Loss – this is reflected visually as in a loss of data, a glitch, the skipping around of a scratched cd or laser disc.
There is certainly a menacing undercurrent, but also elements of humor. I feel this accurately reflects the band members who are all artistic geniuses, but extremely approachable.

http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/05/24/new-video-of-the-day-every-night-by-the-family-curse/

White Orange serve fresh-squeezed doom rock

Sep

You know what I always found odd? I don’t like oranges, but I like orange-flavored things. Orange soda, orange drink, orange candy, orange cake, orange gum. All good stuff. The actual orange? Not so much.
I’m not sure I’m going to get the Vitamin C I’m missing by listening to the new, self-titled full-length from Portland doom rockers White Orange, but I’m sure willing to find out. Actually, my guess would be if anything of substance were to affect my body because a White Orange album was playing, it probably wouldn’t be all that good for me, if you catch what I mean. You do.

Anyhow, I’ve had my hands on their debut, that is just getting ready for release, for a few months now, and it’s been a bit of a strange trip for me. First few times with it I was OK with the music, but it didn’t quite resonate. I returned a few weeks later, and something about it caught fire with me, and now I’m spending a lot of time with the record. Part of this could be I now have a better pair of headphones, and all of the psychedelic color is coming at me full force. It’s a record that’s all over the map, as you can hear strains of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Dinosaur Jr., the glammed-out David Bowie era, really early Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and so much more. It’s kind of doomy at its base, but it swings. It has a lot of pre-grunge-explosion-era Seattle in the guitar work and melodies, and the vocals are clean and smooth, but with a snarl and attitude. It’s a really cool approach that, while it draws on many camps for the formula, sounds pretty unique compared to many of today’s bands of the same ilk. I could see these guys winding up on Tee Pee Records at some point.

The songs rock pretty hard, but calling them straight-up metal is a bit of a stretch. Still, I think for those who like, say, The Sword, High on Fire and even a band like Baroness could find plenty to enjoy on this disc. The nine-track effort opens on a gnarly, stoner-friendly note with “Where,” the song most likely to get you into a full-on brawl at one of their shows. Not that we condone that kind of thing. “Color Me Black” has a bit of an ominous feel initially, with a dark, almost Danzig-like lead-in, before it melts into a sludgy groove, with Dustin Hill settling into a Josh Homme-like croon; “Dinosaur Bones” has that early ’90s indie rock slide, like it could have been something on the “Singles” soundtrack, and is one of the catchiest songs on here; “Kill the Kids” is dark, abrasive and almost hardcore-minded; and dreamy ballad “Sigourney Weaver” closes the disc on a trippy, honey-dripped note that keeps ringing out in your head after it’s over.

White Orange are like a fresh-squeezed glass of doom rock, with chewy pulp and a kick. It’s a great rock record, front to back, in an era when those things are growing increasingly rare. The songs are a blast and might even get you digging back into your dusty cassette collection from an era when the term “alternative rock” existed and when stoner metal was a drop of water on the floor and not an ocean of a genre.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/whiteorangeband
To buy the album, go here: http://whiteorange.bandcamp.com/releases
For more on the label, go here: http://madeinchinarecords.com/

Ears Wide Open: The Janks

L.A. rockers the Janks have stuffed a whole lot of rock history into their sack full of tunes “Hands of Time” (out Sept. 27) — so much, in fact, their debut album threatens to split at the seams. Classic rock, sprawling glam-tinged arrangements, shimmering balladry, blues stomps, lovingly twangy folk: The Janks’ principals, brothers Zack and Dylan Zmed along with Garth Herberg, cover a lot of geography in their meditations on youth and its waning. “Dead Man,” with its Sin City chorus, may be what the Janks do best, but the blues blast “Demon Dance,” the classic rock freakout in “Rat Racers” and the slow burner “Billy the Kid” reveal an admirable range in a bunch of guys who aren’t afraid to experiment.

||| Download: “Dead Man” via the Pop Up Live page on Facebook, where the Janks are among 50 L.A. bands offering free downloads.

||| Live: The Janks celebrate their album release with a show Sept. 22 at the Bootleg Theater.
||| Watch: After the jump, check out the video for “Dead Man”:


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sickkkkkk picture disc! WHITE ORANGE

WHITE ORANGE: :

 

 

“…And This Is Why I Speak to You in Parables” : 12”

Thick vinyl picture disk with trippy, quasi-religious art. Side A: One thirteen-minute psychedelic metal song that alternates between hardcore slowbuilds and cool desert rock. The song carries the long run time well. It’s focused without being monotonous and dynamic without being scattered. Side B: Five-minute edit of Side A, for when you’re smoking a one hitter instead of a bowl.

