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Matt Bishop, the lead singer of Hey Marseilles, likes to keep things free-flowing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the content found on the band’s latest release, Lines We Trace, which expands on the folk and orchestral elements found on their debut album, To Travels & Trunks, and incorporates heavy doses of dreamy pop-rock aesthetics a la Death Cab for Cutie. Continue reading
Way to go, Eugene-area musicians. EW’s Next Big Thing racked up 113 submissions by 75 artists and bands. On to phase two: On an undisclosed day this week in an undisclosed location, NBT judges will gather to pick which 16 acts will move on to the semi-finals at the Lane County Fair July 26-28. Look for smoke signals and announcements in our July 11 issue. Continue reading
Imagine what a band called Diarrhea Planet sounds like. If you’re guessing juvenile pop-punk — an auditory equivalent of a Seth Rogen movie — you’re pretty spot-on. The Nashville, Tenn.-based group’s 2013 release Loose Jewels (out now on fellow Nashville garage-rockers JEFF The Brotherhood’s label Infinity Cat Recordings) is 10 blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em nuggets of Ramones-esque punk; each track on the record clocks in at 2 minutes or under, with shouted choruses and breakneck guitar solos delivered at breathless speed. Continue reading
Whether you revere the red, white and blue, or just love a day off to drink a beer and eat a hot dog (real or tofu) — July 4 is a time to celebrate independence. And this year Eugene-based troublemakers PORK Magazine are putting the indie back in Independence Day with an all-day lineup of rock ‘n’ roll bands in The Whit. Continue reading
Neko Case with The Head and The Heart is at Cuthbert Amphitheater Sept. 19, and Rufus Wainwright is at The Shedd on Oct. 25. Continue reading
Franco-American Madeleine Peyroux’s background is worthy of Edith Piaf: Raised in the arts by bohemian parents, Peyroux spent time in Southern California, Brooklyn and Paris. She toured Europe at the tender age of 15; inspired by street musicians in Paris’ Latin Quarter, Peyroux passed a hat through the crowd for spare change. Continue reading
For a band that makes some pretty weighty material, Aubrey Zoli and Matt Hart — the two lead parts of the Americana rock band The Local Strangers — sure do have a good sense of humor. “It’s all about space aliens,” Hart says, laughing when asked if their latest release, 2012’s Left for Better, is more autobiographical or fictitious in nature. Zoli takes a slightly different tack when answering this question. Continue reading
Is there a reward to punching a clock beyond the paycheck? Or is your workweek a sad loss of time that could be better spent? Continue reading
Carrie Rodriguez is a raven-haired wildflower, an alt-country songstress too feisty for Nashville and too down-home for rock ‘n’ roll. Initially hyped as a virtuosic fiddle player, Rodriguez is a hardworking, constantly touring roots songwriter — exemplifying her hometown (Austin, Texas)’s reverence for traditional music while flipping it the bird at the same time. Continue reading
Eugene’s biggest annual musical happening, the Oregon Bach Festival, begins its 44th season, and founding artistic director Helmuth Rilling’s last, Friday night with one of the monuments of choral orchestral music — but one relatively rarely encountered in live performance. Continue reading