SUNDAY, JULY 29TH
Please Note That Times & Schedules May Change
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(doors open at noon)
++ INSIDE STAGE ++
Peaking Lights
8.30pm (inside)
From Los Angeles, husband-andwife duo Peaking Lights combine elements of dub, Krautrock, and psychedelic pop in their unique brand of lo-fi music. Indra Dunis (of Dynasty and Numbers) and Aaron Coyes were bandmates in the Bay Area band Rahdunes before forming a home-recording project using a drum machine, a Hammond organ, a guitar, and thick bass grooves. Two years after releasing their debut, Imaginary Falcons, they announced that the follow-up, 936, would be released in November of 2011 on Domino Records subsidiary label Weird World.
The Emergency
7.30pm (inside)
The Emergency are a three-piece synth and drum band from Melbourne. Their third album Last Exit sees them leave the world of cosmic disco behind to explore the heavily dubbed out atmospheres beyond. Like their previous releases, it blends pop hooks and melodies with left-field production.
Last Exit sees Cinta Masters (Useless Children, Gold Tango) join Milo Kossowski (synth, vocals) and Morgan McWaters (synth, production), playing a drum kit hooked up to a custom programmed synthesizer that lets the drums play the synth in place of a keyboard. The result is sequenced synth lines that match the ebb and flow of the drumming rather than drumming which is forced to stick to a rigid programmed tempo. This allowed the band to form songs by experimenting in the rehearsal studio rather than writing on a computer or preprogramming sequencers. They call it the Cintasizer.
2012 also sees The Emergency playing their first US shows, including the Sometimes A Great Notion festival in Portland Oregon alongside Peaking Lights. The band are looking forward to their first international shows since headlining the 2009 Hanoi International Music Festival.
I've meant to write about The Emergency for ages, and now it's the moment, relish the second before you press play below as one of anticipation before bliss, an electric impulse later finds you floating in the zero-g space of their synthetic world, skies of an orange gradient such as those summoned by Vangelis in the mournful multi-track suggestions of See You Later, or hegemonic alchemists Chris and Cosey, an eternal carousel of neon tubes curling upon each other like genetic algorithms, coupling, swirling and growing into the perfect shape of an electroid pop gem endowed with the same baroque & languid sexuality of Sebastian Tellier's vanilla butterfly soul, it could have well found a home in the perfectly curated museum of the LCD Soundsystem's debut album, a statue of liquid metal of Rodinesque beauty getting off with Marc Almond in the luminous spaces of a modernist corridor.
20 Jazz Funk Greats (UK)
In a word stunning. More club floor decimation from the Metal Postcard stable. This brooding beauty will appeal to everyone from disciples of Kraftwerk to lovers of DAF, gloriously parched with a retro accent and liberally dipped with stark minimalist grooves, this dislocated euro disko funk wrap ripples warily like a 'music for the masses' era Depeche Mode.
Losing Today (UK)
Funk is one of the most grossly overused words in music journalism, but one can't help thinking of the term when listening to The Emergency's "Spending Time." The basslines groove, the the harmonies slink, and if the vocals didn't remind us of pasty white Englishmen from the mid-'80s, we might be convinced this track is straight from the 1960s. Love those handclaps!
XLR8R (USA)
The Emergency are from Melbourne, Australia and their brooding, indie electro sound reminds me so much of Colder (who has since stopped making music much to my dismay) Well, maybe Colder mixed with Cut Copy mixed with Chromatics. Maybe I'm just a sucker for things that sound like they are recorded by tall, dark and handsome gentlemen playing synths in long, concrete hallways.
Bigstereo (USA)
Pulse Emitter
6.30pm (inside)
Pulse Emitter is Daryl Groetsch from Portland, Oregon. The music, recorded with modular and vintage keyboard synthesizers, is inspired by the cosmos, nature, and classic science fiction. A veteran of the noise scene of the early 2000s, the music has taken a turn in recent years and is now more composed and melodic. Records have been released on Immune, Aguirre, NNA and Ultra Eczema with tours and festival appearances in Europe and North America. David Keenan has called Pulse Emitter “the undisputed king of planetary scale synth hypnosis” and has said, "No one is making synth music that feels so organic, so rapturous and so 'in tune' with the contours of outer and inner space as Groetsch."
Rake Wickman
5.30pm (inside)
Rake Wickman grew up in a small settlement in Greenland overlooking Disko Bay and later moved to the Faroe Islands where he first became involved with the local art and music scene, supporting himself with various jobs in the fishing and boat-building industries.
His experiences of living on and near the sea have been evident in much of his work - from early recordings of free jazz flute pieces done in a small boat with the sound of wind and waves clearly distinguishable, to more recent electronic compositions processing and recreating the sounds of the oceans and the ships that sail them.
