The Spin

Stop binge-watching Stranger Things on Netflix and get out into the dance community! XCape Dance Company presents X at 7:30 pm Friday, Oct. 7, at the Hult, featuring Work Dance Company, ZAPP, The Dance Factory, Flex Studios and music by Isaac Turner and Shelby Trotter. “X embodies the freedom of movement, self-expression, dedication, determination and passion exemplified by the Xcape Dance Company in their unique and inspiring shows,” says artistic director Vanessa Fuller. Tickets at hultcenter.org. Continue reading 

Teenage Dream

Girl Asleep paints a whimsical portrait of teen life

Girl Asleep

Movies about being a teenager have come a long way since I was a teen. (Let’s not talk about exactly how long it’s been.) The last few decades of teen storytelling have their charms, from John Hughes to 10 Things I Hate About You, but many teen movies have looked outward in a way that doesn’t always feel true to adolescent life, when the mess of things going on inside is as distracting, or maybe all-consuming, as school and friends and mean girls and attraction. Continue reading 

Forging the Divide

Xylouris White is the sound of two people making music in a room. Person number one is Jim White of well-known Australian experimental rock trio Dirty Three. Person two is George Xylouris, one of Crete’s most beloved musicians, on vocals and lute.  The result, evidenced on “Forging” from the duo’s 2016 release Black Peak, is something akin to punk, but also deeply rooted in the folk tradition of Xylouris’ native Crete. And like many folk traditions, there’s formalism but also creative naiveté — celebration, mourning and catharsis.  Continue reading 

Take it Easy

The Head and the Heart

The Head and the Heart

There’s a song called “City of Angels” from The Head and The Heart’s third release, Signs of Light, and the album’s cover image shows the band lounging around a pool on a sunny afternoon.  All this seems to signal a shift for the Seattle musicians away from the delicate, cloudy indie-folk sound they came up under — the same sound popularized by contemporaries like Blitzen Trapper, Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons.  Continue reading 

Mr. Brown Returns

No doubt Detroit rapper Danny Brown likes to party, evidenced by tracks like “Blunt After Blunt,” “Smokin & Drinkin” and “Die Like A Rockstar.” With an increasing fan base and his fourth studio album just released Sept. 30, it seems like the 35-year-old has no plans of halting the fun bus anytime soon.  Continue reading 

Hardcore Romantics

Local hardcore punk band Novelas knocks the patches off a typically white-bro dominated scene. The band brings a femme aesthetic, dad jeans and luscious emotional melodies to the table, and they’re returning to Eugene’s music world with gusto after a six-month hiatus. Get out your lipstick, grrrls. Continue reading 

Fortunate Souls

Popular Eugene band Fortune’s Folly recently won Hi-Fi Music Hall’s Sun-Sets Summer Concert Series. The prize: recording time at local studio Track Town Records.  Fortune’s Folly front-person Calysta Rupert-Anderson credits her fans for the victory.  “We weren’t expecting to win,” she says. “Before the show we started promoting it more, and we just had an overwhelming positive response from people.”   Continue reading