Formed: 2007 in San Francisco
Members: Christopher Owens and Chet “JR” White.
Latest release: Girls’ debut, Album, came out this fall on True Panther records.
Why you care: Girls’ back story is almost too good to be true: Frontman and songwriter Christopher Owens grew up as a member of the Children of God cult in Florida (no, really) [...]

The rise and fall of Everclear and The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.
by Michael Mannheimer and Casey Jarman
This week, as if by some strange cosmic alignment, two large-looming ghosts from Oregon music history return to Portland for encore performances. And it turns out, Everclear and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies have more in common than their disparate music [...]

Portland’s Dirtnap Records just stumbled into its 10th year.
Call it an example of the American Punk Rock Dream: A decade ago, Ken Cheppaikode was living in an apartment below a vet clinic in Seattle, cleaning cat shit out of litter boxes in exchange for free rent and nurturing a vague idea of starting his own [...]

The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry (Pet Marmoset Records)

[ANTIQUE POP] Dimes, can you spare a brother? Spare me your tedious mid-tempo strumming, wan melodies, sedate vocals, and especially, your humorless lyrical gloss on a CliffsNotes summary of a high-school American history textbook. Yes, your sophomore release, The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry, sure [...]

Kelly Blair Bauman sees Portland burning, and he’s got the midlife-crisis folk to soundtrack the destruction.

[DOOM POP] “Across the bridge to this forsaken town/ Like some Gomorrah in the night,” sings Kelly Blair Bauman on “I Saw Stars,” a gorgeous standout from his debut solo record, Gomorrah. That’s as specific as he gets in identifying [...]