Sharon Jones, the middle-aged ex-prison guard with incredible soul-singing chops, is commonly dubbed “a female James Brown.” Hailing from Brown’s hometown, expounding upon the funky, soulful sound that Brown helped pioneer, the two doubtless share much in common. On Tuesday night, with the support of her eight-piece band, the Dap Kings, Jones proved to a sold-out Crystal Ballroom just how accurate the comparison is. Her excited whoops, shrieks, and hollers; her sassy, salty jive talk; her vintage dance moves (e.g., the Augusta boogaloo); and her intense, unwavering energy all underscored her role as Godmother of Soul.

This year, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings released their fourth record, I Learned the Hard Way, another masterpiece of classic soul songwriting, genius instrument arrangements, and stunning vocal performance. Swimming against the currents of the digital age, the Dap Kings record their real (that is, non-synthesized) instruments on analogue equipment only, producing the subtle sound quality of old soul vinyl. Who cares about musical innovation? If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And there ain’t nothing broke about Motown-era soul and funk.

At their Portland appearance, Jones and her band—a trumpeter, two sax-wielders, two guitarists, a bass player, two percussionists, and two harmonizing backup divas—played a mix of new hits and old standbys. Sharon’s showwomanship was jaw-dropping; by the show’s close, she was sweat drenched and hoarse. As for the Dap Kings, a virtuoso chanteuse like Jones couldn’t ask for better accompaniment; unlike most bands of such scale, they played as one, no one member outshining another. They were an evenly stretched, well-primed canvas upon which Sharon Jones, soul’s badass godmother, applied her vibrant vocal color.

Rated: Eighty out of Degrees Fahrenheit

Related posts:

1. Mayer Hawthorne: Soul-Singing Sensation Mayer Hawthorne, signee to the infallible hip-hop label Stones Throw...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

photo by Carolina Riveria

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 the chance to interview Josh Carter of the group. Here is what he had to say on the West Coast, the music industry and the future of Phantogram.

Fond memories from your last visit to Eugene?

Indeed! We had a great time playing the Willamette Valley Fest. The crowd was awesome!

Any thoughts on the West Cost vs. your native East?

So far, we have enjoyed playing the West Coast very much. We’ve had awesome response to our music on both coasts – the Midwest is great too! We haven’t really gotten to play a lot of shows in the South yet. We are looking forward to getting down there soon. There are nice people and jerky people everywhere we go… We prefer meeting friendly, sincere people.
We definitely miss home on the East Coast right now, because we’ve been on tour for a month and will continue to tour for a while.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?

Beat-heavy pop, with spacey synths, swirling guitars, chopped up samples, honest, emotional lyrics, and a lot of texture.

What are major influences to the band, musically and otherwise?

Musically- everything from Debussy to Talking Heads, Curtis Mayfield to Slowdive, The Beatles to J Dilla…. We like all kinds of music. We draw a lot of inspiration from film and movies, too. Some of our favorite directors are David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Michel Gondry…

And what’s your favorite thing about music and the industry today?

My favorite thing about music is that it is as close as you can get to spirituality or the heart and soul of an individual. Music can touch people in ways that most other things can’t. It gets under your skin.

What’s the meaning behind the word ‘phantogram’?

A phantogram is a two-dimensional optical illusion that appears in three dimensions. We thought that ‘Phantogram’ would be a good name for our band as we are a two-piece that creates a stereophonic sound – a sound much larger than you would expect from two people.

Any acts you would like to collaborate with?

We would’ve liked to collaborate with Sparklehorse. RIP Mark Linkous. It would be cool to do scores for films too.

What are your three must have songs on a dance party mix?

EMF’s “Unbelievable”, Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, and “I Would Die For You” by Prince.

Besides a wealth of tour dates, what does the future have in store for Phantogram?

Lots of more music and albums!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Andre Nickatina, formerly known as Dre Dog, brought some Bay Area rap to  WOW Hall on Friday April 16th. The after party was held at the strip club that Nickatina himself just opened in our very own Springfield. They announced this before Nickatina came out while throwing dollar bills out into the audience; it was classy.  The audience was similar to a frat party, a lot of drunk grinding, but Andre Nickatina was on his game.  I had been nervous because I heard that you either get a really good show or a really bad show from Nickatina, depending on how drugged out he is prior to his performance.  Luckily I got a good one, so either he took it easy this time or he’s just mastered the art of rapping while under the influence.

