Thanks a bunch to all the artists who submitted music for consideration in The Deli’s Best of Portland Year End Poll for Emerging Artists!

Honorable Mentions (ranked above 6.5): 

Dead Men Talking, Nature Thief, Dirty Revival, Sabonis, Cedar Teeth, Jeff True Jones.

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WHAT’S NEXT: These results conclude the first phase of the 2015 poll. Soon, I will name the artists selected by Portland’s local jurors and then all you readers will influence the poll with your vote.

Thanks for reading and participating! Stay tuned!

—Cervante Pope, The Deli Portland Editor

For the last couple days, we’ve all been sort of drifting throughout our daily routines sadly shocked by the loss of our icon, David Bowie. For most, myself included, nothing about the news seems real. The countless posts summing up his career into music video-laden listicles, the numerous social media posts reflecting on his memory. No matter how truthful they may be, it probably won’t become a personal truth to a great deal of his fans (again, myself included) for a very long time. This being said, the people of Portland have basically banded together in a mournful celebration of his quite influential existence, creating quite a few gatherings for the lost ones to attend. If you’re the type of person that needs collective grieving, here a few things happening around town where you can commiserate with others over booze and Bowie’s extensive collection…
 

• – FREE Tribute to Bowie at Clinton Street Theater, January 13th at 9:30pm.
• – 1 Side: Stories for Bowie (live interactive karaoke) at the Black Door #1, every Saturday for the next 7 weeks.
• – David Bowie Sendoff at Pioneer Courthouse Square, January 16th at 2pm.
• – Bowie Forever: A Stripped Tribute at the Kit Kat Club, January 17th at 10:30pm.
• – David Bowie Tribute Show and Cancer Charity Benefit at the Analog Cafe, January 29th at 9pm.
• – Starman: An Evening of Tribute to David Bowie w/the Parsons Red Heads and special guests at Mission Theater, February 6th at 8pm.

I will try my hardest to keep up with any more events and add them to this post, as they come up. Live forth and rock on.

-Cervante Pope

Amid the terrorizing tragedies that have been involving ISIS recently, the lovely ladies of Is/Is have decided to change their name. In a statement (both emailed to me and now found on their Bandcamp page) the ladies give a little detail about the decision:

In light of realities far beyond our control, Is/Is will thus forward be known as “Candace.”



“Is/Is” (/iz-iz/) has metamorphosed from an intentional non-signifier to an unintentional reminder of what can be horrible in this world.



We hope that the new name will make room for us to be more of what we’ve always meant to be—a reflection of the good and small mysteries that make living worthwhile.

It’s a respectful and understandable move for the band, and hopefully won’t interfere with their future successess. All former Is/Is related pages and correspondance have been switched in observance of the new name. Their first show under the new moniker will be at the Know on January 16th with Ah God and Seattle’s Dræmhouse. 

-Cervante Pope  

The first of its kind (well, maybe not in the whole world, but here in Oregon at least), the Get Outta Town series is in its infancy, with it’s first edition to take place on January 30th. The premise of the Get Outta Town series is to encourage local music lovers to venture away from Portland’s usual venues and see a different part of the state. It’s an amazing idea, and Get Outta Town #1 will be held at Coyote Woods in Estacada, Oregon. Playing the inaugural bill will be Divers, Woolen Men, Ah God and Abronia, for tickets on a sliding price scale of $5-$10. Proceeds will partially go to the bands and partially go to coverage of any damage that happens to the property.

Just in case you drive down there and get a little too fucked up for the drive back to town, the Get Outta Town launchers are in talks with the local and independent Red Fox Motel for a potential discount for attendees, so stay tuned!

-Cervante Pope

Using the words "bubblegum" and "punk" to describe a band may seem awkward sounding, but when it comes to noisemakers Vincent Van Whoa, it’s totally appropriate. Not to say that their songs are twee, frilly or overly sweet, but more so that their particular styling of punk is less harsh and a bit more accessible than some other bands, coasting more on the "noisy garage" side of the scale. Have a listen for yourself with the track "Rusty Catflap" below.

Vincent Van Whoa will be melting some hearts on Valentine’s Day with a show at Kelly’s Olympian with Eugene’s Pancho + The Factory, if you want to catch them live. It’s strongly suggested.