–CT Terry (Made In China, madeinchinarecords.com)

http://www.razorcake.org/record-reviews/white-orange-and-this-is-why-i-speak-to-you-in-parables

Stephanie Schneiderman, “River Stone”

http://popdose.com/new-video-stephanie-schneiderman-river-stone/

New Video: Stephanie Schneiderman, “River Stone”

On Portland-based songwriter Stephanie Schneiderman’s new release, Rubber Teardrop, there is an almost instant realization that it is the perfect blend of two very different artists who have found their collective voice. A fluid recording that seamlessly combines the synthetic and organic into a single powerful compilation, Rubber Teardrop plays like an epic movie soundtrack, at once evocative, entertaining and dramatic, even mesmerizing at times. In fact, it is difficult to imagine that she hasn’t always been an emerging international electronic artist.

The Memorials' Delirium on CD

The first track on the new album from The Memorials might throw you. Titled "Dreams," it's fairly typical pop diva stuff, slick and over-produced, something that might come from any one of a dozen chart-topping pseudo-icons. It even plays that ubiquitous deep-bass synthesiser bend over and over, probably the same one that's sampled gratuitously in the trailer for the new Katy Perry concert movie (which I was subjected to when I saw The Hunger Games last month). I almost yanked Delirium out of the CD player and moved to the next album in the stack.

It's all a ruse, however. The Memorials consist of singer Viveca Hawkins, who usually sings with the likes of Cee Lo Green and The Coups, and Thomas Pridgen, who is best known as the drummer for The Mars Volta. Nick Brewer, who attended the Berklee College of Music along with Hawkins and Pridgen, rounds out the trio with his guitars. Let that sink in a little--prog metal meets R&B diva? What does that sound like? Exactly what you expect it does--manic, mean, edgy and very, very experimental, all with a big helping of soul. Once you get past that orphan of an opening cut, Delirium kicks in like an angry mofo, a thrilling hybrid idea, bolstered by Pridgen's truly phenomenal drumming and programming skills.

This is second album for the Memorials; their 2010 self-titled debut and its follow-up tour in 31 cities garnered them quite a following. With their sophomore release they're trying to accomplish something more confident and chaotic at the same time, the proverbial wall of noise. While this may sound familiar to fans of the Mars Volta, who were musical anarchists who often left their fans behind in a noisy, turbulent wake, the sound of The Memorials is always anchored by Hawkins' lovely yet powerful voice. It's a cross between the gutsy soul of Jill Scott and the straightforward pop sensibilities of Debbie Harry--I challenge you not to be reminded of Blondie at least once during Delirium. It's not obvious, but it's there.

As thoroughly as this album rocks--and most of the cuts are so epic in length that they will wear you out--I'm still perplexed by "Dreams." The rest of Delirium is so very consistent from the grinding rhythms of "Fluorescents" to the flute and keyboard flourishes of the closing cut, "Mr. Entitled." ("I'm So Anti-Me," the penultimate track, starts off much softer and more acoustic than the rest of the songs, but it does make more sense relative to the whole--especially when it gets going.) "Dreams" sounds like it belongs on another album, that the sound mixers at the studio put someone else's track in by mistake. So if you get this album, and I recommend that you do, either jump ahead to track 2 to avoid confusion, or go into Delirium complete informed about its contents. Once you get over that opening cut, you'll be amazed at the balls-out energy, the inventiveness and the soul of Delirium.

Music Review: The Satin Chaps, ‘Might I Suggest The Satin Chaps?’

By APRIL?LINE - Sun-Gazette Correspondent , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Save |

Pure energy weaves itself through every track on The Satin Chaps's first release, "Might I Suggest The Satin Chaps?" It's fun and infectious and it smacks of parody. Indeed, bassist and percussionist Eric Hedford said, "We dig dance party music: '60s go-go combined with late '60s European and German soft-core porno soundtracks. We write with that sound as our ideal."
Boy oh boy do they deliver. There are maybe thirty words worth of lyrics in all nine tracks, but vocal horns stand in and sing while the audience gets its groove on. The Chaps roll over myriad percussion including woodblock, brushed cymbal, traditional kit beats and hand claps. Whenever there are vocals, they are chants or a pithy sentence, barely sung, like, "You know you can't do it like you really wanna do it, Baby," from the third track, "Jump Shout Shake."

This is not a soundtrack for a polite dinner, or good background music. This is a soundtrack for fast-driving road trips or bump-grinding good times with all your best pals at a club, barbecue or sleepover.

