Eugene Weekly

PWR BTTM is a self-identified queer-core duo from upstate New York that now resides in Brooklyn.  Last year the band gained massive critical buzz with the release of its debut LP Ugly Cherries, a collection of punk and power-pop tunes subverting heteronormative guitar rock reminiscent of Weezer. The track “Serving Goffman” draws comparisons among personal identity, dressing in drag and the costumes worn in corporate America — after all, aren’t we all just roleplaying?  Continue reading →

Jessica Lea Mayfield is a chameleon. From her first folk-country release With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt (produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys) through her grunge-alternative record Make My Head Sing, Mayfield’s rural music, tinged with a Liz Phair sound, is ever changing — like a pink-haired glittery punk rocker with the heart of a country singer.  Continue reading →

I saw classical music’s future and its name is … Roomful of Teeth? That takeoff on Jon Landau’s famous 1974 encomium to a young Bruce Springsteen might be a little over the top. But then again, with nearly 30 million Americans singing in choirs and a cappella music a genuine populist phenomenon, an ensemble that combines the universal human instrument — voices — with contemporary artistic ambition might well be a key to bringing new listeners, as well as new singers, to 21st-century classical composers, and vice versa. Continue reading →

Songwriter Vanessa Carlton’s 2015 release Liberman is partially inspired by her grandfather. “He was a painter,” Carlton tells EW. Carlton’s family changed its surname from Liberman to Lee after World War II “because of anti-Semitism,” she says. Carlton hangs her grandfather’s work near the piano where she writes her music. “The swirling, beautiful, crazy colors ended up being the inspiration for the type of music I was writing. I wanted to honor his work as a painter,” she recalls. Continue reading →

Most people think of the University of Oregon’s contribution to our community’s creativity as primarily educational. But many of its faculty members perform, and this Thursday, Jan. 14, at 7:30 pm, a passel of them will be strutting their onstage skills at the school’s Beall Concert Hall for MASSIVE: A UO Megarecital. Continue reading →