Eugene Weekly

With music institutions — especially those in less commercial genres — struggling musicians and fans have had to get social and entrepreneurial, increasingly relying on grassroots funding (through Indiegogo, Kickstarter and similar crowdsourcing sites) and informal venues. The Shedd is our biggest local example of music lovers creating their own outlets for the music they cherish, and fans run many venues like The Jazz Station. Continue reading →

Love or hate Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, one of the most hypnotic scenes of the film is the first. There’s no Leonardo DiCaprio or Carey Mulligan, simply the camera zooming in on the metallic, Art Nouveau Gatsby crest as The xx’s “Together” pings with melancholy coolness.  Continue reading →

It takes a special character to receive surprise fellatio onstage mid-performance (we’re not making this up) and then keep performing. But I guess that’s what happens when the majority of your lyrics focus on drugs, sex and the rockstar life (listen to the track “Die Like a Rockstar”). It’s the nature of the provocative rap beast.  Continue reading →

Laura Cortese jumps genres like freight trains. The young fiddler has appeared alongside rockers like Band of Horses, Patterson Hood and Michael Franti, while her solo work is drenched in Americana and classical sensibilities. “I think I knew pop music first,” Cortese says, explaining that her mom’s vinyl record collection influenced her at a young age with the likes of Otis Redding, Motown, CSNY and Elvis.  Continue reading →

After a week of trying to set up an interview with Les Claypool, the time and day was upon me. I was slightly nervous, but getting more so as each minute went by and the phone didn’t ring. Les Claypool stood me up.  But, I consoled myself, perhaps it’s a good thing … you know, preserve the mystery in art, the “not knowingness” that’s magical when you buy a ticket and show up with no expectations. Then he called.   Continue reading →

Listening to the music of Trevor Powers, more widely known as Youth Lagoon, is not so much a psychedelic experience as it is an exploration of Powers’ psyche. His sophomore release, 2013’s Wondrous Bughouse, is a mind-bending collection of rock and pop that blends a host of dissonant sounds together into a beautiful cacophony of noise that mirrors the storm going on inside Powers’ head. It is quite the trip. Continue reading →

Once upon a time bands could wait a few albums before having a hit — U2, REM and Nirvana among others.  This allowed artists to grow, change and most importantly experiment. These days, with the great contraction of the music business, bands-without-hits are signed and dropped faster than ever; many are never signed at all.  Continue reading →