By now, Portland being famed for it’s ‘indie cred’ is old hat – everyone knows about the smart growth initiatives, all the bike lanes, Portlandia, etc. One of the most sterling examples of this is Music Fest NW, when bands play across the city’s many venues, with big name acts and small up-and-comers, Pacific Northwest locals and acts from around the world.
So QRO headed (north)West, Tuesday to Sunday, September 3rd to 8th.
Doug Fir Lounge
Eyelids
Day Two of Music Fest NW rang in with a bang on Wednesday night at Portland’s famed Doug Fir Lounge. Featuring members from many popular acts tied to the Pacific Northwest such as The Decemberists, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Guided By Voices, and Minus 5, Eyelids are a bit of a supergroup – at least by Pacific Northwest standards.
Decemberists drummer John Moen shares vocal duties with former Guided By Voices axe man Chris Slusarenko, and together they make the perfect ‘90s throwback duo. Actually, the whole group feels like a ‘90s throwback. They exhibit a very cool, sometimes low-key, classic alternative rock vibe similar to The Breeders or Pavement. There are three guitars, which drive the whole situation into wall-of-sound/alternative melodic territory and it works quite well.
What made this particular show even cooler was the fact that, extremely randomly, Rolling Stone Senior Editor David Fricke was there just chilling and grooving right along with everyone else. He just happened to be in town for work and wasn’t even covering the festival.
Some of the songs featured in their set were “Abby’s Friends”, “Psych #1”, and “You Are Your Own”. Eyelids are currently recording their debut album here in Portland at Type Foundry Studios, so be on the lookout for it!
Richmond Fontaine
The Portland music scene continued to be extremely well represented (at least at The Doug Fir Lounge) on Wednesday night, with a set by alt-country boys Richmond Fontaine. Formed in 1994 at the Portland Meadows horse race track (of all places), these five guys have somewhat quietly released ten studio albums since then and they don’t show any signs of stopping. It seems like quite the career, indeed.
If it’s possible to successfully pull off a mixture of mellowness and high energy, Richmond Fontaine are good at it. Many of their songs featured lap steel guitar and a couple even featured a trumpet, all of it very tastefully placed.
Throughout their career, Richmond Fontaine have enjoyed equal measures of success in Europe and the United States. Lead singer Willy Vlautin is also a published author, having penned the novels The Motel Life, Northline, and Lean on Pete. The Motel Life is currently in the process of being made into a movie.
Roseland Theater
CHVRCHES
It’s a pretty impressive feat to pack out Portland’s Roseland Theater to capacity when you haven’t even released a full-length album, yet and that is exactly what CHVRCHES did late Wednesday night. They are one of those acts that when performing they are equal parts concert and visual spectacle, featuring a really extensive lights show which featured a sort of pyramid that stood behind lead singer Lauren Mayberry.
They exhibit a really foreboding yet oddly poppy brand of electronica with very piercing vocals yet beautiful vocals. Their set featured songs from this year’s Recover EP such as the title track as well as “Under the Tide” and “The Mother We Share”.
Hopefully they didn’t get too bad an impression of Portland and will come back soon because at one point Mayberry bantered with the crowd about how earlier that day she tried to go to an unnamed Portland restaurant and was refused entry because she happened to be wearing shorts and sneakers. Uncool, Unnamed Portland Restaurant, uncool indeed.
