Some songs effortlessly capture a moment in time. For late spring’s warmth and slower, sunny days comes Joel Magid’s “Since You Went Away.” The sugary-sweet psych pop track captures a mood: one of longing, looking, and desire while remaining upbeat, catchy, and fun. Magid debuted the video for his song on Alt Citizen last week.

Magid’s debut album Pyramids is out this summer. Catch Magid at The Liquor Store on April 29.

Listen to Magid on bandcamp.

-Zibby Pillote, photo by Tom Chamberlain

Saturday night, April 25 at Kelly’s Olympian, The Deli Portland celebrates the winners of their Best Emerging Artist of 2014 poll – where local music industry insiders, tastemakers and listeners alike democratically elect their favorite new Portland artists. Headlining the night, 2014’s poll winners The Domestics will croon their way through your ear and into your hearts with their lyrically-charged, heartfelt indie rock and roll reminiscent of the late Heatmiser. The fall of 2014 saw the release of their self-titled debut LP and made The Domestics an instant classic. Support by the folk tinged dream psych wizardry of Jackson Boone, and openers The Tamed West with their more upbeat reverb washed garage pop blend of psych rock. Doors at 8:30, 21+, $5 in advance or $7 at the door.

Yeah Great Fine hasn’t released any new music for quite some time, and their single release at The Liquor Store on SE Belmont was a perfect snapshot of the articulate, experimental beauty that can only be found in the swells and lulls of math rock. 

Glass Knees played first, drawing the small crowd in with simultaneously melodic and hard-hitting jams, soaring synths blended with highly technical drums and guitar. They closed out their set in a very unique way, by inviting the entire audience to use an assortment of small percussive instruments to play along with the band, which might sound hokey, but made the audience come alive.

By comparison Mothertapes played a much slower set, starting out with exactly what you’d expect from a two-piece: pure rhythm. But as their set progressed they developed lilting melodies that built upon themselves through unexpected guitar effects and vocals. Watching their live show feels very much like watching a scientist discover a new element: every piece is so calculated, so intentional, and symmetrical—everything you crave from an evening of math rock.

Yeah Great Fine closed out the night and the two new tracks they premiered displayed an element of refinement that their previous EP and album lacked. That isn’t to say the new songs aren’t as energetic, but rather, they have focused their energy, which can be hard to do with six members, but somehow, even on the small stage in The Liquor Store basement, they pulled it off, with an air of playfulness that had the entire crowd completely captivated.

Check out Yeah Great Fine’s new singles, “Ketsu” and “Stallion” on Bandcamp. AND, check out Katie Summer’s photos of Yeah Great Fine, Mothertapes and Glass Knees from their show Wednesday night at the Liquore store. 

-Sarah Eaton 

Record Store Day is on Saturday—the best day of the year to stand in line and fight over rare vinyl releases while supporting local businesses. This year, Portland record stores will stock hundreds of RSD exclusive releases, including some local treats.

In October, Blitzen Trapper recorded Neil Young’s Harvest in full at the Doug Fir. Score the live album Live Harvest on Saturday. Listen to their take on “Heart of Gold” before you buy the record.

Eyelids, Portland’s psych-pop super group, are releasing a split 7” with The Phoenix Foundation, produced by Peter Buck.

Pickathon partnered with Easy Sound Recording Company to release a split 7” of Those Darlins and Diarrhea Planet (both from Nashville) recorded live at the festival last summer. Preview the tracks here.

Jackpot Records is releasing a limited edition record of short-lived Portland band No. 2’s No Memory. Mixed by Elliott Smith, the album is “the missing link between the end of Heatmiser and the beginning of Elliott Smith’s major label debut,” according to Jackpot.

In store performances abound throughout the day. Everyday Music on the Westside will feature DJ sets by members of Typhoon, Modern Kin, Laura Veirs, Summer Cannibals, and more, plus performances by Edna Vasquez, Ryan Sollee (Builders and the Butchers), Sam Coomes (Quasi), The Shivas, The Ghost Ease, The Ganders, and the Dandy Warhols. See the full schedule here.

Tender Loving Empire will host an officially unofficial RSD party at their SE Hawthorne store featuring Genders, Ali Muhareb, and Run On Sentence.

