Libretto Mercury Anniversary Fri June 11 Sabala’s Mt. Tabor 4811 SE Hawthorne In the four years the Mercury‘s been in operation, one of the most important developments in Portland music has been the local and national success of the Lifesavas. They’re longtime Portlanders steady grindin’ with their crew, Misfit Massive, since the mid-’90s. But their […]
Julianne Shepherd
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Cracking the Code
Enigmatic Metallists: Swarming Hordes
Swarming Hordes Mercury Anniversary Fri June 11 Sabala’s Mt. Tabor 4811 SE Hawthorne Only having played in Portland about three times over the past four years, Swarming Hordes has left a hefty legend in its wake. Gnarly gymnastic double-guitar riffage and drumming that shook the earth: this is what I remember most from their last […]
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Sing, Sweet Dragon-gale
The Badger King’s Electro-Pop Opera
Badger King: The Showering Dragons Sat June 12 Nocturnal 1800 E Burnside In the Easter basket of Portland indiepop, watching The Badger King’s “electro art-pop opera,” The Showering Dragons, evolve from baby form to RACC-granted performance-art feat, has been like watching an egg turn to chocolate gold. The operatic performance piece has been a Portland […]
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Lady of the Woods
Forest Folk, Taut and Sweet
Joanna Newsom Fri June 4 Berbati’s Pan 10 SW 3rd We’re talking about The Last Unicorn, Joanna Newsom’s favorite movie of all time, which she has watched practically every day for the last 10 years, although that could be an exaggeration. “Have you read the book?” she asks. “I highly recommend it. Reading the book […]
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So Fresh, So Clean
So Fresh, So Clean
Lowrider Tour Cruises Slow and Low
Drives a little slower/is a little bolder: long before MTV wanted to pimp your ride or Lowrider magazine shipped its first issue to the printer, post-WWII Mexican-American migrant workers were lowering their trucks and driving slow in a paseo-style dance to show off the shine. It was, and is, a symbolic expression of Latino values […]
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Style Wars
The Warriors: Fashion Ideas for Days
The Warriors dir. Hill Opens Fri June 4 Clinton Street Theater To the less refined hater, claiming The Warriors is the greatest film ever made might sound like a ridiculous assertion: the movie, directed in 1979 by Walter Hill (48 Hours, Brewster’s Millions), is defined by implausible dramatic twists, impossibly leaden dialogue, and the most […]
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DAY AFTER TOMORROW
The Day After Tomorrow dir. Emmerich Opens Fri May 28 Various Theaters The Day After Tomorrow is a summer blockbuster—an all-purpose film, meant to entertain you and me and popcorn-huffing Middle Americans and apocalypse-watchers and the Jake Gyllenhaal Fan Club alike—and in the interim, hopefully earn back some of the 100 million clams it dropped […]
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I’m Talib Kweli, Bitch
In the Eye of a Beautiful Struggle
Talib Kweli Sat May 2 9:00 Roseland – 8 NW 6th “If skills sold, truth be told, I’d probably be / lyrically, Talib Kweli / Truthfully, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense / But I did five mil/ I ain’t been rhymin’ like Common since” –Jay-Z, “Moment of Clarity” (from The Black Album) “If lyrics […]
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The Eternals
Problem Solving
The Eternals Sun May 30 Roseland – 8 NW 6th On “Bewareness,” one of the best tracks from The Eternals’ newest album, vocalist Damon Locks wonders, “Disorder… how do you respond to that?” You get the feeling he’s unwrapping rhetoric, because the rest of the song–with its Portuguese field sample, Congalese-sounding rhythm pattern, and chopped-up […]
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Work it Out
RJD2 Flashes Pop Feathers
RJD2 Thurs May 20 Berbati’s Pan 10 SW 3rd “It’s not like I didn’t make another Dead Ringer just to be an asshole.” And he didn’t sing to be a dick, neither. RJD2–the Ohio DJ/producer renowned for the graceful, brooding beats and melody from deep crates–is not handcuffed to the forward-thinking-but-formal hiphop that defined his […]
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Waiting for a Refill
Jarmusch’s Beckettian Vignettes are A-OK
Coffee and Cigarettes dir. Jarmusch Opens Fri May 14 Various Theaters Based upon the existentialist’s perennial props–coffee, cigarettes–it’s easy to assume Coffee and Cigarettes will fulfill the circular non-aspirations of ’90s slacker art films. A collection of black-and-white shorts directed by Jim Jarmusch (some of which were in fact filmed in the ’80s and ’90s), […]
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Barely Legal
Ban the Neo-Con Twin Robots Now!
New York Minute dir. Gordon Opens Fri May 7 Various Theaters As frat-boy websites internet-wide will tell you, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen–middle America’s fave twin franchise, worth $150 million each–are one month shy of their eighteenth birthday. Their latest film, New York Minute, is another pitstop in the stacks of Olsen home videos, full […]