He played Conversation with the Devil early on which was a relief, because it’s one of his best songs.  Killa Whale was a hit as the whale calls echoed through the room.  He also did Dice of Life (Cuz all my homies love the bottle, like Tyson loves Cus D’amatooo) which is great mainly because it’s over an Irish, medieval melody created by what sounds like a mandolin. He had the crowd  enthusiastically spell  C-O-C-A-I-N-E (several times) prior to “ayo for yayo, walk around with yayo, all in my nasal, I must have been craze yo”.  Around the middle of the show he yelled to the smokey audience, “Let’s give it up for drugs and alcohol, without them I wouldn’t be here today.” I think we all can learn something from this San Franciscan Pisces’ lyrics: “So on the days you feelin’ real bad, think of the best week that you’ve ever had.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Portugal. The Man is playing WOW Hall tonight with Hello Electric.  Doors open at 7:30, music starts at 8.  The band shares the hometown of Wasilla, Alaska with Sarah Palin, but relocated to Portland, Oregon. (I wonder why…)  They play bluesy, folk, indie rock that sometimes is a little psychedelic.  Basically they got it all covered.  Some of their popular albums include Censored Colors and The Satanic Satanist.  There newest album was released March 2nd this year and is called American Ghetto.  You need to listen to the music to really get it, so I’m just going to leave you with this…

All the low is still low
And all the high still get high
How I wish we could dance

See you tonight.

Related posts:

1. Blue Scholars Tonight @ the WOW Hall Blue Scholars are playing the WOW Hall tonight Friday,...
2. ‘Spoon’ing tonight at McDonald Theater Tonight, the McDonald Theater welcomes Austin, Texas based band...
3. TOBACCO Hits Eugene’s WOW Hall This SUNDAY Emerging from the sleepy backwoods of rural Pennsylvania, Black...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Their style is funky fresh, and they have almost a British-feel to their music that speaks to the indie crowds. If you’re in the area and wanna check out some awesomeness, stop by the McDonald Theater to check out Spoon. At least I know I’ll be there!

Related posts:

1. Portugal. The Man Tonight @ WOW Hall Portugal. The Man is playing WOW Hall tonight with...
2. Gorillaz: Revolutionizing The Music Industry With just one day before Gorillaz’s new CD Plastic...
3. TOBACCO Hits Eugene’s WOW Hall This SUNDAY Emerging from the sleepy backwoods of rural Pennsylvania, Black...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Blue Scholars are playing the WOW Hall tonight Friday, April 2 along with Macklemore with Ryan Lewis, Bambu, and DJ Phatrick. Doors open at 8 pm. The Blue Scholars are Geologic (Geo) on the mic and Sabizi on the beats. The Northwest hip-hop duo (originating in Seattle) is known for expressing their political beliefs through their rhymes. With all the tickets sold out and having just released a new CD inspired by Hawaii, you can bet these guys will put on a great show, seeing as they played a free University of Oregon ASUO-sponsored show last year attended by over 4000 students and fans.

As a an extra, Macklemore is another politically conscious rapper, who just started getting recognized with his new album with Ryan Lewis, they creatively work samples from other songs, including ones form artists like Beirut and Red Hot Chili Peppers into their beats. All in all it should be good. If you got tickets, see you tonight. Bring your Northwest pride.

Related posts:

1. Two Scholars Rock Fresh, North by Northwest I walked into WOW hall during Bambu’s set. He had a...
2. Portugal. The Man Tonight @ WOW Hall Portugal. The Man is playing WOW Hall tonight with...
3. TOBACCO Hits Eugene’s WOW Hall This SUNDAY Emerging from the sleepy backwoods of rural Pennsylvania, Black...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I arrived out the WOW Hall and the band Good Friday was playing and praising Jesus while playing acoustic guitars. Their music was decent, but I was not expecting to hear Christian camp songs so I ran outside and waited for the next band.

The next band, the Horribalistics, true to their name, certainly didn’t put on a great show. They’re another generic punk band. They played loud, fast and simple, but lacked the raw energy and anger that style of music requires to create a great show. They were unable to draw in the crowd, but they were following a Christian band. Any fans of the previous band were probably now offended and left.

The bands that stood out were Drebin and Tullis. Tullis put on a great show except that they sound too much like Floater without enough variation to create their own style. Unlike putting a punk band after a Christian band, Tullis was a good way to get the crowd ready for the next band: Drebin.

