MFNW Preview: the locals
by Katie
Hey, I have like 30 hours to listen to all the bands playing MusicFest NW and create an airtight schedule of awesomeness. That’s a tall order, even for an unemployed (but no longer homeless WOO!) hobo such as myself. Anyhoo, in honor of being in Portland and all, I’m starting by listening to the local bands for you!
Sara Jackson-Holman – Think, like, a jazz singer sitting at a piano in a smoky club, or a leading lady in a 60s film with gratuitous musical numbers. The piano and strings match the timbre of her voice perfectly. She sounds lovely.
See her Friday Sept 10, 8 pm at Ash Street Saloon.
But maybe sneak out early to go see…
Boy Eats Drum Machine – I like this guy! I like the name. I like that he thinks I’m a sweatpant-wearing riot on Twitter. I like the kind of baritoney voice, the samples that are all cut to sound like old video game music, and I really like the hook on “Hoop and Wire.”
See Boy Eats Drum Machine Fri Sept 10, 8:15 p.m. at the Someday Lounge.
See him instead of swim swam swum who definitely have potential but right now all their songs sound kind of the same.
Jared Mees and the Grown Children – If you, like me, are predisposed to like the sound of wonky voices and lots of people singing together, you are going to love Jared Mees as much as I am loving him. Think verbose lyrics full of elaborate imagery set to music that sounds like it was recorded right after the band rolled out of bed—kind of stiff, but still strangely intimate.
See Jared Mees Fri Sept 10, 10:15 p.m. at Someday Lounge—same as Boy Eats Drum Machine! I’d advise staying at this show all night except I intend to see The Tallest Man on Earth so I don’t want to talk the talk without walking the walk.
See them instead of… well, yikes. Jared Mees’s set overlaps Wiz Khalifa, if you’re into hip-hop (I’m too white), Man Man (Michael called them “a vaudeville band from the 40s on crack”), and Okkervil River who I guess are a big deal but my internet isn’t working too well right now for researching.
AgesAndAges - On the one hand, it’s like white people trying to do gospel music. On the other hand, the harmonies are SO FUCKING TIGHT. Love that old rootsy guitar riff on “No Nostalgia.”
See AgesAndAges on Sat Sept 11, 10 p.m. at Bunk Bar. Maybe sneak out a little/a lot early to catch Menomena.
Menomena – I’m cheating. These guys are blown up way beyond being “local” but I think I implied to a big fan that I was totes going to see them, so I have to mention them. Plus, between all of the other bands on at that time (Titus Andronicus, Portland Cello Project, The Smashing Pumpkins) would you blame me for seeing Menomena? I’ve seen the first two and, I mean, the Smashing Pumpkins?
Whatever.
Black Prairie – I called a moratorium on all-dude bands because I was tired of randomly selecting Portland bands and only seeing dudes. Black Prairie features three Decemberists, and two women among its ranks. Often-instrumental turn-of-the-century folk for when your vocal cords are raw and your eardrums are bleeding.
See Black Prairie Friday, Sep 10, 11 p.m. at Berbati’s Pan.
Oh my gosh, you guys, this is more tedious than blogging usually is. I need a team of one million monkey bloggers at typewriters to actually finish this and to revise that “It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times” bullshit. Let’s leave this list where it stands and be glad that I’ve stumbled onto some really sweet local bands! See if you can do better!
