Perk up your ears for a few sounds from The Future Will Destroy You, the latest from Portland psych-pop maestros Viva Voce.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Jun 21, 2011 at 05:00AM2 Comments
Those of you who read regularly may remember that we made Viva Voce the subject of our usual Monday Fun just a couple weeks ago—little realizing that they were on the cusp of a new release. Vanguard records was quick on the tip, following up with a sneak preview of the beloved husband-and-wife band’s latest work, and reminding us of their upcoming free show at Music Millennium at 6pm on June 21.
Sallie Ford talks about writing, singing, and the hometown she gradually grew to love.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Jun 01, 2011 at 06:00AM1 Comments
Sallie Ford with bandmates Jeffrey Munger, Tyler Tornfelt, and Ford Tennis.
Last Tuesday Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside welcomed a respectable crowd to east-side record hub Music Millenium, playing a short set and signing copies of their debut full-length release, Dirty Radio. Despite their undeniably tight playing, the juke-rock revivalists kept a casual vibe. “I’m the boss!” Sallie blurted as the group debated song selection. Guitarist Jeff Munger snatched off his trucker cap and playfully swatted her.
But she has a point: Rising quickly from South Carolinian obscurity to Portland name-recognition, and now taking flight for international fame, Sallie Ford has become the master of her domain. Culturephile checks in with her on the cusp of a two-night stint at Doug Fir that will kick off her North American tour.
Three years ago, you were working as a server at a Thai restaurant on Hawthorne and having a hard time getting local bands to return your emails. Since then, you’ve acquired a tight band (The Sound Outside), a great label (Partisan), and the chance to tour the world. How does that feel? It was a Vietnamese restaurant, and I’m very glad I’m not working there anymore! It’s great that music is my job now, but that also means it can be a lot of work. Any unexpected challenges? Some unexpected challenges have been learning about the business side of things and learning to be patient and make good choices.
Your music has been described a few different ways. I’m inclined to call it “Rockabilly,” because that’s a classic form and a fun word—but what do you call it? My easy answer about how to describe my music is: “Rock n Roll.”
Fair enough. Tell us about your songwriting process. Lately, I usually will come up with a melody, and then lyrics, and then I add guitar chords. But I’ve also written guitar chords, then a melody, then lyrics. And occasionally I’ve written lyrics, then fit them to music. I mostly like to just see what comes out, and I never overthink things….I hope that makes sense.
You were already singing in South Carolina before you moved here. How did Portland influence your musicianship (or did it?) I had done some singing in North Carolina before I moved to Portland, but I didn’t start writing my own music ’til i moved to portland. I think it was nice to have a fresh start and not know anyone in Portland.
When you sing, “You may think I’m a clown/ Who gives a sh- t about this town,” which town are you singing about? “Who gives a sh-t about this town” was somewhat about how frustrated I was initially with the music scene in Portland, but I wrote that song because I dreamt about it. I woke up with the melody and words still in my head. Looking back, maybe it was a prayer to find my own “scene.”
Now that I have met more people in the music scene here (and there are many many bands as you know) I have a totally different view on that. I think people are very supportive here and it feels like a great scene to be in. So, which town were you thinking of when you wrote, “I kinda like it here?” The “I like it here” song is called “This Crew,” and it’s the counterpart to “This Town.” It’s about my love of Portland, and of course no city is perfect. That song is mostly about the things I’ve seen and people I’ve met on Hawthorne Boulevard, which has been my “hood” for a while now.
What do you think is most unique/essential to your act: your voice, your songs, or your instrumentation?
I guess my voice is the most important. I love singing more than writing or playing music.
Tell us about your semi-famous freelance puppeteer dad. What great inside tips has he given you about how to manage a creative project? Puppeteer Hobey Ford is my dad. He definitely has been my hero and role model. He has done a lot of touring with his puppet shows and gives great advice for performers on the road. He never finished college and has always been supportive and inspired me to be self-employed.
You’re (22? 23?) and, obviously, a woman. Do people ever tell you you’re "great for a girl,” or better than they thought you’d be? Do you think the pop music climate, and the touring circuit, are getting more female-friendly? I’m 23. I haven’t heard that before, but I guess maybe I have heard people be surprised that my music is more rockin’ then they expected. I think people are very supportive to touring women musicians, but I don’t have much to compare that to.