"Funky Matador" is my favorite track. It steps into the ring with a Spaghetti Western melody played on a smarmy trumpet. Enter the downbeat of a pure funk bass line and brushed high hat and the Matador's wearing Elvis's sequined jumpsuit under a disco ball.

In "Cruiser," the seventh track, one of two slower numbers, a leering alto sax asks and answers with trumpet and trombone till they slow trill in thirds and leave the song to drive you off into the sunset.
"Hot Chocolate" gives us the band going "mmm" and "ahhh" between decadent licks while making us wait for the chanted lyric, "hot chocolate!"

Most of the songs are between three and four minutes long and were I to lobby a complaint, it would be that it feels just a touch too long sometimes.

Still, The Chaps boast seasoned musicians: Luke Strahota, Eric Hedford, Peter Dean, Colin Sheridan, Jon Clark, Kyle Haverly and Pat Norris. Strahota is formerly of The High Violets, Hedford from the Dandy Warhols, and Dean from FastComputers.

The band's been recording since 2010, around the same time they started playing live around Portland, Ore. They keep it real with as much authentic equipment and recording procedures as possible, but with Hedford's caveat, "We are not Luddites and we don't shun modern recording conveniences. But we do our research and ask ourselves, 'How would it have been done back in the day?' And then we maintain that spirit."

The thing is, they're fusing genres and having fun, but they're not doing so at the expense of the original music's spirit and they're not too self serious or avant garde. So, while this is a little off the trodden path, it's also totally accessible. Everybody will love it: people who grew up with the garage anthems of the '60s, folks who covet a simpler time and anybody who likes to rock out and get down.
The album drops on June 12, but catch a sneak peak by visiting them online at thesatinchaps.com, where you can pre-order it.

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/577745/Music-Review--The-Satin-Chaps---Might-I-Suggest-The-Satin-Chaps--.html?nav=5016

LIVE REVIEW: Vibesquad 5/11/12 @ ROSELAND (PDX)

photo cred: Daniel Zetterstrom

Vibesquad once again delivers the usual head banging beats that result in whiplash soreness. Last Friday 5/11/2012, Aaron Holstein a.k.a. "Vibesquad" opened for Bassnectar on their much anticipated "VaVa Voom" Tour.  It was their second to last stop before closing out the tour and the sold out Roseland Theater in Portland, OR felt like a earthquake was in process.

Vibesquad's music defies typical genre labels and covers tempos from hard low-riding Krunkadelics to mid tempo barnstormers. The crowd was pouring in when Vibesquad initially hit the stage. The lower level was about half full when he began his set. By the third or fourth song the place was packed with people fighting for dance room. The transitions between the hard hitting dirty mash-ups to the slow methodical bass lines were seamless.

photo cred: Daniel Zetterstrom

The only criticism I would have towards the show was the lack of stage production. I understand we are all there for the music, but some visual art goes a long way especially at a electronic show. Let's face it the signature heart shaped Vibesquad logo just doesn't cut it! However, make no mistakes about it....your sound and delivery on Friday night was epic! It's not every day you get to feel like your inside of a UFO.

- BLAKE MCINTOSH

www.vibesquad.com

www.facebook.com/therealVIBESQUAD

FREE LEGAL mp3 from Chicago’s The Projection

Fun news!

 

Chicago’s The Projection a young, fierce and definitely contagious pop punk outfit being compared to:  Green Day, Goldfinger, MxPx, New Found Glory, Blink 182, Sum 41, The Starting Line, The Ataris, Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy, Pennywise, The Get Up Kids, Allister,  Hextalls, Costello, Whole Wheat Bread and older Dead To Me. MxPx, a poppier Rise Against or Sick Puppies.

 

Giving away the first single FLORIDA off newly released album http://www.xopublicity.com/xofreesingles.html (grab here it’s FREE)

 

ALSO this month they are giving away free copies of their new CD "While You Were Out" to anyone currently serving in the military! Send you names and addresses to: wlmailhtml:{22C34BAF-FF6E-4112-AE5F-ECCAF1E45DF2}mid://00000744/!x-usc:mailto:theprojection@gmail.com

 

SESSIONS FROM THE BOX KZME W/ SOPHIE BARKER

go Listen Here :  http://www.sessionsfromthebox.com/sessions/
Sophie Barker has a voice that is instantly recognizable from her work with others, but you’ve not plumbed the depth of this well until you hear her solo.

Artwork by Emily Block.

