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Dance
Floor Northwest ORAC ... sounds like the vacuum cleaner manufacturer, right? Oreck? No, ORAC. Caro spelled backwards, the robot from the BBC's Blake's 7, and the record label showcasing a slew of talented Northwest electronic music artists this Saturday at the Indigo District.
ORAC's "About Us" section of their website reads more like a treatise on the duality of electronic music than a short bio. The Seattle-based electronic music label says its mission is to provide "experimental work which can also function on the dance floor." In taking gargantuan liberties with this generalization, I believe electronic music (as a generic term to embrace everything from techno to dub) can historically be grouped into two camps, the experimental and the functional. Where the "experimental" element can be linked to the technology behind the music and the "functional" traced to the music's disco/dancehall lineage, ORAC strives to champion the merits of both. But ORAC's musical credo is hardly anomalous in the Northwest. In fact, in a way it has defined the region's worldwide reputation as a provider of quality electronic music that can both motivate a dance floor and challenge the ear. Case in point: The Return of Caro, the latest album by ORAC co-founder Caro (aka Randy Jones), reflects the hedonistic flare of great techno/house producers like Marshall Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles, while at the same time throwing out more contemplative and modern pieces a la Matthew Dear or Swayzak. The Return of Caro's coup de grâce, "Can't Tell Why," piggybacks a prominent acid line that drops right into a classic deep house piano synth-hook accompanied by Caro's soulful Alexander East-like vocals. On the other side of the coin, on the album's last track, "My Little Pony," Caro straddles the acid hook and rides it to the very end. It bubbles at the beginning, ducking and jabbing until it grows into a twitchy little gremlin. It could be said that as a whole, The Return of Caro shadows all the best moments of Derrick Carter's Classic Records and that Caro undoubtedly reflects the osmotic tutelage of the Chicago house great. Another ORAC representative attending the showcase, Strategy (aka Paul Dickow), has taken that experimental as functional philosophy beyond his music and applied it to his own record label, Community Library, as well as his immensely successful politico-dance night, Community Library Club. Evidenced by his '04 ORAC EP Super Vamp, this Portland resident has absolutely no qualms about passionately embracing disco (in fact he has a whole theoretical framework defending it and all of electronic music's other orphaned children). At the same time, Strategy's live conceptual DJ sets as well as his dub and ambient releases (for notable labels like Outward Music Company, Tigerbeat6's Shockout and Kranky) reflect a more avant-garde approach to music and sound. Solenoid (aka DJ Broken Window), who will release his new ORAC LP Supernature at the end of May, will round out the night's bill with an equally accessible dance floor vibe. Another Portlander, Solenoid melds the IDM stylings of Black Dog with the indulgent Germanic techno of Kompakt Records on his forthcoming album. Eugene, take pride in the Northwest's electronic music talent and go out and represent at the Indigo.
Born
and Bred in the Euge Mat Kearney spent his teenage years in Eugene playing soccer, not the guitar. He worked at Civic Stadium cleaning up after Emeralds games, not rock shows. He wanted to be a writer, not a musician. But the city's artistic and free-thinking culture had an impact on Kearney, who last week released his first major-label album, Nothing Left to Lose, on Columbia Records.
"Eugene and its approach to the arts and expression made me comfortable wanting to express myself," Kearney says from a Philadelphia tour stop. Kearney (pronounced CAR-knee) had no problem expressing himself on Nothing. The album convinced AOL Music to feature Kearney in their emerging artists series, Breakers, which has alumni including John Legend, 50 Cent and Michelle Branch. Despite his recent success, Kearney's laid-back personality comes through in conversation as it does in his alt-folk, hip hop-tinged music. "My management will call me and tell me good things are happening. I won't necessarily know what they mean, but it makes me happy." Five years ago there were no calls from "management" to say good things were happening. Kearney packed up and moved, on a whim, from Chico, Calif., to Nashville, Tenn., where he still lives. He spent his first nights in Nashville sleeping in the bed of a truck in a school parking lot until he upgraded to an apartment complete with resident mice. Kearney recorded demos in his apartment, landed a record deal and played open mic nights with singer-songwriters Nickel Creek and Mindy Smith. But when on tour, he couldn't dictate where he'd play. "I'd be complaining down I-5, driving past my hometown, not being able to stop and play," he says. "But I fought for Eugene on this tour." So he'll be stopping. "I used to go see Modest Mouse and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies play at the WOW Hall when I was in high school. It's kind of funny that I'm playing there now," he says. Kearney's touring has taken him from New York to L.A.; Portland to Pittsburgh. But he says the cities he visits all have their individual personalities. Eugene is no different. "Eugene is one big counterculture. When I come back and walk through Saturday Market, I realize how much different Eugene is from the rest of the world … which is probably why I love it."