Jackpot will pour you free coffee if you peruse their shop or stop in for their DJ sets.

Across town, Music Millennium will host Portland punk legends, Dead Moon.

Make sure you check out early opening times for your favorite record store, and study the release list ahead of time.

Happy Record Store Day!

-Zibby Pillote

Treefort Music Fest 2015 was an absolute whirlwind. In their biggest and unarguably most successful year yet, the festival had non-stop fantastic musical curation throughout the entire long weekend. Waking up each morning with a gnarly hangover, the only admirable thing to do was to pop into Big City Coffee for a heartstopping breakfast burrito and a few cups of coffee while checking out the festival schedule to figure out your show and drinking route for the day, then, hit the ground running. Check out our photo recap, including shots of Viet Cong, Foxygen, Built To Spill, Yahct, And And And, Aan, The Domestics, Bed., Wooden Indial Burrial Ground, Grandparents and more. Photos by Drew Bandy, Adam Smith, Jessica Pierson and Grahame Bywater.

The Family Almanac’s self-titled EP, out earlier this month, starts as it promises: “Dream I’m In” is like a sleepy sequence from a foggy Sunday, or a pleasant hangover morning in the Gorge. Vocalist and keyboardist Elizabeth Pixley-Fink gentle voice delights in the mood. The EP carries us to sleep, or to the edge of it; that is a place where the band’s music might do instead of sleep.

The slow, soporific mood carries on through the short EP. The first half of the record, including a stuttering jam by the band’s other vocalist Blake Mason, sound like the warm and sultry tunes of ‘70s harmonizers like Steely Dan and the sonic landscapes of Fleetwood Mac. 

The fourth song on the EP is “White Sugar”, a slow, bluesy ballad with doo-wop echoes in the background. The song builds to a beautiful chorus, about as loud as the band ever gets. But the sleepy tone is back for “Susie”. If the skin started to cook with “White Sugar”, here it is enjoying the shade once again on a hot day. 

The last track is another by Family Almanac’s male vocalist. “So It Goes” is a bouncier track than the rest, played with as much urgency as the band musters on this EP. 

Recently I had the pleasure to see the Family Almanac play a house show (the perfect venue for their lighthearted soft rock anthems) and found a lot to be excited about. With its talented members, Family Almanac has plenty of leverage to evolve in the future. I only hope they will release a longer album soon for those lazy Spring mornings when their sounds can start the spinning of my mind with ease.

– Eric Togethoff

Hailing from San Francisco are the Cool Ghouls.  Their salty guitar riffs reek of the Pacific Ocean and their harmonies will lull you like the waves of the bay.  In a time when every band seems to be “psyching out in their garage”,  The Cool Ghouls’ sophisticated sound separates them from being just another band with reverb and a sick record collection. The song centric style of their sophomore release, A Swirling Fire Burning Through The Rye, makes for a great collection of recordings and stellar live performances.  The album flows seamlessly through ten tracks despite the band’s three songwriters. The sound is reminiscent of early Grateful Dead, golden-era Creedence and The Velvet Underground, yet is fresh and modern. Recorded live to tape by Sonny Smith of Sonny and Sunsets, the band’s live energetic vibe is beautifully captured. After touring the states a few times over and playing their hometown with heavy hitters like Nick Waterhouse and Of Montreal, it’s only a matter of time before we see these California dudes make a national television debut.  Be able to say you ‘knew them when’ and see Cool Ghouls live this Sunday at the Know. Local punk crooners Mope Grooves and Dogheart open the show, fixing for a good time to be had by all. 

M. Rowan 

The fourth annual Treefort Music Festival is proving to be the biggest one yet. Not only is it their first year as a licensed LLC, but this year’s lineup is larger than any previous year with over 400 musical acts, not to mention whole mini-festivals dedicated to comedy, performance art, technology, yoga, skateboarding, beer, and then some.

