The Zags are one of the city’s hidden gems, straight up. Their pop sensibiliities may be a reminder of pop’s past, but are more so an energized take on pop’s present and future. Their powerpop indie meld is nearly impossible to not enjoy.
That’s why today, we’re debuting the Zags’ new video for "Dada Plan," the first track to come off their new Icy Red record. The video is a visual trip, much like the random feed you’d see late night on Adult Swim, except much more pleasant.
Throwing another new track your way for our Saturday Night Sounds. Experimental pop group Rugby have just debuted a new video for their track "Bag of Bones," which is the second to come off their upcoming summer release, Worldly Wise.
The black and white beach set video is an endearingly romantic face to the track, which at times is intimately quiet and at other times, barrel rolls at you with full force. "Bag of Bones," both as a song and as a music video, was written, recorded, edited and directed by Rugby themselves, so the personal aspect is fully prevalent. The track takes a more acute stance than the first release off the album, called "Breakfast Crew."
Look out for Wordly Wise due out this Summer, and until then, dig into this rollercoaster track below.
Facing the actual reality that one of the most influential beings to ever walk this planet has now since left it, is a big pill to swallow. I, just like the rest of you, woke up to a series of posts all around the internet proclaiming the death of the Purple One himself, Prince. It just can’t be true and there is a great deal of us (myself included) who will continue to not accept this as reality.
But it seems that as it’s presently known, Prince passed away earlier this morning, found in his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota. It is reported that Prince had been dealing with complications from the flu, which is believed to have been the cause of his really f**king untimely passing.
Prince was numerically aged at 57, but essentially immortally timeless. Trying to adjust to a world without Bowie and Lemmy was hard enough, but Prince…that’s where we’ve got to drawn the line.
The lovely Ms. Jeni Wren Stottrup is bringing her top rated music and industry podcast (a "Top 5 Music Podcast" by the Willamette Week) back for all our ears to enjoy once again. Starting TODAY at 1pm, Stottrup brings the Gritty Birds Podcast to KXRY XRay FM with half hour spurts of intimate discussions involving those in the music scene, profiling newer bands and getting better acquainted with some of the older ones.
Kicking off the revived podcast right, the first episode features former Portlanders YACHT, who aside from being one of the most enjoyed performances at last month’s Treefort Music Festival, also have two sold out shows coming up at the Roseland Theater on April 25th and 26th with M83.
Speaking of Treefort, Gritty Birds will also launch a Treefort series, featuring artists who performed the fest like Burger Records’ Sarah Bethe Nelson, our own beloved Radiation City and raw rockers Diarrhea Planet, among others. Film photos of the artists, shot by Ingrid Renan, will accompany the series.
Tune in today at 1pm, and follow the show every Thursday. Episodes will be available on iTunes the following Mondays.
Gritty Birds
Thursdays 1-1:30
107.1 fm /// 91.1 fm /// KXRY /// PORTLAND /// HOTLINE: 503-233-XRAY
Seattle’s the Snakebites are back…and when I say back, I mean with their first album in a decade! That’s due for a pretty damn huge celebration, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The Snakebites are having two separate release shows for Blue Curse #2 – one at the LoFi Gallery in Seattle on the 22nd and one in Portland at the Kenton Club on the 23rd. What’s extra chill about this, is that two Portland bands will be helping the Snakebites (and other Seattle band Prom Queen) with their release parties. Former Deli Portland Artist of the Month nominees and lovely bunnies Laura Palmer’s Death Parade will be joined by dark poppers the Slutty Hearts as the part of the Portland support team for both shows.
Come out and join the party! Tickets for the Kenton Club show are $5 and the show starts at 9pm.
The string of beautiful days and nights stirred something, a desire to attend the basic foundation of local underground music: the word-of-mouth house show. There was a time when I was attending these on a regular basis in Portland, years ago…but as it always happens, people move, houses are sold to different people, and I didn’t keep up with the who/what/when/where of it all.
How lucky then was I to find out about one of these shows while attending another, and not only that, but right down the street (literally 6 blocks away) from my deep SouthEast apartment. Armed with a bottle of root-beer schnapps and some cheap beer, I made my way over to a stranger’s house to catch some tunes.
The first band of the evening was so called “Russian surf act” Kozyol. The project seems to be the brainchild of Davey Zilban, who plays guitar and sings in Russian, slinging a mash-up of vaguely folksy-sounding surf that was the perfect start to a party. Nothing too aggressive or abrasive, but certainly nothing too relaxed or laid-back, Kozyol hit the perfect tempo and got bodies moving immediately. I knew it was going to be a good night.
Next up was Dim Wit, in this iteration a two-piece with Zilban moving back to drums and Jeff Tuyay moving up to sing and play guitar. Dim Wit is obviously a play on words, as I found the lyrics quite witty and compelling, and Tuyay very charming and natural as a lead man. There’s something pleasing about a minimalist set-up that can crank out well-written but unconventional songs and keep it interesting, and Dim Wit did just that. They also somehow stirred the young folks (yes, I am old enough to say that) into some light moshing by the end.
