Nick Jaina is a busy man. Earlier this year, he released the sparse, somber, and piano-led full-length Wool—a record that basically carried me through the cold winter months. Then Jaina and part of his trusty band went galavanting around the US, and he was nice enough to pen a number of epic tour diaries for [...]

7-19-08
We set off at the ass crack of dawn for Spokane. Nobody in the van thought this was going to end well. We have had a road manager for years now and for the first time since any of us can remember we don’t have one. We all laugh and say that [...]

Sorry, lots of Thermals stuff lately. But I love it, you love it.
The Thermals hired a new drummer named “JJ Binks”. I have at least two friends who really, really wanted to do some Thermals drummin’ (both of whom are quite capable on the skins), so this is sort of a “drummer bummer.” I [...]

Phew, what a weekend. For anyone who didn’t attend the PDX Pop Now! festival, we have you covered. But pictures and poorly edited words aren’t enough, you say? Well how about this: our two main dudes Robin Margolis and Asher Sandberg-Lewis totally have your backs. Robin and Asher were kind enough to shoot tons of [...]

Talk about a crazy weekend—after taking pictures of nearly every band at the three day PDX Pop Now! festival, our newest photo contributor, Jordan Strong, somehow mustered up the energy to snap a few more at the Artistery on Monday night. Here’s his brief report and a slideshow:
Jordan says: The Artistery is my new favorite [...]

Though it was released over a month ago, you can’t buy the new Babydollar$ album on CD. If you bug band leader Toussaint Perrault long enough, he might give you a burned copy—but he won’t be happy about it. Perrault, the quiet, long-faced former trombone player for spastic party-punkers Ape Shape and current member of [...]

[SINGER-SONGWRITER] Breanna Paletta is as humble as they come. Especially for a woman who began her career as a teenage lyricist for some of the city’s most well-respected artists, opened for the Cowboy Junkies and performed her perfect pop tunes at festivals alongside the likes of Tori Amos. Unlike other young, emerging artists, she’s none [...]

[ROOTS] Portland’s “little roots-music festival that could,” Pickathon, turns 10 this year. Cozily settled into its dream home, Happy Valley’s convenient and beautiful Pendarvis Farm, the event continues to grow in stature and success. You may be familiar with the bigger names on the bill (like reunited Austin punkgrass legends Bad Livers, featuring noted NW [...]

[UNDERGROUND DANCE] “The Gossip thing is pretty all-consuming,” admits Nathan Howdeshell, known as Brace Paine when playing guitar with the soul-punk icons. “But there’s always time to take pictures, do parties and make movies. I can’t sit still for very long.”
Between continual continent-hopping, Howdeshell’s founded a new electronic music project with Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto [...]