Where are you most excited to travel and why?
I’m excited to go to Charleston, SC because we’re gonna go to the beach while we’re there. I grew up going to Folly Beach, and it’s nice to have a paid vacation there! I’m also excited to go to New Orleans and Montreal. I’ve wanted to go to both those places for a while.
Sallie Ford and The Sound Outside will be at the Doug Fir Lounge June 3 and 4, promoting new album Dirty Radio. Sneak a listen here:
Posted by: Julie Reposa on Mar 03, 2011 at 04:00AM0 Comments
Portland indie pop outfit Loch Lomond has come a long way in the last 8 years. In its infancy, way back in 2003, Loch Lomond was a solo project started by singer and multi-instrumentalist Ritchie Young. Young put out the band’s first record, When We Were Mountains, with the help of his friend Rob Oberdorfer who played drums and produced the album. For the next few years Young toured around the Pacific Northwest, sometimes playing solo, sometimes with various configurations of wayward musical souls joining him onstage. Loch Lomond blossomed into a fully formed cast of performers rotating in and out, both onstage and in the studio with Young at the helm. In that time the band put out a number of well-received albums and EP’s on Hush Records. In 2008 they toured with local favorites The Decemberists, opening for them on a string of US dates. On Feburary 22, Loch Lomond released their highly anticipated new album Little Me Will Start A Storm, their first full-length album since 2007’s Paper the Walls and the first release for their new label Tender Loving Empire.
Little Me Will Start a Storm is filled with songs that are perched firmly in the place where the (blissful) ignorance of youth intersects with the initial letdown of life and lost innocence. Most of the tracks on this album don’t immediately grab you, especially the latter half of the record. They’re growers that slowly plant themselves in your head and by the 5th listen you’re ready for 5 more. Though all of the songs have the layered delicate instrumentation and lush sound quality that the band is known for, there are subtle stylistic differences. Some songs are accessible straightforward indie pop hum-alongs (of the Belle & Sebastian/Decemberists variety) while others fall into the sprightly chamber folk category where it’s not hard to imagine wee birds fluttering out of the instruments and landing on your shoulder as the band plays on.
“Blue Lead Fence” leads off this collection of 9 songs with a hurried insistency. Young sounds mischievous as he delivers the lyrics that are the album’s namesake; “It feels good to be young, little me will start a storm”. The steady unrelenting rhythm evokes the image of a child, busy with his own gargantuan agenda, itself born from fantastical imagination.
The single “Elephants & Little Girls” starts in with a beautiful waltzy melody of layered strings and dainty bells. Young joins in, backed up by heavenly harmonies that turn into a rousing chorus as they sing the refrain, “Now we’re having fun. Now we’re living life” with a gusto that juxtaposes the fragility of the rest of the song.
“Blood Bank” is an indie charmer, and easily one of the best tracks on the album. Young reigns in his falsetto, delivering the lines with a world-weary gruffness to his voice. You can easily picture a bar room of British gents singing along as they wave their mugs back and forth to this ditty.
The melancholy closer “Alice Left with Stockings & Earrings” starts with a slow build of ambient sounds joined by a delicate string arrangement. Young sings in a high falsetto and then effortlessly switches to that plaintive gravely voice that was on full display in Blood Bank. His voice is so versatile it almost sounds as if he’s playing different characters but to his credit, he shows restraint with his voice, always singing in a way that feels right for the song.
Bison Rouge honors its title with earthy, crimson old-world tones.
Posted by: Julie Reposa on Feb 21, 2011 at 03:00AM0 Comments
Cellist Ashia Grzesik may sing music from the old country, wear ruffled skirts and cook borscht, but she’s no neo-bohemian gypsy-punk poser. Though she currently hangs her plumed hats in Portland, this sultry songstress hails from the old country—Wroclaw, Poland, to be exact.
Grzesik, a classically trained musician, has been very active in the local music and theater communities, playing in both the Portland Cello Project and Vagabond Opera, and winning a Drammy Award in 2010 for her cello score to Third Rail Rep’s The Gray Sisters. This coming Friday the 25th, Grzesik is set to release a 5-song EP entitled Bison Rouge, a follow-up to her 2007 debut album Pay To Be Loved.
