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Hypnotic
Abyss "Abaddon" is a word from the Hebrew meaning "pit of destruction." In the Talmud, it is the name given to Gehenna, a valley in Jerusalem where a cult practiced the burning of children. The word became associated with the fiery pits of hell, a place where the wicked are abandoned and tormented endlessly after death. Not a place you visit willingly. Which is why the title to Pinback's new CD, Summer In Abaddon, is so chilling.
Pinback hail from San Diego and are primarily Armistead Burwell Smith IV, who goes by "Zach," and Rob Crow. The band formed as a part-time project in 1998, when Smith's band, 3 Mile Pilot, took an extended hiatus and Crow broke from his bands, Thingy and Heavy Vegetable. Their self-titled debut was released by Ace Fu in 1999 and Pinback has been a fully-realized entity ever since. Summer In Abaddon was recorded by the duo throughout 2003 in Zach's home studio and is their first for the Touch and Go label. At first listen, despair evaporates as mid-tempo tunes blossom, each sounding little different from the next. Then you read the lyrics, and goosebumps return. "This Red Book" states, "If I could reach your throat I could strangle you all. Did I say that out loud?" The track "Blood's On Fire" eulogizes a friend and ends with the lines, "Here's to the pranks we never pulled. And never will." No matter what conflicting emotions are expressed in the lyrics, the hammer often falls in the last line and we're left with nothing but bleakness. The opening track, "Non-Photo Blue," is a study in modern futility which ends with the disturbing, "I'm leaving a message stapled on your head." On "Syracuse," Smith repeats the same two lines over and over while minimalist guitar and drums slither in the background. The song finds its legs after almost two minutes and finishes beautifully as a piano-driven ballad. Smith and Crow harmonize very well, often to hypnotic effect, and Smith chanting a refrain throughout a song with Crow providing counterpoint. As mentioned, there isn't much to distinguish these songs one from another, but that's not necessarily bad. Pinback seems to have found a comfortable formula with this one, and an unbroken mood is created until the last song, "AFK," the longest at five minutes, when some musical angst begins to appear. Louder singing and a frantic drumbeat insinuate that they haven't found their way out of the abyss just yet. Still, the torment is tepid and the song re-emerges as a lilting groove like the others. Those who like early, noisier Touch and Go rock will appreciate the last line's reference to Slint's 1991 song "Good Morning, Captain." "I can't talk to you anymore and I miss you, not in a Slint way, but I miss you." As in the past, the pair continue their inscrutable references to water and sometimes meaningless word play. It's been revealed in past interviews with Pinback that Smith writes melodies first with words that don't make sense but which fit well with the music. That can be seen here, especially on the song "Fortress," with the lines "Safe as a cootie wootie with you, never pretend the chill." Regardless of what Smith and Crow are crooning, the lyrics percolate gently over disarmingly lively pop music. Guitar and bass melodies masquerade as simple but reveal themselves after a couple of listens as complex and layered. Live, Pinback does not sound as they do on record. On stage, it's more of an interpretation of their recorded works, which frequently feature samples and other sound effects they don't duplicate live. When they write, it's just Crow and Smith. On stage, it could be anything from a three-piece to a five-piece and there's a lot of instrument switching. Pinback appear Wednesday at WOW Hall along with The Advantage and stand-up comic Neal Hamburger.
Moral
& Immoral Music Morality is a tricky thing. Somehow it was supposed to be moral to vote for those who supported an unprovoked attack against another country; tax cuts that robbed our children and grandchildren of health care; jobs and education to pay for second yachts for multimillionaires; policies that poison the air, land and water to benefit a few wealthy corporations; and laws that forbid people who love each other to form a lifetime marriage commitment. The holidays used to be about morality, too, especially helping those who were less fortunate than us. Now they're about who can get the most and biggest toys.