Absolutely no offense to any of the other bands who played, but the night belonged to The Super Secret Hot Girls Club, who threw down what might have been one of the best house-show performances I’ve seen in quite a while. After two more traditional rock acts they turned up the noise and upped the tempo, with an energetic front-man who had the entire room in the palm of his hand.
Unfortunately there was a casualty, as it appeared one of the more energetic participants slammed into a wall and left a gigantic, body shaped hole. By this point the root beer schnapps and cheap beer was completely gone and so was I, and it was great.
Closers San Lorenzo were obviously the most polished, “professional” bands of the evening (check them out, they have shows coming up all over town in the next month or so) but the crowd was a little thinned out, possibly because of the relative age of the audience and perhaps because the people who slammed into the wall dipped the fuck out instead of doing the decent thing and sticking around to take responsibility for their mistakes. Seriously. My ears were still ringing from The Super Secret Hot Girls Club but San Lorenzo ended the night well with a solid performance.
After the quality that I witnessed on Saturday, it’s safe to say that I plan on attending many more of these soirees over the next few months. Hope to see you there, in the garden from which our underground music scene grows: the shady-looking house down the block with the music coming out of it.
Aaron Sharpsteen is a photographer and swell dude based in Portland, Or.
Whether you’re a fan of the Star Wars movies or not, we’ve all at one point experienced the "screw you guys, I’m going home" feeling Mo Troper‘s new track, "Star Wars" is basically centered around. This clamoring, relatable song debuted on Consequence of Sound yesterday, and speaks of a desire to stay home and just watch Star Wars as opposed to partying with a bunch of bro douchebags. Well, same.
Beloved drops at the end of the month and Troper will be kicking off a tour next month in support of it, including two release shows in Portland.
It’s always nice to switch up your musical routine and add some fresh talent to your aresenal. Rentz Leinbach is exactly who I’m talking about when I say this. The recent Deli Artist of the Month is multi-instrumentalist, inspired by greats like Guided by Voices, Hasil Adkins and Elvis Costello. He’s been a solo acoustic artist (under the names the Pink Leather Tats and Root Shocker) and part of a three-piece band (Neither v. Either), but his current incarnation is quite addiciting. Rentz has got a show coming up on the 18th with Moon By You and Dim Wit at the Liquor Store, and a cassette release show at Mother Foucault’s Bookshop on June 18th. He may only be one person, but he can put on one hell of a performance.
On tonight’s Saturday Night Sounds, let’s take some time to appreciate a band that has been a key influence to many of bands around town today. The Dandy Warhols are a Portland staple and a partial reminder of how the town used to be back before the Salt and Straw days. Yesterday, The Dandy Warhols released they’re 10th album and first in four years, Distortland. A couple days prior to that, they shared their video for one of the tracks off the album, "You Are Killing Me," which features an appearance by Andy Warhol cohort Joe Dallesandro.
Watch Dallesandro canoodle with some furries in the "You Are Killing Me" video below.
Portland has never had an issue with rallying together and taking a stand for a cause…especially when that cause is seeks to benefit the freedoms of women and minority groups. Tonight, punk bar Black Water will be hosting a fundraiser for the Network for Reproductive Options, which is a member affiliate of the National Network of Abortion Funds. The NRO aids in finding ethical and qualified abortion providers for those in need.
This particular show, featuring Heavy Hands, Steel Chains, Macho Boys, Sweats and spinning by DJ Matty Buttcakes will also put money towards the NRO’s annual bowl-a-thon teams She Bowls With Her Own Ovaries and Pick Your Kingpin.
A minimum donation of $6 is asked, but the scale slides all the way up to $1,984, according to the Facebook event page. The show starts at 8pm, so come out on time for a good cause.
It’s one of the first truly beautiful days of the season, so tonight is guaranteed to be optimal in weather and in fun times. Dante’s will be hosting Seattle’s Night Beats, Hollow Sidewalks and Câlisse in what is sure to be a lively set of performances. The Night Beats have gone through the usual trials and tribulations you see in most bands – disagreements, breakups, makeups, but tonight they’ll be sharing the stage with a pair of incredibly talented Portland acts. Deli favorites Hollow Sidewalks have previously been featured in perfectly "fitting the bill" as an opener for Ringo Deathstarr, and the same can be said for their inclusion in the show tonight. Nora Muphy Hughes’ comforting croon is but one of the appealing draws to Hollow Sidewalks; their increibly relatable songs and perfected instrumentation being some of the others.
Câlisse is set to begin the night with their classic call to garagey pop rock. They just released a new video for their single "Stay" last month, coming off their upcoming album Farewell, Blacksheep, due out on the 15th. A song of longing, "Stay" calls to anyone who has ever desired deep connection with another.
Tickets for tonight’s show are $10, with music beginning at 9pm.
Summer Cannibals have been hard at work playing Treefort, recording their soon to be released album and planning their soon approaching tour! Yesterday, Summer Cannibals dropped a new music video for the title track off their new album on Stereogum. "Full Of It" is a straight up rock song, and the video is just as delightfully raw and fun. Peep the video and tour dates below, and be sure to come out to the Full Of It listening party May 27th.
