“Wake up and smell the coffee,” they used to say. It was a rude and brutish statement of ’80s bumper sticker-as-philosophy culture, but it holds true even today. Music snobs, see, are deluded ego freaks. They celebrate contrarianism like it’s religion, talk shit for shit’s sake, and love records that are just plain bad. Why? […]
Adam Gnade
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Sincere Brutality
Suffocation Kills Death Metal Dead
Suffocation Fri Feb 4 Meow Meow 320 SE 2nd DESPISE THE SUN! Mass obliteration and a prelude to repulsion! I wish I could write this based entirely upon the poetics of Suffocation, the great revolting lyrics their fans love, live, and die for. See, wimpy writer words aren’t enough for Suffocation, a band so gruesome […]
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Finding Neverland
Science of Yabra Get Wild Like Children
Science of Yabra Thurs Jan 27 Nocturnal 1800 E Burnside PETER PAN’S A PUSSY. Totally. But for all his faults, hardcore is probably a massive part of his iPod play-list. A good friend of mine once said that hardcore is for dudes who don’t wanna grow up, an excuse for young men en route to […]
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Screamin’ Dixie
Nomads and Perfect Nipples in the Kingdom of Leon
Kings of Leon Wed Jan 26 Aladdin Theater 3017 SE Milwaukie AND THEN IT COMES TO YOU. Some combination of caffeine or booze or being up too late or getting up too early. Clarity. Your mind opens, your brain clicks over, and fires like pistons–and you realize Kings of Leon is really the Velvet Underground, […]
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To Hold Back the Tide
Bo Diddley vs. The Wal-Martization of America
Bo Diddley’s 76th Birthday Celebration Thurs Dec 30 Berbati’s Pan 10 SW 3rd AMERICA’S IN TROUBLE. You might say “doomed,” but that’s a little heavy. There is hope, though, and Bo Diddley fits into the rescue operation. How? We’ll get to that later. First, some background, a little history to explain why YOU–“you” being generations […]
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Let Freedom Ring!
Ariel Pink And His Giggly Fever Dreams
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Fri Nov 5 Holocene 1001 SE Morrison FIRST THING you need to know about Ariel Pink’s music is it doesn’t sound much like music at all. It’s more like City Liquidators commercials heard from the bottom of a pool, or R&B playing through the wall next door. It’s muffled, buried beneath […]
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Caaattle Decaaapitation!
The World’s Only Legit Scary Metal Band
Cattle Decapitation Sat Oct 2 Roseland 8 NW 6th Metal bands front “scary” like it’s going out of style. You’ve got Slipknot’s stupid clown-pig masks; System of a Down’s guitarist pretending to be “possessed”; even Sabbath getting all faux-Prince of Darknessed out. And none of it is convincing or real or interesting. It’s conscious, staged–a […]
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Barnstorming!
Punk Voter Presents “Rock Against Bush”
Rock Against Bush Fri-Sat Sept 17-18 Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th THERE’S PREACHING to the choir, and there’s preaching to a lazy choir whose collective heart is in the right place, but flakes on anything beyond its personal periphery. Punk kids talk a lot of noise about making a difference, but sometimes they need a […]
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Chill Out, Fame Nazis!
The Parent, The Pimp, and The Popstar
We see her in vivid Technicolor. The popstar, center-stage, eyes wide, dramatic, doe-like stare, flanked by ridiculously dressed dancers, a cordless mic wrapped through her snaky, sweaty blonde hair. She’s singing her latest hit, punching her tiny fist in the air, while pyrotechnic sea anemones flash and pop red, white, and blue around her. But […]
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Cex Who?
Rjyan Kidwell’s Personality Crisis
Cex Sat Aug 21 Nocturnal 1800 E Burnside PREDICTABILITY IS SO predictable. We all knew the second Strokes record would sound exactly like the first Strokes record because Julian and his boys are predictable. Regardless of the whiskey and pills posturing, they’re safe. There’s no inner conflict or turmoil; no reason to fix what ain’t […]
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Choose Fun
Chaos! Burning Brides! Catheters! Explosion!
The Burning Brides Thurs Aug 5 Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash IS PUNK ROCK that actually sounds like punk still relevant? Do lyrical snarls like “I don’t give a fuck” still have the same impact they once did? How many times can an indierocker turn his head and pretend that he wasn’t shamelessly punk, […]
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Beach Town Calm
A Brief History of the Album Leaf
Album Leaf Wed Aug 4 Holocene 1001 SE Morrison YOU’VE GOTTA IMAGINE the surprise. San Diego. 1997. Tristeza birthed from ex-members of The Locust. The fans come out, stoked to see “the new Locust band”–thinkin’ “crazy, bitchin’, brutal.” The band sets up–familiar faces, familiar instruments–this is gonna totally rule. And then–what? Heavy guitars? Screaming? Try: […]