These Hallowed Walls: Celebrating Two Decades of Jackpot!
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Jackpot!, Portland’s premiere recording studio. by Morgan Troper {{image:1, align:right, width:250}} Like countless studios past and present, Portland’s...
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Jay Som's Sterling, Personal Guitar-Pop
by Morgan Troper JAY SOM Mon 4/10 Doug FirCARA ROBBINSIt’s wise to be wary of buzz bands. These days it hardly matters how much time you spend honing your craft—a quick ascent to internet renown...
View ArticleGet Off David Crosby’s Lawn
The legendary 75-year-old songwriter found Twitter (and we are all in his crosshairs). by Morgan Troper David Crosby has one of the best voices in rock ’n’ roll. Along with Roger McGuinn’s jangling...
View ArticleFake News for Punks
The Hard Times skewers the local scene. by Morgan Troper When Bill Conway and brothers Matt and Ed Saincome started The Hard Times—a fake, Portland/Bay Area-based punk news site heavily inspired by the...
View ArticleYousef Hatlani Reworks Classic Video Game Music
Bit by Bit painstakingly reinvents retro game sounds. by Morgan Troper For the better half of the past decade, Yousef Hatlani has been one of those everywhere-at-once scene notables; he worked at the...
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Sonic Mania Is Great—Because It Was Made by a Fan
by Morgan Troper SegaFew, if any, video game icons have fallen from grace as dramatically as Sonic the Hedgehog.Sonic went from being one of the most recognizable game characters in existence—and the...
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The Domestics PR Disaster Makes Me Feel Bad About the Music Industry
by Morgan Troper The DomesticsJason QuigleyNearly a month ago, news broke that Portland indie rock darlings the Domestics had launched a bizarre viral marketing campaign to promote their new album,...
View ArticleDreamdecay’s Noisy Punk Is Strangely Catchy
Dreamdecay’s Yú is one of the most accessible heavy records in years. by Morgan Troper The first thing you’ll notice about Seattle punks Dreamdecay is that they are very loud.This was fully put into...
View ArticleSong of the Red States
Diving into the mouth of country music—and red-state America—at the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival. by Morgan Troper I am not wanted at the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival.For...
View ArticleA Commentary on Dream Theater's Magnum Opus
The Astonishing is two hours and 10 minutes of sci-fi proggery. by Aris Hunter Wales ON TUESDAY, MAY 10, Long Island, New York's most ridiculous progressive metal band, Dream Theater, brings its latest...
View ArticleAll-Ages Action!
This week's all-ages shows. by Morgan Troper THURS MAY 5Motion City Soundtrackw/the Spill Canvas, Microwave; Roseland,8 NW 6thOut of all the second-wave emo bands that rose to prominence in the early-...
View ArticleAll-Ages Action!
This week's all-ages shows. by Morgan Troper THURS MAY 26Macklemore and Ryan Lewisw/Raz Simone; Rose Quarter Memorial Coliseum, 300 Winning WayFor a brief moment, Seattleites Macklemore and Ryan Lewis...
View ArticleDeath of the Mall Rat
Portland is changing—can the Lloyd Center Mall keep up? by Morgan Troper I BELONG to the last generation of mall rat. My experiences at the Lloyd Center Mall as a kid transcended commerce—it was where...
View ArticleThe "Real" Tim Heidecker
The new sincerity of the comedian's In Glendale. by Morgan Troper WHETHER IT'S the jingoist sendup "Our Values Are Under Attack" from web series Decker or the bizarre and indelible Cinco jingles from...
View ArticleModern Baseball's Graduation
Modern Baseball's new album Holy Ghost is mature emo. by Morgan Troper MODERN BASEBALL really want you to believe they're just four ordinary kids. This is a band that made a name for itself by writing...
View ArticleAll-Ages Action!
This week's all-ages shows. by Morgan Troper THURS 6/23Hemingwayw/Blowout, Sioux Falls, Drunken Palms; Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway Tonight marks the tour kickoff for power pop band Hemingway—one...
View ArticleLegend of Tarzan: Tarzans Gonna Tarzan
Yep, that's definitely Tarzan. by Morgan Troper THE SOURCE MATERIAL might be more than a century old, but for many people my age, The Legend of Tarzan will feel like a live-action sequel to Disney's...
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“Get ‘Em Out By Friday” by Genesis Is the Best Song About Getting Kicked Out...
by Morgan Troper Peter Gabriel as "The Flower."Last week my house was served a 90-day, no-cause eviction notice, meaning I’m one more Portlander who has been fucked by the city’s cabal of evil...
View ArticleWhitney Channels Pop’s Golden Days
The Chicago band’s debut sounds like the kids found the ’70s. by Morgan Troper THE INDIE ROCK WORLD is still subconsciously taking cues from humorless dorks like Thom Yorke and Win Butler—masters of...
View ArticleGrowing Up With Harry Potter
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is like a letter from an old friend. by Morgan Troper EVERYONE loves Harry Potter. The series’ generation- and globe-spanning appeal is rivaled only by that of Star...
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