Eugene Weekly

Can vulgarity be artful? Can obscenity be beautiful? Who decides these things anyway? Who knows? Indie hip-hop/rock experiment Why? is pushing the boundaries, trying to find out.  “I don’t see Why? as a hip-hop group,” says Josiah Wolf, who forms the core of Why? with his brother Yoni. Josiah says his brother grew up on rap, while his background is in jazz. The two combined these styles with a shared interest in rock ’n’ roll to form Why? Continue reading →

Monday, March 4, at the UO’s Matthew Knight Arena is going to be a fizzy, indie-pop playground in three acts: Alt-rock-pop kings Passion Pit, indie-pop darlings Matt & Kim and Swedish DJ pop duo Icona Pop — too bad it’s a school night.  Continue reading →

There is a common misconception about conscious hip hop. “I don’t give a fuck, you can call us conscious, but rappers hit the stage spitting fucking nonsense,” Aaron Harris raps on the latest Eastern Sunz EP, Filthy Hippie Music, a sly retort on being labeled as environmental hip-hop artists. “I think of it as a compliment in some ways,” says Harris, a UO grad student studying urban planning.  Continue reading →

There are some groups that will be remembered for being different. Reverend Horton Heat have decided to drop by, fairly unannounced, this week, to John Henry’s. Yes, you heard us right — it’s the Reverend Horton Heat. Since 1985, Jim Heath and his bandmates have been breaking out unique, hair-raising psycho-rockabilly music. For those that aren’t familiar with the genre, take all the angst of punk, the class of swing, the crest of surf and the twang of country. Throw in a stand up bass and you’re half way there. Continue reading →

Connor Martin really wants to party with you. In fact he’s driving up and down the entire West Coast building an army of eccentric, neon-clad youth. Con Bro Chill, Martin’s wacky, power-party pop troupe embraces the bombastic, donning neon garb from head to toe. And, yes, that includes neon loafers.  Continue reading →

If you want to know what Robin Bacior sounds like, and I mean really sounds like, listen to her 2013 EP I Left You, Still In Love (available for free until Feb. 25 at robinbacior.bandcamp.com). The album was recorded in a one-day session at Headgear Studios in Brooklyn, New York. If you listen closely to “Women Speak,” you will hear a guitar string snapping. At first, Bacior thought she had ruined the track, but the recording grew on her, the flaws creating a sense of intimacy. “It’s a direct reflection of our live show,” Bacior says. Continue reading →

Electronic music is criticized for using cold and soulless sounds made by machines. It’s often dismissed as falling in one of two camps: sleep-inducing new-age soundscapes or frantic beats for sleepless day-glo ravers. Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) is here to prove both of those assumptions wrong.  Continue reading →

A friend of mine uses “stomp/clap band” to describe the recent trend of indie folk/pop, a sound reaching both its penultimate victory and sure sign of eminent decline with The Lumineers appearing at the Grammys and Mumford & Sons’ best album win. “You won’t find any ‘hos’ and ‘heys’ in our tunes,” says Terrible Buttons vocalist and guitarist Kent Ueland, referencing the recent hit “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers. Continue reading →