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August 20, 2012

Pickathon in Photos

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Pickathon
Pickathon

For a long weekend in August just outside Portland Pendarvis Farm swells with people, many of which are young families, to camp, enjoy music, and commune with our fellow humans. In the forested part of the grounds, every square foot of flat dirt or bush that could be used as sleeping space was taken, and then some. Hammocks were a favorite device since much of that forest was the side of a hill. A cool 90 degrees in the shade for a period, Toddlers misted passers-by with friendly doses of water from squirt bottles, and teenagers were getting entrepreneurial with a Super-Soaker. On the hottest day of the weekend the festival itself provided an industrial effort misting station, a essentially spraying people down for hours on end. It was very effective and much appreciated.

Gonzo heat aside Pickathon delivered on just about every count. Food: Pine State Biscuits for Breakfast and Bunk Bar For Dinner? Oh Snap! Music: War On Drugs, THEESatisfaction and Thee Oh Sees among others made nearly every set I witnessed  a winner. Shovels and Rope and Lake Street Dive both brought down the house. Notable bands played small stages and smaller bands played big stage. Atmosphere: Low key, but enough license and space was given to allow people to keep things going all night long. Official sets went late into the night and jam sessions of one and many were happening in campsites all over, all the time.

Note to self for next time: Show up early to get a prime campsite. And bring a hammock just in case. There will definitely be a next time.

Thee Oh SeesPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Thee Oh Sees
Thee Oh SeesPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Thee Oh Sees
PhosphorescentPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Phosphorescent
The Cave Singers at the Woods StagePhoto: Josh Lovseth
The Cave Singers at the Woods Stage
The Woods StagePhoto: Josh Lovseth
The Woods Stage
THEESatisfactionPhoto: Josh Lovseth
THEESatisfaction
Pendarvis Farm AnimalsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Pendarvis Farm Animals
Pendarvis Farm Animals Pt. 2Photo: Josh Lovseth
Pendarvis Farm Animals Pt. 2
Shovels and RopePhoto: Josh Lovseth
Shovels and Rope
Sonny and the SunsetsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Sonny and the Sunsets
War On DrugsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
War On Drugs
Summer EssentialsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Summer Essentials
Dance in the shadePhoto: Josh Lovseth
Dance in the shade
EmbracePhoto: Josh Lovseth
Embrace
Phosphorescent in the Galaxy BarnPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Phosphorescent in the Galaxy Barn
Lake Street DivePhoto: Josh Lovseth
Lake Street Dive
April 7, 2011

The Daily Choice: Sonny and The Sunsets – I Wanna Do It

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Sonny Smith must have an army of robots in a cement slab of a recording studio in some desolate Eastern European country. An army of robots that takes his ideas, prolific to say the least, and turns them in to absolute gold.  It is the only way to explain his ability to create and create and create, and rarely falter in the quality of his creation.  He’s already popped out a second volume of his amazing 100 Records album in the last six months, thrown together a few shows featuring the bands (bands he created himself) performing live, recorded a four-song EP with The Sandwitches and now he’s hurling a new album, Hit After Hit in to the world.  Prolific is an understatement.

“I Wanna Do It”, the first single from his new Fat Possum release, resonates with the sort of walking-bass, easy going ramble Sir Smith is renowned for.  Smith has an ability to craft songs that firmly immerse themselves in optimism and cheer and surefire rarity in these days of gloom and doom.  It is, as always, refreshing.

Hit After Hit comes out next week on Fat Possum.

Check out the b-side “Mr. Lucky”, a darker, grittier instrumental over at Pitchfork.

Sonny & The Sunsets – I Wanna Do It

February 14, 2011

Pickathon Line-Up Announced: Mavis Staples, Damien Jurado, Sonny & The Sunsets and More!

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pickathon2

An early contender for local festival line-up of the year: Pickathon 2011. The annual festival celebrating indie roots music is held on an 80 acre farm in Happy Valley, Oregon and this year’s line-up boasts diverse acts such as Mavis Staples, Fruit Bats, Damien Jurado, Vetiver, Sonny & the Sunsets, Bill Calahan, Laura Veirs, AgesandAges, The Builders and the Butchers, and Cahalen Morrison & Eli West. The festival will be held August 5-7th this year and it is definitely worth the road trip.

