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SAM PFEIFLE

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Bass Box | Mother Box

Local vocals
The debut full-length from Bass Box is worth a listen if only for its originality. I can't remember an album that explores as much of the contemporary musical canon — rock, pop, folk, jazz, R&B, gypsy, tango — all without use of the drums.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 20, 2011
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Buck Edwards | Loaded Gun

Buck Edwards shoots from the hip
We don't get a whole lot of cowboy-hat country in Portland — Travis James Humphrey would be an exception — so Buck Edwards is something of an enigma. Is his twangy, '50s-style rockabilly and pop country completely on the level?
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 20, 2011
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Mitch Alden | Old Habits

Mitch Alden's solo debut
Mitch Alden has always been an earnest guy. Over the course of his previous two full-length records fronting pop-rock band Now Is Now, he's made his bones penning new-agey, pop-rock, sun-shiney tunes.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 20, 2011
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Reveling in Spose's Medium for the masses

C'mon get Happy
Spose will soon release a new album on a major label, Universal Republic. Happy Medium is not it. The answer to the question "Why?" is the subject of another story (conveniently found  here ).
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 12, 2011
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Spose, the major labels, and the new music biz

Did he make it?
Nine months ago, this town was celebrating the success of rapper-from-Wells Spose: huge hit single, top of the iTunes charts, major-label deal in his pocket, big-time national debut album on the way.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 12, 2011
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The two sides of Marie Moreshead

Thought I knew you
To this point, Marie Moreshead has made her bones as a sweet-voiced singer/songwriter with a lot of promise based on 2008's The Distraction EP and 2009's Birdwatchers EP.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  January 05, 2011
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Upcoming albums: The winter of our deep content

The winter of our deep content
There was a time when winter in Portland was pretty sleepy, with bands holing up to practice and write while the snowflakes flew. No longer. The album-release schedule is now equally robust year-round, and there are big shows just about every weekend through to spring.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 29, 2010
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Jonathan Edwards records first album in 16 years at the Studio

Sunshine on Casco
Why has Jonathan Edwards decided to record his first studio album in 16 years down on Casco Street at the Studio? Well, for one thing, he lives here, and it's close by. But, mostly, "it's been a really lucky find," says the folk legend, who was laying down a bass track on his Fender, right in the control room with engineer Jim Begley, when I walked in.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 22, 2010
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The year's top 10 local albums, and five EPs to boot

With Confidence
I'm not sure when local music has been better. If there is any problem with our little scene here in Portland, it's that there's more talent than there are fans to support it.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 22, 2010
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Stocking stuffers

A grab-bag of local music for every taste
So, this does, indeed, come a week after the whole "gifts" issue, but this is traditionally the week for local music suggestions.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 16, 2010
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Jeff Beam navigates the Flying Trapeze

Without a net
Talk about a high-wire act. On his fourth full-length album in as many years, young songwriter/performer/engineer Jeff Beam has set out to make an important album that's listenable, a record that both challenges ideas about pop music and embraces them.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 08, 2010
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Theodore Treehouse are Closest to the Sun

Burn, baby, burn
Bryan Bruchman and Dylan Martin and Ian Paige and everyone else who's been raving about Theodore Treehouse's live set over the past year were completely and totally right.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 09, 2010
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Britta Pejic's inventive Backyards

She's not there
What a perfectly strange and delightful album is Britta Pejic's Backyards That Weren't There Before .
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 01, 2010
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Div Kid span the rock spectrum

Tinted colors
Div Kid really should have garnered more attention for their self-titled full-length debut in the summer of 2009. It was a pretty good pop rock record.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  December 01, 2010
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Clubber Lang will kick your ass

Undefeatable
What do heavy rock quartet Clubber Lang have going for them?
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 24, 2010
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A-Frame and Mike Clouds re-stake their claim

Call it a comeback
Why do musicians make the music they make? It's not a question we're going to answer here, but it's one that's constantly to the fore when listening to the brand-new From the Floor Up , the first record released by hip-hop duo A-Frame and Mike Clouds in about five years.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 24, 2010
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Sparks the Rescue record Fearlessly

In the studio
Why do bands still pursue label deals? Let's ask Sparks the Rescue, who just finished up seven weeks working with producer/engineer Jonathan Wyman out at his studio in Windham, all on the Fearless Records dime.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 24, 2010
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Review: The many tentacles of Jason Spooner's Sea Monster

Get kraken
Jason Spooner is an amalgamation of John Prine and John Mayer — great songs and great hair, all in one package. Their aesthetics are similar, too. Sure, there are important and wounded songs in the bag, but these guys aren't afraid to have a good time, either.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 16, 2010
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Review: GFAC returns with double the horsepower

Inverted V8
How spoiled are we in this town? A record like the new Greetings from Area Code 207 Vol. 8 can come out and it's like: Big Fuckin' Deal.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 10, 2010
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Review: Put your hands together for Olas's debut album

Keeping time
It's hard to believe, surely, considering bands like Cerberus Shoal, Fire on Fire, and his solo work, but Chriss Sutherland may have outdone himself again with Olas.
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 11, 2010
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Andi Fawcett returns with her solo debut

Hello again
A former mainstay of the local scene has a re-coming-out party this weekend when Andi Fawcett gigs at the Big Easy to celebrate the debut of her first solo record, Say It Anyway .
By: SAM PFEIFLE  |  November 03, 2010
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