Coming off the heels of a ferocious hardcore punk showcase at the Wonder Ballroom, I now found myself in the section of my night where I had to put my feet beyond the crossroads and make a choice about which bands came next. Throughout Fucked Up, I was getting nudged towards the Roseland and Portugal. The Man, so I caved and headed down to my old stomping grounds to find a band by the name of Pretty & Nice finishing up their set. I only heard about two minutes of their last song, so I won’t start pontificating (too much) on the merits of their music (which seemed dull), but they were wearing neon blue shirts with an ampersand on them. Does that do anything for you?
The next band hailed from Australia, and went by the name Youth Group. It was your run-of-the-mill indie rock band, leaning towards the softer side of the sound spectrum and was fronted by a bushily mustachioed, ‘froed-out lead singer/guitarist named Toby Martin. Toby loved to give himself over to the music—or if I want to be deeply cynical, look passionate for the cameras—singing his words with seeming conviction, head back and eyes closed. Sometimes it really worked, and the crowd seemed to agree; other times though, like when they covered the Alphaville song “Forever Young,” it came off as laughable. Even the most emotive of people will not find deep valleys of feeling in that song.
Lead guitar was handled by Cameron Emerson-Elliott who also acted as a multi-instrumentalist by rocking out on the tambourine on one song and striking a stand-up snare kit on another. The young faces in the crowd—and I mean young: the Get Up Kids were the headliners—cheered politely, and the band left us when the clock struck 45 minutes. Not a bad way to spend some time.
Portugal. The Man was preceded by a road crew that cloaked the stage with three red–and–purple hued backdrops featuring members of the band psychedelically illustrated. The air was starting to take on an electric pop, and I realized that maybe The Get Up Kids had some competition in terms of attendance. This assumption was only made more rock-like when the lights went out and the room lit up with the voices of the underaged. They cheered and screamed and out walked an afro-haired keyboardist (night of the afro?); a drummer that looked like he was moonlighting in this band after days of working at Pike Place Market throwing fish; a long-haired lead singer (standard operating procedure); and a bassist who was one leisure suit jacket away from being the toast of a 70’s night party.
Now mind you, I had absolutely no idea what they sounded like, just that there was a buzz about them and, as you probably know, inexperience is sometimes all you need to be rocked. And I was. What came out of the speakers was a mix of funk, indie, psychedelia, and rock, and what happened in the crowd was instantaneous. From the all-hair-everywhere kid headbanging in the front row to the kids dancing in the middle, the crowd wanted what the band had to offer.
The band’s lead singer, John Gourley, sang most of his songs in a high falsetto, facing his keyboard player rather than his audience, creating a certain level of detachment and pushing the music up-front. The deep grooves the band kept molding and throwing out into the ether ranged from highly danceable to impossibly dense, like sound orbs that kept expanding into the room, owning the space. The crowd followed their rhythmic cues, responding in kind to what the music asked of them, even if it meant standing transfixed in the trance the band seemed to be conjuring. And we reveled in the synthetic overtones and funky strums as the lights swirled all around, coloring our clothes, while the band appeared before us usually as silhouettes or in pure saturation.
It ended all too soon for me and the rest of my fellow travelers, and all we had left to us besides our memories, was the truism that Portugal. The Man is a find, and all of us Portland kids can be glad that they call our fair city their home.
DOWNLOAD: portugal. The Man - sugar cinnamon (MP3) or Follow us for more portugal. The Man MP3s (Twitter)
Four Tet - 2/26
Doug Fir Lounge
The Builders And The Butchers + Federale + Dr. Helicopter - 12/31
Mississippi Studios
Quasi performs The Who + The Shaky Hands + Inside Voices + DJ Safi - 12/31
Doug Fir Lounge
The Roots + Orgone + Lilla D’Mone - 1/2
Roseland Theater
Grass Widow + White Fang + Hornet Leg - 1/7
Artistery
The Moondoggies + Sera Cahoone - 1/8
Doug Fir Lounge
Steve Earle + Hayes Carll - 1/19
Aladdin Theatre
remixes tend to bore me because I think most are extremely bland and/or unoriginal, but everything here felt fresh from my first listen to my last. let me know what you think about it.
by colin on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 06.43 pm from the entry: Present # 8: The 'Sky High' Mixtape - Remixing Kanye West
nice call. this sounds fantastic. i’ve been listening to a fair bit of kanye recently, and it will be great to get a different feel from his songs.
by josh on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 06.14 pm from the entry: Present # 8: The 'Sky High' Mixtape - Remixing Kanye West
colin, you are too good to us!
by josh on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 05.58 pm from the entry: The Final Present (#9): Another Radiohead soundboard - Live at Lollapalooza 08
I’m leaving AC out of this. Ok wait, I can’t. Beach Boys and AC can never be used in the same sentence ever again. If I were mayor, that would be the rule 
Loving that The Rural Alberta Advantage found it’s way up here. I discovered that record WAY late in the year but it’s taken only days of listening to agree with it’s spot in the top 10.
by dirkler on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 12.13 pm from the entry: Top 10 Best Albums of 2009!
awesome stuff guys. great photos and the sentiment about backspace is on the nose.
by steve on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 12.02 pm from the entry: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Backspace (Portland, OR; December 18, 2009)
Yes! can’t wait for the new Radiohead album. There’s some more details about it here http://bit.ly/4Byzn7
by Chris on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 11.21 am from the entry: Radiohead is going into the studio next month!!!
also would a band ever write a letter like this to a venue? seemed like a joke to me from the get go.
by colin on Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 02.50 am from the entry: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Backspace (Portland, OR; December 18, 2009)
Your notes on Pretty & Nice are way off… you missed their set entirely--someone should “pontificate” about your absent-minded decisions. also, the band NEVER wears their own t-shirts when they play live, so you made that up.
You’re right, I was wrong. The whole band wasn’t wearing the shirt. Only of them was wearing the shirt. My bad, corrected, done.
Only one of them was what I meant to say.