Oregon Music News

As Chris Spearin introduced the events of the evening, he explained how the band would begin with Ohad Benchetrit’s project called The Years.  Then Spearin would present his personal creation called The Happiness Project and then Do Make Say Think would perform.  Each project would involve the same collaborative forces, but they would manifest in different forms.  He ended his announcement by saying “you will go home fooled the whole time.”  By this he did not mean there was a devious intention behind the evening, merely that our expectations of three separate bands would be dismantled and instead a more cohesive endeavor was about to be embarked upon.

Ohad Benchetrit opened with solo guitar – looped, amplified, and distorted. For his first song, a trumpet joined him with long blown notes.  Then, alone, he looped layers upon himself until they were so thick if you closed your eyes you would never have believed there was only one man performing.

It is rare to have a public discussion about happiness, but Chris Spearin cultivated a space for it.  His personal venture, The Happiness Project, is a series of interviews with his neighbors on the subject of happiness.  Spearin manipulated the interviews in several different manners.  For one neighbor, a long interview clip was played twice.  The first time, we only heard his neighbor’s words.  The second time, Karen Ng followed the neighbor’s pitch and lines of contour on the saxophone.  Out of context, it could have been a seductive jazz solo.

For other interviews, Spearin isolated and looped certain phrases while the entire performing force (two guitars, two drum sets, bass, violin, saxophone, trumpet, keyboard) played in a sound most similar to their Broken Social Scene persona.

Do Make Say Think was the final exclamation point on the evening.  Every member of the band played his/her heart out at the same time recalling free Jazz collective improvisation.  But, their bass-driven sound is distinctly related to rock music.  No matter how you want to describe them, the energy they created was undeniably electrifying and a great way to end the night.

The early 2000’s hype around instrumental, post-rock may have passed, but that doesn’t mean the bands that made this movement great have gone anywhere.  Do Make Say Think is one of these bands still creating magic around that sound.

While their style hasn’t changed since their self-released and self-titled EP from 1997, their ever-growing chemistry has intensified their music allowing the band to massage one riff for extended periods of time without losing momentum.

During the last decade, band member Charles Spearin has played with other bands such as Broken Social Scene and KC Accidental.  Charles Spearin’s most recent side project, The Happiness Project, will open the evening.  The inception of The Happiness Project came about after Spearin interviewed several residents of his Toronto neighborhood on the subject of happiness.  He has since interwoven these interviews with experimental jazz sounds to create a unique auditory experience.  Especially now, when the sun is shy, what could be better than talk of happiness?

Fellow Canadian band The Years will open the night at Mississippi Studios on Thursday, February 4th.  Doors are at 8:00 PM and the show begins at 9:00 PM.  Tickets are $15.

When it comes to local music, it’s safe to say that here in Portland we’ve gotten, well, spoiled.  Pick any one of the handful of flannel-wearing, fashionably scruffy, sleepy-eyed denizens you find on any street and I bet you money that they either play in a band or are putting one together.

Living in the Sunnyside neighborhood, my yard rubbing backs with Laughing Planet, I frequently run into and occasionally converse with said musicians. When asked why they play music though, the ensuing answers have quickly taught me to just keep that question to myself.

“Oh, you know, it’s something to do.” Or “Well, it’s fun.” Or “It’s a reason to hang out with friends,” are just answers that lack any kind of vibrancy. More straightforwardly, they just smack of laziness, misdirection, and ennui. Four time National Slam Team winner, Taylor Mali, was onto something when he bemoaned the spineless manner people have developed in everyday speech in his famous poem, “Speak With Conviction.”

It was with Taylor Mali in mind when one week ago the musician Jaime Wosk completely surprised me with what miraculously resembled true conviction. When asked why he and his band mates played music, he answered, “Each of us has at some point in life found some aspect of music that resonates so deeply with what feels to be the cleanest, purest path of existence that we are as bound to its creation and demonstration as we are to breathing and pooping.” I imagined Taylor jumping up from his seat, hands slamming together with a huge grin on his face.

It’s obvious, too, when you see their band My Dads (as in plural not possessive) live. A family composed of 6 members, Hunter Ellis (guitar), Brian Kincaid (bass), Asher Katz (keyboards), and Gabe Katz (drums) were formerly of The Coma Lilies, a band with a considerable cult following originating from Santa Rosa, CA. Now with Jaime (guitar) and Don Malkemus (trumpet and keyboards) they form My Dads.

More of a family than a band, a few members have been playing together since they were 13. The camaraderie I’ve witnessed while they “work” in the studio, during practice, or on stage recalls more of a family game night than a gig.

Dubbing themselves as “exspiritual-mental rock with posi vibes,” My Dads still has the sound that The Coma Lilies laid down in their early stages but a much better understanding of landscape and journey. Bringing to mind the earlier albums from experimental, post-rock band Do Make Say Think, My Dads’ music is a complex story that divulges every detail, holding nothing back. Subtle and ultimately intriguing, at times brazenly loud, there’s no question: they get your attention and hold onto it.

Upon asking them about the writing process they promptly replied, “We all have slightly different approaches in terms of composition, whether using MIDI or audio recording or writing parts on instruments. Often someone will write a part (with 1 to 6 voices) and introduce it as a recording for others to listen to and/or write over… Once everyone has an idea of their piece, we combine and arrange them as a group and then hammer out the details as we rehearse.”

The methods this band employs while working reflects how they approach their lives. Influenced by “mutual love, laughter, intensity, joy, sadness, variety of experience, all the inconsistent and remarkable synchronous day-to-day happenings that ignite and inspire each moment of life”–the music is an unashamed homage to all of that. While the music is at times overwhelming in its scope, the binding thread that makes it work is the simple miracle of human cognizance, and My Dads is just that: 6 humble musicians perceiving and processing their individual and shared experiences together through the instruments.

My Dads is currently on their first tour but will be back January 16th for a homecoming concert at the World Famous Kenton Club in North Portland with Kidcrash and Atheorem. A show not to be missed, the evening guarantees many laughs, expert performances, music that reflects the minutiae of human experience and boasts the courage to present it with conviction.