When it comes to launching itself into the Bend music scene, wide-eyed indie rock quartet Isles has thrown conventional wisdom out the window. Other than performing a brief opening set at Parrilla Grill a few weeks ago and making a handful of First Friday Art Walk appearances, Isles has yet to play a legitimate gig. […]
Sound Stories & Interviews
Posted inMusic
Out of Town 5/15 – 5/23
portland saturday 18 Amazine Day Handwritten letters and independent publishing are labeled as antiquated forms of communication in the technological age of text messages and blogs, but the Independent Publishing Resource Center and the Portland Zine Symposium aspire to make the old-school into the new school. They offer certification programs in self-publishing along with classes […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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Out of Town 5/8 – 5/16
portland friday 10-sunday 19 The Match.com Monologues Dating in the 21st century is rough. Emails, Googling, Skype, Facebook stalkers, sexting, retweets and online dating profiles all complicate the already mucky courting routine, replacing real-live human interaction with online non-dates, non-relationships and other technological fabrications of love and lust. This can lead to some seriously sidesplitting […]
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Out of Town 5/1 – 5/9
portland thursday 2 Bonobo Bonobos (plural) are a Central African chimpanzees known for their brazen sexual behavior and for being the closest extant relative to humans. Bonobo (no s), on the other hand, is the alias of Simon Green, a British producer and DJ who emerged in the late 1990s with a thick-layered approach to […]
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High Culture, Low Cost
Central Oregon Symphony performs for the reasonable price of free
Wendy Bloom leads a threefold life. She is a mother of two young kids, 6-year-old Bobby and 2-year-old toddler Madeleine; in itself, that keeps her plenty busy. But she piles on more: By day, she is a network and systems engineer, working on computers for local school districts. And, finally, by night, the lanky, blond […]
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All That Glitters
Eilen Jewell to shine at Belfry
A demure, grown-up Alice in Wonderland in a black dress and black boots, there’s something ethereal but a little bit racy about Eilen Jewell. Pronounced eye-lynn, even her name is just a bit off center. The 34-year-old bandleader is one part devilish Mississippi River bottom blues and one part sweet folk-singer on the stage in […]