But you can start your holiday season off in the spirit of true morality and enjoy some great music at the same time by attending the third annual benefit concert for famine relief in Southern Africa at Cozmic Pizza on Saturday, Dec. 4, beginning at 7 pm. While we scarf down holiday turkey (or Tofurkey) and dressing, 18 million people in Southern Africa are in desperate need of food assistance, according to the U.N. Benefits from this concert will go to Mercy Corps, the respected Portland-based non-profit organization that has provided almost a billion dollars in assistance to 80 nations. In return, you'll get to hear some of the beautiful music that originated in that area, with performances by Kutsinhira Marimba Youth Ensemble, Vakasara Mbira, Njuzu Mbira, and Kudana Marimba. This lively, joyous music of the metal-keyed marimba and mbira (the so-called thumb piano from Zimbabwe), accompanied by gourd hosho (shakers) and Shona singing and enhanced with coordinated visuals by Phantazmagoria Lights, is guaranteed to inspire dancing and delight here as well as feeding people in need across the oceans. That's one of a slew of intriguing shows at Cozmic Pizza. On Dec. 3, Vagabond Opera plays eastern European, klezmer and original music, accompanied by the Bohemian belly dancers of Terpsichore's Daughters, in songs about "thieves, Jewish weddings, Parisian tramps and the enigmatic Marlene Deitrich." And on Nov. 26th, Cozmic hosts the Cafe Ramblers turkey review, a post-Thanksgiving family recovery show with swing jazz, theater, costumes, music. Famine, war, religious fanaticism, corruption, plague and social turmoil — maybe we haven't come that far from what the historian Barbara Tuchman called "the calamitous 14th century." You can hear songs of "angst, love, and betrayal" from that era on Sunday Dec. 5, also at Cozmic Pizza, when Sospiro, a trio of UO master's students studying early music perform some of the darker songs of the Middle Ages, as well as three new works written especially for the ensemble and premiering at this concert. Speaking of the UO, holiday sounds, sacred and secular, fill the air at the school's annual holiday choral concert Thursday, Dec. 2 at Beall Concert Hall, featuring the University Singers, Chamber Choir, and Concert Choir. More holiday sounds abound in a free Beall concert on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 4, with the Campus Band and Repertoire Singers. Beall hosts the UO Gospel Choir's ever-popular holiday concert on Dec. 5 — another rollicking show that often sells out. Other recommended UO concerts include the University Percussion Ensemble on Dec. 5 at Beall and the university's Javanese gamelan at DIVA on Dec. 2. The big holiday concert hereabouts is the Eugene Concert Choir's Old-Fashioned Christmas on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 5 at the Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall. This show sold out last year, so if you want to see and hear Christmas carols and other holiday sounds (including excerpts from Benjamin Britten's St. Nicolas Cantata) performed by the city's top choral group, plus Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble in Renaissance garb, the Oregon Mozart Players, the Don Latarski Band, Darlene Jackson, the Oregon Young Women's Choir, the Oregon Festival Choirs "Lyrica" and "Fiero," and La Vida Royale, get tix PDQ. Still in her 20s, Jane Monheit might be the next big jazz diva, following Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Diane Reeves and so many others. Her debut album featured jazz deities Ron Carter and Kenny Barron, and along with her sterling solo work, she's appeared on records by Mark O'Connor, Terence Blanchard and more. She has a distinctive way with songs from jazz standards to contemporary pop, and anyone who admires the singers mentioned above should be at her show at the Shedd on Monday, Dec. 6. Jazz fans might also check out Toby Koenigsberg's trio Dec. 2 at Luna, abetted by the award-winning New York/Portland tenor titan Tim Willcox, playing jazz standards and originals. Finally, you can hear a couple of fine veteran local musicians when flutist Alan McCullough and guitarist Peter Thomas celebrate the release of their new CD, Discovery, at the Newman Center (1850 Emerald) on Sunday, Dec. 4. The album includes 16 original compositions influenced by Baroque, Celtic, and Spanish music.
Behind
the Wicked Image Despite the fact that he'd been up most of the night spinning at the Domino Room (in Bend) and said he was really tired, DJ Wicked ordered not coffee but vitamin-filled orange juice when we met for breakfast over the summer. That morning he was wearing a D.C. baseball hat and T-shirt with Portland across the front, both black. It had been a late night and an early morning. He had faint circles under his eyes — par for the course for someone who spends most of his nights in clubs until the wee hours.
