My Goodness - "I've Got A Notion"

My Goodness are a Northwest based duo that play heavy garage blues featuring monster riffs with just enough grit to get you dirty, but stopping just short of stoner rock sludge. If you like the video for "I've Got A Notion", you should also check out "C'mon Doll" (mp3). Maybe they can start to start to fill the void left by my much loved Pure Country Gold. Now they just need head on down 5 and play Slabtown or the East End.

Manchester Orchestra @ Hawthorne Theatre

Manchester Orchestra are definitely an outlier band for me, which makes it a harder for me to write about them with confidence, even though I like almost every song off Mean Everything To Nothing. The first time I saw them live I'd never heard them before but I immediately latched on to a couples songs. Now seeing them again after enjoying their album, they are even more impressive. I can see why they inspire the crowd's fist pumping response. Their songs are packed with monster riffs, catchy choruses, and often play with loud/quiet and intimate/aggressive dichotomies. By crossing over they also provide a window into exploring my own taste limitations. It comes down to the sound of their guitars; their riffs are based in hard rock and metal, two genres I don't listen to much and which I associate with the radio stations I abandoned many years ago after failing to hear anything that grabbed me. It's exciting to listen to a band that makes those sounds engaging and enjoybale and makes me reevaluate my assumptions. While I don't plan listening to the radio ever again, I wonder how many other bands I've missed.

Pierced Arrows - "Let It Rain"

Pierced Arrows are practically a Portland institution and are all set to release a new album, Descending Shadows, just before headlining Slabtown's Bender. The gritty riffs on "Let It Rain" (mp3) should get you excited for both, but I think the strained vocals will sound better live.

Red Fang - "Prehistoric Dog" Video

Here's a video proving just about everyone in Portland is crafty.

The Living Things - Habeas Corpus (2009)

Do you ever have those albums that you like and dislike at the same time? Well, that's how I feel about the Living Things' Habeas Corpus. I can't put my finger on what it is exactly about their hard rock rubs me the wrong way. It might be the radio ready production (smooth where it should be rough) or the hackneyed politics, which should be enough to keep me away, but the songs are simple and catchy and more often than not I find myself jamming along. I wouldn't really call this a guilty pleasure, more of a conflicted pleasure. Anyway, listen to "Mercedes Marxist" and you should be able to tell how you will feel about the rest of the songs.

The Wanteds @ Tiger Bar

Portland's, the Wanteds don't play the kind of music I usually listen to, so I don't have a lot of solid comparisons for you. Most simply, they play hard rock. It's melodic and personal of the kind you might hear on a cooler rock radio stations. If the indie rock aesthetic ever feels tired and you just need your whiskey and rock straight up, you could do a lot worse than slamming a shot and going to see the Wanteds.

Unfortunately, the foggy Saturday night I stopped by the Tiger Bar to catch their set, the place was pretty much empty except for the members of the three bands playing and their entourages. After the opener noodled through a set that sounded like the Warlocks first album, except with half the personnel and power, the Wanteds took the stage, plugged in and let it rip. They put on a good show. For three guys, they had a nice full, tight sound. The singer has charisma and the songs sounded more visceral than on their album. It's a shame no one else was around to see it.

Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (2008)

Everyone has an opinion on Axel Rose—genius, loon, obsessive perfectionist, prima donna, unstable mad scientist... the list goes on. However, I will spare you the omnipresent psycho-analysis, and attempt to simply evaluate Chinese Democracy for what it is: a astronomically hyped, but restorative hard-rock album. Emerging from all the mythology, ridicule, speculation, back-story and unparalleled expectations is a pretty solid and compelling collection of songs. Nearly every track reaches for that "epic" echelon/moniker, in a "November Rain"-"Civil War" sort of way, something Axel pushed for with the original group, but was often reigned in. Here Axel's aspirations run wild: lead and backing vocals are stacked and staggered in dramatic, and sometimes unnecessary fashion, with most choruses building like massive tsunamis. Axel undoubtedly sings his ass off. The multitude of guitarists shred. Solos abound. Creativity & originality is present throughout, and although it comes off as pretentious at times, it doesn't overshadow the quality of most tracks. The production in a number of stretches is probably excessive, but not unexpected from Axel's "the bigger, the better" approach. Wouldn't it have been even more inexplicable and unsettling if after 13 years of production Chinese Democracy was simply a collection of conventional rocks songs, or simply a regurgitation of the "traditional" Guns N' Roses sound? That would have been unforgivable, and I'm glad the time was allotted for something I have never heard anything like before.