Here’s the full line-up thus far:

Mavis Staples | Bill Callahan | Lee Fields & The Expressions | Califone | Thao | Fruit Bats | Vetiver | Damien Jurado | The Sadies | Danny Barnes | The Builders and The Butchers | Laura Veirs | Future Islands | Brownout | The Wilders | Richard Swift | Elliott Brood | Pine Leaf Boys | Sonny & The Sunsets | Whitey Morgan and the 78′s | Old Sledge | Mike + Ruthy | Bruce Molsky | AgesandAges | Charlie Parr | Pokey LaFarge | The Black Lillies | Strand Of Oaks | Rock Plaza Central | The Buffalo Killers | Ted Jones And The Tarheel Boys | Joy Kills Sorrow | Old Light | Truckstop Darlin’ | Cahalen Morrison & Eli West | Diane Ferlatte

January 27, 2011

The Daily Choice: Earth Girl Helen Brown – Hit After Hit

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Sonny Smith, my love for you continues to grow. After just releasing the second collection 7″ singles for his 100 Records art project (DCed right here), featuring a beloved track by Earth Girl Helen Brown amongst it’s clang and clatter, Sir Smith has now gone the next step and with the help of a few esteemed friends, released a full EP from the mysterious Earth Girl Helen Brown.

“Hit After Hit” has the drive of late 60s girl soul.  The bass propulsion and emotive thrust of a woman stuck in a bad situation just trying to figure her shit out.  Makes me think of early Aretha beamed down to Earth in a static tractor beam that flickers on and off like an interstellar disco ball.

The track features Heidi Alexander and Grace Cooper of The Sandwitches and is off the new 10″ release from Forest Family The Story of an Earth Girl. It’s limited to 500 copies, so pre-order yours now.

Earth Girl Helen Brown – Hit After Hit

January 12, 2011

Josh’s Favorite Records of 2010

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Since I’m later than everyone else and am expounding (and have expounded) elsewhere plenty on 2010 I’ll keep this one short. The following is a list of the most compelling records I heard in 2010. Not coincidentally these really were the records I actually listened to most. To my mind, every one of my choices exists as a whole record, and not just a collection of individual singles, so, in my humble opinion, every single record on this list is worthy of taking the time to listen all the way through to be absorbed fully.

Since I only did twenty songs for 2010, I also limited myself to an unordered list of twenty records (plus a few stellar EP’s). Click the link on a band name to see what we’ve wrote about them in 2010.

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December 29, 2010

Twenty Songs I’m Giving a “10″ in 2010

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the morning benders

The Morning Benders at the Crocodile ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Though choosing any number songs to represent my year for a one such as myself is a challenge, the spare unordered listing below of twenty is about as complete as I can hope to make any such effort. For some of these songs I was smitten at first listen, for others I’ve come to them over the course of the year via live performances. Though I’ve now seen it live probably more than ten times in course of the last year, every time I’m treated to “It All Comes Right” by Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives my body responds with shivers as strong as the first time I heard it.

2010 was personally a year of the highest highs and lowest lows I’ve experienced yet in life, and these songs were my soundtrack. It’s a surprisingly non-emo grouping considering how this year has gone…

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“Rill Rill” – Sleigh Bells Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill by marinak

“Albatross” – Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes-Albatross by inertiamusic

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December 22, 2010

Win Three Amazing Albums From Secret Seven Records!

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I just wrote up the fantastic San Francisco label Secret Seven Records.  To further concrete them as the bastions of amazing music they are, they’re giving you the opportunity to win one of three vinyl copies of their mind-blowing music.

For the opportunity to win either Sonny and The Sunsets Tomorrow Is Alright, The Sandwitches Duck, Duck, Goose or their fantastic reissue of Michael Yonker’s Goodby Sunball all I need for you to do is post a comment down below giving me a solid reason why I should give you one of these records.  I’ll be traveling for the holidays, but will contact winners next week.

Vinyl copies of these amazing albums and all you have to do is tell me why you deserve ‘em … let the commenting begin!

Sonny and The Sunsets – Too Young To Burn

The Sandwitches – Baby Mine

Michael Yonkers – Swamp of Love

December 22, 2010

The Daily Choice: Secret Seven Records

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All month long, all San Francisco/Bay Area bands.  That’s the rub.  Get with it.

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When I decided to write a label showcase for San Francisco’s up-and-comer Secret Seven I dipped back in to The Daily Choice archives to see if by chance, I’d focused on this label’s output in the past.  And sure enough, I have, repeatedly, showered my fickle love on the releases of this fantastic little label.  There San Francisco compilation In A Cloud featured some of the rising stars that are currently bombarding the local and national scene with a canny mix of lo-fi, garage and sixties pop.  The Fresh and Onlys, Kelly Stoltz, Tim Cohen, Sonny and The Sunsets, Thee Oh Sees – this compilation hits nearly each and every nail directly on the head.  And if Secret Seven was just that, a chronicler of the new and fantastic as seen through the scope of San Francisco, I’d be happy.  Happy that they’ve released Sonny and The Sunset’s Too Young To Burn, happy that they’ve let Tim Cohen’s freak flag fly on both of his fantastic solo releases, happy that they’ve given The Sandwitches a home to expand they’re somber sound.