The Hague Presents Black Rabbit scheduled for August release

 

The Band's Forth Recording Captures Their
Hard To Define Sound In All Its Eclectic, Energetic Glory

The Hague creates music that ebbs and flows with its own singular logic, abandoning easy categories in favor of a wide-open approach that moves in all directions at the same time. The sound of Travis Chapman's lead violin may be the first thing you notice, but you're soon drawn in by the clash of industrial noise and delicate melodies; guitars that dance between acoustic finger picking and thick power chords; soaring vocal harmonies that shift from melancholy to jubilant and arrangements full of dynamic shifts of volume and tempo. The music is rock, but the band's epic sound tips its hat to country, pop, jazz, post rock, punk, early R&B, classical and 90's underground sounds. "Our songs are all over the place," says Charlie Fisher, the band's bass player. "We have grungy post rock, up tempo dance songs, pop punk and alt. country songs. We're likely to include anything that comes to mind when we're playing."

On stage, in the studio, and in the songwriting process, The Hague is a collaborative effort, with every band member contributing to the final result. Drummer Jesse Tranfo and guitarist Shawn Steven grew up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, playing punk and metal, but wanted to create a band without
preconceived limits. A mutual friend introduced Fisher, they found the classically trained Chapman on craigslist and added old pal James Logan on second guitar to complete the lineup. They've been playing, writing and recording for three years and Black Rabbit's nine expansive tracks show the band at the peak of their power. "This album is darker and more layered than
anything we've done," Steven says. "It's a headphones record, as much as a rock album."

The band says the sound of Black Rabbit is "quiet music played loud," a description that perfectly fits their wide-ranging approach. The album opens with "An Open Book Conversationalist," a bracing shot of instrumental
punk/jazz, driven by Chapman's fiddle, chiming guitars and unexpected rhythmic shifts. An a cappella intro hints at the early R&B chord structure of "Everyone," but Chapman's excursions are more Celtic than urban, leading
to a harmonic choral interlude that sets up the tension filled finale. The cryptic lyric of "I'm Sorry, I Thought This Was A City" is full of disappointment, pain and drunkenness, but it's musically buoyant, propelled by Fisher's serpentine bass and Tranfo's skittering beats. Steven and Logan drop a quiet, shimmering guitar interlude into the mix before a conclusion
that blends roaring post-rock noise with Steven's anguished vocals. "Passing Cars," another instrumental track, is a moody tour de force, featuring Chapman's spectral violin, cavernous reverberating guitar overtones and Tranfo's slightly skewed timekeeping. Throughout the album, the band's densely layered sound keeps you off guard as instruments and vocals float
through the mix, beckoning you deeper into the band's kaleidoscopic musical universe.

Steven and Tranfo started The Hague in 2009. "We wanted a band without boundaries, where we could play without worrying about it fitting into a genre or a scene," Tranfo explains. "Shawn and I grew up together and, when we ended up in Portland, we wanted make songs that were fun to write and play, without worrying about the end result." Tranfo played jazz and
classical music in junior high, but joining a rock band changed his life. Steven wanted to play jazz guitar, but got sidetracked by The Smiths and punk rock. He played in a few bands growing up, but concentrated on honing his chops until starting The Hague. Travis is a driven musician; he practices violin six hours a day, teaches music and writes his own music
when he's not playing with The Hague. Fisher was raised on punk and considers himself a bass player more than a musician. He wants to make music
with an emotional impact. Logan, like his band mates, grew up playing guitar and listening to underground music, while dreaming of the perfect band, which he found when he joined The Hague.

With all five band members in place, the band began a rigorous schedule of songwriting, recording and touring, venturing up and down the West Coast and as far east as Chicago. They've been released three EPs and two albums including, The Hague: Live from the Banana Stand, which had local media hailing them as "the future of the Portland music scene." In July, they'll be embarking on a national tour to support Black Rabbit.

 

 

 Being compared to: Minus the Bear, Mogwai, The Smiths, Explosions in the Sky, Maps and Atlases, At The Drive-In, The Sea and Cake, The Lemonheads, Look Mexico!, Arcade Fire

 Black Rabbit Release Scheduled for Mid August

Tracklisting:

An open book conversationalist

Everyone

I'm Sorry, I thought this was a city!