Wakeman left Faroe at the turn of the millennium and has spent the last 12 years living in London, San Francisco and Shetland working as a plumber and boat restorer.
?Redo From Start
4.30pm (inside)
Das Butcher
3.30pm (inside)
Das is; Melancholic psychedelia. Distorted gospel. Down-tempo dirge. An angel sitting on a rock playing the harp, drowning. A man with cloven hooves & a mind with horns. A surrender in the battle of life, a blood soaked white flag. THE BLOODY BLUES!
Worng
2.30pm (inside)
One half of Melbourne's The Emergency has solo project that will take you to another place
++ OUTSIDE STAGE ++
Jeffrey Jerusalem
8.00pm (outside)
Jeffrey Jerusalem - the nom de guerre of life-long musician Jeffrey Brodsky - is a Portland-based artist, producer, DJ and drummer for YACHT (DFA Records) who is setting audiences ablaze with his very own unique brand of Art-Disco.
Jerusalem's performances are highly engaging, fiery display of musical virtuosity where chopped and severed electronics meets percussive propulsion, whipping audiences into a frenzy and creating a whole new experience at each and every turn.
His debut LP, Grimace, introduced his diverse aesthetic of electro-house, glitch techno and psychedelic disco bangers and was soon followed by the release of This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, an impressive collection of remixes featuring the who's who of Jerusalem's hometown scene. A new release is on the way laden with provocative pop experimentation and tropical bliss all meticulously designed in a way that only Jeffrey Jerusalem can do it.
Strangled Darlings
7.00pm (outside)
For many bands that rely on the traditional instrumentation and songwriting ethos of folk music, the only way to break free of a lifetime of playing garlic or cranberry festivals in far flung parts of the States is to channel the live intensity and volume of a punk band.
But what the Portland-based duo Strangled Darlings has proven again and again, all you really need to do is start to put some serious cracks in the folk-pop mold through powerful and eclectic songwriting infused with their own brand of shaking, irreverent energy and a dash of quiet determination to boot.
Led by multi-instrumentalists George Veech and Jessica Anderly, the Darlings have already proven that they can handle daring sonic adventures like their previous album The Devil In Outer Space: An Operetta, which spun out a sordid, hilarious, and moving tale that tied together the title character and a man broken down spiritually and physically looking back on his rollercoaster of a life.
Having proven to be a worthy addition to the pantheon of talent in their hometown, for their latest album, the Darlings were ready to move even further forward. "The title of the last album had a certain implied irony that I think is younger," says Veech. "So maybe the theme of this recording is that we are growing up or exploring art more seriously."
So while the band's latest album Red Yellow & Blue may not have a storyline running through it, the dozen songs on it carry the burden of the human comedy on its shoulders, dancing and smiling through the pain and distress.
Recorded by Dylan Magierek (Mark Kozelek, The Mother Hips) at Type Foundry Studios and The Scenic Burrows in Portland, RY&B finds the Darlings weaving together a thick tapestry of lyrical and musical ideas.
For the latter, the core of the musical ideas were laid down by Veech and Anderly's arsenal of string instruments (tenor banjo, mandolin, cello, fiddle, and bass) with their violinist Sharon Cannon with a variety of friends and fans coming into the studio to color in the edges. carcrashlander leader Cory Gray and Chervona's Adam Schneider provided the jazzy trumpet and trombone backdrop from "Done Been Showed." Matt Berger (Musee Mecanique) and Russ Gores (Professor Gall) sprinkle percussion throughout the album.
Lyrically, Veech goes above and beyond throughout RY&B. An elegy to the former oil industry magnate J. Howard Marshall, the man who married the buxom Anna Nicole Smith during his last years on Earth bumps up against a song that dares to put a tale of domestic violence to a jaunty old time country tune ("Rider"). A melody pinched from Duran Duran gives a sea air permeated love song some added nostalgic pull ("Miss Sandy") while on the other end of the album Veech shakes his head at the current socio-economic climate ("We watched on the TV...some pirates got shot in the head/the toys they were safe/and the world rumbles on"). And opening track "Snake & The Girl" dares to thumb its nose at organized religion, encouraging listeners to "stand up for yourself...be your own goddamn salvation."Red Yellow & Blue is a spirituous and devilish attempt to bring the folk/country/jazz world back to its roots as a bawdy, political, and tuneful mix of low and high art. It's unstable, sure, but that's just how the Darlings want it. "The band has a bad habit of gleefully descending into chaos just because order is so...confining," says Veech. And after you get a listen to Red Yellow & Blue, don't be surprised if you follow them down into the depths of disorder again and again.
