BLOGTOWN

Is there anyone who is able to keep up with the insane amount of quality music being released, both in the mainstream and regionally? There’s stuff coming from so many angles, and I am limited on space. While struggling to find the time for repeat listens of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s brand-spankin’ new collaborative album Everything Is Love (it’s perfect), straight-up ignoring the rollout of Kanye West’s Ye, and only kind of paying attention to that unsavory Drake/Pusha T drama, I’ve also been hearing a lot of whispers about forthcoming hip-hop and R&B projects from Portland musicians. If you want an intro to the scene, you’re in luck! On Saturday, June 30, Mississippi Studios is hosting Portland Hip-Hop 101: How the Game Is Played, with an excellent panel of local artists that will include Rasheed Jamal, Mic Capes, O.G. One, Cool Nutz, Vursatyl, and Karma Rivera. Hosted by DJ Klyph, the conversation will be recorded for a live episode of Kill Rock Stars’ music business podcast The Future of What. Here are four other dope developments I found in my inbox recently.

Lance Bangs

Floating Room’s sophomore album False Baptism is an uber-confessional crusher that neither singer/guitarist Maya Stoner nor her multi-instrumentalist bandmate/boyfriend Kyle Bates was in a rush to release, though it’s been finished for about a year.

Stoner wrote Floating Room’s 2016 debut, Sunless, in the aftermath of an abusive relationship. That album’s self-described “gray pop” grapples with her confusion and distress amidst a wash of heavy-lidded synth and warbling guitars.

“That record was more like shell-shock, like not being totally clear about what happened,” explains Stoner. “I was subconsciously putting off [releasing the new record] because I didn’t really wanna talk about the meanings of the songs... I was also feeling kind of self-conscious about putting out another album that’s slightly related to the same depressing shit I was already writing about.”

JASON QUIGLEY

For years, Marisa Anderson has lived a double life of sorts, as both one of the most skilled and adventurous solo guitar players on Earth, and also as a relative secret, hidden away in her longtime hometown of Portland.

Even within the solo guitar scene—which has grown over the past decade—Anderson’s work often feels overlooked by all but the most committed enthusiasts for dusty, six-stringed sounds. But that’s changing; with the thrust of the mighty Thrill Jockey Records behind her new album Cloud Corner, Anderson can feel an increase in interest and attention for her music.

“I’ve just been me doing me my whole life, and things attach or fall away,” Anderson says. “Honestly, I don’t know why it’s happening, [but] it is happening. It’s fine. I like doing what I do. It’s not the reason I do it. But I don’t want to think about that too much. I just want to do what I do.”

BLACK MILK Wed 6/20 Jack London Revue Delaney Teichler

Black Milk has been killing the game for more than a decade. Known for his innovative approach, the Detroit-born rapper/producer’s new record Fever is his seventh studio album since his 2005 debut, Sound of the City. During his rise, he’s collaborated with and been cosigned by living legends like Royce Da 5’9 and the Roots’ Black Thought.

Lead single “Laugh Now Cry Later” is just one example of how Fever feels like scrolling through an infinite news feed. The song’s lyrics provide spot-on commentary about the ways in which the news cycle and social media impact the mental state of young people of color and their relationships. The characters in the music video burn sage, fill their home with plants, drink tea, light candles—hopeful gestures of supposed self-care. Yet they spend the bulk of their time interacting with their phone screens, video games, or absorbing TV instead of each other. An image of a Black man’s tears and eerily bright eyes at the end of the video ends up feeling simultaneously terrifying and relatable.

But Fever also delivers sonically: Electronic soul production is layered with heavy guitar riffs on tracks like “True Lies” and “DiVE,” while “Could It Be” and “Will Remain” feature smooth, danceable production. Perhaps my favorite song on the album is closing track “You Like to Risk It All / Things Will Never Be,” with its beautiful keys, synth, and euphoric vocal effects. Black Milk’s Fever never sounds abrasive or explosive—with topical lyrics and fleshed-out melodies, it’s an example of his continuously inventive spirit. Now on his “Fever Tour,” Black Milk is bringing along the Nat Turner live band from 2016’s The Rebellion Sessions and having Portland’s cosmic-soul outfit Brown Calculus open the show.