Psychic Tantric Juju Jazz As I was about to listen to Trillian Green's CD Metamorphosis, a commercial came on for the TV show "The Office." Steve Carell, who plays an obnoxious office manager, was accusing an employee of trying to "harshen the office mellow." It was such an odd turn of phrase that it kept running through my head as the CD played. If any music group is guaranteed not to harshen the office mellow, it's Trillian Green. In fact, they're more likely to mellow the office mellow to the point of everyone just disconnecting the phones and kicking back. With their name, cover art and band membership, I was expecting to hear a Celtic outfit, but Trillian Green's sound falls under the broader umbrella of world music. Christine Gunn on cello and Ben Klein on flute take turns weaving exotic melodies while Jarrod Kaplan fills out the bottom with his drumming on the African djembe. The musicians joined forces in 1994 and began performing at the Oregon Country Fair. Soon after, they took their act to Seattle, where they became part of a burgeoning acoustic music scene, the yin to the yang of the grunge music culture that dominated then. For the next few years, the band did the usual cycle of endless touring between recording a live CD, Psycho Tantric Juju Jazz, and the follow-up Metamorphosis. But as so often happens as a band nears a breakthrough, the band members grew apart in search of new interests. After a six-year break, the band reunited for a performance at the Faerieworlds Festival. Though the performance was a success, the band is still something of a side project for the musicians, who seem content to reclaim the old magic in rare performances throughout the Northwest. Trillian Green mellows the harsh at 8 pm Friday, May 5 at Cozmic Pizza. $10-$15 sliding scale. —John Ginn
Simple Gifts Guy Clark doesn't tour in support of his albums the way other artists do. He works without a set list, accompanied by one fellow musician and no gimmicks. His performances don't look or feel radically different from one tour to the next. But Clark's devotees won't be at his show to hear a concept album or to check out the new reverb on his guitar. They'll come for the colorful, poetic tales and crystallized moments he captures with homespun elegance that has earned him iconic status in the singer-songwriter scene.
"I'll be doing some material from the new album, but it's all the same tour," Clark confesses in his low, Texas-born drawl. "I play whatever I feel like, whatever feels right." Clark may not have the name recognition of some songwriters of his genre, but hum a few bars of "Desperados Waiting for a Train," and someone is bound to exclaim, "Hey, I love that song!" His fame is subtle, but his work transcends time and genre the way only a true classic can. When asked how he feels about being characterized as a legend, Clark responds with modest pragmatism befitting an artist of his depth and character. "It's flattering, but it doesn't make any difference. I still have to get up in the morning and write, and it doesn't make it any easier. It's nice, but it's not why I do it. " When not engaged in the craft of songwriting, Clark practices another craft requiring patience and skill: building guitars. "It's kind of a hobby for me, something I enjoy when I have a little time," he explains. "I play one of the [guitars] I built every day. Some of them I give away." Clark insists that his latest gift to the music world, Workbench Songs (due out in August), won't hold any surprises. "It's just more Guy Clark songs," he says offhandedly. Translated for new listeners, that means it will be worth every penny. Guy Clark plays at 7:30 pm Saturday, May 6 at the Jaqua Concert Hall. $19/$23/$27. —Adrienne van der Valk
Remix This, Bach! What do you get when you cross an 18th century composer, a bunch of vinyl records and a hip hop beat as the percussion? Well, besides a Jedi Mind Tricks record or a lot of old classical music fans screaming blasphemy, you get the Oregon Bach Festival Remix.
The Bach Festival, long known for its traditional interpretations of Bach's repertoire as well as certain freestyle efforts, has decided to undergo a theme of "Transformation" this year. The Remix is one of the premier events showcasing the theme. Three DJs — DJ Soulution, DJ Smuve and DV8, who won the April 11 preliminary competition — will go head-to-head-to-head in a battle of blending two genres at opposite ends of the musical spectrum. "They each have a copy of the same piece of vinyl, which is the 'Little Fugue in G Minor' by Bach," said George Evano, director of communications for the festival, "and they'll have five minutes to come up with a new version of it in whatever creative ways that they can." People who drop on in will find plenty of other talent at in this show. On The Rocks and Divisi will be performing, and local hip hop artist and producer Michael Kay will be one of three "American Idol"-style judges for the competition. The DJs, however, will be focused on a nice little cash prize of $500 for their interpretations and thankfully won't have Simon Cowell badgering them around. "During the auditions, all three DJs mixed different sounds with both turntables playing in and out, blending and adding different beats and building up to a big change," Evano says. "All of them had good rhythm and creative ideas for playing these tracks back and forth, which is probably why they won." Catch the Oregon Bach Festival Remix at 3:30 pm Saturday, May 6 at Oakway Center's Heritage Courtyard. —Dan Hoyt
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