Passing Cars

Valkryie

Los Angeles

California Curse

Hourglass

His talk; Her teeth

https://www.facebook.com/thehaguepdx

http://hhmzine.blogspot.com/2012/05/hague-presents-black-rabbit-scheduled.html

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Plein Air Oil Paintings by Joseph Demaree

Free and Legal MP#: Sophei Barker (downtempo loveliness)

“Say Goodbye” – Sophie Barker

Sophie Barker is not a name you’re likely to recognize but you may well recognize her voice—she sang a number of songs fronting the musical outfit Zero 7, which helped popularize the so-called downtempo (or chillout, or downbeat) genre early in the millennium. (She co-wrote and sang, for one, the widely-heard song “In The Waiting Line.”) Personally, I never warmed to Zero 7, and I think it was because of my irrational prejudice against “producer music.” Zero 7 was/is the brainchild of two British producer/remixer types, and to me that eliminates the main thing I get out of music, which is a sense of personal connection to a musician who is playing an instrument and/or singing a song. This is just me, I will note. You are entitled and even encouraged to feel otherwise.

Anyway, so if Sophie Barker now comes along with a similarly chilled-out sound but is singing and performing her own material, rather than as a hired hand on a musical “project,” I find my heart much more open to it than I was to her Zero 7 performances. “Say Goodbye” weaves a knowing spell, breaking no new territory but doing what it does with great bittersweet panache. (New territory, as I’ve said many times, is way overrated.) Barker has a lovely voice, at once plainspoken and rich, with a thrilling upper register that she unleashes largely in the chorus (although don’t miss how she sometimes flits into it briefly, as for instance when she sings the words “Will you” in the line “Will you be standing by me?” at 0:45). With its offhand melodies and melancholy bursts of harmony, “Say Goodbye” shimmers with feeling, and, to me, shows the potential power of this kind of composition when sung truly from the heart.

“Say Goodbye” is from the album Seagull, Barker’s third solo album, released last year in the UK. She is currently playing in the US. No word yet on whether the album is slated for a US release, but the promotional MP3 suggests something might be in the works. Thanks to Largehearted Boy for the lead.

Album Review: While You Were Out

Title:  While You Were Out (Official, Amazon)

Artist:  The Projection (Official, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, ReverbNation)

The Projection is a modern pop punk band hailing from Chicago, IL.  While You Were Out is the band’s sophomore record and shows a band that knows how to write a hook.  From beginning to end, While You Were Out is a very catchy and poppy record played with precision and sung with slightly nasally vocals.  The album’s lead single “Trying to Forget” is a perfect example of what to expect from the record—fun and bouncy songs about love and loss.  The Projection’s brand of pop punk is more inline with the like of The All-American Rejects and Blink-182 than say The Methadones or ALL, but there’s nothing wrong with that.  In fact, given the right situation, I could see plenty of these songs becoming huge hits. 

Thanks to !upstarter Punk Reviews for the find.

http://oklahomalefty.blogspot.com/2012/05/album-review-while-you-were-out.html

Sophie Barker wraps up her U.S. tour with two shows in Portland on May 5th – OMN/Stumptown Bliss live streaming from Music Millennium on Saturday

 

by Jessica Black

OMN and Stumptown Bliss will be streaming Sophie Barker’s Music Millennium In-store appearance at 5pm on Saturday, May 5

Though her sound and some of her songs aren’t new, Sophie Barker’s newest album, Seagull, is.
Perhaps most recognized as the voice from Zero 7′s hits “In the Waiting Line” and “Destiny,” which Barker also co-wrote, Barker has kept a fairly low profile, mostly collaborating with other artists over the past decade. But that doesn’t mean she’s been taking it easy.

Managing all her own affairs, she also somehow made time to record an album, promote it, and organize a tour, which wraps up here on the West Coast this week. Luckily for us, she included Portland on the tour. Barker and her small “outfit” for the tour performs not once but twice, this Saturday, May 5th, first at Music Millennium for an in-store performance and later that night at the White Eagle Saloon for the full show effect (and over-21 crowd).

Barker’s wistfully airy voice is not only recognizable from her previous engagements, but also extremely soothing in an almost-Enya-esque way. It should come as no surprise that many of her lyrics tackle deeper subject matter such as the meaning of life and being thankful for what you have. “We need to give, and love – and do it over and over again,” she says.
Sophie charmed OMN with her British accent and no-nonsense attitude during her few free moments in L.A. as she talked about Seagull, finding her current band mates in her own friends, and working with Zero 7.

