Convalescing in Braille is the excellent new album from Portland’s Crushed Stars, the solo project of Todd Gautreau. The album was produced by John Congleton (Antony and The Johnsons, St. Vincent) with Gautreau playing the instruments and with drumming from Jeff Ryan (Sarah Jaffe, Pleasant Grove).
[audio:http://www.fanaticpromotion.com/projects/crushedstars/mp3/crushedstars-99redballoons.mp3]
[audio:http://www.fanaticpromotion.com/projects/crushedstars/mp3/crushedstars-blackumbrellas.mp3]

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We dig the energy and the art-rock leanings in Portland-based Wow & Flutter’s latest album, Equilibrio!, which has just been released through Mt. Fuji Records: ‘the album’s eight songs veer from Omnichord-based fairytale spookiness, Spacemen 3 gospel-drone and a touch of Krautroc’. Nice.
[audio:http://riotactmedia.com/mp3/scars.mp3]

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Portland-based Million Brazillians dole out some dark but groovy psych punk rife with rockabilly and free-jazz flourishes and tribal rhythms.
[audio:http://www.motorcityrocks.com/uploaded_images/2009/03/hammer-hammer-carrot.mp3]

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Once upon a time, sloppy, out-of-tune, marginally talented basement bands with limited resources had little hope of making a dent in the music scene, local or otherwise. These days, those kinds of bands are among the most interesting and talked about, as Portland’s Eat Skull prove. The four piece plays drunken, chaotic, blown-out songs that sound like karaoke versions of pop and psych classics blasted through Marshall stacks.
[audio:http://siltbreeze.com/mp3s/10%20Shredders%20on%20Fry%20Eat%20Skull%20Sick%20To%20Death.mp3]

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Verbs, the second album from Portland band AU (pronounced ‘ay you’), is surprising, and excitingly ahead of its time. Moving through 20-person chorus cries, subtle lullabies, whispered melodies, and screeching and scratched guitars, you never know where the journey will end. Psche-folk, freak-folk, electro-folk-noise, or whatever you want to call it, AU’s genre sprawling music paves the way for a wider breadth of experimentation in folk-inspired electronic production. We interviewed the group’s front man and founder, multi-instrumentalist Lyke Wyland.

Why did you bring on a full band for this new album? ‘I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of a very generous and amazing community of players here in Portland. The first album was made while I was transitioning from my time as an art student in Boston to moving back to Portland and the project was pretty much a solo one. Once I was firmly back in Portland, Au became a live band. Everyone who took part in the album are great friends and collaborators in other settings. It was a celebration of sorts of the community here and my hope was to somehow document it’.

How did parenthetical girls, Sarah Winchester and Becky Dawson, become involved?
‘Sarah Winchester and I have been old friends from our time at the Massachussetts College of Art in Boston. She was actually the first person to teach me how to sing, as I would back her up on banjo and accordion. Becky Dawson is a relatively new friend and incredible collaborator that I met about a year ago after seeing one of her other bands, Ah Holly Family. I instantly fell in love with her voice and asked her if she’d like to sing with me. The Parenthetical Girls are good friends that we’ve toured with in the past and by far one of my favorite bands in Portland’.

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Each week, we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs or albums right now. This is their words on the music that inspires them. This week it’s Zia McCabe from The Dandy Warhols who personifies everything The Dandy Warhols stand for: sassy, cooly detached, and dripping in attitude. The keyboardist adds a lush sonic wash to the Dandy’s inherent popism, and keeps the lads in check as they wind their way through the stadiums of the world. Well, kinda. To be a fly on the wall on their tour bus! Some folk have all the fun.

Willie Nelson / On The Road Again
I grew up listening to Willie Nelson, and this song was one of my first favorites. It’s perfect to sing along to and even more fun to dance to. Of course, now that being on the road is my life too, I can’t help but make it one of the theme songs for my life.

Mickey Avalon / Jane Fonda
This guy’s lyrics are hilarious and dope, and the groove on this song is irresistible. I have to dance every time I hear it. And when it’s over, I usually have to hear it a

Simon & Garfunkel / Homeward Bound
When our band was doing van tours, there were very few records that we could all agree to listen to. Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits was one of them. I don’t know of a song that better describes those lonely nights towards the end of a tour.

The Beta Band / Round the Bend
This band is so cool and this song is one of my favorites. It works great as a soundtrack for home movies too.

Dusty Springfield / Son of a Preacher Man
There are so many reasons to love this song: Pulp Fiction and the fact that it’s one of my favorite karaoke songs to sing are just two of them. 106.7 in Portland plays Son of a Preacher Man almost every time I’m in the shower. It’s great!

The Cure / Killing an Arab
This is the first Cure song I ever heard. I made a friend from Canada at a New Age church camp and he made me a mix tape with this song on it. I love it! And I can’t wait to see The Cure again at Sasquatch.

ACDC / Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution
What can I say? There’s simply nothing that can be said.

Brian Jonestown Massacre / Satellite
When we used to do a lot of shows with these guys, this was one of my favorites. And now that I own all their albums, it’s still a favorite. Dig it!

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She & Him are actress and closet singer-songwriter, Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, The Good Girl, The Assassination of Jesse James), and juggernaut producer, one-man band and folk troubadour, M.Ward. With help from Portland-based indie music comrades such as Rachel Blumberg from The Decemberists coming together to create 60s inspired indie-pop of the country varietal, the duo evoke the spirit of the Carter family, Chet Baker and Linda Ronstadt to create an uneven number of charming tribute pop songs far beyond their years. If you dig AM classics, this baby was born for you.

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