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Children of the Revolution Festival

Remember that children's movie released semi-recently about eating worms? Well, if those worms were in fact Portland's noise-y, metal-ly, drone-y, punk-y band Worms, I would totally sign up for the task as they are entirely too awesome! They started out with lead singer on the ground curled in a ball without a mic. Actually, even before that he was stood in front of the drum kit wadding up balls of paper. Shortly into their set - after he'd stood up and all - he began launching those paper balls at the audience. I got one and after uncrumpling it, the message revealed was that of political propaganda. I'm down with that. When writing my review for Willamette Week I couldn't find the singer's name and had to call their label Marriage Records who seemed amused by my skyping them to find out :) Anyway - lead singer man, from now on to known as Davis Lee Hooker, kept throwing himself into the audience. I was a bit scared for my camera, not to mention my feet as I always ALWAYS seemed to the bulls-eye of his assault.

They mixed so many dark genre's and even had a throbbing beat going that was near perfect for a disco at one point.
God - they were so awesome. The drummer left his kit to tie his shoe during their set. He chose to tie it in front of crowd and then dance - it was a surreal-ish sight - the way he was dancing - some humor and irony fit to be seen in the last scene of Beetlejuice.
Bird Costumes (in a bear costume or at least hat) took me to another place entirely. There was guitar drone and then melodic and intricate plucking of the chords. I wanted it to go on forever.

I've never checked out Dragging an Ox Through Water before and oh my god - I want to collaborate with him so bad - hillbilly folk with gritty electronics. It was FANTASTIC! I'd say that set received the best
reaction from everyone assembled over the course of both days.

Baby, it's cold outside - and it was cold inside. My teeth chattered a bit even with my puffy jacket on. Still that didn't prevent me from taking a hop, skip and beat during Atole's set to grab some grub at both Burgerville and Burger King. Funny that I frequented both those places and did not pick up a burger. At the latter I indulged in a strawberry milkshake which I brought back to the venue which then resulted in me being asked to leave hahahahaha. It didn't compete with their menu, but whatevs
Anyway - Atole's set was only like 17 minutes - boo! I was expecting a half hour to forty minutes so I ended up missing them entirely - like literally as i walked in they were closing up shop in terms of their set. There will be a next time I'm sure...

Anyway - Ms. Tara Jane O'Neil once again had her backup dancer who once again (as he was and did at Night of 1,000 Madonna's) was accessorized with items more often associated with women and then proceeded to strip down to his skivvies. Some felt his appearance was distracting.

I thought it was quite the opposite - an enhancement. He also shaved his beard on stage. No one can deny he was entertaining.

They passed out tambourines to a lot of the audience and it reminded me of say any TV on the Radio show you could name. Her book was also present and my my my is it a fantastic work of art. She also had her visual art displayed on a wall for the weekend.

Panther and Charlie's fabulous hair was the last thing I saw on Saturday. My FIRST time seeing Panther as a duo. But first, I must go back to the fabulous hair. Did you know the the casio-pop trio of unicorns, beauty-queens, I mean other-worldly ladies Au Revoir Simone are sponsored by Bumble and Bumble because their hair is so lovely? Well if Panther's show was a testament to anything - it's that some hair care company needs to sign him.

Seriously.
Okay, moving on...
I listened to his forth-coming album 14 kt. God in full earlier in the day so I instantly recognized when he started his set with track one "Puerto Rican Jukebox." (MP3) I am LOVING his new-ish direction. It's so world-music and still not in keeping with what else in coming out of Portland or anywhere else for that matter. Panther is just so progressive.
Charlie said the event reminded him of "Woodstock in '76." Bless his heart. Well, I guess that is the year
the movie came out. He also proclaimed that he'd gotten stoned before their set.

Oh - and he asked what would happen with 2008. I thought he was gonna use the opportunity to big-up his album. He did not.
Charlie's dancing is a bit different and he doesn't perform from inside the audience - he was on the stage the whole time. To my left a voice excitedly said to a friend "See - I told you he's so much better with Joe!"

