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Tag: Portland

Live Review + Photos | Wallpaper. at Wonder Ballroom (PDX)

Photos by Bobby Lilly Think back to your first concert. Odds are it was a grand production; you waited in line to buy tickets, and spent hours choosing the perfect outfit. Maybe you caught a ride with an older friend, maybe you got dropped off by your mom, maybe you had the cool parent who bought a ticket and hung out on the other side of the venue until the show was over. Regardless of logistics, it was exhilarating. That’s the atmosphere clouding the air at Wonder Ballroom tonight. As soon as the doors open, dozens of teenagers race inside. Most are wearing head-to-toe neon, though…

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Live Review | Mrs. Magician + Charts at Bunk Bar (PDX)

Photo by Carrie Johnston [W]ell-behaved punk-rockers are a sort of oxymoron, but maybe a punk fan over the age of thirty would appreciate the balance. Mrs. Magician’s thoroughly catchy debut album, “Strange Heaven,” leaves the impression of some misbehaved punk kids stretching out the legacy of their pop-punk predecessors. So much for first impressions. They now lie in that well-behaved camp attended by the other sage, post-punk, post-hardcore grown-ups like Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and Rocket From The Crypt. In fact, John Reis (who held a prominent hand in all aforementioned bands) produced and recorded “Strange Heaven.” and if you’re familiar…

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Photos | Sufjan Stevens (Christmas Sing-a-long) – Aladdin Theater (PDX)

Photos by Colin McLaughlin [I]n these last days before we all laugh at how the world didn’t end, it helps to have a place you can go that helps you to see there is also a lighter side to popular enthusiasm. Talking about Christmas songs, and the warm feelings that they bring to the unScrooge-like among us. Enter the patron saint of (experimental) indie folk, Sufjan Stevens who gives more to the altar of holiday cheer than most small townships and who decided that this was the year to take his new 5 CD holiday set “Silver and Gold” out on…

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Photos | The Lumineers + Y La Bamba – Crystal Ballroom (PDX)

Photos by Colin McLaughlin [M]ost bands give you a waiting period before they blow up. Time to fall in love before you start to feel like you’ve been slighted by the mainstream for stealing “your band.” Time to walk around with their words in your headphones before you hear those same songs pouring out of a Starbucks as you walk on by. Sorry, Lumineers fans. “Ho Hey” was just that good, so that time was lost to you. Now everyone has a hold of them. Don’t worry though. The Lumineers haven’t let any of this newfound fame and adoration go…

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Photos | Stars + Jets Overhead – Aladdin Theater (PDX)

Photos by Colin McLaughlin [T]here are people that are crushed by sadness, and then there are others that hold out hope for what comes after. Stars have always struck me as the latter. The types that will cheers heartache in a concert, because they see our days as a series of beautiful chances. “We wouldn’t have pop songs without it,” they said. I agree, it’s a fair trade, and one that they used to their advantage, no matter how sweet or sour their words ended up being. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting their performance to be so exuberant. I…

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Photos | METZ + Bison, Bison – Bunk Bar (PDX)

Photos by Colin McLaughlin [T]here is a crown to be won right now in the world of rock. It’s made to fit the band that rages harder, plays louder and pulls more frenzy out of the people that stand before them. Saturday night proved that METZ would wear it proudly, and that they are coming for it. Screams. Shivers. Hurled limbs. This is what rock shows are supposed to be like. They shouldn’t feel predictable. They should pierce you, and make you feel like your negatives have been offered up and stripped away. We lost that for awhile, but it’s alive…

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Preview | Stars at Aladdin Theater (PDX)

[E]motional, dynamic, intense. This is what you can expect from a Stars show. And because those three things are like honey to a bee, Music Savage is jumping at the chance to cover their Portland show at the Aladdin Theater. They’ll be supporting The North (out now) and its choice tracks (see: “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Get It“), but we’re sure they’ll also play some of those Set Yourself on Fire cuts you still jones for too. Dap. Join us on November 7th by getting a ticket here, and come say hi if you…

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Live Review | First Aid Kit (PDX)

Photos by Bobby Lilly [W]ith so many amazing bands and solo acts coming out of Sweden, particularly in the last 15 years, one wonders if there’s something in the water.  The country is widely known for cultivating and encouraging its talented citizens, and art of all kinds has become one of its most valuable exports as a result. This Friday, a pair of Sweden’s most recent gifts to the music scene made their way to Portland. The two sisters of First Aid Kit, born near Stockholm in 1990 and 1993, respectively, form a folk-pop duo that channels great musicians of…

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Live Review | The Jezabels (PDX – Music Experiment Show)

Photos by Bobby Lilly [T]here are moments in life that pulsate with possibilities – moments you know will blossom into incredible stories you will happily retell for years. So when someone offers you the opportunity to cover a local opener plus an Australian headliner who are playing aboard a sternwheeler on the Willamette River in a nautical steampunk-themed celebration, you do not refuse. You rearrange your schedule, work out the logistics, and you get on that boat. The aforementioned party was the third of four Music Experiment events scattered throughout the U.S. this year. This was the result of a…

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