But, that’s not all Secret Seven Records are, they are also reissue masters of both a creative and stellar degree.  I wrote recently about the absolutely excellent, and surprising, Tiny Tim reissue they sent in to the world (a spectacular collection of the unreleased works of Tiny Tim that drags him from the jokey section our modern minds have pigeonholed him in to and showcases the true musical genius he was).  What I haven’t talked about is there recent reissue of Michael Yonkers Goodby Sunball, a dreamy bit of psych-folk recorded by the singer as he lay in bed after a major spine surgery.  Yonker’s voice is a hefty tweak on the standard country-twang, a vibrato yodel that punches out of the beautiful simplicity of his compositions, jumping from whisper to downright holler in an instant.  What I haven’t talked about yet is there recent collaboration with The Daily Choice favorites Mississippi Records on an, ahem, 8-track reissue of freak-folk hero Michael Hurley’s Blue Navigator.  Hurley’s gotten a lot of press in the music nerd market as of late, and this, a 1984 album originally released on Rooster Records, showcases why.  From what I can tell, its light and airy, buoyed by Hurley’s adept finger picking and his everyman’s voice, but weighed down by his strange and sometimes silly lyrics.  Absolutely enjoyable.

Throw in the upcoming re-released of the amazing III by Mt. Egypt (an artist I’ll be featuring heavily in an upcoming post) and you have a label the quite honestly fills all the gaps.  What’s better?  They’re relatively new, and we can only wait in eager anticipation for what they deem worthy of their touch next.

Check them out here.

Michael Yonkers – Swamp of Love

Mt. Egypt – Everything In Moderation

Michael Hurley – Who Ever Heard Of You

Tim Cohen – Haunted Hymns

December 20, 2010

The Daily Choice: Versatile Kyle – Sick Girl

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All month long (aside from one recently discovered error) I’m exploring the sonic scene of San Francisco and the Bay Area beyond.  Quite a ride dear sir, quite a ride indeed.

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I know, I’ve already written about Sonny Smith and his almighty Sunsets.  I’ve already proclaimed my love for his band and his songwriting and the simplicity of his lyrics and how they still manage to work their in to the soggy wood of your brain.  And yet, with Sonny Smith managing to impress me more and more each day I couldn’t help but give notice about the second volume of his newest art/music project, 100 Records Vol. 2: I Miss The Jams.  A while back Sir Smith nearly drowned in the Bay, and the closeness to death inspired him to, well, create.  Create and create and create.  To create so much music of so much variety, he was able to stock an entire jukebox full of 45s of his newly christened imaginary bands.

The amazing folk at Turn Up Records have released an amazing box-set of 5 “incredible” 45s chronicling 10 of the bands Smith crafted from thin air.  I personally love “Sick Girl” by Versatile Kyle, a sort of low-beat, bass-heavy rock ‘n’ roller but I’m also partial to Earth Girl Helen Brown’s “I Wanna Do It”, a sort of two-part harmony doo-wop jam.  Check out the whole album, find your own favorite song, and just be happy that somewhere Sonny Smith is busily filling notebooks with new bands, new songs, new gifts to us.

The album features members of The Sandwitches, Ty Segall, and a host of other San Francisco luminaries.

100 Records Vol. 2: I Miss The Jams is out on Turn Up Records in January and at local San Francisco stores in a limited edition boxed set now.

Sonny and The Sunsets and The Fresh and Onlys will play Amnesia on New Years Eve.

Versatile Kyle – Sick Girl

December 13, 2010

Abbey’s Favorite Non-Local Releases of 2010

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mallardbest

The Mallard

There was so much good music coming out of the Pacific Northwest this year, it was hard to avert my eyes and ears to listen to albums released outside of our cloudy corner of the world. But when I did, these were the artists and albums that I enjoyed most.

I know it seems like the snobbiest music blogger move to list a self-released cassette as their number one release of the year, but no one combined every sonic trend I loved in 2010 (psychedelic, lo-fi, girl, garage pop) better than the one-woman spectacular spectacle that is The Mallard and nothing sounded better than her wailing over road noise as I navigated the rainy streets of Seattle. Plus, with her debut full-length due out in 2011, I think you’ll be hearing lots more from The Mallard soon so I don’t feel all that guilty for sharing the obscure.

Without further explanation, my favorite releases of 2010:

1. The Mallard – s/t cassette 2. The Black Keys – Brothers 3. Sharon Van Etten – Epic 4. Phosphorescent – Here’s to Taking It Easy 5. Sonny and the Sunsets – Tomorrow Is Alright 6. Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt 7. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor 8. The Morning Benders – Big Echo 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Horse Power EP 10. Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People EP

Just Missed / Also Thoroughly Enjoyed in 2010:

Besnard Lakes / Best Coast / Ty Segall / The Strange Boys