The title of your album is Seagull. What’s the significance of that title? 
It was four or five years ago, just before the world had its massive economic crash. I was in my late thirties, going through all sorts of transition, wondering, “Where do I place myself?” Going through these major changes, metaphysically, emotionally… I was laying, looking out the window, watching the seagulls coming in from the sea and I was thinking about it from this bird’s eye view, how they are adapting to all the changes in the world, and how nature always takes over [in those kinds of crises].
The economic crisis still happened [but "Seagull" stuck].
Watch “Say Goodbye” from Seagull:

Listening to the album, there is definitely a familiarity, a similarity to “In the Waiting Line,” but it’s also evident that there are other influences. Do you feel like you have a “sound?” How would you describe it? 
It’s like, acoustic-progressive-modern-rock… in a way. It’s been sort of a musical journey over the past four decades and there are tinges of Zero 7 – we’re all from the ’70s – there’s country, like on Maybell, Motown influences, like on Bluebell. Earthbound was kind of vignettes of songs, just me and the guitar; me trying to understand what I was doing, needing to get something out there.
It took me a while to find the right producers; I went through many outfits in the process.

And now you’re playing almost exclusively with your good friends, is that right? 
Yes, that’s absolutely right.
Chloe [Lander, violin] has been instrumental. Literally! She’s like my soul sister. Yul [Desai] plays guitar. We’ve known each other for 16 years and it took us 16 years to discover that we should work together. It’s just the three of us for this tour; we don’t have the full band. We have a good time, and there is no ego with these people… And when you tour and spend 24/7 with those people, it’s [so much nicer] to like the people you work with.

Absolutely! What do you do when you’re not touring and writing and promoting a new album? 
Well, I do everything myself: Managing, admin. It’s pretty much a 24/7 [job]. I’m really proud of it, [the fact that] I’m genuinely independent and that it’s all organic. I am part of the process each step of the way and there is a legacy to leave behind. But there is no time to write songs. No time to just sing when not in the studio.
I’m really looking forward to that, and to find a space to write. Right now I’m using the voicemail on my iPhone to keep ideas… Luckily, I work very quickly, and usually my best vocals come straight out.

That’s very fortunate. Do you still work with Zero 7 at all? 
We’ve been in contact over the years; we’re all still friends. But I’m not sure what they are up to. But you never ever know… it would be fantastic to work with them again.

So you’re in the States now? 
Yes, we finished the first half of the tour [mainly in the U.K.] and now we’re in L.A. We’ve had an amazing drive [from the East Coast]. Every state is very, very different.

Is this your first time touring in the U.S.? 
Yes!

So now you’re going to play some West Coast cities and then going back to London? 
Yes, we play L.A [on the 2nd], then San Francisco Thursday, Portland on Saturday, Seattle Sunday and that is, sadly, the end of our tour…
But we are very, very excited to come to Portland. It will be Cinco de Mayo so it will be a really fun time. We’ll have to drink margaritas!

http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/05/03/sophie-barker-wraps-up-her-u-s-tour-with-two-shows-in-portland-on-may-5th/

Live video: Sophie Barker streaming live from Music Millennium

http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/05/05/live-video-sophie-barker-streaming-live-from-music-millennium-today-at-5pm/ 

 

 

OMN has been bringing you audio of the Music Millennium in-store shows on our home page for nearly two years, but it’s time to take that experience to the next level. Now we have, thanks to a partnership between OMN, Music Millennium, produced by Stumptown Bliss,  a professional, four-camera video of some of the best, most intimate shows of the month, live from Music Millennium. Plus, OMN will be interviewing the artists following their set. Today Karamy Muessig will talk with Barker.

 

The live stream will kick in 15 minutes before the 5pm showtime.

While you’re waiting, here’s an interview OMN’s Jessica Black did with her earlier in the week.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MEMORIALS new album DELIRIUM

Founded in 2009 by drummer Thomas Pridgen after a stint with the Mars Volta, the Memorials features a trio of former Berklee College of Music students. Pridgen is joined by Nick Brewer on guitar and Viveca Hawkins as a vocalist. Their first album, self-titled “The Memorials”, was released in 2011, and brought in enough fans to warrant a tour. Their second album, “Delirium” is due for release in June.

While self-proclaimed as hard rock, “Delirium” borrows elements from multiple genres. At times the guitars sound fuzzy, and there’s enough distortion on Viveca’s voice to be reminiscent of dream pop or shoegaze music. “Daisies” and the title track “Delirium” are great examples of this. Although mellow guitars with slightly subdued vocals are characteristic of shoegaze, the Memorials bring a faster pace than you’d expect to those songs. With “Fluorescent’s Unforgiving,” the tone becomes rougher, more metal and punk, pulling on the echoing stadium rock sound. Despite Pridgen’s experience, the rest of the band’s versatility is unexpected, but welcome.

The Memorials have some work to do on their execution of different sounds. Standard rock is clearly their strong suit, but the more experimental they get, the more each song sounds unintentionally rough. “Fluorescent’s Unforgiving” is the best example of this; while obviously intended to clash with itself, it happens too much. The vocals are grating, and for some reason a lone jazz trumpet appears halfway through and completely throws the song off.

