Oregon Music News

Although it was introduced into the greater vernacular in the late ’90s, the past decade saw the word “indie” become the go-to watchword amid the mass of music chatter served up on the blogs, webzines and print media of the world.

Dozens of indie bands from around the world became household names, some even cracking the Billboard Top 10. It wasn’t necessarily a shock wave considering the fractured state of the music industry and the ease with which people have access to music. Rather, it was simply an aesthetic shift towards something that felt somehow more authentic and more accessible and engaging.

I would argue that no state in America represented this aesthetic better than Oregon, and no city did it better than the metropolitan hub of Portland. We have seen a great number of bands – far more than the group listed here – that have made a permanent mark on the international music scene. And we’ve seen many others from outside our borders pick up stakes and move to Portland to take part in this wellspring of activity and excitement.

This list represents the best general consensus I could come up with of the best indie music to come out of Oregon since 2000. It was gathered by taking nominations and suggestions (via Twitter and Facebook, naturally) from musicians, colleagues and other music writers, and then winnowing it down to the list that’s before you. Also, to keep things fair for all parties involved, and to emphasize the communal feel of the music scene in Oregon, these are listed in alphabetical order by artist, rather than ranking them by a number system.

I wouldn’t dare say that this was a definitive list. There are plenty of genres represented here that I and my nominating committee consider to be “indie music” but many more genres are left out. As well, there will likely be some that would argue on behalf of other bands or other albums by the bands listed here.

But I’m quite sure that you won’t argue the point that the past 10 years have been great for the Oregon music scene and community at large, and that from the looks of things, it’s only going to get better from here.

AU - Verbs (Aagoo)

The title of Au’s second album is as much about the music on it, as it is about the effect that the band wants it to have on the listener. They want you to act on behalf of the album: to sing, dance, sway, bounce, curl up, sleep, or cry along with it. For the band, this meant tuning everything towards maximum momentum, recording all the basic tracks in a whirlwind three-day session that involved a chorus of voices ebulliently singing, “Animals we are!” and Steve Reich-like swathes of piano and percussion. It’s music that moves you as you move with it.

Blitzen Trapper – Furr (Sub Pop)

If you were to map out the principal musical ideas of the last decade, one that would come up again and again is the attempt by many a young band to weld together the warm expanse of folk and country with the cold insularity of modern electronica. Some succeeded admirably enough, but none did it better than this sextet. Throughout their fourth full-length, Eric Earley, Marty Marquis, and co. allow glossy blasts and bleats of synths and rhythm machines to shine out through their dusty odes to animalistic love (the rambling title track), outlaws (“Black River Killer”) and heartbreak (“Not Your Lover”).

The Blow – Paper Television (K)

The fifth full-length by this duo is the sound of a group finally hitting their stride. After almost a decade of well-meaning, but ultimately raggedy sounding efforts, Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt either got completely comfortable with modern technology or simply began to feel fully settled working with each other, but they were able to crank out 10 brilliant songs of shimmering lovelorn pop. Giddy numbers like “Parentheses” and “Eat Your Heart Up” are artful, yet accessible blends of new wave gloss and hip-hop grit. Though the two have parted ways (amicably, as Bechtolt is now expending all his energy with his own group YACHT) and The Blow has turned into something of a one-woman cabaret act, The Blow can rest comfortably on the legacy of this perfect collaborative effort.

Copy – Mobius Beard (Audio Dregs)

All you need to be able to parse out Marius Libman’s solo electronica can be found under the influences he lists on his MySpace page. On his debut album, you can pick out the low end skitter of producers like Dr. Dre and Timbaland, the charming analog pretension of Human League and Yaz, and the joyous repetition of an NES game soundtrack. When it was released two years ago, it felt like the music of the future finally found a home in Portland, Oregon. These days, it feels like the future of music is being driven under the influence of albums like this one.

Danava – UnonoU (Kemado)

Hard, heavy rock tends to get short shrift in our fair city, especially these days when folk-driven earnestness is all the rage. But if there were ever a band to help tip the scales back to piledriving riffs and early Sabbath-style vocalizing, it would be Danava. Led by the sci-fi visions cooked up by front man Dusty Sparkles, this progressive trio hit their creative apex with this, their second album, which retrofitted acid rock drenched guitar playing with a truncheon-like rhythm section. It’s a record that leave you dizzy, giddy and utterly convinced that the title of the album totally makes sense, man.

