Ezra Ace Caraeff

As the weather shifts and Portland becomes a miserable landscape of wet puddles, it’s time to adjust your musical soundtrack. Say good-bye to the summer jams—the Girl Talk and the Gnarls—and welcome in Owen, your new best pal for these blistery winter months. This Kinsella (Mike, one of three Kinsellas that make up the art […]

Somewhere in my music collection, lodged next to Noise for Pretend and Noisettes, sits a couple CDs by Noise Addict, the former band fronted by then-teenage indie-sensation Ben Lee. For reasons that are now lost on me, I loved me some Noise Addict, and I was not alone. The Australian band’s very sloppy baby-punk tunes […]

The level of my personal religious tolerance is terrifically low, a result of six years (and counting) of Bush leadership that has drawn a line in the sand between myself and anyone ignorant enough to believe in creationism. I know, it’s a terrible thing to write, or even think, but since our country has made […]

Halloween is the one night of the year when it’s totally cool to drop all indie pretension, down a couple cans of lukewarm Sparks in the parking lot, and go see a cover band. Whether you see a quality cover band like Purple Reign, or the sheer sideshow value of MiniKISS, Halloween is where actual […]

After a handful of records and over a decade on stage, Omaha’s Cursive had pretty much hit the glass ceiling of indierock. Sure their previous albums have aged well—from the tragic relationship push-and-pull of Domestica to The Ugly Organ, a totally meta look at a singer writing songs about the task of writing songs—but with […]

It seems a simple enough task to just sit around and write perfectly assembled pop songs—at least it does when listening to New London Fire. But of course, it’s an impossible task for most to do, and especially to do with such frequency and ease as this New Jersey quintet does on their debut album, […]

While the news of the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower’s breakup was not surprising—since bands of their ilk seldom last more than a few chaotic years—it’s still disappointing. For a group of unassuming San Diego kids, they were somehow able to seamlessly harness the nervous fear of the salad days of punk, the […]

As far as I know, there are no defined rules for an outro song, but basically it’s the last track on a record, a sort of audio liner note, where the emcee (or in a rare circumstance, the singer) thanks all of their friends and homies over a poorly assembled song or simplistic beat. In […]

When not pogo-ing about the stage and singing for the Kingdom, Chuck Westmoreland is an avid sports handicapper and gambler. From Vegas to Atlantic City, Westmoreland is known for his fearless betting skills and keen ability to predict the results of NFL football games. He even multi-tasks while the Kingdom is on tour, often having […]

I have scoured the web for you, dearest readers, and I present you with the biggest news in music and technology. These news items could signal a music industry sea change, a merger of technology and creativity that births a newfound era of music and culture. Oh, also, I’ll tell you about a site where […]

While the rivalry between the Mercury and the Willamette Week has been downright Hatfield vs. McCoy in the past, I’m ready to lay the gauntlet down in the name of good music. And speaking of, the WW-sponsored MusicfestNW has just that, as it hijacks our fair city for three nights of ear-ringing action. The festival […]