That’s just a single song though, and it’s better just to ignore it in favor of the similar, but better “Mr. Entitled.” The stadium sound is there; the vocals are clearer and much less repetitive. The song even ends similarly, tailing off into lighter, prog rock tones. Because of this genre spanning, the Memorials aren’t a band you need to try and like — it comes naturally.

FOR FANS OF: We Were Promised Jetpacks, Silversun Pickups, The Airborne Toxic Event

http://reportermag.com/article/05-05-2012/album-review-delirium-by-the-memorials

 

Today’s Track – Say Goodbye, Sophie Barker

https://bluebergitt.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/todays-track-say-goodbye-sophie-barker/

Posted by Blue Bergitt in Today's Tracks

London’s Sophie Barker is one of my favorite Zero 7 alums (and the co-writer of “Destiny”, the all-time best chill tune ever, IMHO). Perfect for a lazy, summer-like afternoon.  Say Goodbye (the Beauty Room Remix) by Sophie Barker from the album Say Goodbye, 2011.

 

Sophie Barker live in Arlington VA 4.28.12

News From Turkovich Family Wines: ROSE AND GSM are here!

We are excited to announce the release of our 2011 Rose and our 2010 GSM Blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre).   They are available to taste and purchase in the tasting room starting today.  We also wanted to let you know that we are run very low on Chardonnay, Extra Brut Sparkling Wine and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Make sure you come in and get some bottles before we are all gone! 

Just a reminder that we have the Roots to Wine 2nd Annual Wine & Art in the Park coming up on May 12th.  Tickets are still available in any particpating tasting room or online at (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/230381).

We have been nominated for KCRA’s A List and there is only 11 more voting days left.  If you get a minute free, please vote for us! http://kcra.cityvoter.com/turkovich-family-wines/biz/545021?for=arts-and-entertainment%2fwinery

Cheers! Kristin and the rest of the Turkovich Family

Music Review: The Satin Chaps, ‘Might I Suggest The Satin Chaps?’

 

By APRIL?LINE - Sun-Gazette Correspondent , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

 

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Pure energy weaves itself through every track on The Satin Chaps's first release, "Might I Suggest The Satin Chaps?" It's fun and infectious and it smacks of parody. Indeed, bassist and percussionist Eric Hedford said, "We dig dance party music: '60s go-go combined with late '60s European and German soft-core porno soundtracks. We write with that sound as our ideal."
Boy oh boy do they deliver. There are maybe thirty words worth of lyrics in all nine tracks, but vocal horns stand in and sing while the audience gets its groove on. The Chaps roll over myriad percussion including woodblock, brushed cymbal, traditional kit beats and hand claps. Whenever there are vocals, they are chants or a pithy sentence, barely sung, like, "You know you can't do it like you really wanna do it, Baby," from the third track, "Jump Shout Shake."
This is not a soundtrack for a polite dinner, or good background music. This is a soundtrack for fast-driving road trips or bump-grinding good times with all your best pals at a club, barbecue or sleepover.
"Funky Matador" is my favorite track. It steps into the ring with a Spaghetti Western melody played on a smarmy trumpet. Enter the downbeat of a pure funk bass line and brushed high hat and the Matador's wearing Elvis's sequined jumpsuit under a disco ball.
In "Cruiser," the seventh track, one of two slower numbers, a leering alto sax asks and answers with trumpet and trombone till they slow trill in thirds and leave the song to drive you off into the sunset.
"Hot Chocolate" gives us the band going "mmm" and "ahhh" between decadent licks while making us wait for the chanted lyric, "hot chocolate!"
Most of the songs are between three and four minutes long and were I to lobby a complaint, it would be that it feels just a touch too long sometimes.
Still, The Chaps boast seasoned musicians: Luke Strahota, Eric Hedford, Peter Dean, Colin Sheridan, Jon Clark, Kyle Haverly and Pat Norris. Strahota is formerly of The High Violets, Hedford from the Dandy Warhols, and Dean from FastComputers.
The band's been recording since 2010, around the same time they started playing live around Portland, Ore. They keep it real with as much authentic equipment and recording procedures as possible, but with Hedford's caveat, "We are not Luddites and we don't shun modern recording conveniences. But we do our research and ask ourselves, 'How would it have been done back in the day?' And then we maintain that spirit."
The thing is, they're fusing genres and having fun, but they're not doing so at the expense of the original music's spirit and they're not too self serious or avant garde. So, while this is a little off the trodden path, it's also totally accessible. Everybody will love it: people who grew up with the garage anthems of the '60s, folks who covet a simpler time and anybody who likes to rock out and get down.
The album drops on June 12, but catch a sneak peak by visiting them online at thesatinchaps.com, where you can pre-order it.

