Music

Sly-Chi turns sausage party and more

Sibilance
Singer KELLY MCKENNA has decided to leave Sly-Chi after three and a half years due to general burn-out.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | November 11, 2009

Devendra Banhart | What Will We Be

Warner/Reprise (2009)
With the title of his latest album, this lovably polyglot erstwhile (and unwitting) “freak” folkie turned gallery darling and global lounge lizard asks a valid question. Indeed, what will we be this time?

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | November 10, 2009

Days of the New

The orchestral stylings of Rustic Overtones 2.0
When drummer Tony McNaboe delivered the burned copy of Rustic Overtones’ new full-length album, he tucked it inside the packaging of the re-released and re-mastered Long Division.

By SAM PFEIFLE | November 05, 2009

Ye + Haru Bangs + Batshelter

Music Seen
Who was the least idiosyncratic band at Bubba’s last Thursday? Maybe the (not breaking up, but going on academic hiatus) duo Haru Bangs, who were the only act in plainclothes, but who also unfurled dynamic, punishingly loud fits of drum and effects-mauled guitar which will either strike you as utterly alienating or as novel, dizzying bits of well-composed chaos?

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 04, 2009

Julian Casablancas | Phrazes for the Young

RCA (2009)
Someday, a great rock film will be made. The opening shot is of a wasted rock star, bejeweled and clad in the finest leather, with white panthers circling the living room of his Parthenon-esque manse as he hits PLAY on a comically large reel-to-reel.

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | November 09, 2009

Morrissey | Swords

UME Imports (2009)
Morrissey — begrudging patron saint of all that is emotionally desolate and otherwise comfortably bummed — is but a mere mortal, as his recent collapse on stage proves.

By ZETH LUNDY | November 06, 2009

Blind ambition

Brother Ali is more than just albino
The only thing less common than Brother Ali–caliber MCs are profiles that don’t credit dude as “blind” and “albino” in the first graf.

By CHRIS FARAONE | November 05, 2009

Matias Aguayo | Ay Ay Ay

Kompakt (2009)
You know the old saying: you can lead a horse to dance music, but you can’t make it sign up for a Beatport account.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | November 03, 2009

Tomorrow never dies

A new full-length from Dave Rowe (and Trio)
For a Halloween party with substantially less gore, check out the newest release from Dave Rowe (and sometimes his Trio), The Music Never Dies .

By SAM PFEIFLE | October 28, 2009

Haunted Shipyard

Jodi Explodi deliver ghosts of Halloween past
Guitar World recently gave credit to KISS for turning “party” into a verb.

By SAM PFEIFLE | October 28, 2009

Get ready

Sibilance
Details on the Rustic Overtones release and more

By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | October 28, 2009

Kill The Karaoke, featuring Trainwreck

At Empire Dine & Dance, Wednesdays @ 9 pm
Since its invention in Japan in the early ’70s, karaoke has become an international pastime.

By DAN CLARK | October 28, 2009

Florence and the Machine | Lungs

Island (2009)
If the current stable of UK hitmakers poised to conquer Mur’ca were a grade-school class, Florence Welch would be the girl belting the theme from Annie at the top of her lungs until she gets her damn gold star.

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | October 28, 2009

Pink Martini | Splendor in the Grass

Heinz (2009)
The members of Portland’s Pink Martini have covered plenty of well-known songs in their decade and a half together, like “Que Sera, Sera” on their 1997 debut, and the theme from I Dream of Jeannie in their early live shows.

By MIKAEL WOOD | October 30, 2009

Tegan and Sara | Sainthood

Sire (2009)
Tegan and Sara have always been background music for staring wistfully out a coffeeshop window, in a strange city, alone, hung over and/or going on no sleep, wondering what the fuck went wrong.

By BARRY THOMPSON | October 28, 2009

The Very Best | Warm Heart of Africa

Green Owl (2009)
This proper full-length debut of the Very Best — a star-crossed collaboration of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and London-based production duo Radioclit — should work better than it does.

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | October 27, 2009

David Bowie | Space Oddity: 40th Anniversary Edition

Virgin/EMI
David Bowie’s 1969 album Man of Music/Man of Words was retitled a few years after its debut, most likely because it was quickly becoming known as Space Oddity and Those Other Eight Songs We Could Care Less About .

By ZETH LUNDY | October 30, 2009

Henry Threadgill Zooid | This Brings Us To, Volume 1

Pi (2009)
Henry Threadgill has been reinventing his language — and by extension the jazz language — for at least 30 years, beginning with the trio Air in the 1970s.

By JON GARELICK | October 28, 2009

Life in Ruin

The crushing metal of Human Moral Deception
Recently, Bull Moose wondered "aloud" (via Facebook) about the future of metal.

By SAM PFEIFLE | October 21, 2009

Annie in Wonderland

St. Vincent gives an otherworldly performance on Actor
There wasn't much to know about St. Vincent when I first happened upon her in concert, in the middle of July 2007.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | October 21, 2009