A Friday Mixtape full of new music!
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
Download It
If You Leave Daughter Glassnote Songs on If You Leave, the debut album from UK trio Daughter, are the musical equivalent of tearing down a personal fortress. It is an album about unclenching fearful fists. Singer Elena Tonra’s haunting voice is an iron anchor slowly rising from the depths of the sea, eventually turning tracks […]
Posted inMusic
Shock Value
Tyler, The Creator: Man-child or a genius?
Put every taboo slur and sensitive social topic in a blender, leave the lid off and blast that sucker on puree. That’s a beginning idea about what listening to rapper Tyler, The Creator is like. Born Tyler Gregory Okonma, the 22-year-old rapper is still very much like a kid who likes to press his mom’s […]
Posted inMusic
A New Path
Fiddler Sara Watkins continues musical growth post Nickel Creek
The members of progressive bluegrass band Nickel Creek haven’t been together since 2007, but the individual artists are carrying momentum from that band into their solo careers. Mandolin player Chris Thile is turning heads with his new project The Punch Brothers, and fiddle player Sara Watkins is now two albums into a promising solo career. […]
Posted inMusic
Broken Down Guitars
2012 Last Band Standing winner set to release debut album
The votes placing Bend’s five-piece-alt-rock crew Broken Down Guitars into the winner’s circle of the Last Band Standing competition were counted way back last June—almost an entire year ago. Eleven months later, they finally have something to show for it. Eighteen hours of studio time at Top Secret Records and Productions came with the Ninkasi […]
Posted inMusic
Ghost on Ghost
Iron & Wine
Ghost On Ghost Iron & Wine Nonesuch Records The fifth studio album from singer/songwriter Sam Beam—who records as Iron & Wine—is by far the cheeriest record he’s ever made. Beam, known for his quieted and haunting voice, unleashes on Ghost On Ghost. Happy church organ, marching snare and jazz horns accompany Beam’s singing that on […]
Posted inMusic
Fists of Fury
Bay Area rapper Aesop Rock turns a music video into an action flick
Although he was still recording, for the past few years Aesop Rock shied away from headlining his own albums. But with the 2012 release of Skelethon and a recent appearance at Coachella, Aesop has returned full-force. The tenor of his furious rhymes and flow is a throwback to the rap of ’90s groups like Mobb […]
Posted inNews
Friday Mixtape!
You’ll need your headphones to hear all the details in this edition of the Friday Mixtape.