Can you tell I miss you?

Beautiful photograph by my friend Kit Crenshaw

I know it’s so two weeks ago, ancient history in the blog world, but I’ve been hoarding off these photos from the free YACHT show that took place outside City Hall, in downtown Portland since I shot them. Originally, I was just gonna let it go but yesterday I was listening to See Mystery Lights and, as they do, YACHT began to chant: “YOU CAN LIVE ANYWHERE YOU WANT” came blaring from my car speakers as if they were trying to penetrate my subconscious. They were talking to that little demon that most of us have that tells you the exact opposite.

See, recently I’ve made a move. I’ve left Portland, land of magic and all things good, for the mysterious unknown that is New Zealand. I haven’t gone for any particular reason, I just want to know what it’s like to live there. I think this phrase that YACHT preaches is an important concept to factualize. You can in fact live wherever you want. There is often times nothing, very little if anything, stopping you. Sure, petty tings like monetary obligations and employment commitments might seem daunting, but nothing is permanent. You can always get a new job. You can always find a new place to live. You will meet new people. You are in control. I’m speaking to your demon, specifically; that little sting that hits you when daydreaming. Some call it reality; I call it negativity. I don’t mean to say that everyone should be doing what I’m doing. I just want to give a little push of reassurance to those of you who want to travel but feel tied down; a reminder: You can live anywhere you want.

YACHT – It’s Boring/You Can Live Anywhere

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Saturday night I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends in the whole world, Portland Oregon. I am opening a new chapter in the Book of Sloan with a valiant move around the world to New Zealand. I am thrilled to keep the adventure rolling but I just want to say, Portland, I’ll always love you.

I had a party Saturday that was of epic status, enough to make The Portand Mercury jealous! Very good friends of mine from various walks across the Portland musical spectrum played in my living room to send me off on my journey (it was also my birthday). My good buddy Dorian aka Dobird started the evening off with his sampla-delic beat driven drone jams. A perfect beginning to the night. Shortly after, local electronic beat master/re-mixer Jeffery Jerusalem set up in my living room.

Jeff threw down so hard. The dance party was in full swing at this point, it’s impossible to not dance when JJ’s dancing around to the sound of his laptop blaring through a P.A. whilst shaking his LED tambourine. Jeff played a great set, as always.

Starfucker KILLED IT. I was honored to have the only Starfucker show of the summer be at my house, at a party for me. They played a full set and kept asking me for requests. A few songs in, it became too unbearably hot to stay clothed so most were compelled to get naked. We had to keep the windows and doors shut on account of the noise; fortunately the cops only came once. I feel so much love from all the people who were willing to come hang out on my last night, the bands who hauled all their gear and played in a cramped, sweaty living room and Portland as a city that enabled me to realize these amazing things. Portland, you ain’t seen the last of me.

Afterwards, needless to say, we had a dance party until 4am; right up until I drove myself to the airport. Above is a photo of my crowdsurfing.
Much Love,
Andrew

Many thanks to Benji Bilheimer for shooting that night. All of Benji’s photos can be seen here.

Another more successful attempt at the stereogif technique. This series of photos was taken at Powell Butte yesterday afternoon. I didn’t use a tripod or anything for this one and I think it shows. It will continue to be possible to shoot still subjects with relative ease but with just one lens I wont be able to sterogif-ize moving subjects like the rad shot from the live show below.

This last Saturday was host to one of the biggest weekend days in music in Portland so far this summer. The Mississippi Street Fair on N Mississippi had dozens of open doors with live music pouring out into the streets for pedestrians to discover. Pix Patisserie on N Williams and Failing hosted a Bastille Day celebration by setting up a stage and having some great Portland locals stop by such as World’s Greatest Ghosts, Reporter, Alan Singley, The Shaky Hands, and many others. As the daytime fairs were closing down it was time to head over to Worksound for the Wampire cassette tape release party feature more local gems; May Ling, Rob Walmart, E*Rock, and Deelay Ceelay. That show was quite the hot spot however Worksound needs to work on it’s sound (Everything was muddy as hell that night) It was one of those days in Portland where you can decide which show to go to because there are just so many damn good shows all around. Oh, woe is me… The above show was recorded at Mississippi Station late in the afternoon.

