more at smokesignalsmusic.com

On this week’s episode I share some of my favorite releases of 2013, including brand new tracks from Genders and Log Across The Washer, songs from bands that closed shop this year, and I prepared for my new radio show … by not (um) editing my mic breaks.

XRAY.FM is in the middle of a successful kickstarter campaign and they’ve updated their website with all the info you’d want to know about the new station. Check it out and make pledge to help launch a station with music selected by this community’s best music curators.

1. Wild Ones (https://soundcloud.com/wild_ones) – Curse Over Me
2. Sun Angle (https://soundcloud.com/sun-angle) – Diamond Junk
3. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside – Party Kids (https://soundcloud.com/partisan-records/sallie-ford-the-sound-1)
4. Typhoon – Young Fathers (https://soundcloud.com/rollcallrecords/typhoon-young-fathers-1)
5. Y La Bamba – Oh February (https://soundcloud.com/tenderlovingempire/oh-february)
6. Magic Mouth (https://soundcloud.com/magicmouthmusic) – Speak Softly After Dark (For Nina)
7. Log Across The Washer (https://soundcloud.com/logacrossthewasher) – Weirdos Peak Through The Curtains
8. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (https://soundcloud.com/unknownmortalorchestra) – Swim and Sleep (https://soundcloud.com/jagjaguwar/unknown-mortal-orchestra-swim)
9. Charts (https://soundcloud.com/chartspdx) – Settling Down
10. STRFKR (https://soundcloud.com/starfucker_usa) – Beach Monster
11. Modern Kin (https://soundcloud.com/modernkin) – Abandon
12. Genders – Something to Get You By

Plus, I talk over tracks from GRAMMIES (https://soundcloud.com/grammiesband), Sons of Huns (https://soundcloud.com/sonsofhuns), Gaytheist, Shy Girls (https://soundcloud.com/shygirls), and Minden (https://soundcloud.com/minden-band).

There Ain't Nothing Going On Here: Ep. 38 - PDX Music Favs 2013 12-20-13

Recorded before a live audience on May 19th, 2012 at the Banana Stand in Portland, Oregon. Mixed by Chris Vita, Larry Crane, and Marc Christiansen at Jackpot! Recording Studio. Mastered by Chris Vita at Vita Mastering. Taken from the upcoming album Grandparents - Live from the Banana Stand, set to be released in January 2013.

Grandparents - Germans

The new single "Toomer" from Portland, OR duo Menomena.  Available now at digital retailers everywhere.

http://www.menomena.com


Menomena "Toomer" (Single)

Redwoods

From the album Curiosity, available 5/14/13.
http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/curiosity

Wampire - Spirit Forest

Possibly my best lyrical performance yet.

Strange Fruit (Produced By Samarei)

Black Cloud is the debut full-length album from Portland's Tango Alpha Tango.  It was recorded entirely at Supernatural Sound Studios in Oregon City, OR, incidentally where brothers Nathan and Aaron Trueb grew up, along with Nathan's wife, Mirabai.  So, you could say they are definitely a family band who went back home to record.  The comfort shines through- possibly due to the process in which they recorded: songs were tracked live, all together in the same room, without click-tracks or cues, just the way they like to play.  Most of the songs they got basic tracks to on the first few takes, but that wouldn't surprise anybody who's seen them live.  The band has honed in their chops from years of playing shows- more than most bands in town could boast, and it shows in their effortless grooves, memorable melodies, and the constant battle of good and evil in their sound and lyrics.  This record is conceptual and should be listened to straight through to catch all of the thoughtfully woven themes and transitions, not to say that each song isn't great on it's own.  But it's a rare record that mixes great songs with a plausible concept that keeps the listener on a trip with the band from song to song, never losing the thread of blues, folk, and pop sensibilities along the way.  They also achieve something that's been lost with the death of analog and the birth of the digital, they were able to make a record with the raw edge of a live performance and mix it with a polished, finished product.  These days are the days of, "well why wouldn't we use technology to make even MORE perfect?" when, in reality, perfect isn't always perfect, so for Tango Alpha Tango, it took going back to simpler times and possibly more complicated methods to achieve their goal: to make a great record that no one else is making, or could make for that matter.

All Mine Blues

Pure Bathing Culture - Pendulum

"Where there's smoke there's fire."

Talent Buyer (Rontoms), Booking Agent (Smoke Signals), Podcast Host (http://bit.ly/pdxmusicpod).

Subscribe to There Ain't Nothing Going On Here: The Portland Music Podcast at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThereAintNothingGoingOnHere and stream past episodes at http://www.mixcloud.com/smokesignalsmusic.

Email: theo@smokesignalsmusic.com

There Ain't Nothing Going On Here: Ep. 38 - PDX Music Favs 2013 12-20-13

SmokeSignals