Liz Harris of the solo project Grouper has done a fabulous job of writing and arranging a little score for Weston Currie’s weird and eerily shot film, Sputnik. Grouper’s last album, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, was met with great critical reviews, and was recognized on Pitchfork’s Best 50 albums of 2008.

Harris’ craft of spinning ethereal sounds continues to grow, as does her commercial success.

– Joel Sommer

How can this town possibly afford to give away anymore free music?

On Wednesday, January 27th, Holocene introduces their first edition of Carpet Culture where you can "get warm n fuzzy in the front lounge room with some of Portland’s greatest up-and-coming musical talents."

This week features electro-rock with Wampire, dark soundscapes from Tunnels, and some cozy and curly ambient like the fur of Golden Retriever Moody. Plus Wampire shows up again on the big screen in the premiere episode of Into the Woods, a new web series where Portland bands march out to a cabin in the wilderness of Mt. Hood to perform an intimate concert with their besties.

Check the trailer out here but show your face at Holocene at 8:30 p.m. for the real deal, for free!!! 21+

– Chris Young

As evidenced by the composite points chart blogged just below this post, the voters of Portland have spoken, Facebooked, MySpaced, Tweeted, cold-called and badgered the general populace to come right and announce that, yes, Explode Into Colors was Portland’s Best Emerging Band of 2009! Major huge congratulations go out to the all-girl, lo-fi, found-sound dance trio for their trailblazing 2009, and for making our ears tilt just a little more than usual this year.

Thanks, again, to everyone who voted on the Readers Poll, the Open Poll, and also to our amazing list of Jurors. The Deli Portland’s stellar list of Jurors consisted of some amazing local bloggers, writers, and music people, and we couldn’t have come to such a wide cross-section of bands without their valid input. Here they are, in no particular order:

DJ Gustav: DJ for 94.7 FM Alternative Portland;

Nick Mattos: Celebrated queer columnist, and arts writer for Portland’s Just Out newspaper;

Chris Young: Contributor to the Deli Portland, Associate Editor and DJ/Electro Editor of Oregon Music News;

Michael Miller: Contributor to the Deli Portland;

Katrina Nattress: Assistant Editor for the Deli Portland, Music Editor of Button Magazine, and contributor to Willamette Week newspaper;

Ryan J. Prado: Associate Editor of the Deli Portland, staff writer for Just Out newspaper, contributor for Synthesis, Wonka Vision, and Alternative Press;

Mark Lore: Editor/founder of The Days of Lore music blog, contributor to Spin.com, Chico News and Review, and The Portland Mercury;

Joel Sommer: Contributor to the Deli Portland

And let’s not forget the runners-up in the Best Emerging Band of 2009 poll: Nurses, and Deli Portland Readers Poll winner Bodhi! We can’t say enough great things about these bands, but we’ll try as soon as we catch our breath.

Stick around for our regular monthly Band of the Month polls, beginning February 1st. And keep reading The Deli Portland!

– The Deli Portland Staff

The ever-rising Portugal. The Man has recently announced a new headlining tour with popular supporting acts Port O’Brien and The Dig.

While out to promote their newest release The Satanic Satanist, the band will also be playing songs from their upcoming album, American Ghetto, which according to Portugal will be for the fans.

"We are not sending it to press and we are not sending it to radio. When all the finishing touches are complete we will make it available to everyone on the same day."

The band is also offering a tour sampler that you can check out here, along with a full list of tour dates and accompaniments. In the meantime, check out the latest video from the Wasilla, AK cum Portland, OR delinquents below:

– Michael Miller

Bladen County Records is putting on the Spin the Wheel Showcase @ Holocene this Thursday the 21st! What does that mean? We’re glad you asked…

Here’s how it works: A member of the audience gets to come and and spin a fun and giant "Wheel of Fortune" to determine which one of the local and talented bands is to come up and play one song. The process then repeats itself, and keeps on rolling. The format lends itself toward laughing and libations – things are bound to get a little silly.

The various possibilities for performance are endless! Why not start by buying a vowel? Give me an O! You can bask in the melodically indulgent, vintage indie rock of Oh, Captain, My Captain.

Give me an H! Perhaps you then leisurely take a stroll through the weird, though beautiful and transfixing compositions of Hosannas (formerly Church).

Give me a T! Here comes a delightful ditty from indie-folk songsmiths, Typhoon.

Give me an M! Hither comes a ’50s rock ‘n’ roll/pop classic from Oh, Captain, My Captain spin off, Monarques.

Give me a P! A well-crafted garage-pop jam with addicting organ lines just may blossom through live cultivation from Patterns. The wheel will decide!

The boisterous carnival of music kicks of at 9:00 p.m. for $5.

– Joel Sommer

In the wake of the devastating Haiti earthquake, Portland musicians are banding together to raise donations for the disaster’s horrific aftermath.

On Sunday, January 24th, Holocene hosts a benefit of electronic proportions with electro-pop darlings Pyramiddd (or Starfucker to you and me), the instrumental, visual art duo Deelay Ceelay, and experimental dance outfit, Gulls. Show starts at 8:00 p.m.

