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Mike Doherty, bassist for Portland indie-rock outfit Future Historians, says what initially brought the band together was the songwriting of leader and primary songwriter Dave Shur. “It’s Dave’s project,” Doherty says. “He writes about a lot of small things,” adding that Future Historians started as a “folk-rock thing but morphed into something more eclectic.” Continue reading
It’s a shame Franco-American jazz singer Cyrille Aimée didn’t come through Eugene a little closer to Valentine’s Day, because her romantic brand of adorable and sugary jazz would be a perfect gift for that special someone. Aimée shares a resume on par with Edith Piaf. As a child, she was enchanted with gypsy jazz, going on to perform on the streets of Europe. She was an undiscovered diamond in the rough until appearing on Star Academy, the French equivalent of American Idol. Continue reading
Monday night, people filled The Barn Light for Jessica Pratt and Kevin Morby — a show which had both the intimacy of a singer-songwriter open mic and the energy of a late-night Americana barn bash. Continue reading
Music has led Kevin Morby from Kansas City to New York and now Los Angeles: center, east and west. However, if Morby’s influenced by any one place over another, it’s New York — particularly the era when the Big Apple’s folk scene began to morph into early punk rock; the city of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and Television. “It’s the most important time in music,” Morby tells EW, “but also just the coolest.” Morby says that the song “Miles, Miles, Miles” from his solo debut, Harlem River, captures the sound of his influences most clearly. Continue reading
Giraffage, the moniker of beatmaker Charlie Yin, just wrapped up a tour with one of the most popular names in electronic music: Porter Robinson. On his current tour, however, he is the headliner. In a recent story on indie music blog Pigeons and Planes (run by Complex Magazine), Yin was named one of the “14 Rising Bay Area Artists You Should Know.” Continue reading
At a glance Gothic Tropic may appear to be another chic Los Angeles retro-rock act, hiding behind delay pedals like dark sunglasses. Having just two brief EPs under their belt since their 2011 conception, the indie-poppers might have flown just below the radar of readers, which would have been a shame. Continue reading
The Garden is not really a band, but more like genre-rejecting performance art by bass-and-drums duo — the 21-year-old twins Wyatt and Fletcher Shears. Continue reading
The band Con Brio, from San Francisco, spent the last night of their tour here in Eugene. With Ziek McCarter as the vocals, Benjamin Andrews on guitar, Micah Dubreuil on keyboards, Jonathan Kirchner on the bass, Andrew Laubacher on drums, Marcus Stephens on tenor saxophone, and Brendan Liu on the Trumpet they had quiet the set up on stage. They filled the room with soulful funk music that was reminiscent of an era long gone but not forgotten. Continue reading
There was a time when Eugeneans had to venture up I-5 if we wanted to catch the top touring classical and jazz pianists at, say, Portland Jazz Festival, Portland Piano International and other events. No more. While PJF, which starts next week, is indeed featuring one of today’s most inventive jazz masters, pianist Vijay Iyer, he will also bring his DownBeat-award-winning trio with drummer Marcus Gilmore and bassist Stephan Crump to The Shedd 7:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. Continue reading