“Nightmare” mixes post-punk and fuzz for a highly infectious coldwave sound. It’s a bit odd, coming from Seattle. The fuzz seeps into everything, the harmony vocals, the percussion, all stemming from the guitar. Grave Babies maintain the nonchalant-ness of their chosen genre, yet there’s something oddly upbeat and positive about “Nightmare”. Read More »Grave Babies: Nightmare
Dana Buoy (aka Dana Janssen, percussionist for Akron/Family) is set to release his debut LP (Summer Bodies) on May 8, courtesy Lefse Records. “Call To Be” is the first tune to be released from the album and it’s an interesting pop song, upbeat in a tropical Pacific Northwest meets NYC sort of way. (I know, huh!?) It’s dreamy, hypnotic, but most intriguing of all, it has a sci-fi beach sound to it that’s unquestionably awesome. Read More »Dana Buoy: Call To Be
White Fence is the project of Tim Presley (Darker My Love), and it rocks. Presley joins fuzzy psychedelic sounds with hazy garage pop on “Swagger Vets and Double Moon”. It’s similar in its pop sensibilities to the track “Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” off Is Growing Faith, but it’s even catchier thanks to the psychedelic aspects Presley employs.
Read More »White Fence: Swagger Vets and Double Moon 
One of my favorite elements of shoegaze is its tendency to combine monumental, spacey guitar riffs with dreamy, oft wispy vocals. Conduits excel at this pairing on their new track “Top of the Hill”. Likewise, the typical shoegaze darkness persists, all encompassing but not entirely overwhelming. There’s energy here, but it’s not the torment so often found in post-rock. Read More »Conduits: Top of the Hill
“Serpents” is a complete departure from Sharon Van Etten‘s early work. Admittedly, I missed her sophomore release, Epic from 2010, but was fully entranced by her debut, 2009’s Because I Was In Love.
Read More »Sharon Van Etten: Serpent (First Listen) Black Marble is Ty Kube and Chris Stewart, who produce somewhat minimalist synth music. With a synth drum beat, a… Read More »Black Marble: Pretender
Portland’s Y La Bamba returns Februar 28 with a new record called Court The Storm on Tender Loving Empire. The… Read More »Y La Bamba: Squawk
Guy Capecelatro III’s last name may be hard to pronounce, but the list of people he’s opened for are anything but. This list includes the venerable Elliott Smith, Bill Callahan’s SMOG, and the late Vic Chesnutt. Furthermore, he’s a frequent collaborator in a current favorite: Brown Bird. Excited yet? I am.
Read More »Guy Capecelatro III: Like Anything 
Isidore, if you’re unaware, is Jeffrey Cain (formerly of Remy Zero) and Steve Kilbey (The Church), with the former on instrumentals and the latter lending vocal expertise. The collaboration came as a surprise, after Cain passed along an instrumental album to Kilbey only to receive it back later with vocals added in. The duo is now poised to release Life Somewhere Else on Valentine’s Day. Read More »Isidore: Song Of The City (MP3 Premiere)
I always get excited when something new by Eux Autres comes across my desk. The ex-Portland, now San Francisco brother-sister… Read More »Eux Autres: Right Again
