On Stage

You Me & Iowa

The Adventures of You Me & Iowa
Scrimshaw Jazz
Every summer must be accompanied by an album. I don't mean dopey reggae hits or girl-pop numbers repeating the word "summer" ad nauseam, but well-wrought tunes that taste good topped with sunshine while also serving as the soundtrack to the entire season.
This summer, it's The Adventures of You Me & Iowa, from Los Angeles power pop outfit You Me & Iowa. The band exists somewhere within a triangle created by the technical mastery of Minus the Bear, the lyrical complexity of Death Cab for Cutie, and pop sensibilities that have been hard to find since the heyday of the Beach Boys. From the first cut, "Dress the Stage," the record sets sail across waves of poppy rock hooks that are firmly grounded by the band's musical knowledge - perhaps not surprisingly, knowing that the quintet has between them a wealth of formal training. Adventures was produced and engineered by Dave Newton of Mighty Lemon Drop fame and mixed by J. Robbins (Dismemberment Plan). Couple that production experience with a band as drenched in talent as YM&I and the result is an album that never slows, sinks, or ever sounds anything like any other band on the scene.

Richard Swift as Onasis EP
 
Secretly Canadian
★★★★✩
Its surprising to know that singer-songwriter Richard Swift is more or less a local artist. Originally from Eugene, he's since relocated to Los Angles and begun to gain some steam in the music business. Since releasing Dressed Up for the Letdown last year and touring with indie-rock vets Wilco, Swift has certainly brought some indie-rock street-cred to his name. In his new double album EP, he becomes his Krautrock-inspired alter ego, Onasis, and the repercussion is twenty songs of instrumental genius. Think 1950s blues infused rock and roll played lo-fi, unpolished and occasionally graced with a seedy 70s bar organ. Swift is famous for shining the spotlight on forgotten sounds and giving them his own twist.

Blue Turtle Seduction opened with a reggae-infused gypsy psychedelic
number that everyone more or less ignored except for a single
dread-headed female. This was the same woman who, upon Sound Check's
entrance, attempted to sell us one of three options: a Blue Turtle
Seduction thong, bootie shorts or a baby onsie. When did the band
T-shirt disappear from the menu? What about some goods for the guys?

Wilco
Confirmed!
Famous last words, right? Indeed, if Modest Mouse has taught us anything, it's that announcements of hugely awesome flannel shirt≠≠≠-related (we hereby declare a moratorium on the phrase "indie") bands playing shows at Les Schwab Amphitheater are best taken with a grain of salt.

The critically acclaimed Bay Area band has been making music since the mid-80s. The songs come quietly and deliberately from leader Mark Eitzel as he prods through curious subject matter. Past releases include song titles like: "What the Pillar of Salt Held Up", "How Many Six Packs Does It Take to Screw in a Light", "The Amyl Nitrate Dream of Pat Robertson" and my favorite, "In My Role as the Most Hated Singer in the Local Underground Scene". On The Golden Age, AMC drops in some very catchy almost-pop songs like "Decibels and Little Pills".

Get YonderEven after Sunday's show at the Midtown Music Hall, we know you haven't had enough of Colorado's Yonder Mountain String Band. And how in tarnation do we know that, you ask? Well, see, it's just in the nature of a band that's so darn good it warrants its very own three-day, outdoor music festival in the glorious Willamette Valley.

4 peaks 2008: more people, more tents, more acres, more bands, more tie dye.OK, so we got an inch or so of snow in this, the second week of April, but with the mercury finally climbing, it's high time you to start planning your summer outdoor music schedule.
 
The 4 Peaks Music Festival announced its lineup last week for its July 25-26 event, as well as the fact that their local festival grounds have nearly quadrupled in size with the addition of expanded camping area. The initial lineup, which festival organizers say will likely grow as the date nears, already rivals last year's roster with emerging Bay-Area soul-jammers Tea Leaf Green, String Cheese Incident descendants Zilla, as well as returning bluegrass stars Hot Buttered Rum and Seattle's Flowmotion leading the way. Also on the bill: sudden Bend favorite Poor Man's Whiskey, Matt Butter & S.E.E., local heroes Moon Mountain Ramblers, State of Jefferson and more.

She & Him
Volume One
Merge Records
Volume One is the debut album and collaboration of indie film favorite Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, Elf) and guitar-folk musician M. Ward. The pair met while collaborating on a cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's "When I Get to the Border" for the soundtrack of the film The Go-Getter. After years of secretly creating home mix tapes of her songs and performing a cabaret act of jazz standards, Deschanel felt she had met the right person to collaborate with in M. Ward.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Real Emotional Trash
Matador Records
I've been pondering for a week if we have reached a place in time where we can discuss Stephen Malkmus without mentioning his long-time 1990s band Pavement. OK, we haven't. For two decades Malkmus has contributed dozens of unique recordings to our collective ears. But what has gone less noticed is his work as a solo artist, in particular The Silver Jews (listen to the band's phenomenal LP, The Natural Bridge.)

Wearing his trademark KFC bucket (logo free) and white mask, Buckethead pushed the limits of the electric guitar to the brink Friday night at the Domino room, before the packed all-ages show. Three of four songs into the set he pretty much demolished all notions I had of the technical limits of the instrument and human musicianship.
But I'll confess that at this point I was starting to wonder how much guitar theatrics I could take. Plus I was getting a little weirded out by the whole chicken bucket hat, serial killer mask shtick.
An hour and half and one Buckethead nun chuk exhibition later, I was still standing in the same spot with my jaw hanging somewhere near the ground.