Ben Salmon

The debut full length record from Bory AKA singer-songwriter Brenden Ramirez perfectly splits the two indie pillars of “Figure 8” and Elephant 6. Click through. We’ll explain.

Portland critic Ben Salmon wanted to title this piece “Bory Story,” but that has terrible SEO. This is yet another example of what SEO has done to the art form of criticism. #tragedy

With its second year of funding, MusicOregon’s Echo Fund has awarded $57,000 in grants to 18 Portland- and Vancouver-area musicians. Here’s a little about the winners and their projects:

MusicOregon announced Monday that it has awarded $57,000 in grant funding to 18 local musicians and bands. This is the second round of grants from the nonprofit’s Echo Fund, which helps pay for non-performance or touring projects. Here’s a little about the winners and their projects.

Now for Oregon Jazz News: Yes, the people are hungry for it. Oregon Hall of Fame Jazz Guitarist Dan Balmer will release a new album on PJCE Records, a local label offshoot of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble.

With his new album, When the Night, Oregon Hall of Famer Dan Balmer chose to elevate a local label, PJCE Records—an offshoot of Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble doing interesting things. For instance, to go with Balmer’s release show PJCE commissioned five composers to expand Balmer’s tunes with new arrangements. Read Ben Salmon’s profile of the artist and the event.

Water Shrew Trio kicks out one-tone-building drones, layering different sounds into a cohesive whole. On Friday, the group celebrates their first studio album, playing an album release gig with Matthew J. Rolin and Broken Crow.

Water Shrew Trio is a Portland indie label supergroup—the combined might of Bud Tapes’ Emmet Martin and Oranj Discs’ Skyler Pia with Boreen’s Morgan O’Sullivan. That’s a lot of names, but the group’s sound couldn’t be further from complexity. Often building from a single tone, the improvisational drone band layers different sounds into a cohesive, unpredictable, comforting, psychedelically crunchy, and delightfully freaky whole. Check out the Mercury’s profile of the group’s first studio album.

No-No Boy sounds like Sufjan Stevens’ 50-albums-for-50-states project but focused on Asian experience in America.

Just released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, “Empire Electric” feels like a capstone of Portlander Dr. Julian Saporiti’s decade-long search for his Asian American heritage, under the moniker of No No Boy. Read Ben Salmon’s profile of the artist and the album.

Electronic music pioneer Mort Garson is probably best-known for his 1976 collection of compositions for growing plants, “Mother Earth’s Plantasia.” But he also made tons of albums about space and the occult. You have one chance to see “Laser Mort Garson,” which presents a unique survey of his work at OMSI—WITH LASERS.

Mort Garson’s career underwent a dramatic metamorphosis when he met Moog synthesizer inventor Robert Moog and began using Moog’s machine to make music. Prepare yourself for a similar transformation at OMSI’s laser light show “Laser Mort Garson,” which promises to present a survey of his catalog as it should be—WITH LASERS.

Co-released by local labels Antiquated Future Records and Bud Tapes, the excellent debut from Portland’s Babytooth is both quiet and loud, both a hello and goodbye, for now.

Co-released by local labels Antiquated Future Records and Bud Tapes, the excellent debut from Portland’s Babytooth is both a hello and goodbye, for now. Read Ben Salmon’s profile of the project before their album release show on Friday.

Babytooth creates a classic indie-pop-rock sound: fuzzy, jumbled, relentlessly catchy and emotionally raw. Think Pavement’s prickly guitars, Palehound’s sighing melodicism, Julie Doiron’s gentle intensity, with a healthy dose of quarter-life crisis and you’re at the right sweaty basement show—standing in the back, worried about waking up in the morning, and wondering just how long you can get away with this.

The forecast for Sunday is 80-degrees and sunny, but we’re certain prodigal Portlander Drowse will bring the gloom. Where has the overcast shoegaze droner been? Read this music profile by Ben Salmon to catch up with experimental composer Kyle Bates.

If you haven’t noticed, non-mainstream country music—call it alt-country, Americana, or roots-rock, if you prefer—is having a moment. It hasn’t come from out of nowhere, given the rise of artists like Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, and Tyler Childers over the past decade. But it might surprise you to know just how […]