If there was anything off Port St. Willow‘s EP from 2010 that could have been emphasized more, in my opinion, it would have been more percussion. As it stood, Even // Wasteland was a viable effort that launched Nick Principe into the indie music limelight. Principe is back with a full length LP called Holiday and on it, my dreams have come true. Read More »Port St. Willow: Holiday (Album Review)
While I haven’t written about Portland’s Pure Bathing Culture directly, they’ve already become mainstays on both my regular playlist and on my KSVR / KSVU weekly radio show. The duo of Daniel Hindman and Sarah Versprille create quite a full pop sound for there being just two. Early on, I became a big fan of their track “Ivory Coast” off their self-titled, debut EP, out now on Father/Daughter Recordings. Read More »Pure Bathing Culture: EP
What to say about Kishi Bashi? He tours with Of Montreal and Regina Spektor. He’s a founding member of Jupiter One. A side project of his called Cop Gravy will release its debut EP later this year on Joyful Noise Recordings (the same label that put out this LP, 151a). So to call Kishi Bashi new to the music scene would be false. He is a well-versed, well-traveled, and in fact quite notable multi-instrumentalist.
Read More »Kishi Bashi: 151a 
A 13-year hiatus after what I’m guessing was a single LP. Seems a bit odd, but The Shrouded Strangers do a good job pulling it off. Their hiatus included the band’s duo forming, recording under, and touring as two other bands. After forming in 1999 and dishing out their debut LP, Yes, We Are the Shrouded Strangers, the dynamic Harrisonburg, Virginia duo of Aaron Carlson and Mike Scutari have returned, now based out of Oakland, with Lost Forever. Read More »The Shrouded Strangers: Lost Forever
Damn. Why did I wait so long to check out anything off Cloud Nothings‘ new LP, Attack On Memory!? On a whim, I requested The Business in Anacortes hold a copy on vinyl for me after ordering Nat Baldwin’s phenomenal record People Changes. Today I picked up both, and Attack On Memory was the first to hit the record player. Read More »Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory
Nick Butcher is known, by the few who have had the honor of hearing his work, as a master of the indie avant garde, a purveyor of a unique blend consisting of free jazz and folk-tronica. It’s an odd combination, one that lends more so to the latter, but with an affection toward the former.
Read More »Nick Butcher: Free Jazz Bitmaps Vol. 1
Give any proper Helvetia release a listen, then throw on The Camp Century Sessions, and you’ll hear quite a difference. On The Lam, for example, is constructed and cohesive with songs fixated on at least some sort of structure. Here you get something else; there’s more volume, more experimentation, and perhaps even a hint more playfulness.
Read More »Helvetia | Camp Century Sessions | Album Review 
The opening 32 seconds of No Jams‘ opening track “Teenage Colony” is more than enough to get you hooked on Naked Gods. It has a light Teenage Fanclub feel to it, but stands distinctly on its own. Wild rock guitars, hook-packed songs, and great vocals; these songs are well constructed and thought-out. And, as I said, No Jams had me from the get-go. Read More »Naked Gods: No Jams
There’s something dark and eerie about the opening tracks of Damon Moon’s new LP, Lungs, Dirt & Dreams. The title track flirts with dreamy guitars, but not in the sense of the pleasant atmospheric; rather they echo through the darkness, seemingly coming from every direction. And then there’s Moon’s soft vocals somewhere between a mystery and a (surprise, surprise) whisper. Read More »Damon Moon and The Whispering Drifters
Seattle and Austin are both towns with very distinct personalities, both as cities and through the musicians that reside within. Yet here is one man — Jack Wilson — that flirts with geography, calling both locations home and melding together the two sounds for a style of folk-based americana rock that is entirely captivating. Read More »Jack Wilson: Jack Wilson