Drebin also sounds similar to Floater, but Drebin distances themselves from a Floater clone because their sound is  funkier because of their loud, funky and aggressive slap bass style thanks to the bass playing of Derik Sibert although they are a bass-driven band like Floater.  Matching the bass styling is the drummer, Ian Samhammer, with his excellently timed, loud and aggressive style of drumming. Samhammer’s creative drumming is the best part of Drebin.

Samhammer met Drebin through mutual friends when they had a different drummer before Samhammer joined the band. They have been playing for a few years together. Each song of Drebin’s, while they are similar in style, does not fall into the trap that so many bands do: not all of their songs sound exactly alike.

“The band is fun and interesting and not all the songs sound the same,” said Samhammer.

Sibert led Drebin and the crowd confidently onstage with their bass-driven sound that nicely complements his low-pitched vocal stylings. The only weakness of Drebin is the the guitarist, Kurt Schreiner, seems to get lost in what to play onstage and lacks the confidence of his counterparts, which hurts his playing. It is hard to play guitar well in a highly bass-driven band, but strong guitar playing is what lacks in Drebin. Also, Schreiner lacks the chemistry that Samhammer and Sibert have onstage together.

Drebin, unfortunately, were not given their fair share of their time slot and they had the audience at their fingertips when the plug was literally pulled out of their amp forcing them to stop playing. Because Drebin was sharing their equipment with Tullis, they were not given any set up time even though it took them ten minutes to tune their instruments and they were only given a 20 minute set that should have been 30 minutes. The crowd was cheering loudly for them when their set was stopped abruptly.

The WOW hall was rented out by the promotion company Nemesis Entertainment and they could not have ran the show any worse. The band that clearly had the most fans had the shortest time slot. As A Vision in Gray, after Drebin, started playing the audience diminished and they played for twice as long as Drebin.

A Vision in Gray was a mix of Emo and Metal and they just couldn’t pull of the mix of styles all that well. Not that I am really a fan of Emo anyway. There was a keyboard in their band that was out of place.

I am glad I live in Eugene where I can always catch a show of local talent, but I hope that I never have to suffer through Nemesis Entertainment organizing a show again.

Related posts:

1. Mr. Deacon Comes to Eugene. Dan deacon gave the kids of Eugene a taste...
2. Phantograms Never Die Phantogram’s haunting, post-electronic dream pop oozes a certain amount...
3. ‘Spoon’ing tonight at McDonald Theater Tonight, the McDonald Theater welcomes Austin, Texas based band...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For most individuals at colleges under the Oregon University System umbrella, March 29th simply marks the beginning of spring-term classes. But more importantly, to those in the know, March 29th marks the long-awaited Portland debut of band Animal Collective and director Danny Perez’s visual album, ODDSAC, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Together they aim to resurrect the lost construction of visual albums championed by bands like the Beatles, DEVO, The Residents and Daft Punk. Oddly enough, Portland is one of only six fortuitous U.S. cites hosting the current round of screenings.

The 53-minute feature-film collaboration between the Collective and Perez is a strange brew of audio and visual elements that create a visceral and engrossing experience catering more to connoisseurs of experimental film rather than to casual listeners of Animal Collective. It’s likely ODDSAC will be considered especially harsh for those fans who think “My Girls” is the band’s best song; but those who cherish the band’s entire discography will likely understand and respect the work of art.

At times there are walls of sound that drown out any wandering thought you may have in your head, causing your rapt imagination to question whether the visual and audio elements provide any linear narrative, which when done a foolish endeavor – they don’t. There are times when you will wish you were witnessing the simple optical illusion of Merriweather Post Pavilion cover art, rather than the ocular raping the intense yet delicate combinations of colors and video layers produce. And at other times, you may be asked by your cohort, “Are you also frightened?” when you uncontrollably open up your throat and gasp after one of the film’s darker, more exhilarating moments. And by film’s end you’ll question many elements: family camping and traditional marshmallow roasts; vampires and flesh canoes; artistic intentions and undulating emotions; and lastly, what it all means. And while it may lack a definite linear narrative, it is a cohesive structure with closing scenes echoing opening sequences and repeating images reappearing when they seemingly should – but it’s definition avant-garde, too.