The Dandy Warhols – 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (Capitol)

The tastemakers of the city dismissed the band for their unrepentant aims for stardom, but in doing so they have missed out on album after album of pure glam and psychedelic bliss. The long-running quartet got the new millennium off to a fantastic start with this richly produced and ultra catchy collection of pop anthems. They borrow liberally from the playbooks of influences like T. Rex and Bowie but adds their own modern twists with rumbling electronic touches and Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s turned on, tuned in lyrics. This band is well overdue for a retro-style resurrection and re-appraisal. Let it start right here.

The Decemberists – Castaways & Cutouts (Hush)

In a decade that saw this band’s musical output grow in both conceptual and sonic strength, my rough polling of Portland music fans turned up a rather interesting wrinkle: when it comes down to it, people prefer The Decemberists’ humble beginnings. It’s hard to fault the choice, though, as their first full-length kicked the door open for Colin Meloy’s particular brand of hyper literate folk pop, sending a generation of fans into the richly hewn world of ghostly children, crooked French-Canadians, and lovelorn Spanish puppeteers.

Alela Diane – To Be Still (Rough Trade)

Over the course of one album, this former Nevada City resident managed to capture the spirit of wandering Nashville-style country, folk music from Ireland and modern indie all through the ache of her crackling fire of a singing voice. Anchored by acoustic guitar and tasteful orchestration that never overplays, Diane’s songs befit any season – the dusky warmth of late summer, the chill of winter, and the giddy expectation of spring.

Eat Skull – Sick To Death (Siltbreeze)

The last few years has seen an upswing in bands that proudly fly an analog flag, recording their work on any dusty beat to hell tape deck that will have them. The group that represented Oregon best in this beautiful racket was this roughshod quartet of noisemakers. Their debut full-length gives away the group’s pedigree: a steady diet of vintage Flying Nun 7″s, early Pavement singles and a lot of garage rock compilations. It’s nearly punk, nearly pop, and all Eat Skull.

Evolutionary Jass Band – What’s Lost (Mississippi Records)

The captain of the good ship Oregon Music News likens the upswing of young, hyper aware and brilliant jazz players in the city (Andrew Oliver, Ben Darwish, etc.) as “indie jazz”. For this writer, the moniker should be applied first to this freewheeling group. They play shows well below the radar of the regular jazz market, perform a glorious mix of Afrobeat, Sun Ra style space excursions and smoky cabaret weepers, and released their finest work in a very limited edition on a staunchly DIY label (vinyl only naturally).

Exploding Hearts – Guitar Romantic (Dirtnap)

2003 was a tough year for Portland music with the suicide of Elliott Smith and the tragic death of 3/4 of the members of this snarling power pop/punk outfit in a van accident. Just as their star was on the ascendant, too, as heard on their one and only LP. The 10 skinny tie and leather jacket-ed tracks echo the best of groups like The Undertones and Sweet, but with their own homegrown energy fueled cheap beer and strong coffee. And as Adam Cox’s lovelorn lyrics proved, the album’s title wasn’t just a catchy turn of phrase. It’s a shame they didn’t get more of a chance to burn even brighter.

Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control (Kill Rock Stars)

They had already made a name for themselves as a blues-garage-punk dynamo hybrid to be reckoned with. But with the release of their third studio album and the introduction of drummer Hannah Billie to the proceedings, the band turned toward a raw disco-new wave-soul sound that coaxed some of the most diva-like sounds from vocalist Beth Ditto. It is an album that made the trio superstars in the UK and an indie success here in the States, urged on by the engaging and hard to ignore lead single “Standing In The Way of Control” and their always-electrifying stage shows. The gear switch for Gossip did them and their listeners a world of sexy, sweaty good.

Grouper – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (Type)

The ghostly sound of Liz Harris’s lost in the ether vocals combined with heavily processed guitar sounds and ambient noise provided one the most haunting and dreamlike listening experiences of the past decade. It’s an album that is just as fulfilling when hiding in the background of your daily activities or turned up loud on headphones as you pay attention to every last nuance and reverb-ed vocal. All signs point to Harris moving above and beyond what is heard on this record, as we really should expect from an artist as forward thinking as she is. But we will likely hold on most tightly to this intoxicating document.

