Portland: where DIY is still cool after you turn 21...
NW Noise Band Briefs
Band Briefs are short, and quick descriptions of artists, bands, concerts or albums.
The Heavenly States
The Heavenly States from Oakland, CA are on tour for Spring of 08 and will be in Portland, OR on April, 25th at the Doug Fir Lounge The four members of The Heavenly States are Ted Nesseth, Genevieve Gagon, Jeremy Gagon & Masanori Christianson. From the band’s bio on their website
It’s not often a person finds a bandmate, brother-in-law and friend on Craig’s List, much less someone who is willing to cover the tab for Chinese takeout. But for THE HEAVENLY STATES’ Ted Nesseth (guitar, vocals) and Jeremy Gagon (drums), that fateful posting was the beginning of an adventure that would take them from playing basement shows in their home town of Oakland, CA, to the British Consulate’s basement in Libya and beyond.
Here’s some cool trivia about the band for you. The Heavenly States were the first rock band to play Libya after Khadafi and the US lifted a 30-year travel ban.
Now, with Libya an oasis and an ocean behind them, The Heavenly States have self-recorded and produced their new LP entitled, Delayer. The Heavenly States, they’re poppy; they’re political and they just might put on a great show at the Doug Fir April 25th, and if you’re going that big ‘ole Sasquatch Festival next month, they’ll be there too.
Popular Press Reviews of The Heavenly States
For all you indie snobs with a shadowy Dave Matthews Band-loving past, this Oakland, California, trio delivers equal parts patchouli-soaked violin and Superchunk-worthy melodies. —RollingStone
Buoyant, Bush-baiting pop. —Newsweek
Pascale Goodrich-Black
Pascale Goodrich-Black is a singer/songwriter from Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She’s releasing her new album My Crooked Line December 2nd and she’s been playing at many events and shows in Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle including at the Yale, the Railway Club, the Vancouver Pride Festival and at Grrls with Guitars.
Pascale will be touring the East and West US coasts in 2008. You can hear some of her music at Pascale’s MySpace page. Her album release party will be December 2nd, at The Railway Club in Vancouver, B.C. We wish Pascale the best of luck with her new album.
sickdub
Check out the sick beats of local drum & bass artist sickdub. Sickdub will be in Portland at 1627 Studios on Alberta the night of August 30th. Sickdub’s beats are what I listened too while tweaking the design of Northwest Noise recently; they laid down nice tight grooves that had me wired until 4am when I finally finished tweaking the design to my liking. Late night coffee shops and art galleries are where we’d figure to hear the beats of sickdub.
Tango Alpha Tango
We’ve found another band that has a great single out for our summertime laziness. Tango Alpha Tango (catchy right?), formed by a former member of The Carolines, is an independent band out of Portland, OR. Their first single, Fast Cars, has a poppy bounce to it, but the mean, gritty, wailing guitar licks played throughout make the song road-trip worthy. The song won’t rock your balls off, then again Tango Alpha Tango never wanted anything to with your balls, so there.
Tango Alpha Tango is:
- Nathan Trueb
- Aaron Trueb
- Walker Beckman
- Mirabai Carter
Fast Cars
Smile Brigade
Seattle’s Smile Brigade is into simplicity; a strong melody, a good hook and the knack for putting it all together. Its that simplicity and knack that make their music hard to get out of your head. Over the past three years, the band has been tucked away in their practice space working on infectious melodies. Their songs range from mildly sugarcoated pop, to sleazy and riff-laden rock, to melancholic lullabies. All the while they maintain a fluidity of impenetrable hooks, rich vocal harmonies and tactful composition.
Smile Brigade is:
- (Jesse) Hiram Boggs -sings/guitar
- Jeremy Charbonneau -sings/drums
- Peter Colclasure – keys/accordion
Rafts On Fire