Wampire at Worksound

Deelay Ceelay at Worksound

Dirty Mittens at Mississippi Station

Reporter at Pix Patisserie

After a super successful benefit show I finally have my computer back. The Universe is back in order. All is well. Animated GIFs are awesome.

Thanks to Justin for this one. I'd like to make a more successful stereogif in the future.

Getting right along with the storm of new music about which I promised to preach, I give you, What’s Up? Calling Portland their home, What’s Up? is relatively new to the scene. Really, actually they came the fuck out of nowhere and are blowing up quick. I kept hearing their name around town and decided to catch their set at the Artistery a few months back which also happened to be their album release show for their debut Content Imagination. They crushed it. Delivering methodically smart crunch math, these guys know how to play. Their songs have the unique and infinitely desirable quality of harnessing complex time signatures and alien song structure and still getting the listener to bob their head. The beat, although complex, really fuckin drives. They hold it together and make distorted math instrumentals accessible to the everyman, in a good way. They’re currently doing a bunch of west coast dates with Dirty Projectors and then the lucky assholes fly to Europe for another tour with more awesome bands like Deerhoof. Definitely give this record a try, out on Obey Your Brain… and how about that album cover? SO dope.

What’s Up – Season’s Greetings

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What’s Up – Yes

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Guidance Counselor 7-4-09 from Andrew Sloan on Vimeo.

A bit delayed on the recap of what was, without a doubt, the best 4th of July since 1776, but this story needs to be told. While attending a show mid afternoon at The Meat Factory, a local house venue, my fellow patriots and I witnessed the breakdown of the event at hand. The first two bands had played a bit too loud for the neighbors and the landlord was threatening eviction; the party was over. Portland experimental electro-dance favorites, Guidance Counselor, were on deck in the line up to play and had just lost their venue. I had a 90 minute IPA and a PBR 40oz in me and without hesitation my hand flew up as I blurted, “WHY don’t you guys play on MY PORCH?!” Needing a place to play and feeling that it was a relatively OK idea, G.C. obliged. I raced home, put on some French pop and made my front porch band worthy. Upon my arrival I found that the back yard, which also happens to be home to legendary food carts Potato Champion and Perierra Crêperie among others, was LIVE AS FUCK. The Champ had rented a moonbounce and they were setting up to have some more excellent locals (Wampire, May Ling, Breakfast Mountain, and Deelay Ceelay) play in the cart lot. There were tons of people about. Guidance Counselor set up and before the tunes could get going in the food cart lot they began to play. I ran back to the cart lot, where most of the hungry cart-enthusiasts were waiting for Wampire to start, grabbed a mic and announced through a tunnel of digital delay and reverb that G.C. was about to play a rouge set on my porch 40 ft away. They flocked. G.C. killed it, playing from my porch to humans flooding the sidewalks and streets. I took a video of a complete song which I think encapsulates the energy appropriately. It was incredible. I was on top of the world. Coolest. thing. ever.

Immediately following Guidance Counselor’s set Wampire began to play in front of the giant inflatable jumping castle in the back yard. All my guests migrated to the cart lot to observe. Wampire was super good. As they played joyous pop hooks over drum machine San Francisco’s Dad Fag set up on my porch. We had begun the sickest impromptu Independence Day festival the world has even know. The night continued on like this with fireworks abounding. From the lot to the porch, porch to the lot. French fries, beer, explosions.

Below is a video shot by Minh Tran posted by the Portland Mercury’s blog. For a better idea of all of the madness that was this past 4th of July take a peek. The video follows the adventures of a wandering poutine as it meanders through the chaos. I’ll never forget this shit.

July 4th 2009, 12th and Hawthorne, Portland, Oregon from Minh Tran on Vimeo.

Portland Mercury – 4th of July Madness

Guidance Counselor

Recently I completed what has immediately become the best trip of my life. It was a road trip on paper but felt like so much more in my brain and in my chest. Traveling with two of the finest individuals this world has ever known, together we saw the sights, grew immensely as humans, and by the end had molded into one autonomous being. This is the truncated tale of our journey.

This first set of photos was taken in Austin, Texas, the first stop on my journey. I flew to meet two of my most incredible friends who had already been driving since Virginia. They had run into their fair share of hardships on route to Texas and were grateful that the three of us were united and could begin. Austin was nice. The girls enjoyed blowing tons of cash at the over priced vintage shops and I got a kick out of Austin’s food cart offerings. Me, being a huge food cart enthusiast, take this subject very seriously. Down on Austin’s S. Congress St. one can fine a Cupcake trailer and a nice frozen yogurt truck; both varieties of which Portland has yet to see. I couldn’t help but compare Austin to Portland since it is so often referred to as our sister city. Overall, Austin is small, hot, and although it may have some hip shops and a fledgling music scene one must remember, when in Austin, you’re still in Texas.

The following few days were spent in Taos, New Mexico. Taos is situated in the high desert of northern New Mexico nestled gracefully in a valley with surrounding peaks. We camped the first night on the edge of the Rio Grande gorge (pictured above). We arrived at midnight and set our tent up in the dark only to awake to find that we were just meters from the edge of the gorge. In Taos proper we met up with my second cousins who took us on an elaborate tour of the town that no outsider would ever get to see without the in. Riding in the back of my relative’s pick up we were shown all sorts of alternative housing such as aluminum can houses and underground “earthships”. While driving we passed though a small rainstorm which shortly after delivered a double rainbow to us; this just might have been the most magical moment in history.

The following days took us across Arizona on Route 40 through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forrest. Above, Christina is perched, looking out unimpressed at the nothingness that can be the Arizona badlands. We headed south briefly for a stop in Sedona to visit the rumored energy vortexes that dot the region. Apparently, fluxes in the electro-magnetic spectrum energize certain rock formations and create excellent apexes for mediation, healing, enlightenment, etc. Sedona is a beautiful town plopped in the forests that live in between giant red rock spires. The view is breathtaking from within city limits but the vortexes are just a short drive out of town and that’s where the real magic happens. We climbed Bell Vista and had a bit of a visceral experience ourselves. The lower of the two photos is the view from the top of Bell Vista (a position only I was able to attain).

We arrived at the edge of the Grand Canyon again, at midnight, and again, managed to camp with in 4 feet from the cliff. The following morning we hiked 10 miles down into the throws of the canyon. Some parts were straight down and others were more gradual. The scenery was other-worldly, martian-esque. As we got deeper into the crevice the scenery turns from desert to forest as natural springs begin to appear. After passing through the small Native American settlement of Supai we made our way the final 2 miles to our designated campsite. The campsite is capped by two UNBELIEVABLE waterfalls (above). Limestone-enriched, sapphire-blue water pours over the edges of red rock canyon walls. This area is surreal, dream like. While there we felt like we were transcending time and space, indescribable really. The water was perfect for swimming and fresh springs abounded for drinking. Dear everyone, go here before you die.

After a brief 3-day stop in L.A. we began our drive up Route 1 all along the Pacific Coast. Again, breathtaking. I literally wept during the drive it was so beautiful. The road hugs a cliff face for hundreds of miles and all you see curves and immaculate coast line, crashing waves and the bluest ocean. Another must-do before death. The Royal Theater was in Guadalupe, California. This pretty sign will serve nicely as my album cover.

We ate In N Out Burger in San Francisco. Double Double Animal Style. SO good.

San Francisco was really cool. I regret not spending more time there but we were on a bit of a time constraint. I look forward to going back and exploring. Decent burritos, pretty city, nice people. The sea lions at Pier 39 were REAL cool. They are just constantly fighting, very entertaining. We hiked around Golden Gate Park for about 5 hours looking for buffaloes but couldn’t find them.
Then we drove to Portland, saw Nurses and the girls got tattoos. The girls dropped me off and left on very sad terms. I’m actually still sad about it. I wish that road trip could have lasted forever. I fucked me up in the head in a really good way. I’m grateful to have had the means and the balls to take a trip like this. Take a cross country road trip with your best friends before you die.

Love,

Andrew

We finally organized it. It’s happening. My good friend Joe (Skip Roxy) and I put this show together to scrape together some change in an effort to get me some dollars back for my stolen computer. I am super grateful that all these awesome bands are willing to throw down for me. I am one of the lucky ones. Come to the show if you can. $3.

PC-PDX Listing
Facebook Event Listing

World’s Greatest Ghosts Myspace
Repoter’s Myspace
Yeah Great Fine’s Myspace
Skip Roxy’s Myspace