Eugene Weekly

Over the past half decade or so, singer-songwriter Halie Loren has built an international reputation as a top-notch jazz chanteuse — an expert vocalist who is as comfortable sinking into the sultry croon of a classic like “My Funny Valentine” as she is reinterpreting a ’60s pop ditty like “Happy Together.” The Eugene native’s new album, Simply Love, released Sept. 10 in the U.S., has already pegged the top of the Billboard jazz charts in Japan and Asia. Continue reading →

When Gold Panda’s down-tempo electronica seeps into your ears, it can resurrect the feelings of being a small child sitting in the backseat during a road trip where your only possessions are a pair of headphones and the window-framed view of the world as it passes by in a whirl. The British producer, also known as Derwin, has distinguished himself from the hyper-amped electronic dance music crowd by producing mellow yet stimulating sample-based grooves — entrancing without the trance. Continue reading →

Of all the serendipitous moments in music history, Rob Garza wandering into Eric Hilton’s Eighteenth Street Lounge in 1995 is one that should not be overlooked. The happenstance meeting in Washington, D.C., propelled the two producer-musicians into an expansive Grammy-nominated career as globetrotting downtempo duo Thievery Corporation. Continue reading →

Twenty-five years ago Bruce Springsteen was king of classic rock. Now, there seems to be a whole generation of young punk bands that claim The Boss as their own. And in hindsight, they just might be right. Brooklyn’s The So So Glos share Springsteen’s meat ‘n’ potatoes sound while remaining steeped in punk rock’s golden age. Vocalist Alex Levine sounds an awful lot like Joe Strummer. Continue reading →

In a post-Miley Cyrus world, people of a certain vintage are (again) all twerked-up over young people and their pop culture landscape. It was in this context I checked out the video for “Coming Down” by L.A. nu-metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch. The video, off their 2011 release American Capitalist, tells parallel storylines: A young man commits suicide in front of his parents; a young woman violently vomits, having overdosed on pills, distraught over a sexting scandal.  Continue reading →

Picture Los Angeles. Highways, rolling hills, scatterings of high rises poking through the smog and a candy-cane striped Big Top tent coloring the skyline? The indie-folkstars Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are joining the circus. Or rather, they are creating one in their hometown. The inaugural Big Top Festival is an experiment, says drummer and vocalist Orpheo McCord. The troupe will play under an actual big top tent on a 360-degree rotating stage with local musicians come Oct. 17.  Continue reading →