And I would have to agree, which is a feat within itself because I thought he was the pinnacle of greatness when alone. It's kind of a compare and contrast thing going on with him and the former incarnation of Panther and each has their merits. I especially enjoy that Charlie's drumsticks have string attached.

The only band I had on my radar for Sunday was Fist Fite, of course. It was bassist Justin's 29th B-day. They rocked as expected and everyone was pretty much at Fist Fite's feet when it came to applause. There was no singing with a telephone however, only a regular mic.

Afterwards I briefly hung out with Jason Simms who was selling some merch after his band Dagger of the Mind's set. He is so fun. The last time I saw him before that was at MFNW I think. Then this past Friday we did some hustling for Harp Magazine together - he interviewed Janet Weiss and Stephen Malkmus and I shot the photos. Out on newsstands sometime very soon.
Anyway - I also ran into Jennifer who is Josh from Starfucker's girlfriend and who is downright so arty and awesome. We had a long fun chat and are so on the same wavelength about the abolishment of full-time day jobs :). She actually started the print-making collective Flight 64 - a group that I LOVE, but can't afford to join even though they are cheap-ish. I encourage all local print-makers to seek them out.

Of the art hanging on the walls, I spied the majority of it including a collage by E*Rock:

and two different installations of polaroids. I most hearted Yoni Kifle's which was the scene of a landscape at night. He shot it so that only a portion of it was captured with each polaroid and then when clustered together - you could see the whole scene - from a building to powerlines, etc.

Does he have a flickr stream?

Two other notable visuals:

Here's the article I ended up writing for WWeek which includes a couple more bands. Read it over on LocalCut for a fun comment by a reader at the end of the post. I get nothing but love over there hahahahaha. Yeah right. I seriously am looking at all possible avenues to not have to write a single word over there again. I'll be rolling out new post themes very soon over there that do not include words.

My COTR flickr photoset (I'm far from finished in terms of uploading)

The Best Bands You Didn't See at COTR according to Crappy Indie Music and they're right - I didn't see either of the bands they linked -- Chrome Wings or my beloved Starfucker. I missed Starfucker's set because I was still making the WAW concert poster for the show at Holocene on January 31st (the gig on your calendar yet?)
nor Death Songs who CIM make mention of, a band which includes a member of the Shaky Hands.

Oh - and I caught Mattress who rocked a lightbulb as part of his kit ala Dan Deacon and a strobe light a little later on ala Crystal Castles. There's no business like show business and there's no performer like Mattress. He reminded me just the slightest bit of a solo-Panther, but with dress sense, mannerisms and ticks all his own, not to mention his hits delivered via cassette tape floss:

And I couldn't stay for Yellow Swans on Sunday because the duo's set conflicted with the last bus home.

Picture of a Postcard: E*Rock

A postcard from one of Portland's coolest ex-pats E*Rock has arrived:

(click to enlarge)

The high art front-side:

(click to enlarge)

If you read my interview with E*Rock back in April, you'll already know he's spending some summertime in one of the world's best cities --> Berlin. What has he been up to? Various exploits that look fun fun fun and that you can keep up with via his blog Light and Sound. Well at least those that happened in Benelux.
When not completing freelance assignments and not partying enough, he can also be found dispensing the best in music tips.
E*Rock's chance encounter with Chromeo his first night out led to me mentioning bumping into Erlend Øye randomly at Rio when I was last there, which led to him sharing a heartbreaking (not really) Erlend episode of his over the course of several 3am (my time) emails. That brought him to pass along info about TVT artist O-Solo who samples one of Erlend's songs. All I needed were the words "east coast hyphy" and I was there. Now you are too:

'Remember' O-Solo MP3

YACHT at Disjecta

After YACHT on a yacht, pretty much everyone headed over to the "afterparty" at Disjecta for yet more sets!

There was a bit of change up to the line up - Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion played before E*Rock instead of after.