Listening to Bison Rouge, one can’t help but hear a collage of influences. Grzesik can certainly give Joanna Newsome a run for her whimsy, she possesses the old-world charm and quirky dramatics of Regina Spector and the cello-punk instincts of Bonfire Madigan, and her voice vacillates between the throaty alto of Amanda Palmer and the ethereal soprano of Maria Callas. Simply put, she’s got a little bit of everything.
The album starts off with a playful number, “Country Will Do Her Well,” in which Grzesik’s operatic voice shares the stage with her penchant for theatrical storytelling. “Rip Up your Stitch” is the one of the more accessible songs on the EP, with Grzesik going easy on her vocals to let the lyrics sleepily tumble out. The song “Broken Crowns” starts with a beautiful string arrangement, very much in the classical realm until her cello kicks into high gear. She sings the chorus, “Its a long way down, it’s a long way down” climaxing in a cacophony of descending strings and a deep primal wail, (which is quite cathartic and pleasing to the ears, though I’m not sure that it’s supposed to be).
On “Prosto Do Nieda”, Grzesik sings in her native tongue, and the song seems to ooze with seduction. She could be singing about Pierogis for all I know—but something about foreign languages and cellos just sounds sexy. As the song moves toward its final conclusion, Grzesik spits out the lyrics dramatically, and though liner notes reveal that the piece is about her grandmother, I prefer to imagine her admonishing a lover (or perhaps a Pierogi).
Grzesik’s last song, “Ode to Bison,” swaggers and teases relentlessly. Her voice is cool and confident, as she casually states, “I’ll get a blade to skin your heart, don’t you worry about the pain.” This track sounds like it belongs in a Broadway musical; in fact, I can clearly picture Roxie Hart slinking around her cellblock to this number, proclaiming, “You’ve got nowhere to go, you’ve got nowhere to run” in a mockingly saccharine tone. As for the other songs, It’s easy to visualize any one of them being performed in some smoky nightclub in Eastern Europe, or the south side of Chicago (or perhaps a turn-of-the-century Victorian-era ballroom in Northeast Portland).
Though it’s hard to resist comparing her to other artists or sticking her in a box neatly labeled with an obscure hip-sounding genre name (Steampunk freak-folk? Cabaret-core?), that wouldn’t be fair. Good music sounds like other good music, and hence can seem so familiar that you can’t imagine not having heard it before—but in truth, you haven’t. Thus every fleeting moment of recognition that “Bison Rouge” reveals, further solidifies Grzesiks’ mastery of craft.
Ashia Grzesik will play an all-ages EP release party on February 25 at The Secret Society with guest performers, including bellydancer Nagasita and members of Vagabond Opera and the Portland Cello Project. Take advantage of the online ticket presale that includes a copy of “Bison Rouge.” For more upcoming arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!
PICA favorite and Yale art grad Holcombe Waller releases his fourth album today.
Posted by: Julie Reposa on Feb 15, 2011 at 12:00PM1 Comments
In 2008, Portland based performance artist and musician Holcombe Waller was commissioned by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, in partnership with On the Boards of Seattle, to create “Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest”, A show which fused Waller’s airy, introspective folk tunes with theatrics and video installations (Waller happens to hold a Yale degree in Art/Video installation). The show was well received, and Waller toured through last year in cities across the US and Canada, and visited Croatia with his ensemble, The Healers.
Waller will release his fourth album today, and play a release show this Sunday. Into the Dark Unknown is a collection of live recordings culled from the tour of the same name. Portland Monthly caught up with him for a quick session at PAM earlier this month as part of our PAM Object Lessons series:
On his last effort, 2005’s Troubled Times, Waller departed from the pop hooks of his first few releases and replaced them with airy folk songs about love and politics. This trend continues on the new album, as Waller weaves his fragile voice and the sparse guitar-strumming together to create an album rife with poignant lyrics and an emotional weight that lingers well after the disc is over. The title track of Into the Dark Unknown (aka The Marriage Song), delves into Waller’s conflicted feelings about marriage, brought on by a friend’s wedding. Waller, like many in the gay community, struggles with a longing for the right to marry, but at the same time laments the institution as a hetero-normative construct.
“Risk of Change” is the second track on the album, and is one of the stronger ones. Here, Waller reins in his voice and finger picks his way through a twangy tale about finding his true self and the sense of freedom gained from the fearless anticipation of what’s to come. Waller certainly sounds more like his contemporaries on this track (fellow folk troubadour Josh Ritter, for one) as the rawness in his vocal delivery gives the song and the album some much-needed girth.
