Willamette Week Highlights Alameda's New Album For Their Portland Album Release Show!

"Procession (unsurprisingly, produced by Point Juncture, WA's, Skyler Norwood at his Miracle Lake studio) is immaculately orchestrated in a way that not only grabs attention but underscores the finer points of Myles' punchy poetry. That helps put the band on at least one of those aforementioned "exceptions" lists: mine." Read the full review over on WWeek.

Ray Raposa Of Raymond Byron & The White Freighter Interviewed On Willamette Week!

"You can hear the ease of creation on Little Death Shaker, the first release under the name Raymond Byron & the White Freighter (Byron is one of Raposa’s two middle names). The songs are warm and relaxed, unfurling slowly with ropes of fuzzed-out guitar and slinky rhythms. Sometimes they take on the guise of a shit-kicking country shuffle (“Some of My Friends”) or a lost-in-space ballad (“Stateline”), but the songs never lose that unhurried approach." Keep reading over on Willamette Week.

Mike Coykendall's "The Hippie Girl (feat. Ben Gibbard, Eric Earley, Zooey Deschanel) Willamette Week's Cut of The Day!

"As on previous efforts, there's no single genre or style at play on Dots. "The Hippie Girl," which features some ghosty slide guitar from Eric Earley and lite guest vocals from the New Girl and Ben Gibbard, is a breather at the start of the album's B-side, which is more psychedelic than its A-side. Coykendall's fuzzy guitar reminds me of Os Mutantes, but his voice is as sweet and Beatles-inspred as ever. And that hippie girl is, in case you were wondering, totally perfect for you." Read on and listen here. 

Raymond Byron & the White Freighter's New LP Among Willamette Week's Most Anticipated!

"Raymond Byron & the White Freighter, Little Death Shaker (Sept. 4)
We sorta expected this album from the Castanets’ frontman to be a twangy Americana album, but it rocks really, really hard." Read the full list here. 

Ben Mason's "Skin Warming Skin" Cut Of The Day At Willamette Week!

"His delicate voice - multi-tracked gleefully - is put to perfect use as he matches the every dramatic swoop and pulse of the instruments on the original. Makes for a nice counterpart to the haunting version found on Gibson's latest album La Grande." Listen now at Willamette Week.

Willamette Week Reviews Ozarks' Latest Album!

"Augspurger’s musical project, Ozarks, evidences a similar relationship with the past. He doesn’t long for the golden age of minimal psychedelic pop, he’s just hell-bent on rebuilding it—every delicate acoustic guitar strum, doubled electric guitar solo, organ blast, tambourine hit and druggy bass line—for his own contemporary purposes." Read the full review here.

What Hearts' Julie Vitells Interviewed On Willamette Week!

"Other songs on What Hearts are just as fascinating in riding the line between autobiography and fiction; revealing and teasing—Vitells’ songs are as clean and narrow as nature slides seen through a View-Master. (Her sister is a recurring character—but only sometimes, she explains, is her sister really her sister.) She does credit one strong influence, ex-Portland quartet A Weather, for shaping that songwriting style." Read on at Willamette Week!

Palo Verde's "Zero Hour" Reviewed On Willamette Week!

"It’s best for everyone that Palo Verde limits itself to four songs here: Even in its truncated form, Zero Hour clocks in at 44 minutes and is likely to test the patience of all but the most committed guitar-tone enthusiast. But in that 44 minutes, the joy of anticipating Palo Verde’s next move, only to often be proven dead wrong, should hold as much appeal for bebop lovers as it does for metalheads. To great artists, strict creative parameters present opportunities. Palo Verde is going to ride this horse as far as it will take the band." Read the full review here.

CONGRATS TO PURE BATHING CULTURE ON BEING WILLAMETTE WEEK'S #2 BEST NEW BAND!!!

"There’s lots of space on Pure Bathing Culture’s self-titled debut EP, a record with obvious parallels to dream-poppy Baltimore duo Beach House. “Lucky One” has Versprille’s ephemeral vocals floating through subtly hypnotic, bloopy drums. Layers of guitar and vocals give “Ivory Coast,” a song the band says is about being obsessed with your muse, uncanny depth. “Silver Shore’s Lake” has a touch of Simply Red-style ’80s blue-eyed soul under layered electro haze. So far, Pure Bathing Culture has played only eight shows, the first in January at Doug Fir Lounge, and yet it has enough buzz to land on this list." Keep reading over on Willamette Week.

BRIDGETOWN COMEDY FESTIVAL STARTS TODAY; ON THE COVER OF THE PORTLAND MERCURY & IN WILLAMETTE WEEK!

Here's the link to the feature:
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/a-mountain-of-comedians/Content?oid=5911524

Wow and Flutter's "Tired of Waiting" Cut Of The Day At Willamette Week

"It's a scorcher of a tune, a boiling bit of post-punk tension that will singe your eyebrows if you get too close. The band's pop leanings gets some play too via the call and response vocals of guitarist Cord Amato and bassist Ryan Matheson. And dig that synth heavy breakdown that oozes out around the 3:30 mark." Listen to "Tired of Waiting" now over at Willamette Week.

Willamette Week Reviews Wow and Flutter's "Double Deuce" EP

"These days, Wow and Flutter has embraced its inner power trio, stripping down to a meatier, starchier attack that pairs well with a head-buzzing brew. The songs on Double Deuce are a furious lot, with the band’s punk upbringing coming boldly to the fore on “Big Guns” and “Little Red Scooter,” while still letting a little of the psychedelic sunshine in on longer tracks like the set closer “Black River.”" Read the complete review of "Double Deuce" at Willamette Week right here.

Nick Jaina and His Little Box of Lies - Meet The WW's New Columnist

"As a performer you want people to fall in love with you, but you know how hard that is. When you fall in love with someone special, it's like you've discovered the last remaining member of a forgotten species of bird. You stumble into the clearing of a meadow and there it is, all the feathers in place in such a perfect and determined way. You love it for the struggle it had to go through just to survive as such a rare creature."Check out Nick Jaina's new column for the Willamette Week's music section where this week he discusses "The Benefits of Obscurity".

Willamette Week raves about the new LP from Wow & Flutter!

"Equilibrio! (Italian for “balance”) is the band’s first release for Seattle upstart Mount Fuji Records, and it’s a darker, more eclectic record than the group’s last full-length, 2008’s punk-infused Golden Touch. There are a few moments here that rival just about any indie-rock record released this year: “Scars” sounds like a lost single from Sonic Youth’s late period (it would fit perfectly at the beginning of Rather Ripped), and “Union Pacific” skirts by with clattering rhythms and some nifty fretwork. “Ivan the Terrible” stomps with an evil sneer that’s new for the band, and closer “The Day Before the World Explodes” uses all of its six minutes to build to an epic, fuzzed-out and hopeful finale." Michael Mannheimer read the rest over at Willamette Week!