Eugene Weekly

Would you like a gin and tonic with that guitar riff? How about a rum and Coke with that rhyme? “In Eugene, you’ll see a bartender onstage everywhere you go. We all play music,” says Casey Lynch, Level Up Arcade manager and bartender. Lynch is a prime example. Known to most as KI Design (emcee and ringleader of local hip-hop crew, The Architex), he has played countless shows, including a weekly residency — “Private Stock” at Luckey’s Club — going on four years now.  Continue reading →

Pop quiz: What do Joseph Campbell, Blade Runner and Trent Reznor have in common?  Answer: The L.A. synth-pop quartet LEX.  “A lot of our inspiration comes from movies such as Blade Runner, The Neverending Story and Labyrinth,” bandmember Leah Chrisholm tells EW via email. Chrisholm grew up in Eugene. LEX is touring in support of their debut self-titled release produced by Peter Franco, who also worked on the last two Daft Punk records. The band describes its sound as “fantasy synth.” Continue reading →

Geographer exists somewhere between the emotive synth pop arias of Depeche Mode and the earnest coffeehouse-meets-arena-rock of fellow Bay Area acts Train and Counting Crows.  With echoes of The Killers, Geographer’s latest release, Ghost Modern (out now on Roll Call Records) tries to sound big — U2 big, the kind of watershed record that burns up the charts while soundtracking a generation. Continue reading →

No one has a voice quite like Iris DeMent — an aching, soulful twang reminiscent of a bygone era. “She’s the best singer I’ve ever heard,” Merle Haggard has said of the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. DeMent has done timeless duets with John Prine and Emmylou Harris, and her songs have graced both the silver and small screens (2010’s True Grit and Northern Exposure). Via email, EW caught up with DeMent, who plays March 29 at Cozmic, to chat about music collaborations,  her music roots and her latest project. Continue reading →

String quartets might be the most common classical music chamber ensemble, but it’s hard to find a quartet that performs regularly hereabouts and thereby develops the kind of chemistry that can really make the music sing. That hole in Eugene’s musical tapestry will be repaired at 7:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, at United Lutheran Church (2230 Washington), when the new Eugene-based Delgani String Quartet takes it opening bow. Continue reading →

Nihilism and depression have long been compatriots. Dwelling together in the darkness, they lay entangled, drawing from one another, separate, yet not inseparable.  Continue reading →

One easy way to keep rap lovers happy is to introduce them to an emerging emcee with fast flow and a sharp, cutting vocabulary.   Futuristic, born in Illinois and based in Arizona, is just that. His “Watch Yo Mouth” tour hits dozens of stops along the West Coast, and then extends east as far as New York. While he has gigs scheduled with musicians like Action Bronson and Shwayze, the 22-year-old rapper says he enjoys performing for audiences similar to what he expects to see in Eugene.  Continue reading →

“University cities are the best places to play,” says Jay Bentley, bassist for legendary Southern California punk band Bad Religion. “They’re full of students,” he continues, “and students are the best people.” Bad Religion has been busting establishment chops since 1979. The band returns to Eugene in support of 2013’s studio record True North. Bentley says in addition to touring, Bad Religion has started writing a new record. Continue reading →

In the fog-ridden murkiness of Cascadia, one can easily forget that not all metal is black metal. Shattering our illusions of “all-grim everything” comes the brilliantly crisp technical metal of Archspire from Vancouver, B.C. Sharing the brutal gospel of last year’s The Lucid Collective (released on the Season Of Mist label), the tech-death powerhouse has been tearing up stages aside the likes of Fallujah, Origin and Fleshgod Apocalypse, all the while winning over new converts.  Continue reading →