Danny Perez and Animal Collective (Minus Noah Lennox AKA Panda Bear) will accompany ODDSAC as it makes two final U.S. stops in Portland and Seattle before the DVD release on June 29th. Each date, March 29th and March 30th respectively, will feature two screenings, a 7PM and 9PM, and a subsequent Q & A session with the creators. For more information or to buy tickets, visit here. Tickets are $15.

It’s well worth the money.

Here’s the 26-second trailer:

Related posts:

1. Odd Encounter: Animal Collective Members Say Hello Last Monday, Stephen, Megan and I journeyed up to Portland...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Emerging from the sleepy backwoods of rural Pennsylvania, Black Moth Super Rainbow’s musical genius, Tobacco, has broken solo and ventured into a new urban terrain.  Leaving behind a heaven of synthesizer daydreams and a host of angelic murmurs, the man behind the vocoder began to explore the gritty beat of the city.

Starting off in pure noise music, he shifted through the lo-fi realm, experimenting with outdated electronic musical instruments.  Through various personas and projects Tobacco began to gain his uniquely pop sound we have all grown to love in BMSR.  “I try to label what I do as pop music, but it’s really whatever you want it to be.”  Tobacco said Thursday.  “It’s the circumstance, it’s what you feel.”

After teaming with BMSR for four records, Tobacco has proven to be even heartier on his own.  With his 2007 release, Fucked Up Friends, the drums hit a bit harder, the snyths swell a little longer and the vocals dig deeper.  “I just want it to be memorable,” he said.  “Stuff that hooks into your brain.”  Tobacco focuses more on his aggressive beats, and a little more on his dark side.  His sound remains focused on analog synths, drum machines, and (of course) vocoders, but a tad rawer with a little more static.  His 2007 release featured Aesop Rock, which was rumored to have inspired more hip hop collaborations in his upcoming productions.

Fresh off SXSW, Tobacco glad to be back on the road and ready to hit the West Coast for the second half of his short tour.  A fan of the Northwest, he’s gladly playing WOW Hall this Sunday, March 28th.  “It’s been a few years but I remember Eugene, I liked it!” Tobacco said.  He will be showcasing some surprising material from his upcoming album Manic Meat.  Not only does Tobacco reign over us with a supremely unique style, he provides all the band art too, pretty impressive.  No doubt the live show will be lit up with his own eccentric video creations-eye candy while the conjurer does his craft.

March came in like a lion- let’s send it out like one.  Spring break’s not over till Monday morning, so come dance to the hipster mash-ups of Hood Internet and the eclectic styling of Tobacco with the Oregon Voice.  This is a show not to be missed.

And you know how we like to get down.

Related posts:

1. Portugal. The Man Tonight @ WOW Hall Portugal. The Man is playing WOW Hall tonight with...
2. Mr. Deacon Comes to Eugene. Dan deacon gave the kids of Eugene a taste...
3. Blue Scholars Tonight @ the WOW Hall Blue Scholars are playing the WOW Hall tonight Friday,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

With just one day before Gorillaz’s new CD Plastic Beach hits stores nationwide, I’ve been going back and reminiscing on this band’s wonderfully crafted music (and videos). We all know “Clint Eastwood” (I ain’t happy/I’m feelin’ glad/I’ve got sunshine/in a bag…) and “Feel Good Inc.” (Windmill, Windmill for the land/turn forever hand in hand…). But Gorillaz is not just a band… it is, in my opinion, one of the most creatively genius works of art in the history of music.

Created by former lead singer of Blur Damon Albarn and “Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett, the band is composed of cartoon characters (2D, Murdoc, Russel, and Noodle), each with back stories and interesting facts. In 2001, their first CD (self-titled Gorillaz) rocked the charts as a combination of hip-hop, rap, and electronic, with hits like the aforementioned “Clint Eastwood” (featuring Del The Funky Homosapien, who plays a minor character in the band’s back story), slow, urban track “Tomorrow Comes Today,” and feeling-good pop song “19-2000.” The second CD, Demon Days (2005), was a major success for the band, bringing in many celebrity guests to rap, sing, and even read for the tracks (De La Soul, Bootie Brown, MF Doom, Shaun Ryder, Dennis Hopper, and Danger Mouse, who helped produce the CD). “Feel Good Inc.” hit the charts and quickly rated higher than any of their other hits, soon followed by children-anthem “Dirty Harry,” solemn “El Mañana,” and dance-worthy “DARE.” Now, 5 years later, Gorillaz has collaborated once again with Plastic Beach. Unfortunately, the only songs I’ve heard (so far) are “Stylo,” which is the first single off the new CD, featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, and “Superfast Jellyfish,” featuring De La Soul once more.

