The opening eight seconds of “Chairman Meow”—the first track from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion’s third album Wassaic Way—is a doppelganger for a song from Wilco’s last album The Whole Love. The rest of the song isn’t far off from that sound—and that’s by design. The album was recorded at Wilco’s studio The Loft […]
Ethan Maffey
Both a writer and a fan of vinyl records since age 5, it wasn't until nearly three decades later that Oregon Native Ethan Maffey derived a plan to marry the two passions by writing about music. From blogging on MySpace in 2007 and then Blogspot, to launching his own website, 83Music, and eventually freelancing for publications in the Pacific Northwest, like Spokane’s alt-weekly Inlander, Ethan’s aim has been to provide fans of music alternatives to the mundane and overplayed. This included a nearly two year stint as the music editor for the Source, where he scoured the Bend music scene drawing attention to local talent and notable touring acts as they passed through town. In addition to deep knowledge of the local music scene, Ethan has an uncanny ability to quote lines from the television show “Friends.” He also has an eye for women’s fashion and feels a kinship with Lucky Day, Steve Martin’s character in ¡Three Amigos!
Posted inMusic
Balancing Act
Les Claypool: still funky, still a badass on the bass
Flanked by two giant astronaut statues with creepy eyes peering out into the crowd, Primus front man Les Claypool slaps his guitar into a disjointed, yet sublimely coherent, bass line. Swirls of color emerge from the 3D graphics broadcast behind him and float over the crowd at this year’s SASQUATCH! Music Festival. “When it’s all […]
Posted inMusic
On Demand
How a sitcom landed singer-songwriter Joshua Radin a career in music
A famous friend with connections to the music industry is a good thing to have if you’re trying to launch a singer/songwriter career. The thing for Ohio-born Joshua Radin and his college buddy Zach Braff (“Scrubs”) is that the last thing Radin wanted was to be a musician. “I didn’t grow up playing music,” explained […]
Posted inNews
Friday Mixtape!
Summer isn’t quite over. This playlist will help it last a little longer.
Posted inMusic
Listen Local
Wilderness releases album, talks cats in walls
Rarely is the very first song on a debut album perfectly relevant to the story about to be told concerning the author of that song. Yet that is exactly what happened with this tale regarding local rock band Wilderness 34-year-old front man, Jared Smith, and his solo acoustic/demo version of “On My Own.” It’s a […]
Posted inMusic
Vegetarians Rock
Cattle Decapitation is actually a call to keep your head on straight
If ever there was an indictment of the human race, the catalog of music from San Diego’s death grind band Cattle Decapitation certainly contributes greatly to it. Imagine humans treated as livestock. Imagine teeming hordes of uncivilized people engaged in morbid self-destruction; a sort of zombie apocalypse. That’s Cattle Decapitation’s thesis for where our species […]
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Ivory Whisperer
Ukranian piano genius Vadym Kholodenko in Sunriver
In a kind of World Cup for pianists, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, crowns perhaps the planet’s very best every four years. In 2013 the best was Ukrainian-born and current Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory student Vadym Kholodenko. On Aug. 19, Kholodenko will grace the Historic Great Hall at Sunriver Resort […]