-Cervante Pope

If you woke up today still feeling the high of last night (or worse, the post-party hangover), try your hand at a little hair of the dog, accompanied with some music. Keep the New Year’s celebration in full swing tonight at the Turn! Turn! Turn! (formerly the Record Room, for all you old schoolers), who happen to be celebrating their first day with a liquor license. Spinning some classic soulful tunes will be local DJs Danny Glover’s Kid, Calamity Kate, Crambone and Cobra, starting at 7pm. Crawl out of bed and keep the party going.

-Cervante Pope

Summer BBQ by Mr. Ghost Goes To Town on Mixcloud

An interesting name for a band that produces an interesting sound, People With Accents call to both the "90’s indie" and "math rocker" in us all. Their music is so easy to get lost in, complexly blending the technicality of progressive math rock with the soft yet forceful delight of 90’s indie (think Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Sunny Day Real Estate and at times, Cursive). The two facets of People With Accents, Jacob Saulsbury and Alex McEntee, released their self titled debut back in 2012, and dropped You Could Be Wrong last year. Revel in their track "Abandon All Hope/Hope Springs Etenal," below.

-Cervante Pope

Not to be confused with the woods dwelling, hairy mammoth of a humanoid or the yearly festival extravaganza, but for the sake of this post, Sasquatch refers to the moniker adapted by your next favorite local hip hop act. Branden A., aka Sasquatch (or SQTCH, depending), hatches an apt lyrically flow atop old school beats and samples. The sound translates into an Atmosphere-esque delivery that sounds refreshingly present. His incredibly real and relatable lyrical content tackles parenting, intoxicant usage, pride and other struggles listeners can connect with. 

Sasquatch fits into the PNW’s expanding hip hop community and could easily play alongside the Odd Future gang if he wanted to. His album, I’ts Okay…I’ve Died…, runs nine tracks of his talent. Check out "The 5th Floor/Elevators" featuring Dior Worthy below.

-Cervante Pope

With their debut onto the Portland scene happening just last year, Second Sleep have already affirmed their well deserved place in our fairly niche realm of local music. The two piece is made up of nothing but drums and guitars – a simplistic setup resulting in a zealous execution of prime post-rock. T.J. Burke and Bruce Reed transform distortion and weighty whirls into immutable forces that can’t be ignored. So far, they’ve played a handful of shows and have the one easily accessible track, "Motoboats." The track is an instrumental definition of the duo’s technical prowess, also acting as an indicator of what can be expected from their future releases.

Second Sleep will be playing with A Collective Subconscious and Arizona’s With Our Arms to the Sun at the High Water Mark on January 13th and seem to have more and more shows stacking up in the new year. 

-Cervante Pope

It’s been a wet holiday so far, so if you weren’t able to make it out to that free Sad Horse show with Haunted Head and Warm Trash a couple nights ago, you’re actually in luck. New Years night, they’ll be playing their latest album, start to finish, at Mississippi Records. Their Greatest Hits LP is comprised of just that, a grandiose collection of singles from the last almost eight years of their existence. The 26 track long LP of pleasant familiarity is also now available on vinyl. If you’re just now getting into Sad Horse (or SH, as they now like to be referred to as), then check out their Greatest Hits record release set for a crash course in the delight that is SH.

-Cervante Pope

No, that wasn’t a mistake or some wack "clickbait" headline. Beloved and quite missed Portlanders Ghost Mom are doing a (hopefully not) one-time-only reunion show TONIGHT at the Know with adorable Burger Records baes The Shivas. It’s been years since we’ve heard from Ghost Mom (okay, well like 2 or 3 years, since Lou Weed came out), and since we’re not sure when they’ll be gracing us with anything again, come to the Know tonight. 8pm. Seriously. It’s Christmas week and this is their gift to us.

-Cervante Pope

Those of you that support Bernie Sanders (which should be all of you, honestly), will enjoy the Bands for Bernie show happening on February 3rd at Mississippi Studios. It’s a benefit show in support of Sanders’ campaign, with half the proceeds from ticket sales being donated to his presedential movement. Playing the Bands for Bernie benefit will be Months, 1939 Ensemble, Dead Men Talking and The Fourth Wall. If politics are your thing and you’d like to express your support while still staying true to your musical core, mark your calendars. Tickets will be between $13-$15, but it’s nice to know a great part of the proceeds are going towards a cause that actually matters.

-Cervante Pope