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Song 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...
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Live Review: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at Revolution Hall, Mon Nov 6
by Morgan Troper Ted Leo at Revolution Hall Mon 11/7Morgan TroperHalfway through Ted Leo’s set last night at Revolution Hall, his band, the Pharmacists—which in its current incarnation consists of two...
View ArticleRecord Review: Various Artists, Transference
Marmoset’s 10-song compilation interprets century-old songs. by Morgan Troper In a 2006 radio interview, Jon Brion—the producer, songwriter, and all-around musical genius—explains his thoughts on the...
View ArticleAfter 15 Years, the Groundbreaking Anime FLCL Is Back
Adult Swim revives the insane, mile-a-minute show. by Morgan Troper As an adolescent, I would stay up to watch Cartoon Network’s late-night, “big kid” block, Adult Swim. In a streaming era, admitting...
View ArticleWith On Cinema Live!, Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington Make Cinema Great Again
How a goofy web series became one of our sharpest cultural satires. by Morgan Troper When On Cinema began in 2011, it was a simple, innocent parody of podcasting. Episodes were typically under two...
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So You Are a Star? Okay.
Why hasn’t the Portland music scene embraced its original hitmakers? by Morgan Troper If one is to believe the “Music in Oregon” Wikipedia page, there was little to no music produced around here...
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Bohemian Rhapsody Review: Rami Malek Is Legendary as Freddie Mercury...
by Morgan Troper There’s a poignant and hilarious scene about a third of the way through Bohemian Rhapsody when pull-quotes from early reviews of Queen's titular 1975 single flash across a black...
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Kero Kero Bonito's Time ’n’ Place Is a Near-Perfect Pop Record
by Morgan Troper POWERLINE AGENCYOne of the more surprising (and glorious) musical reinventions of 2018 arrived in the form of Kero Kero Bonito’s sophomore album, Time ’n’ Place. The British indie-pop...
View ArticlePokémon Detective Pikachu Review: It’s the Best Video Game Movie Ever! That...
by Morgan Troper Pokémon Detective Pikachu wears multiple hats over the course of its 104-minute runtime. Sometimes the film is a wholesome, Spielbergian coming-of-age adventure. At other points, it’s...
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Rocketman Review: Sex, Drugs, and Very Little Rock ’n’ Roll
by Morgan Troper Rocketman opens with a shot of Elton John (Taron Egerton) dressed in full stage regalia bursting unannounced into an AA meeting. “My name is Elton Hercules John,” he says flatly, “and...
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Tim Heidecker’s Mister America Is Funny (If You’ve Also Seen Everything Else...
by Morgan Troper Magnolia PicturesAt the end of 2017, Tim Heidecker’s On Cinema—a web series lampooning film criticism that the comedian co-hosts with Gregg Turkington—apexed with a five-hour long,...
View ArticleTell Your Friends About See My Friends Records
The label's Secret City Volume 1 documents the secret kingdom of Portland pop. by Morgan Troper VINCE SKELLY and Stevie Pohlman belong to some kind of alternate reality where the internet never sucked...
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