Meanwhile, the song “Hardliners” is an earnest, simple-sweet love song, beautifully arranged and poised for inclusion on romantic mixes everywhere.
But overall, it’s Waller’s considerable vocal refinement that take center stage, as he effortlessly hits those high notes. When Waller isn’t playing up his echoey, majestic choir-boy folk, his voice sounds fresh and youthful, (or, I daresay, a bit like Dashboard Confessional) giving little hint of his considerable life experience (which includes producing two albums for a band of fellow Yaleys who would later join The National) His pensive lyrics, on the other hand, make it clear that Waller has a great deal to say, and moreover, he’s intimately familiar with the subjects he chooses, giving his music a credible edge that many artists struggle to achieve.
True Instigator ought to reignite some old flames for longtime PDX song-crafter, Fernando.
Posted by: John Chandler on Feb 04, 2011 at 03:00AM0 Comments
This guy’s got some chops.
Fernando Viciconte is an artist worthy of attention. Crafting country-blues, but also drawing deep from his unique Italian/Argentinian heritage, this low-promo, high-cred songsmith has been compiling an album every 2 or 3 years for the last 15—and whenever he does, it’s worth your time to track it down and listen. Like a wise tribal elder who doesn’t speak often, Fernando is nonetheless a voice of authority—he’s been through the wars and he’s got the scars to prove it.
Saturday at Dante’s, Fernando will release his seventh album, True Instigator; and when he sings a song like “Word From the Inside,” the pain and exhilaration that well up around him are genuine, even classic, like Buddy Holly or John Lennon. Whether he and his deft backing players are burning up like a bar band at the apocalypse, as on the title track, or he’s acoustically musing about his own mortality, as on the lovely “Remember Me,” Fernando always walks an emotional tightrope without a safety net. “It’s a long way down,” he sings on “Wander.” And he’s fallen enough times to know.
Fernando will play Dante’s this Saturday, followed by a 3pm in-store at Music Millenium next Saturday, 2/12. If you simply can’t wait, sample his songs at ReverbNation. For more upcoming arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!
Local music veterans Nathan Junior and Rebecca Rasmussen have gone unabashedly yuletide on our ass, with a brand-new Christmas Album, complete with vintage-style pictures of the couple decked out in red and green. Duover, we’re onto you. The folk Christmas album, once done to death, is just not done these days. Who better to revive this lapsed trend than a band called “Duover?” Well done. The songs are great, and y’all are too cute.
Meanwhile, as this pending snowstorm invokes a wistful holiday spirit, let’s enjoy the following abstractly festive warm-fuzzy. All was calm and bright this summer at Sherman Clay Pianos, where musician Rachel Taylor Brown hosted a choir of angels and their fluttering fingers, capturing the following celestial chorus for her Spring 2011 release, World So Sweet.
Portland chamber folk’s other Youngs, are making a name for themselves.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 03, 2010 at 11:55AM0 Comments
Get this gimmick: The Brothers Young is a band which features three actual brothers, actually named “Young.” The group, formed with the encouragement of their elder brother Ritchie Young (frontman of transcendental chamber-folk combo Loch Lomond), brings a darker timbre than Ritchie’s haunting falsetto. Like three Cains to Ritchie’s Abel, the Brothers often sing in a baritone unison, of world-weariness, caution and betrayal—sometimes bursting into open-ended Gregorian harmonies.
Supported by the drumming of Leviethan (whose PCS residency Culturephile covered earlier this summer), and the guitar-playing of Trevino Brings Plenty, the group will present a new EP, Good People, this Sunday at Rontoms (6th and E Burnside), and launch a west-coast tour. Whether or not you brave the Rontoms Sunday-night throng, you ought to lend this pioneering band of brothers your ears.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 07:00AM0 Comments
You shouldn’t suffer for lack of options this Saturday night, as two critically-acclaimed local acts release new albums at two approachably-posh venues. Maybe try a quantum-physics feat, and put yourself in both places at once. Neither of these events are to be missed.
Famous comedian hits the Schnitz tonight, promoting new comedy songs.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 26, 2010 at 09:00AM3 Comments
Hilarious Margaret Cho wants you to take her musical side. Seriously.