Swoop Swoop
6.00pm (outside)
Sounds like he fell down a deep old well, and couldn't get out. At the bottom, he had a lot of time to think about life and people and how irrational they can be. He cried out for help, over and over, but noone heard him. So he just started singing.
While others have compared him to The Soldad Brothers, Devendra Banhart and Mazzy Star, his weightless sound reminded me of fellow well-dwelling contemporaries, Zach Rogue and Damien Jurado. Incorporating a gritty lo-fi 60s sound, his songs would have also slotted in nicely somewhere on The Forest Gump Soundtrack, maybe for that classic shot of Jenny out the bus window...
With releases already in the States and UK (as Streaky Jake), and judging by his My World Vistor Map on myspace, it would seem this sneaky little surfing sandwich from Perth has snuck under all our noses
Louis Inglis
5.00pm (outside)
His name is Louis Inglis. He writes and records music at home surrounded by animals and friendly robots. He spends all his days digging for treasure in the garden and making furniture from long dead pets. He taught himself to half-play musical instruments as a homespun treatment for his crippling autism and he records his music live into a broken cassette deck. He hates children and simply cannot choose a favourite colour.
Michael Hurley
4.00pm - (outside)
Hurley's debut album, First Songs, was recorded for Folkways Records in 1964[1] on the same reel-to-reel machine that taped Lead Belly's Last Sessions. He was discovered by blues and jazz historian Frederick Ramsey III, and subsequently championed by boyhood friend Jesse Colin Young, who released his 2nd & 3rd albums on The Youngbloods' Warner Bros. imprint, Raccoon.[2] In the late 1970s, Hurley made three albums for Rounder, all of which have since been reissued on CD. His 1976 LP Have Moicy!, a collaboration with the Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick & The Clamtones, was named "the greatest folk album of the rock era" by The Village Voice's Robert Christgau.
In 1996, Koch Records released Wolfways with Hurley backed by Mickey Bones on drums. Tours with Son Volt and high praise from younger performers like Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt, Woods, Calexico, Cat Power, Julian Lynch[3], and Robin Holcomb followed.
In 2001, Locust Music reissued Hurley's debut under the new title Blueberry Wine with new artwork contributed by Hurley.
Gnomonsong released a new Michael Hurley album titled Ancestral Swamp on September 18, 2007. Backing was provided by longtime Hurley associate David Reisch of the Holy Modal Rounders and new friends Tara Jane O'Neil and Lewi Longmire.
In 2010, Secret Seven Records (San Francisco) and Mississippi Records (Portland) teamed up to reissue 100 copies of Hurley's rarest album "Blue Navigator" on 8-track tape.
Sourced Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hurley_%28musician%29
In 1996, Koch Records released Wolfways with Hurley backed by Mickey Bones on drums. Tours with Son Volt and high praise from younger performers like Lucinda Williams, Vic Chesnutt, Woods, Calexico, Cat Power, Julian Lynch[3], and Robin Holcomb followed.
In 2001, Locust Music reissued Hurley's debut under the new title Blueberry Wine with new artwork contributed by Hurley.
Gnomonsong released a new Michael Hurley album titled Ancestral Swamp on September 18, 2007. Backing was provided by longtime Hurley associate David Reisch of the Holy Modal Rounders and new friends Tara Jane O'Neil and Lewi Longmire.
In 2010, Secret Seven Records (San Francisco) and Mississippi Records (Portland) teamed up to reissue 100 copies of Hurley's rarest album "Blue Navigator" on 8-track tape.
Sourced Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hurley_%28musician%29
Sam Long
3.15pm - (outside)
Born and raised in the 'burbs of Philly, Sam Long is a songwriter with vast intentions. His influences come from show-tunes, the grateful dead, the Belgrade lakes region of Maine, the Poconos, and seine nets and sea horses. He attended Wesleyan University for undergrad and was president of WESU 88.1 FM Middletown his senior year. He's been involved in many bands over the years and records and produces his own music.
Nafisaria
2.30pm - (outside)
My mom is Janice Scroggins, a well known pianist in the Portland music scene. I've been singing with her since I was about 6. I've performed every year at the Blues Festival with her since I was about 11. I'm currently in a funk band called Tony Ozier and the doo doo funk all stars. We hold an open jam session every first Thursday of the month at the Someday Lounge in downtown Portland. I just recently started playing guitar but have been writing music since I was a child. I love music and the joy it brings to people:)
Metal Postcard Soundsystem & Friends Sunday Sessions
2pm Onwards (outside)
++ CINEMA ROOM ++
& DJs
Community Library DJ's: Brokenwindow & Strategy @ 8pm
DJ Hostile Tapeover @ 6pm
Ollo DJs @ 2pm
DJ Hostile Tapeover @ 6pm
Ollo DJs @ 2pm