Prognosticating which records are actually going to come out over
the course of a new year—to say nothing of which of them will be
the most rewarding—is a fool’s errand. Releases get delayed, and
thankfully and inevitably we haven’t yet even heard of many of the
bands that will be our favorites at the end of the year (Blind Pilot or
Grouper, anyone?).
Nonetheless, there is something ritually invigorating about taking
advance stock of what music Portlanders will be treated to this year.
In addition to the breath-bating, upcoming records from the
biggies—the Decemberists, M. Ward, the Thermals, Mirah—here
are a few local releases I’m particularly looking forward to in
2009:
Explode into Colors
Titles TBD (Labels TBD)
Due: spring 2009
No new Portland band has me as excited as this almost totally
treble-less trio of drum-worshipping, post-dub, punk priestesses. This
year, Explode into Colors will put out their first recordings, which
will take the form of three distinct 7-inches on three separate labels
(one of which is Kill Rock Stars). These songs will later be collected,
paired with some unreleased tracks, and released as an EP. I fully
expect that this is what the witches from Macbeth will be
cutting loose to at their 2009 Halloween party.
Lightheaded
Lo-Fi Heights (Tres Records)
Due: 2009
Since their last album as Lightheaded, 2006’s Wrong Way, the
three emcees and producers in this Portland hiphop supergroup have
confirmed their individual claims to being among the best in the
Northwest beats ‘n’ rhymes game thanks to notable solo outings. Perhaps
you’ve heard of them: Braille, Ohmega Watts, and Othello. A little
older, a little wiser, and at the peak of their powers, we can expect
that these musical musketeers will do some serious sonic swashbuckling
in 2009.
The Mint Chicks
Screens (Label TBD)
Due: March 2009 in New Zealand; TBD in the USA
What does a band from New Zealand do after releasing four albums on
storied label Flying Nun, topping the charts, and winning every award
imaginable in their native land? Move to Portland, apparently, in an
attempt to duck the counter-creative excesses of superstardom, and make
a vocoder-heavy pop record that sounds like its target audience are
bubble gum-chewing, teenage robot punks with a soft spot for Queen and
Brainiac.
Nice Nice
Title TBD (Warp Records)
Due: spring 2009
Okay, so I jumped the gun putting this one on my Most Anticipated
Local Albums of ’08 list. So shoot me. But please don’t do it until
after Nice Nice—the Thomas Pynchon of Portland music, in terms of
recent reclusion and artistic invention—finally release their
long-gestating Warp Records debut. Rock journalists will at long last
have the opportunity to correctly apply the term “polyrhythmic”;
musicians will shake their heads at how this guitar-and-drums duo
overwhelms their own eight-piece indie guitarmies; and music lovers
will listen and smile.
YACHT
See Mystery Lights (DFA)
Due: 2009
One year ago, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans—AKA
YACHT—packed their toothbrushes, a Taiwanese drum kit, a Fender
Mustang, and a computer, and set out for the bizarro deserts of Marfa,
Texas, in an effort to dodge the darkness of the Portland winter and
craft a narratively cohesive record. YACHT worked in semi-isolation,
illuminated by the enigmatic (and titular) Marfa “ghost lights,” and
under the same strange spell that drew such visionaries as David Byrne
and Donald Judd to the city in the past, which can only mean good
things.
Also Highly Anticipated: Alan Singley and Pants Machine,
Alela Diane, Atole, Au, Braille, the Bugs, the Builders and the
Butchers, Cajun Gems, Church, Cool Nutz, Copy, DJ Yo-Yo Dieting, Ethan
Rose, E*Rock, the Estranged, Glass Candy, Guidance Counselor, Hey
Lover, Hornet Leg, the Hunches, Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond, the Mean
Jeans, Norfolk & Western, Nurses, SubArachnoid Space, World’s
Greatest Ghosts