Last Night I went to the Satyricon to see a show. What an experience. I felt like I was back in high school. Not only because there was an inescapable feeling that I was in an all ages club, but because the majority of the bands, three out of four (yeah, there were four bands. Didn't I tell you it was an ALL AGES club?) bands played some form of punk rock. I listened to punk rock when I was in high school. I would have loved this show back then. But now it made me feel weird. I still enjoyed it, but I could not fully embrace the punk rock. The first band, Scum Grief, had potential they had catchy melodies and perfect punk rock arrangements but could not seem to all stay in the same tempo, which night have been because was so bad. So I do not fully fault them. Then there was Foot Ox who seemed to be kinda folk punk but mostly a mess of kids making noise on stage. There was a group of eleven kids who all looked like they cam straight from their shift at the co-op to come play the show. Again I am not sure if they played badly because of the bad sound or if that just were a mess. I think they would work better in a different room. Then came The Max Levine Ensemble who played really well and were obviously tight a stark contrast to the previous band. They had some interesting parts but did not do a whole lot to further the punk music cannon. Finally came the band that I had wanted to see, Nana Grizol. They were really good. The songwriting is really clever and thoughtful almost to the point that I wish the music were not so catchy so that I could focus on the words. But when you have a band that features two drummers (one of which also plays trumpet) and two guitars and a low brass instrument and a bass player and they all sing. It is hard to catch every word. They sound they made was uplifting and made me want to go home call all my friends and say lets make some music. Instead I went home fell asleep.
Monday, January 18th
Valentine's is having a show with Galveston, Lindsay Clarke, and Rey Villalobos. I have not seen Galveston. Though I have written about the band and also heard very good things from trust worthy friends, I have yet to get my situated in front of them while they play music. From what I can tell it is very minimalist folk with some drumming and acoustic guitar. The recordings have a touch of trumpet and a slide guitar. They have three members listed so I am not sure what the third person does. Lindsay Clarke is pretty great. I think I played the first show she played as a Portland resident. She spent sometime in the Boston area and Nevada City before that. Her folk sound definitely reminds me of some other Nevada City "folks" (Alela Diane in particular). She splits her instrument playing between guitar and banjo. I have seen Rey Villalobos a couple of times. he is relatively new to Portland but has been doing music for a while in California. He is a good songwriter and has an amazing voice. It kinda reminds me of the late Jeff Hansen who reminded me kinda of a late Elliott Smith. What I am trying say that it is that his voice breathy and light and very pretty. Last time I saw him he was backed by Brian Wright and Cory Gray of Carcrashlander on drums and keys/trumpet respectively. A very nice set up. His song "Kiss Me Like It's the 50's" stands out in my memory. I am hoping to buy his EP that he recorded here in Portland, because it sounds great. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.
If you see me at this show please say, "Hi". I like greeting people. What is your hobby?
-Ben
See Rey sing this song tonight at Valentines.
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