Meeting him in person, I was struck by the disparity between the friendly, kind of quiet, almost shy guy in front of me and the image. Easily Oregon's top hip-hop DJ, the stuff DJ Wicked puts together is incredibly creative. His mix tapes are always full of cool, weird stuff. And he plays the part. If you look at his recorded stuff, he comes across as super-hyped, with that image of a party animal. Actually, DJ Wicked doesn't even drink. Growing up in northeast Portland, he started spinning in 1992. Two years later he moved to San Francisco, at the time when spinning, or turntablism, was just taking off. He made his way back to Portland and now opens for almost every major hip-hop show that comes to Oregon, including Eminem a few years back. Six months ago, he quit his day job to DJ full-time and just released a new CD, Got Milf?, a play on the "Got Milk" commercials, milk mustache picture and everything. So where'd the name come from? Actually it's an old graffiti name I used to use. It kind of stuck with me when I started DJ'ing. Tell me about Got Milf? It's kind of different from what you usually do. I really went out there with that one. It's got all these songs from the '80s and '90s. It's the first time I did a project where I strayed away from hip-hop. The way I put it together is the way DJ's put hip-hop music together, with the scratching, but it's not hip-hop. What was it like growing up in Portland? To me it feels like a small town. I feel like it's still behind as far as the music scene goes. [In San Francisco] I met a lot of people that really inspired me. After being down there for a couple of years, I came back to Portland and that's when I really starting pushing, started gigging out a lot. What's kept you in it, passionate about it? Just the music itself — It's so much a part of my everyday life. The whole thing, especially with turntablism, being able to create music as opposed to just play stuff other people have done. What does the term turntablism mean to you in your music? That's probably the hardest thing to explain to people. It's just manipulating records to create new sounds. Like on Got Milf?, there's a hidden track at the end that's entirely turntablism. It's its own music, using records to create a song. How have people reacted to Got Milf? It's kind of playful and funny. I've already caught a lot of flack for it. Like what?(At that point he grinned and looked away) Um, I'd really rather not say. The CD is so silly. I just wanted to have a good time with it. All those songs are old enough that people in their 30s would know them. The whole thing is all good fun. What's in your CD player right now? DJ D Styles. He's really dark and technical, a scratch DJ. Do you have anyone you really admire, any idols? A few. Mr. Dibbs, MixMaster Mike. Who else … there's so many people. D Styles, Q Bert. Do you have any crazy stories, like nights when something's just gone totally wrong? (Laughing) Oh man, so many nights. One night this girl came up and flipped my whole table over. That was pretty disastrous. You're pretty successful at this point in an industry where there's a lot of competition. Did you ever get a big break? No. I'm still waiting for it.
Coming
at You It's taken four years, but Bend-based No Cash Value is finally gaining some well-deserved recognition. Let's start with one basic element many punk bands miss: These guys can actually play their instruments. Really well.
Bass player Owen Evans is the oldest member, downright geriatric at 29 compared to lead singer and guitarist Andrew McCumber, 25, and drummer Alan Burmeister, 21. McCumber and Burmeister grew up in John Day and had been playing together for five years before Evans joined them after sitting in on a practice at a friend's garage. Watching them together is like watching the love/hate relationship of three brothers who are also best friends. ("Sometimes you've gotta get on them because they're like little brothers," said Evans about McCumber and Burmeister. "You're going to let that Nazi control freak speak for us?" said McCumber. "Oh great.") Listening to them, all that comes across is clean, hard, So-Cal punk rock in the tradition of Bad Religion, Rancid, Offspring and Agent Orange. These guys have a sense of humor too; a "We're gonna play whatever we want even if it is James Taylor because that's a really good song and if you don't like it go outside and smoke a cigarette" attitude. Yeah, they do cover "Fire and Rain" and also an almost soulful, gritty, raucous version of Sam the Sham's "Little Red Riding Hood." But "Motherfucker" is by far their best song, a song Evans wrote about getting the crap kicked out of him by a bunch of Nazi skinheads while he was down in Mexico. It's just pure, angry, hard, biting punk rock. And that's how you could describe most of their stuff. "I was sitting trying to write some songs and I was being way too technical," said Evans with a laugh. "I was trying all these rhythm changes and alternate chord progressions. And then I was just like, you know, this is stupid. Punk rock isn't all operatic and changey. Punk rock needs to just come right at you."
BLACK FOREST
CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT DA HOUZE DIABLO'S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE DUCK INN EMBERS SUPPER CLUB EUGENE WINE CELLARS GOOD TIMES JO FEDERIGO'S JOE'S BAR & GRILLE
JOHN HENRY'S LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO SA: Gus Russell--5
LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MAC'S AT THE VET'S THE O BAR OREGON ELECTRIC STATION OVERTIME TAVERN SA: The Valley Boys—8 PEABODY'S TH: Peter Giri--6; Acoustic rock, blues PERUGINO PRIME TIME SPORTS BAR QUACKER'S RAMADA INN SAM BOND'S GARAGE SPIRITS STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S SA: The Hayden Trio--8:30; Light Jazz TAP 'N' KEG TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL WETLANDS WOW HALL All Ages
CORVALLIS
INTABA'S KITCHEN All Ages THE PEACOCK TAVERN PLATINUM |
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