Chris Young

Dave Dernovsek grew up playing competitive classical piano. In college, he picked up guitar and “started to play in the jazz-funk realm,” he says. “But I’d always had interest in the jam scene and then eventually developed a strong interest in electronica.” Then, in the early aughts, he saw bands like Lotus and Sound Tribe […]

The celestial, melodic vocals of singer Harlee Case float over pulsing synths and a steady rhythm of programmed drums. These are the hallmarks of the brief but potent pop output of Portland-based electronic trio New Constellations. Alongside bandmate and songwriter Josh Smith and the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Kyle Farook, the threesome will wrap up […]

In layman’s terms, the “O Theory” states that “if everybody believes in something, then it works.” This is according to groove-generating, Portland guitar wizard Scott Pemberton, who delved into operator belief theory during the pandemic times when he was working on his 2022 record, “Spot” — or “Scott Pemberton O Theory.” “When there’s conflict, you […]

When music is your full-time job, making ends meet means it’s, “always sort of a patchwork quilt of touring and writing and recording, and they all sort of feed each other,” singer/songwriter Anna Tivel explains. “Being out in the world touring is a lot of taking in the way things move, and people and their […]