With massive national musical acts headlining the festival like TV On The Radio, Built To Spill, Foxygen, Yacht, Viet Cong, Of Montreal and !!!, just to name a few, the $139 price of a full-weekend pass is pretty much already god damned steal, and that’s barely 1.5% of the full 2015 lineup. Adding to the glory of this year’s festival, the vast array of amazing Portland bands making the trip to Boise makes Portland one of the most represented cities of the festival. Think of it as a huge rager with all your favorite Portland bands and friends, just in a new, way more fun location.

To help you sort through all of the madness, here is a quick list of some of the Deli Portland’s favorite Portland bands who will be performing at this year’s Treefort Music Festival. Find out exactly where and when they will be playing during Treefort, here. 

Foxy Lemon and Cambrian Explosion, two distinguished bands in the Portland music scene, will release a split Joint EP, on Saturday, March 14th. In support of the release, the two bands headline Kelly’s Olympian Saturday night along with Moon By You and Spirit Lake.

Last week Portland psychedelic sweethearts, Grandparents, debuted their brand new track "Kids In The Alley" on Vice’s Noisey blog. Tomorow (3.11), they will play at Mississippi Studios along with local R&B sensation Natasha Kmeto and drone-psych lords Swahili, kicking off a 2+ week spring tour in support of a three-track cassingle release which will include stops at SXSW and Treefort Music Fests. "Kids In The Alley" showcases a dramatically matured level of production for the group, with heavily spaced out Tame Impala inspired synth trances eloquently placed between playful pop infused verses. I couldn’t be more stoked for their forthcoming debut full length due out later this year. It’s been a long time coming, but Grandparents are sure to be Portland’s next huge deal.

– Travis Leipzig 

Photo Courtesy of Todd Walberg

Take a swift punch to the gut and throw up and you’ve got the start of a good recipe for a show. All you need now is the hard-hitting beats and punk energy of Summer Cannibals’ new album Show Us Your Mind and you’re cooking.

The album is full of energy front to back. The grungy and fuzzed out guitar keeps up much of that energy, but singer Jessica Boudreaux manages to temper some of the knife’s-edge riffs with sweet, even hooky melodies. Occasionally you’ll hear harmonies as Jessica belts it out about a relationship that is going down the tubes. But any sign that the band might slow down and trade in their beat up instruments for pop outfits is given up on a dark track like “Afraid To Feel”, which churns along like blood pumping through the neck.

All the pieces come together on Summer Cannibals second album. Jessica Boudreaux shows herself to be a powerhouse vocalist, much in the same vein as Patti Smith. (Patti wrote a song called “Summer Cannibals”. Coincidence?) And the rest of the band provides a perfect complement to her soaring melodies. You’d be inclined to feel sentimental for the bands of the ‘90s if you had time while the album drives along.

If you’re feeling the hungry sort of restlessness of a long day at work—maybe a customer spilled mustard on your shirt or a dog got off its leash and ran amok in the kitchen—“Show Us Your Mind” is the perfect digestif to sooth your day. Simply turn up the speakers, sit back and let all the mundane frustrations float away on some good, straightforward and head-banging rock n’ roll.

The music of Portland trio Appendixes is like that place between sleep and waking, where consciousness breaks away from subconscious,  emerging from colorful dreams that seemed to make sense at the time.  Light begins to filter through, stirring past a weighted heartbeat of bass, and then bursting full of synths and acoustic strums. Beth Morgans vocals are hazy, and slowly the lyrics become clear: “I had a dream we were walking on the moon” .

“Moonwalking” is the first sweet song on the band’s new five track EP Everyday Use (Jan 24th on Track and Field), and is an extension of previous works Neon Green Fear and False Color, possibly pointing to a full length endeavor. Its Dream-gaze, with eerie, condensed echoing, but also fun pop tendencies. Morgan’s alto slowly navigates the interplay between rhythms and acoustic melody. “The Plan” is a dusty and fast paced jaunt, while “Treehouse” is a sparkling dramatic into for  “Burn”, which showcases catchy beats complemented by synths and electric guitar solos, but grounds near the end with a negative rhythm of feedback.

Through some cutester strums, synth and breathy vocals, there is an ominous mood surrounding their sound, such as the darker, final track “Stolen.” And yet, listening closely you find lyrics about being “a shooting star, a glimmering ball of light” among the struggles.

Here’s to lucid dreaming.

– Brandy Crowe