Chris Sutton

With her solo debut, No Fury, singer/songwriter Jessica Boudreaux delivers irresistible pop confections with gut-punching spikes of attitude. When she’s fronting Portland band Summer Cannibals, Boudreaux waxes poetic about tempestuous relationships over a guitar-driven bedrock, but on No Fury, bass is her most trusted companion. Produced by the Thermals’ Hutch Harris, her new album demonstrates […]

Jessica Boudreaux’s solo debut, No Fury, is an irresistible pop confection.

“You put the goddamn strings in my hand!” moans Turtlenecked’s Harrison Smith on “Stradivarius,” the final track on his new album, Vulture. Smith’s accusatory tone suggests that he’s not entirely responsible for the complex visions coming from his brain. However, these hyperactive opuses are clearly the product of a singular imagination—one that’s reminiscent of an […]

It takes progressively cultured synapses to process the encyclopedic buzzsaw of Turtlenecked’s Vulture.

JO HAMILTON Three years ago, Portland band Eyelids released their full-length debut, 854. Now they’re back with Or, produced by Peter Buck of R.E.M., which once again proves them to be studious disciples of the indie-pop art form. But with this sophomore effort, they seem to be imprisoned within the paisley cage they constructed on […]

Eyelids’ new album Or once again proves they’re studious disciples of the indie-pop art form.

TINARIWEN ANTI DENGUE FEVER CHEAN LONG When the original alchemists invented the guitar, they probably had no idea the impact their creation would have on modern society. This sacred wand is an endless wellspring of vibrational gifts, as evidenced by the work of North African sound-smiths Tinariwen. Born from a collective of Tuareg rebels who […]

THE ONLY limit to an artist’s stylistic potency in this age of information is their ability to absorb the sacred vibrations of their record collection without sounding derivative. Guitarist/vocalist Erik “Ripley” Johnson seems to have an alchemist’s understanding of this balance. His two main projects, Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips, are a culmination of each […]

Moon Duo’s Occult Architecture Vol. 1 is constructed like an astral puzzle.