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