It was my first time seeing Adrian Orange live since 7th grade. He played our Valentine's Day dance with his then-band Menagerie wearing an orange dress. I think Robin Rasmussen lent it to him. God. I remember that like it was yesterday. He had just gotten out of his phase of being referred to only as Kurt in homage to Mr. Cobain. Hahaha - middle school rocked! I am so glad I went to da Vinci!!!

Anyway, their set was good.

There was a brief DJ interlude that was grand. They played 'This is Why I'm Hot'. It really raised the energy level!

E*Rock was up next with a very inventive set. As I was watching, I was like, "Why is that guy kneeling down right by him on the stage?"

Then I realized he was assisting on vocal duties. The song was GREAT - my mind is a little foggy at this point, but it had a bit of a hip-hop feel to it.

He once again played that song that I liked last time -with lyrics about "black." Wow I am so articulate and so clearly familiar with his back catalog haha.

There was another DJ interlude.

Then YACHT took the stage, but once again he did not stay on it for long. He was in the crowd and above it.

Bobby Birdman came out and guested on 'Platinum' live as opposed to "live over the internet."

Then mid-set, much of the Urban Honking crew graced the stage front and center to form a one-off grunge band to reproduce much of the tracks off of his latest album I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. Jona said it'd likely never happen again, to which White Rainbow shouted that it definitely wouldn't.

The band of three back up singers, a drummer, bassist, a keyboardist, and additional guitarist closed with the VERY appropriate 'Women Of The World' - the most hardcore rock type song on the new album.

Afterwards, Jona retired to the merch table to dole out free copies of his album and partake in some elaborate signing. Emphasis on elaborate.

I never get things signed, but there was no way I was going to miss out on some genuine Jona art. Guess who got the "promo copy?"

Anyway, if you wanna check out my Pitchfork post about the YACHT on a yacht party - click here

Until next time!!!

E*Rock: An Interview with Awesome

Behold, he who is E*Rock- most acurately described by Willamette Week as: "Portland's greatest unknown electronic music multitasker, ever."

Emphasis on greatest and ever

If you don't already know him by name, you'll be asking yourself how you don't as his relevance spans several acts and media. Probably his two most visible efforts to enter mainstream territory have been the release of the debut single 'Seventeen Years' from his brother's band Ratatat on his label Audio Dregs as well as the music video for the Gossip's 200K selling single 'Standing in the Way of Control' (not to mention one for Beck as well as the animation for a live action video for the Blow). He makes his own music, releases it as well as others' tunes on CD and vinyl over his two record labels, creates poster art and does so much else that's it's a bit hard to keep up with the chronicles of E*Rock.
Maybe you can follow along. . .

1. What was it like growing up in Nordenham?

Oh, I see you've done your research! Well yeah, it was cool, I guess.

2. a. Did you meet any celebrities while working on the cruise where you met your Fryk beat label partner? Who?

I met the guy from a popular TV show and his infamous wife! I tend to forget celebrity names. I'd like to see that Daft Punk movie that's coming out.

b. Share a story about one particularly memorable and/or strange meeting:

They were despicable human beings. When they weren't looking I put gum in their hair and farted in church and told God it was them.

3.How do the different partnerships in running each label vary?
Running labels is kinda boring business with lots of work for very little payoff. I'm going to take a little time off to work on music and other neglected projects, like music and drawing and video. Don't get me wrong, I'll still keep doing it, but there's less need for it than there was when I started. Everyone has a label these days and no one really has money to buy records.

4.What about the music or the artist makes you want to release their music?

Its mostly friends and sometimes you make a long distance friend and then you're like, hey let's do this! The label is about relationships and ideas, which is what music is about, which is all that life is about. We're all social creatures, more than most will admit. To me a label should be a little more than reproducing plastic discs though.

5.When will you be posting this year's mission statement on Audio Dregs?

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. Maybe tonight? I'm making a note to myself right now.