The music is really original in that it mixes different genres together to create a new type of sound. From “19-2000,” which uses techno, hip-hop, and reggae to sound like a bubblegum pop song, to “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” paired with “Demon Days,” which uses a full string orchestra, choir, hip-hop, and reggae to sound epic and gorgeous, the band reinvents the world of urban music.

However, what makes them so interesting is the story behind the band, how they advertise themselves, and their use of advanced technology to create a fully-animated band.

Back in 2006, the “band” put out an autobiography called Rise of the Ogre, which not only chronicled the band’s successful music career but also the band members’ lives and personalities in and out of the band. For example, we find out that 2D has black eyes because Murdoc ran him over in a car, which dented one of his eyes, and was catapulted out of the dashboard window, causing his other eye to be pushed in as well. We learn the truth about Noodle, that she is really a secret Japanese government weapon, triggered by the words “ocean bacon.” We find out that the ghost of Del The Funky Homosapien was contained inside of Russel, and Russel had it exorcised out of his body before working on “Demon Days.” We learn about Murdoc’s obsession with being a Satanist and how he nearly killed a member of the band in one of the videos.

I mean, sure, this may not sound like a lot. But considering that this is all made up to coincide with a few CDs, that’s pretty incredible!

But that’s not all… to create this image of a fully-animated band, high tech equipment have made it possible for people to really feel like the members of Gorillaz are actually real. For the 2006 Grammys, the band performed a mash up of “Feel Good Inc.” and Madonna’s hit for the year “Hung Up” live. But, because of the band’s animated appearances, a holographic projection unit was set up on stage, allowing for the band members to look as if they were standing on stage in real life. Madonna was also holographically projected for the first part of her act, as she moves around the characters to interact with them. This is one of the first, and greatest, technical feats ever for a band to make.

Also, because of their animations, the band RARELY plays live shows (in fact, the only one they have lined up so far for their new CD is Coachella 2010). So, of course, each of their live shows out-does the other. The Demon Days tour included panels of changing colors, hiding the live band from the public, while the “guests” were on stage in front, brightly lit. On a large screen in the middle, pictures and video played to help visually attract the audience. Simplistic, but incredibly creative.

Personally my favorite part of the band’s creativity is what they put into their website. To help promote their band and to get their fans psyched about the band itself, they launched an interactive game on their website to explore the confines of their home Kong Studios. With the coming of each CD and hit came an update to the website… and as the lives and appearance of each character changed, the studio reflected it. For example, in the video for “El Mañana,” Noodle supposedly died at the end of the video (it was later revealed that she had not died, but was instead dragged into hell). After the video landed, Noodle’s room in the virtual world was stripped and began to fall apart every month. As the truth came out that she was actually trapped in hell, the basement of the website’s virtual Kong had a transmission of Noodle in a room, exclaiming that she needed help. Soon after the announcement of Plastic Beach, Kong was in ruins, with none of the rooms available. Thus, Plastic Beach was born: the newest interactive online game allows you to tour Plastic Beach, with new rooms opening pretty much every month. The website has won Webby awards for its creativity, and it keeps people interested and attached to the “secret” lives of the band. If you’re interested, go to the website!

So yes, Gorillaz has great music, but it goes beyond that. I mean think of it this way: 2 guys created a FAKE band with FAKE names and FAKE backgrounds… they used incredible technical equipment to make these FAKE characters REAL, and even set up strange situations for said FAKE characters (as in their Plastic Beach website). Gorillaz is no ordinary band. It is a work of creative genius. And, as Plastic Beach approaches, to quote one of my favorite Gorillaz songs, “Yeah, yeah, yeah I’ll pay/When tomorrow/Tomorrow comes today!”

Related posts:

1. ‘Spoon’ing tonight at McDonald Theater Tonight, the McDonald Theater welcomes Austin, Texas based band...
2. A Glimpse of the Eugene Music Scene Because I am still in Eugene for spring break, I...
3. Stop-Motion Animation, or What The Hell Was I Watching As A Kid?! A few months back, I heard about a really bizarre...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.