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/577745/Music-Review--The-Satin-Chaps---Might-I-Suggest-The-Satin-Chaps--.html?nav=5016

Benefit for MESD Outdoor School Program: Rags and Ribbons, Mosby, Ezza Rose, and more

 

Oregon Music News is proud to sponsor this Saturday’s benefit show at The Piano Fort, which will feature six local, indie music acts playing from 3 to 8 p.m. in support of Llewellyn Elementary’s 2012 Oregon Trail Educational Program. In addition, Acme Donuts, Basha’s Mediterranean cuisine, and Hopworks beer will be available!
This Saturday’s all ages benefit starts at 3pm and runs until 8pm, $5, with kids five and under free.
For the past seven years, Llewellyn Elementary in Sellwood has offered its 90+ fourth grade students the opportunity to experience the Oregon Trail firsthand through an overnight camping trip complete with activities like butter churning and a campfire square dance. And since educational budgets are at an all time low, the task of raising the needed funds is typically left to the creative, DIY ingenuity of a school’s community. So, we came up with this Saturday’s benefit show, which we hope will raise enough money to enable each child the unique, hands-on learning experience available through the outstanding MESD Outdoor School Program.
Headlining the May 5th benefit show will be recent South By Southwest initiates, and local indie favorites, Rags and Ribbons. They released their melodic rock album, The Glass Masses, earlier this year and have been steadily gaining praise for their debut efforts. Influenced by anthem-like artists such as Queen, Muse, Arcade Fire and Sigur Ros, the three members of Rags and Ribbons seem to pivot on classically inspired piano notes and a huge hunk of percussion.

Mosby

Saturday’s benefit is all about musical diversity, allowing for full crowd enjoyment. With that in mind, Portland’s up-and-coming rock band, Mosby, will bring a driven sound to the mix with tracks from their recently released debut LP, The Sound Alive. Their tunes could backdrop a major motion picture starring lots of crushes, loads of physical intimacy, and more than a few broken hearts. Each and every one of their songs encompasses everything we love about being young, getting older, falling in and out of love, and viewing life as one big, attractive risk. Their live shows and delicious soundscape are not to be missed.

Local indie-pop band, The Glyptodons, will be performing their magical mix of positivity and exuberance. For those of you who love sing-alongs, the Glyptodons may very well become your favorite band of 2012. Daniel Borgen of Just Out Magazine says they ”offer up luscious sonic fun” and that their “bouncing guitars and jaunty drums combine with unfussy melodies and harmonies to create lovely indie-pop.” So true.

The Glyptodons love a good “Joyous Buggy Ride.”

Ezza Rose

Folk and bluegrass songstress Ezza Rose and her band will undoubtedly bring the lilting three-part harmonies, blues, bluegrass, and folk influences that have gained her (and them) a solid reputation in Portland ever since Ezza moved here in 2007. It has oft been said of her that she “is a young, rising star in the local folk arena” and that “her beautiful voice and stunning sense of melody and harmony [have] quickly gained her a loyal following.” Come Saturday, you’ll be among the growing number of fans that pack houses for Ezza and her band (for more about Ezza, read be Portland’s in-depth interview here).

Watch Ezza Rose and her band perform “Clementine” as part of the bar bar apartment sessions in Portland, Oregon.

1939 Ensemble is an avant-garde duo of electronically minded, progressive thinking geniuses who get around. Among their accomplishments in the past year they’ve performed an original score at the Organ Grinders Silent Film Series’ screening of the 1926 Goethe-inspired Alchemist and the Devil, by F.W. Murnau, and burned up the stage in front of a full house at the Doug Fir. Noise genre aficionados will love 1939 Ensemble, though their sound seems to favor danceability over choppy, arhythmic intensity.

Opening the afternoon will be Kelly Anne Masigat, whose gentle voice and lullaby-like finger plucking will usher in the timeless themes of love and loss. She’s been known to run a hush over the loudest of rooms with her unsentimental, yet entirely romantic  musicality. Though her guitar is often gritty, it adds a perfect complement to the delicacy of her vocals.

Kelly Anne Masigat’s “In the Fire,” performed at the Doug Fir.

http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/05/03/benefit-for-mesd-outdoor-school-program-rags-and-ribbons-mosby-ezza-rose-and-more/