“And This Is Our Music”: Brian Jonestown Massacre Live
If one assumes that true art begins in unhappiness, than the Brian Jonestown Massacre is the tragic sovereign of revisionist rock. Although the award-winning 2004 documentary DiG!, which candidly details the escalating beef between BJM and the Portland-based Dandy Warhols, effectively put BJM on the map as notoriously troubled shoegazers, the band has come to represent something greater [...]
Phantograms Never Die
Phantogram’s haunting, post-electronic dream pop oozes a certain amount of intoxication, and the epic performance by the New York duo at Eugene’s Willamette Valley Music Festival last Saturday was comparable to watching globules in a lava lamp. I pity any one who wasn’t in attendance. It really was a seductive—if not spellbinding—show. I recently had [...]
Build Me Up
Doug Martsch, Patron Saint of Rock On November 15 Doug Martsch, in a brown rain jacket and a thinning mop of hair, climbed the WOW Hall stage with his Built To Spill band mates and dutifully setup shop sans roadies. “Christ,” I thought. “These guys are geezers!” Initially, I questioned whether going to the concert [...]
Subject Matter: Interview w/The Subjects
Jimmy Carbonetti and Matt Iwanusa met Dave Skeinkopf and Joe Smith in high school. Dave and Joe were Jimmy and Matt’s teachers. The guys bonded over their love of music, a band was formed and so the story goes. The non-conventional teacher-pupil collaboration has proved successful. Though high school was four years ago, the teachers [...]
