Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, November 25th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last Night at the Y La Bamba tour benefit, I had a lot of fun. I had a whole lot of cup cakes. I danced to the cuts of DJ Cookie Parker. Denver and Pancake Breakfast were both good. Especially Pancake Breakfast. They killed it, despite some slight technical difficulties (a mic kept cutting out). At one point he suggested that we all shake hands with our neighbors and wish them a thanksgiving and everyone did. I have not shaken that many hands in a while. Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving. I could not find any shows that are going on tonight. So I decided to do something different. One of the things I am most thankful for, is the fact that I live in a time where music is so accessible. People often give away their music for FREE. I took the liberty of linking to four of my favorite FREE downloads of local bands:

I just found out that three of the members of the defunct band Eskimo & Sons have started a new band called Wild Ones. Most important to note is that Danielle Sullivan is singing leads in the band. I love her voice and am very happy to have new music featuring it. Also Andy Parker is drumming. He is one of my favorites. It makes sense too because he was drumming with the other post Eskimo & Sons band Congratulations!, which I think is also defunct. To be honest I have not listened to it all the way through yet. I just found it today. It actually inspired the post. You can download their ep, You're a Winner, for FREE at the Wild Ones website.

Hosannas are one of my favorite groups in Portland. They have been since they were church. I forget how I first heard of them but I remember the first time I saw them a long time ago at Rererato. They were a three piece at the time and they gave away a 3" CD ep. I saw them grow to an amazing four piece, put out a record that collected that ep and another ep, record an amazing album as a four piece, and then transform into a very interesting two piece. They recently made a remix ep available on their website that features remixes by some of my Portland favorites (Ocean Age and Copy) along with some people I was not familiar with (Big Pauper, Jameul Saxon, and See Thru). I think it's great. You can download it for FREE at the Hosannas website.

Kusiskia is a truly unique sounding band. They are a drums and guitar duo that manage to not only not sound like a duo, but not sound like anything else going on right now. It is extremely dynamic. Nsayi is a Portland native, her voice is quite beautiful and ranges from a whisper to a full on wail. Peter's drumming is kinda amazing. The music seems very organic. They are the kind of players that seem to have their instruments become extensions of themselves. They have an album called Browntown. It is available on vinyl and tape. But they also made it available for FREE right here.

Wishyunu is another band that I am fond of. They married duo are pretty hard to describe. Electro-pop? Kinda, but it would give you the wrong idea. Dream pop? Closer, but they also have elements of Kraut Rock and have live "jam" part that are not common to that genre. I would say that it is for fans of Stereolab. You can download both an album and an ep for FREE at the Wishyunu bandcamp.

And And And is a band that I have really grown fond of. I think they are quite good at the whole indie rock thing. I also admire their music comes first attitude. For example if you email the group at hottestmixtapeunderthesun@gmail.com, they will send you links to their mixtape and all their previous releases (an album and an ep). Pretty rad, no?

Anyways, I am sure there are a lot more free stuff available online. Feel free to leave links in the comments section.

-Ben

p.s. I was going to leave a ridiculous youtube thanksgiving video, but there are too many to choose from. Here are some of the stupidest. Enjoy.