Jackie O Motherfucker – The Magick Fire Music (Ecstatic Peace!)

We’ve been inured to experimental music to the point that we expect a song like “Extension” to, at any minute, take a turn into the world of frightening, squalling noise. But Tom Greenwood’s long running music concern knows better than that. Over the course of nearly 16 minutes, he and the band revel in small turns of guitar phrasing, washed out cymbals, pinging synth runs and the rumble of drums. It’s one of the most heavenly exercises in pure restraint ever committed to tape and caps off one of the most exciting avant psych releases of the past decade.

The Joggers – Solid Guild (Startime International)

There were dozens of bands working the same spiraling guitars with unusual tunings and on the verge of tumbling over the hillside rhythm section sound by the time The Joggers released their debut album. But something about their arch approach to what we might now call “classic indie rock” stood head and shoulders above the fray. It could have been the keen use of four-part harmonies. Or it could simply be the fact that, on first lesson, you were never quite sure where the band would go next (do you know any other group that pulled off an non ironic a cappella breakdown in the pre-Glee universe?). No matter what it was, we followed them every step of the way.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Pig Lib (Matador)

For the past decade, the former Pavement front man has called Portland his home, and quickly made a firm name for himself by pulling together a new band featuring some of the best musicians from his adopted hometown (Jonna Bolme, John Moen and Mike Clark). His second post-Pavement effort carries over that band’s meandering, shaggy dog aesthetic, but with the influence of ’60s psychedelia creeping more evidently in the mix. It has the confident and comfortable sound of someone who has finally settled down. We should still be proud that he has chosen our fair city to do his settling in.

Menomena – Friend & Foe (Barsuk)

Perhaps the most modern of albums to be created in our modern era, the trio’s third album was constructed in fits and starts with the individual members writing and recording separately. These parts were then re-recorded or re-written by the other members of the group as they went along. That the finished product was an avant-pop masterpiece, filled with angular rhythms, surging choruses and plenty of random noise, instead of a mess of disjointed, confused sound is a testament to the collective mindset of the group. They are in this together and to create something brilliant, and on Friend & Foe, they did just that.

Mirah – C’mon Miracle (K)

It’s a testament to the abilities of Mirah’s songwriting that she can place a deeply political pop tune about the state of Israel (“Jerusalem”) close to a heartfelt, horn-drenched break up elegy (“We’re Both So Sorry”) and have these disparate ideas feel joined at the hip. The first of many artistic peaks by this now-former Oregonian brought with it the homegrown feel of the Olympia music scene she was bred in, but added to it her sharp ear for minimalist composition and production. Every song sounds full, but never overstuffed.

Modest Mouse – Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Epic)

The album that introduced Isaac Brock and his beautifully agonized, staccato pop/rock to suburb dwellers, Good News has the air of a defining statement. The kind of work that its creators put their spines, hearts and sweat deep into, figuring it’s their last best shot at something bigger than indie success. It certainly paid off thanks to “Float On”, the rousing single that, in 2004, seemed absolutely inescapable. The rest is Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated history, and a story that Brock and co. have built upon in the years since its release.

Quasi – Hot Shit! (Touch & Go)

Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss had already made a lasting mark on the Portland music scene by this point. They had five albums under their belt – each one better than the one before – and were getting plenty of attention for their work outside of the group. But their sixth helped cut that mark a little deeper, bringing Coomes’ love of Delta blues (“Master & Dog”) and a touch of straining ’70s pop into their already well-established mix of dour lyrics and jaunty indie rock. Hot shit, indeed.

The Shins – Wincing The Night Away (Sub Pop)

Hearing a band mature and truly come into their own is a thrill for any music fan. And for fans of The Shins, the thrill came from this fantastic collection. Wincing captured some of James Mercer’s most engaging and indelible melodies and found the band stretching themselves comfortably past the lightly hued sound that got them name checked in a Hollywood film. All signs are pointing to a different look and feel for the band from here on out. Will they expand on the ideas formulated here? Undoubtedly. Will they improve upon what they did here? Hard to improve on perfection.