It is inevitable that Guns N' Roses fans will argue the quality of this album to the death, but the debate should be more a matter of perspective than opinion. Just as there is nothing normal about Axel as a person, there is nothing normal about this album. It is difficult to ignore the history and hype, as well as many fans' deep-rooted allegiance to Guns N' Roses as its original entity, but if that static can be set aside, there is no reason why Chinese Democracy cannot be enjoyed and respected. So, for those of you who flat-out cannot find something enjoyable out of Chinese Democracy, ask yourself, "Would it be better if Guns N' Roses' last album ever recorded was "The Spaghetti Incident?" ?!?!

Current favorites: "Prostitute," "There Was A Time," & "Madagascar."

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (2008)

Pour yourself a “double whiskey, coke, no ice;” put Stay Positive on the stereo; crank up the volume… Repeat, as necessary. Obviously, there are many ways to enjoy this album, and enjoy you will, but some ways seem more appropriate than others because above all other heavy-partying, hard-rocking indie rock bands, few sound more fun to “get hammered” with than The Hold Steady. The first track, “Constructive Summer,” quickly brings some serious noise, introduces the band's heavy-partying intentions, and the direction of the album, just as “Stuck Between Stations” did for Boys And Girls In America. “Our songs are sing-along songs,” quips Craig Finn—in his identifiable, not quite singing, not quite yelling manner—over Franz Nicolay’s hammering piano, and he is absolutely right! In no time you’ll be echoing thoughtful sentiments such as: “Magazines and daddy issues / I know you’re pretty pissed / I hope you still let me kiss you,” or “In bar-light she looked alright / in daylight she looked desperate.” You get the point: The Hold Steady = Amazingly awesome (and honest) lyrics. The bulk of the songs tell stories of people who rage hard, abuse (I couldn't think of a stronger word) alcohol & drugs, indulge in petty (and not so petty) criminality—you know, real life issues—but as the title track suggests, even when faced with the ugliness of humanity one must Stay Positive, and that is an outlook I can get behind, just like this album. Despite the pessimistic subject matter, one cannot help to be uplifted by these piano and organ driven (“One For The Cutters” uses a Bach-like harpsichord that sounds lifted from the 1735 Italian Concerto.) addictive, sing-along rockers, and I have nothing but love for every track on this album.

Party hard with: "Constructive Summer," "Sequestered In Memphis," and "Magazines."

The Night Marchers - See You In Magic (2008)

Front-man John Reis (a.k.a. Speedo), formally of Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, The Sultans, and a handful of other relatively similar Southern California based bands, brings his unmistakable, rough, gravely vocals, crashing percussion and aggressive punk, hard rock and rockabilly guitars to his new band The Night Marchers. See You In Magic relies less on the short, high-octane, punk rock tracks of The Sultans, and attempts to rejuvenate the appealing intensity and listenability of the more pop rooted Rocket From The Crypt albums like RFTC and Scream, Dracula, Scream! (minus the horn section). The problem for me, someone who had unbashful album crushes for RFTC and Scream, Dracula, Scream!, is that The Night Marches have a very “been there, done that” sound that simply isn’t quite as good as the aforementioned albums. There are a few fun riffs and choruses, but I think the more successful tracks are the ones that slow it down and use rockabilly and classic rock roots to develop something slightly different. Overwhelmingly though, and unfortunately, the album is a mediocre revisitation to albums that I continue to listen to and love, so it is difficult to really enjoy.

My favorite track is: “Who's Lady R U?,” with “You've Got Nerve” & “Branded” getting honorable mention.

Howlin Rain - Magnificent Fiend (2008)

This is classic psychedelic garage rock at its best, full of squiggly guitars and fuzzed up solos. The strained vocals backed by B3 pay homage to laid-back rambling man southern rock. However, it's the overall quality of the songs make this album stand out in an otherwise well-worn genre. "Calling Lightning Pt. 2" and "Lord Have Mercy" are just awesome. I bet they're even better live.