On Monday, January 25th, The Woods hosts a benefit featuring the Americana sounds of The Builders and The Butchers, vast folk/gospel arrangements of Tu Fawning and indie folk songs of Nick Jaina. Show starts at 9:00 p.m.

Tickets for each show are $10, but more donations are welcome. All of the proceeds will go directly to Mercy Corps.

– Katrina Nattress

If you have ever gone through the multimedia program at the University of Oregon, you would have no doubt taken an electronic music class. The class I took consisted of learning about sampling, sequencing and memorizing a bunch of terminology that I forgot the minute after taking the final. By the end of the term we were supposed to have created this three-minute-long mixed masterpiece, and even though I completed the task, I made nothing you could ever call music. In fact, listening to the electro, experimental band Housefire, I see just how far off I was.

Unlike myself, who should just stick to spelling synthesizer, the members of Housefire actually know how to use a synthesizer and are damn good at it. The band is so beloved by Portland that they won The Deli’s Portland’s recent Open Poll and came in second place for our Reader’s Poll. There is something very ethereal and, for lack of a better word, space-y about Housefire’s music.

If you are looking for something upbeat and shimmery, this is not the band for you. But if you are into the type of music you can sit down and relax to while you drink a copious amount of beer, than Housefire will become your new best friend. Luckily for you, your new best friends just happen to be playing at White Eagle Saloon on Wednesday, January 20th at 8:00 p.m. with fellow Portlanders Ocean Age, and billygoat. It is a free show, so you’ll have more money to spend on your other best friend, Mr. Pabst.

Say hello to him for me!

– Deanna Uutela

Featuring former members of Phoenix band Bodhisattva and Portland’s short-lived, exclusively house show band BOOKENDS, Lasers for Eyes is a bass-crunching, drum-rattling duo who draws influences from Northwest post-punk and noise like Blood Brothers and The Get Hustle, as well as San Diego-area psych and hardcore like Antioch Arrow.

Though often compared to bands like Death From Above 1979 because of their bass & drums lineup, the band is moving into a more psychedelic and garage sound and away from dance.

Their next show is at Backspace, Friday, February 5th. featuring newcomers Wizard Rifle, and – fresh from a European tour – veterans KidCrash.

Reinventing your sound is exciting, scary, adventurous, and a sign of a spectacular artist…that is, as long as it works. And yes, it did for Miss Stephanie Schneiderman.

Artists that evolve, break their personal mold and creative boundaries – that explore – are the elite musicians. Reinventing your sound is "risky business," according to Stephanie Schneiderman, but the risk factor is decimated when you have producer/beat-extraordinaire Keith Schreiner (Auditory Sculpture) on your team.

Stephanie’s also kept her songwriting and voice, which smoothly floats over Keith’s soothing trip-hop ambiance. It’s sexy. It’s relaxed. It’s lovely.

The two bring their down-tempo, electro-beats and sensual vocal bliss along with James Beaton (Storm and the Balls) on keys to Jimmy Mak’s on Saturday, January 23rd with Come Gather Around Us at 8:00 p.m. for $10.

And this girl is setting up and knocking down cocktail hours at Jimmy Mak’s every first and third Thursdays starting in February through April. These shows will feature the keyboardist/singer Jade Vanacore, and Stephanie says, "I’ve been working on a more stripped down version of the trip-hop show involving beats, loops, keys, electric guitar and harmonies, so this residency will give me a chance to get really comfortable with all my new toys. Also, I’m going to try out a bunch of new songs!"

– Chris Young

Last Thursday night, I had dinner at Bar Carlo with my good friend and her one-year-old son Lucian. As the adults sat perusing over the menu, Lucian took it upon himself to bang two knives against the table and crank his head up and down, as he sang a song at the top of his lungs that only he knew the words to. This might have been annoying to the staff and other patrons of the restaurant, but for me it was an enjoyable experience watching a very intelligent child express himself. I turned to my friend in the midst of the noise and said, “Your son is so metal.” And if you think about it, what I said to my friend was completely true. What is metal if not someone pounding on the drums, head banging and bellowing lyrics that you usually can’t understand?

It is generally the high energy, screaming and testosterone that makes us love metal, not necessarily the message behind the music. But many metal bands like Manowar, Iron Maiden and Portland’s own Last Empire do have a message, and for Harry Potter nerds like myself, it is a message of heavenly geekiness.

Fantasy-metal purveyors Last Empire sing about unicorns, falcons and kings of the throne. Their sound has a definite old school ’80s feel, but mixes in a new school style and swagger. The band has received nothing but great reviews, especially for the out-of-this-world vocals of singer Brian Allen; but they haven’t quite caught on the same way in the U.S. as they have in Europe. Portland is lucky to have access to such a talented band, so you listeners out there need to take advantage of it by seeing them play on Saturday, January 16th with an all-Oregon bill also featuring Portland’s Goatsoldiers, Excruciator and Salem’s Filth-Machine at Satyricon. 8:00 p.m. All ages. $8.

– Deanna Uutela