Sleater-Kinney – The Woods (Sub Pop)

On their final salvo together, this powerful trio locked in tight like never before, writing feedback dripping jams that demanded your attention and your appreciation. Carrie Brownstein submitted fully to her new found status as a guitar goddess, ripping through these proceedings like a buzz saw. She and Corin Tucker responded to our fracturing modern age with some of the most bitter, bilious lyrics of their long career (check out the call-to-arms that is “Entertain” and the vicious “Modern Girl”). There is light at the end of this tunnel, however, as heard in their closing one-two punch – a pair of noisy and hope-filled odes to both family and love.

Elliott Smith – Figure 8 (Dreamworks)

The only album that Smith saw released this decade is as heartbreaking and fragile and brilliant as the man who created it. His second to be bankrolled by a major label, Smith was able to fulfill his pop dreams, making a record that sounds removed from the era in which it was released. It has the lush heart of mid-’60s British pop and with occasional blasts of ’70s-style groove and rumble. The beauty of the music is countered by Smith’s arch lyrical visions that took a Bukowski-like mixture of cynicism and romance to dizzying heights.

Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)

This tightly-controlled masterpiece will be likely be analyzed for years to come. Not only by those fledgling songwriters hoping to parse out just how Britt Daniel (another Portland transplant) constructs his loose, angular jams, but by engineers looking to match drummer Jim Eno’s jaw dropping production work. Each song plays out like an Escher illusion, with each note and noise locked into those surrounding it to create a beautiful seamless whole. It’s a master’s class in modern rock and pop that wraps up in a tidy 36 minutes. You can expect to hear more bands and more albums like it after they’ve had some time to absorb all the subtle details found within.

Starfucker – Starfucker (Badman Recording Co.)

The past decade saw an amazing number of bands arriving fully formed, creating full-length classics right out of the gate. Portland’s entry into that parade was Starfucker, a quartet that specialized in glossy, ’80s inspired, dance floor filling jams. It has the goofy wit to wend in some Alan Watts samples, but is also smart enough not to rest on any one groove or melodic idea for too long. It has the effortless spirit of a perfect summer’s day, the kind where you awarded all the time in the world to simply float downstream and enjoy yourself.

Talkdemonic – Beat Romantic (Arena Rock Recording Co.)

Their debut, Mutiny Sunshine, saw this duo feeling out the idea of playing instrumental music that was driven by live and programmed beats, but also carried on its back a heft of melodics via viola, piano and other acoustic instruments. It felt good there, but feels positively great on this, their follow up release. Each song has a full, rounded quality with the wood and wire elements folding into click and drag elements with deceptive ease. Also states a hell of a case for Kevin O’Connor as Portland’s best male drummer (check out the track “Human Born” for the best evidence of this). In a city teeming with them, that is saying something.

The Thermals – The Body, The Blood, The Machine (Sub Pop)

The rest of the country can keep the empty rhetoric of Green Day’s so-called rock operas. When we want to take a punk-fueled journey into the heart of “real America”, we want The Thermals to be our guides. It’s the story of a boy and a girl fleeing a religion-crazed police state set to the sound of sinewy power chords, steamrolling drums and Hutch Harris’s window shaking vocals. A perfect encapsulation of the frustration and anger so many of us felt during the Bush administration, The Thermals gave us an outlet to dance and shout and shake and focus our energy on getting the bastards in our sights and taking them down.

M. Ward – Transistor Radio (Merge)

Some records are titled perfectly. Like this one. The warm, worn sound that Matt Ward created here would sound perfect spilling out of the monophonic speaker of a small handheld radio. And the songs on it are all about the escape granted to lovers of music when their favorite tunes are in the air. That means everything from sleepy, jazzy love poems to the Beach Boys and Bach instrumentals that bookend the collection.

White Rainbow – Prism Of Eternal Now (Kranky)

The doyen of the psychedelic and experimental music scenes in Portland, Adam Forkner has done time with such far-out outfits as Surface of Eceyon and Dirty Projectors. On his own, the various strains of influence that he has exhibited in his work with these groups (Krautrock, Japanese psychedelia, IDM) are all focused and sharpened. They came together most convincingly on this stretched out, acid trailing epic of drum loops, fractured guitar and deep, pure drone. It’s the kind of work that coaxes you into it gently but then holds you firm and strong until the last notes fade away. The visions and ecstasy you receive as a result is just added incentive to give yourself over to it.