With muffled vocals in minor keys, purposeful feedback, and dominating drums Valleys eerie folk sound resembles a bizarre nightmare.
The duo’s album, Sometimes Water Kills People, can almost be considered as one extensive song, rather than nine separate tracks, thanks to its consistently moderate tempo and transitions that melt the endings into the beginnings of subsequent songs. Lyrics and vocals take a back seat to their mystifying guitar preludes, or thundering drum patterns. The six minutes of “CR68C†is composed solely of stifled screeching guitar riffs with simultaneous plucking, and brief interludes of drumming.
If it’s intricate music patterns or inspirational lyrics you’re after, you’re headed in the wrong direction. I admit it was difficult to digest Valleys’ synthesized additives and unorthodox style. But by track two, “Santiago,†I was hooked to their repetitive lyrics and mellow mood. Tie for first goes to “Le Sujet Est Delicat†and “Tan Linesâ€; the addicting oriental instrumentals coming in halfway through the former and the simple yet poetic lyrics of the latter skyrocketed their play count.
-By Brie Roche-Lilliott
Working with a smaller affiliate, Moodgadget Records, Ghostly recently introduced to the world 38 tracks from 33 new electronic artists on two discs. (Qualifier: Some artists are newer than others, and one, Daniel Johnson, not so new at all, but new perhaps to many a Ghostly consumer). More than introducing new talent, The Nocturnal Suite reminds music aficionados once again that the electronic genre, especially in the hands of Sam Valenti IV and company, is neither narrow nor nostalgic. The compilation also demonstrates that these gatekeepers and soapboxers of the genre don’t discriminate on the basis of the quantity of electronic instruments utilized. Moodgadget like Ghostly eschews genre for aesthetics. 
Well if this ain’t the musical equivalent of the Three Amigos. Three musical desperados gathered on the West Coast to create aural havoc and obviously had the time of their lives. The parties involved include: Money Mark, Tommy Guerrero, and Shawn Lee, three “sound scientists” who’ve all made their own marks flying below the mainstream radar, carving out a groove amidst all that is going to be cool tomorrow. Both Mark and Guerrero released music early on through Mo’ Wax and Shawn Lee recorded for Talking Loud and Wall of Sound early in his career. “Dirty Loco” is one of the two songs that serve as the dark heart of the record. The comparison is a bit ludicrous, but it sounds like a track off The Cure’s “Pornography” record if Robert Smith had grown up in Southern California, raised on funk and soul. The rest of the album is full of laid back, easy-listening funk tracks, improvised, trippy, and generally cheerful. Dare I say it, Lord Newborn is a rare-groove jam band that I’d be happy spending a summer or three trucking around the country following their wake.
Today we’re happy to serve up a North West smorgasbord. However, unless you can get to the Portland area within the next 48 hours or so, this post won’t do you much good. There are the MP3s. Have at ’em. That’s the reason why you’re here ain’t it? This year marks the fifth time the good people of Portland have put their collective musicheads together for a weekend of free live music. The fantastic thing about the aforementioned people of Portland is that they’re doing this all out of the goodness of their hearts. Bands, businesses, and residents all volunteer their time to put on this grassroots festival which has spawned action packed compilations that help raise money and awareness for the festival. I wouldn’t mind it a bit if I were actually there this weekend enjoying the music, the weather, the wonderful city, and of course a healthy Powell’s browse would top things off nicely. If only… Included are songs from a few bands playing this weekend. And if your attendance is more than my pipe dream, here’s the link to the 
Somewhere in Pennsylvania, some guy makes trippy records with some of his friends. I do have a few more details about this guy. They won’t do you much good though. His name is Tobacco and he lives in or around Pittsburgh. Maybe. He sings through a vocoder, a lot. Guys like this would get my vote for American Idol: write sunshiney melodies, set them to gentle grooves, and then 
L.A.’s Intricate Machines seem to find inspiration in their own name, taking an intricate approach in their creation of pop music. They don’t necessarily pay more attention to the details in their music than anyone else; that’s impossible to judge. It’s just that the details and textures on which they elaborate are less obvious than most. Really, it’s just my roundabout way of saying they have a roundabout way of getting to the hooks in their songs. Intricate Machines require time to soak, simmer, and settle. If you’re willing to give them that time you’ll find plenty of pleasures to sink your chops into. Considering the minute attention span of music consumers these days, Intricate Machines take a big risk attempting to break into the indie scene with less than immediate hooks. This ain’t no microwave meal; this is some slow-cooking, crock pot rock. You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned exactly what Intricate Machines sound like. This is deliberate. I don’t want to contribute to the instant-gratification impulse they’ve obviously worked hard to avoid. Enjoy the journey.
It’s time once again, for a number of reasons, for Mr. Quintron to appear on our fair pages four years to the day since he first featured. The biggest reason being his new album that came out two months ago on Goner Records, Too Thirsty 4 Love. Recorded on 2 track, it’s Quintron playing his custom Hammond/Rhodes combo organ with working headlights and utilizing his 
â€Saws are tremendous pranksters, and the ruse of causing Human Beings to believe that they are actually playing them is perhaps the most beloved and persistent joke in Saw-kind’s long history.†That’s funny because when I think of saws, I usually think “sharp teeth†and “missing fingers.†Of course, I’ve never been intimately involved with a saw and, though I’ve heard melodies made from them, I believe this is the first time I’ve heard saws sing with no accompaniment. Julian Koster — he of The Music Tapes and Neutral Milk Hotel — coaxes from the saws a sound that is eerily placid. Yes, it’s shrill and not for everyone, but it’s quite lovely if you’re in a right merry frame of mind…and if you’re tired of the same-old holiday songs sung by pompous humans. The bewilderment comes roughly every three minutes or so as you realize, holy crap, you’re listening to an entire album of holiday standards played on a piece of actual hardware. But, as Koster notes, Jesus was a carpenter. Who knows—after a particularly stressful day of sermonizing and house framing, maybe the Son of God sat down with his saw, bow and a goblet of wine and conjured a soothing rendition of “Silent Night†to remind him of that fateful evening away in the manger.
A Hundred Things Keep Me Going Back to Love Is All (in no particular order):
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m still thinking about eating. Even the music I’m listening to reminds me of eating. Enter Boy Eats Drum Machine. It’s somewhat of a misnomer because Jon Ragel the multi-instrumentalist behind the moniker is all grown up and no, he didn’t eat a drum machine. Instead, he joined forces with a who’s who line-up of Portland indie rock drummers via a local drum break series called Bridgetown Breaks. Drum credits go to the drummers of Viva Voce, Talkdemonic, and Menomena among others. Ragel adds everything else and it’s a plateful: turntables, synths, tenor sax, guitar, organ, and yes, bravely, vocals. RJd2 didn’t even step behind the mic until his second album. From record one (Booomboxxx is his third) Ragel’s armed with one turntable, one microphone and all the goodies mentioned above. The result is a scratchy, earnest pastiche of jazz, breaks, spaghetti western soundtracks, and soulful crooning. A delicious mix of sounds for the whole family to feast on this holiday season!