“Margaret Cho” is a name you know. Inarguably the most famous queer Korean-American in comedy, she’s carved her own niche among gregarious greats, with riotous impressions of her mother, self-effacing declarations of sexuality (“I’m not straight or gay—I’m slutty!”), and off-kilter stoner observations (“I wonder what it would be like to braid Chewbacca….”) There is no question that Margaret Cho can talk your ear off, and you’ll laugh your a$$ off.
But how is she at singing?
Tonight at the Schnitz, Margaret Cho will appear, no doubt slinging a few jokes, but also strapping on a guitar to shill songs from her latest project—musical album Cho Dependent, featuring cameos from the following stars:
Tegan and Sara, Tommy Chong, Ben Lee, Brendan Benson, Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, Jon Brion, Garrison Starr, Grant Lee Phillips, Ani DiFranco, Meghan Toohey, Rachael Yamagata.
Some of those names will undoubtedly get Portland’s attention, so Culturephile asked Ms. Cho a couple quick questions about how she plans to hold it.
You’ll be in Portland tonight—a town that’s almost as famously queer as your comedy. Have you partied much here? Any local scene stories to share?
You know, I haven’t!* I’ve been here a number of times, but it was always to work. I remember being in a bagel shop at 6am, and everyone singing along to Elliott Smith. That was the best.
That sort of thing happens here. Portland’s brimming with the musically-inclined. Will knowing that your Portland audience has tons of musicians in it, change the way you perform your songs?
Oh, I don’t know! I play in front of musicians all the time, but mostly I sing to tracks and play a little. It depends on my voice and what’s happening.
Does it seem easier, or harder, to play music for other musicians?
Well, I do it a lot since my work is mostly collaborating with people, so I’m always playing with, or in front of, great musicians.
Hearing a joke more than once, is usually less welcome than hearing a song more than once. Do you think that when you combine music and comedy, you shorten the shelf-life of the songs, or lengthen the shelf-life of the jokes?
I’m hoping to extend the life of both the joke and the song. Some joke songs just rock! Like [Weird Al Yankovic’s] Amish Paradise or [Flight Of The Conchords’] The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room – I can listen to them forever. So I’m hoping to have funny songs that also rock, and rocking songs that make you laugh!
Does Cho have the chops to stack up to her musicomical idols, and honor Cho Dependent’s A-list roster? You decide:
*Portland, you have your orders: Party tonight with Margaret Cho.
Chamber Music Society delivers breezy, nuanced summer jazz.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 11, 2010 at 12:30PM0 Comments
Esperanza Spalding’s new album, Chamber Music Society, is what I think they mean whenever they say, “tempest in a teapot.” It’s dynamic and unpredictable, yet so delicately contained and elegantly presented, that it seems perfectly safe to imbibe. Between Spalding’s facile acoustic bass grooves and wafting, soaring scat-vox, there’s a rumble of complexity full of hurricane thunders, rainstick rattles, swoons of strings, sudden bumps and small upsets, imbued throughout with a sensual summer warmth and lightheartedness. The wind has caught hold of the tablecloth. Oh my.
Culturephile first laid eyes on Ms. Spalding eight or so years ago at Portland’s old Meow Meow club, as the pivotal member of indie band Noise For Pretend. (That night, in addition to delivering a standout performance, she was tasked with outshining the keyboardist’s distractingly unseasonal stocking cap.) Quickly thereafter, Spalding ditched the local indiepop scene to make noise for real, obtaining a degree from Berklee College of Music and releasing self-titled debut album Esperanza, that captivated, among others, Mr. David Letterman—who in the clip below dubs her “the coolest person we’ve ever had on our show.”
Portland Jazz Festival recently chimed in its own endorsement, naming Spalding its Artistic & Community Ambassador. On August 17, when Chamber Music Society hits stores, you too can see what all the hubbub is about.
During her 10 year Portland residency, Anne Adams has contributed to local publications, including Barfly, the Portland Tribune, and Portland Monthly. In 2005 her serial zine, The Bookmark, was endorsed by Wordstock and Powell’s Books.
Anne’s horizons extend beyond pen and page, with an Art Department credit in the movie Coraline, and passionate participation in the indie music community. Anne is an avid arts appreciator who can zero in on a detail of gesture or craft, but cannot suppress a wistful tear when faced with expressions of human truth.
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