-okay-I'm going to abandon the numbered format now-

How do you approach remixes? ie by what you feel the song could be or a desire for it to become a whole new entity, or for it to sound like only you could have made it, or . . .

Well, I usually remix songs that I already like, so I try and just
put my own take on it. I think of what sort of beat I would put in there if I was working on the song with that person. Some of the Panther songs I was working on the original with Charlie, so the remix was just trying to find a different way to approach something I had already thought hard about. I'm trying to finish a new mixtape of unofficial remixes, so I have to take acapellas and start more from scratch. My brother got me into that, and has a new mixtape out like that and I love it! Also DJ Copy is totally got me excited to do it as well. His mixtapes are totally crucial!

-What dictates what it will become?

Its like a puzzle. You listen to the the melody and see where it can go, or if it needs to get more dancey. Usually it needs to get more dancey. My brother sticks really close to the original song structure, whereas I never did, so I'm going to try that method. Keep it pop. Sometimes you gotta force the pieces to fit though.

Were you blogging elsewhere previous to your blog Light and Sound on Urban Honking?

No, though I had kind of a fake blog on the Audio Dregs site, like in 2000. It wasn't very good. I had a "news" part of the site and then I had a hidden "fake news" section, which was blog-like, but the word blog hadn't been invented yet. I was influenced by Mumbleboy's blog- like section at the time.

Did your friends at Urban Honking approach you or did you make the suggestion?

Yeah, when they started Jona asked if I'd like to do one, and I said no. I'm not a writer, and I don't really like writing about myself. I thought the whole blog as diary thing was weird, because I don't get into the whole "this is what I like, this is my opinion, blah blah, me me me..." thing. But then I was dating this girl that was doing a blog with Urho (loves made me do weirder things) and I was getting into Jona's tour diary blogs at the time too. So I realized I could just put up pictures with no text and that would be fine.

Also, as the economy got worse Kinko's made it harder to steal copies (Ed- Seriously, what is up with their pre-pay?) and this caused less people to do regular zines. Blogs sort of
replaced personal zines, and became the new zine.

Is your zine Thumb still active?

Its been dormant, but I'm planning to publish one more issue together with Yeti Publishing. Just as soon as I get some time.

You have a show coming up in June in Tokyo-will there be a theme? Will it be all 2d art or . . . ?

It's at Hanna gallery with my friend Mumbleboy. It'll be video with drawings, and some 3D stuff as well, made out of cardboard mostly.

Has anything (weird fan mail, . . .) resulted from your doing the video for The Gossip's 'Standing in the Way of Control'? When creating the video did you think they were soon to reach the international exposure that they have now? Were they involved in the concept?

The weirdest thing that resulted was a feature/interview for "video of the week" in the NME. Otherwise, nothing weird came out of it. The UK label didn't even like the video and wasn't going to use it at first. Then they used stills for a CD, 12" and 7" singles for the song and never sent me copies of the records! I even emailed them and they didn't write back. I've never seen the records in person even. I think its a good video, and a good song, but I don't think anyone had an idea they'd get so big. They're super stars in the UK and that's awesome.
I still haven't heard the entire record, Nathan said he'd give me a copy of the record on vinyl, so I never picked it up, but I haven't seen him in months.
Before we made the video I got together with the band and Maggie from KRS and we talked about a concept. What we came up with was "gayos", which is gay+chaos. That was all we came up with and I had like two weeks to get it done. So I painted a make-shift green screen, we shot some video, and Ben Jones and I made some animations and put it together in the last 5 days or so after that. It was a fun project.

Do you have a preferred creative medium?

email interviews.

Who are you currently listening to?

Ratatat, Copy, Kavinsky, Suicide, Chromatics, Sarcophagus comp, Boredoms, Eats Tapes, Yacht, White Flight... the usual stuff.

Please describe yourself in five words or less-as a complete sentence or just a jumble of words:

Mirror or window? You decide.

