Well, once again, I’m back. My return to Portland this time was like standing under a waterfall of crystal clear new music. The weekend I returned was coincidentally also the same weekend as SuperFest; a clusterfuck of incredible local Portland bands that tend to lean towards the electronic persuasion. The stage at Rotture was graced by such local superstars as, Guidance Counselor, What’s Up?, Explode into Colors, Starfucker, and YACHT. Everyone played exceptionally.
I want to focus on the last band mentioned here for a second. YACHT has been a source of mystery and confusion for me for sometime. They present themselves as a band but upon any further investigation one can conclude that under the surface they are indeed much more. They have a mantra, a doctrine of sorts that they live by (and preach). They are a club, a cult, creepily titled The YACHT Trust, yet only have two members. They invite everyone to join but the invitation is fruitless. Sounds like a gimmick, I know, but the presentation is so clean and the passion so evident I can’t help but swallow just a bit of the show.
Anyhow, they are about to release a new album on DFA entitled See Mystery Lights. My friends and I had a listening party the other night surrounding this record and I was entranced. There are some golden hits one this record, some spacey jams, and some WTFs. Give it a listen and read up on YACHT, you may find yourself getting sucked into the mystery lights.

YACHT – Psychic City

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YACHT – I’m In Love With A Ripper

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(for more whack shit on YACHT you should read this Portland Mercury blog post from back in March titled “Yacht Move Beyond the Realm of Music”. The YACHT Trust engages in an all out battle with a reader in the comments section below the article when the commenter dares question YACHT’s legitimacy. It’s hilarious.)

Um, dance party anyone? Introducing Jeffery Jerusalem. Power-pop meets late-70s disco meets Justice. Mr. Jerusalem started working on Grimace as solely a recording project a while back but soon found that recordings only go so far. The people want to hear it live. With no reason to argue, JJ took to the stage playing house shows and small venues. His complex explosions cannot be re-created live, but to that JJ has a simple solution: he simply plays his recordings live and dances around to the music whilst sometimes singing the vocal hooks. Perhaps the best thing about his live show is the satirical element. Jeffery knows he’s just hitting play and wants the crowd to know it too. He mocks all those who bring their pre-recorded tracks to the stage and twist knobs around pretending to be performing by smacking the keys of his key board in nonsensical jest or twisting a few knobs himself and looking up at the crowd and demonstrating, “See? This is what real DJs do.” He also brings some percussion up on stage with him, a set of quads and a reduced drum kit. Jerusalem is foremost a percussionist, joining other notable local outfits Inside Voices and Powernap. This record is a dance party in a package.

Jeffrey Jerusalem – Disco Dry Mouth

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Jeffrey Jerusalem – The Mockery

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[SPECIAL]: I’m putting up the entire album for download here for a limited time due to popular demand. Hopefully this will only aid in the imminent success of Mr. Jerusalem in any and all of his endeavors and not harm his efforts in anyway. Love, Andrew

I woke up yesterday with a full song in my head. This is a ROUGH ROUGH ROUGH demo of the basic idea laid out. I need to find a way to make more substantial beats. Drumming on the back of my guitar wont cut it anymore.

In other news, I just got a ukulele! My good bud Cory Mack passed along his old one so I’d have and instrument to travel with. What a guy. No uke on the following track, however.

Royal – Doit Forme

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Ok, so I know I already wrote about Bitte Orca but as soon as I did I got a nasty email from Domino Records telling me to take down the links to the songs I had posted. I’ve gotten a couple requests to put the links up and I figure it’s close enough to the record’s release date that Domino might have accepted the release of a few songs to the greater good. Also, I was fortunate enough to catch a good portion of their set this last weekend at The Roseland opening up for TV on the Radio (dang Roseland starting their shows on time makes me miss music). They totally killed it and make me look forward SO HARD to their headlining gig at Holocene in July. For those of you who come to me looking for some new tunes, read the last post and listen to the following:

Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource

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Dirty Projectors – Remade Horizon

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I got very excited last fall when Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors walked past my front porch in Portland, Oregon. I stopped him and asked him what he was doing in town (knowing that they were based in Brooklyn). He immediately became bashful at the fact that I had recognized him but, to quickly answer my question, he told me that the Dirty Projectors we recording in Portland. This information, straight from the source, was confirmation that i would be getting a new Dirty Projectors record sometime in the future. I let him go so I could sit back and fantasize about what the follow-up to 2007′s Rise Above would sound like…. Would it be another concept/cover album? Would it be as mind-fuckingly amazing? Well don’t worry, dear readers; speculate no further, Bitte Orca has arrived. This album trumps Merriweather, smashes Veckatimest, and most certainly rises above, Rise Above. It’s all 100% original material; no cover/concept this time, and it has fucked my mind repeatedly.
The Dirty Projectors have created a record that satisfies all of the criteria I look for when seeking out new listening material. First, and foremost, it’s intelligent. It makes me THINK; about making music, about what music should be and where it should be going. It sets and example for the rest of us, it takes sound in a brave direction, as all new music should. Second, it’s beautiful. The females (Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman) take a leading role on many of the songs (as the album cover might suggest) and sew us through the rest of the record with their flawless, engaging harmonies. Longstreth’s song writing is kept simple at times and taken straight from outer space at others. At it’s root, this is pop record. But the Dirty Projectors have a delightful way of taking something we all know and are familiar with and pushing it to an extreme that no other musical outfit could have accomplished.

The Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource (DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST)

The Dirty Projectors – Remade Horizon (DOWNLOAD LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST)

Last night I went to a party celebrating the first official monetary compensation received by Portland band Nurses from their new label, Dead Oceans (Akron/Family, Dirty Projectors, Phosphorescent). In honor of their celebration I figured I give them some well-deserved internet love. I have had the pleasure of watching Nurses over the past year slowly rise to the tipping point they are at now. This band has so much potential it’s thrilling to think where they’ll be one year from today. Their debut album, Apple’s Acre, (CORRECTION: their debut record was called Hanging Nothing But Their Hands Down) is a dreamy walk through a damp psychedelic forest. Minor chords and reverb are the trees stretching too high into the air to make out their end and ominous samples make up a dense fog, making it difficult to see quite where you’re going. I highly recommend checking this band out and giving them as much love as you have to give. Also look for a new track from Nurses on the new Tender Loving Empire compilation, Friends and Friends of Friends Vol. 2 coming out May 16th.

Nurses – Technicolor

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Nurses – Apple’s Acre

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Nurses – Lita

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Last Sunday, completely by happenstance, I caught wind of a Shout Out Out Out Out show happening, and my ears perked. I had seen no previous advertisement for such a show but I looked into it and sure enough, the rumors were true. This was a band I used to spin on college radio with my lovely co-host Anna Santiago on our show which was amply titled Fascist Molasses back in 2005 or something. They had then just released a record called Not Saying, Just Saying, which has stuck with me for all these years. It’s a great GREAT dance record. Shout Out Out Out Out, hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, has since evolved into a psych-pop-analog synth-dance outfit. In other words: fucking awesome. There were about 12 total people at the show (including the band and the opening band) which made for the most intimate 4 person dance party EVER. I was enthralled. It completely brought me back to the days when SOOOO was on heavy rotation on WXJM and I was hosting 4 person dance parties in my dorm room. The show telepoted me to another planet, made me dance on that planet, and then rocketed me back to somewhere close to home. They just released a new record, Reintergration Time, in Canada which will be released in the US in May, I think. The record is an appropriate follow-up from (what should be) everyone’s new favorite psych-pop-analog synth-dance band. They certainly have to work on their Portland fan base though…

Shout Out Out Out Out – Bad Choices

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Shout Out Out Out Out – Forever Indebted (off of Not Saying, Just Saying)

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Photo from the Valentines show 3-23-09

This picture below is out-dated; that gnarly beard has since been harnessed into an authoritative mustache (pictured above). Inside Voices is from Portland. These are folks who manage to create one of the small glimmers of ingenuity out there that remind us that there are still rustic musical paths to traverse in an otherwise well-beaten auditory forest. Their songs are long swaths of wind meandering across empty fields strew with the carcasses of abandoned tractors. Simple song structure led, often times, by a steel string slide guitar (John Gnorski) are backed by appropriate bass (Lee Stack). The percussion (Jeff Brodsky) is what truly seals the deal. Spacious but assertive polyrhythms give the songs something more than the average 4/4, kick, snare, kick, snare, you might expect from songs about the range and rolling waves. If that weren’t enough, the two standing musicians manage to drip perfect vocal harmonies across the songs in a, what seems like, effortless fashion.

They are currently working on their debut album which I hope to be involved in making the artwork for. They will also be featured on Tender Loving Empire’s new comp, Friends and Friends of Friends Vol. 2, coming out in May. This track, “Bombay Beach” is a personal favorite.

Inside Voices – Bombay Beach

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Check out Inside Voices this Monday at Valentine’s or Thursday at Backspace.

We all had high expectations for this record, right? Well let me be one of the first to put your minds at ease, it’s glorious.

Grizzly Bear’s last record, Yellow House, was production perfection. The recording was done in some sort of church-like building to evoke the full feeling of a religious experience when listening. They certainly achieved something close to that as many, including myself, were enthralled with that record.

Their follow up would either reveal that Yellow House was a fluke and couldn’t be built upon or that it was the showing of Grizzly Bear’s true colors and the first drop in a stream of lovely music. Veckatimest is a welcomed step in the correct direction. Well-constructed songs with beautiful vocal parts and dreamy themes make this record a delightful listen. Brian Wilson is apparent somewhere in the consciousness’ of the song writers as we are carried across cloud-like oooohs and aaahhs by a demanding and sure bass line. Grizzly Bear have done a good thing here. They kick off their US tour in Portland this May, one day before this record is released. It should be a great show and I fully intend to be there to join them in transcending time and space.

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Grizzly Bear – All We Ask

Below is Grizzly Bear’s Take Away Show from La Blogotheque.

Dan Deacon might be insane, might be a genius, or might just have a TON of time on his hands, but either way, he rules. His new record, Bromst, is chaos. It’ll give you an epiphany, acid trip, and a seizure all at the same time, yet for some reason I can’t stop listening to it. It’s electro noise pop at it’s absolute finest. Even if you’re not completely into this record, this is some material that is worth hearing, just once, so you know what it’s like to go insane; and if you’re already insane and are hearing Bromst, it just might cure your insanity.

This video appeared on Pitchfork.tv this week. It gives a little glimpse into the Bromst recording sessions. I chose this clip because in it Deacon explains the mechanism they used to hook up a midi controller to a player piano. They rigged the sucker so he can compose ridiculously complex midi tracks on the computer and pipe them into a player piano and get the physical, real sound of an acoustic piano. It’s incredible. The sound is amazing. This video is a must watch.

Dan Deacon – Build Voice

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Dan Deacon – Snookered

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You can watch the entire show here.