What can we expect in the rest of 2007 (related to you and/or anything that takes your fancy-- alien invasions? a new record for world's largest pumpkin? . . .)

I'm trying to make a book of art, another issue of Thumb, release a new record of some of my own music, a mixtape, a collaborative DVD with Ola Vasiljeva, and move to Berlin for the summer. I'd love to go on tour again someday. Also, there's a bunch of music videos in the works I'd love to finish.
I have no idea what will happen in 2007.

Thanks so much!

YEAH NO PROBLEM!

'Victory at Sea' Bobby Birdman E*Rock remix MP3

Buy the 12 inch here and visit Fryk Beat's myspazz to add the song to your profile. It's been up on mine for the past month.

Wanna stalk E*Rock? You should!:

Audio Dregs

Fryk Beat

E*Rock Homepage

E*Rock's youtube channel

Informative Willamette Week mini-Interview-find out the difference between Audio Dregs and Fryk Beat

Fratatat: Brothers Eric and Evan Mast joint interview

Yacht's Kancho Poncho Tour pics

Watch animation on Collective Jryk (a site made possible with a grant from Microsoft haha :) P.S. It'll make your eyes [insert antonym for bleed] in the same way/in the good way that Casette Playa's does (stylist to M.I.A., Klaxons, and sometimes Patrick Wolf)

Related, unrelated: Mumble Boy+Hanna Gallery circa 2004

Oh- and my live mention of E*Rock in March: Panther Album Release Show - where I shot the photos of him included in this post

Panther Album Release Show

So Friday night I went to the album release show for Panther and Copy at Holocene, though I'm not entirely sure it was their album release show as it was billed, because this seems to assert they've already had one before-one year ago.
E*Rock, co-founder of Fryk Beat (home to Panther) and Audio Dregs (home to Copy) opened the show. 

He had a mic up there with him, but he barely used it except for one random shout and one song with lyrics which mentioned black and stars.  It rocked.  The rest of his set was sounds from his laptop.  During his set I stood behind a guy that looked like an Iron and Wine rip-off.
Then they showed two Panther videos-one for "How Well Can You Swim?" and a world premiere of another that was Panther alone, seemingly filmed with heat-sensor vision. 
I then went to the bar and ran into Panther aka Charlie.  He has a beard.  And he introduced himself as Charlie.  My reasoning is if you go by a stage name of Panther, why not introduce yourself as such-even in situations completely unrelated to music?  Like say-the grocery store at check out. 
"Hi-I'm Panther."
"Uh, okay.  I didn't ask for your name," would come the scared reply of the cashier.
How awesome would that be!?!
Anyway, he gave me a free drink ticket and after I got my shot, I headed down to the DJ who was spinning between sets playing crappy cool hip hop by girls.  I requested Uffie.
"What?  Coffee?"
"No Uffie-'Ready to Uff', 'Pop the Glock'."  Cue a stranger look than before.
I got a scrap piece of paper and a pen from the bar, wrote down her myspace, and handed it to him then took off to the other room where Panther was beginning.

Even though people were shouting for him to get onstage because not too many could see him performing in the audience, he never really heeded the advice.  He stuck to his script of weird flowing robotical dance moves amid the sounds of his falsetto.  Imagine how scared I was when I sang along to not one, but two of his songs!  I had no idea I spent that much time on his myspace, I had no idea I would admit that :)
He had everyone laughing and cheering.  My camera flash was spazzing out, but I got some good photos anyway that will appear in the next issue of Skyscraper magazine.
Who ever was doing his sound determined his set list.  Panther would ask "What's next?"  Then a song would start playing and he would sing to it.  No one seemed to want it to end.

After a very short change over, Copy came on-with a full beard-very different to the last time I saw him.  His standing on stage with his Keytar revealed that he was in fact the Iron and Wine rip off I was standing behind earlier. :)
I stayed for about half his set-it was good-the front lines of right near the stage knew how to dance.

'How Well Can You Swim?' Panther MP3

And one of an Iron and Wine like Copy: