So last year I wrote a little post to introduce y’all to some sweet bands playing in the Cumulus Festival. As the second installment of the fest begins tomorrow, I figured I should do it again. After all, FensePost loves supporting local PNW bands and Cumulus Festival does a good job billing them to play. Read More »Cumulus Festival 2010 Begins Tomorrow!
Ariana Delawari‘s psychedelic folk is epic. Her voluble wail is filled with power and vibrato that’s rarely matched. The only voice that comes close to possessing the strength of Delawari’s is perhaps that of Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond). There’s a lot of passion behind “San Francisco” that keeps the song unquestionably fresh, and it’s a sound that populates her debut LP, Lion of Panjshir. Read More »Ariana Delawari [Feature]
Bellingham by way of Chicago artist The Heligoats masters the power of pop songwriter sensibilities in their new album, Goodness Gracious (Greyday Records). The band is fronted by new Washington resident Chris Otepka, who wrote and recorded the band with Mike Mergenthaler, David James and Steven Mitchell. Collectively, they are The Heligoats, a band who blends folk and rock and pop for a sound that is familiar yet warm, somewhat contemporary but truly and honestly good. Read More »The Heligoats [Feature]
Kristian Svensson crafts some pretty chill pop music, encompassing a space between the drone-heavy, space-friendly reverb and the upbeat-yet-emotional electronic. His latest work as And Oh, So Slowly He Turned is By Some Godforsaken Lake Up North. Packed with lovable lo-fi pop songs (easily recognizable as Swedish) and containing light hints of experimentation, the album opens with a light guitar riff and full-bodied (but mixed down) percussion in “Demensia”. The vocals, like the percussion, are eerie and soft — they fit in the background while the instrumentation takes a more dominating presence. Read More »And Oh, So Slowly He Turned: By Some Godforsaken Lake Up North [Album Review]
Stepping off the band bandwagon, Holly Miranda has decided to go solo. And with a recent 7″ (Forest Green), an EP (Sleep On Fire) and now a forthcoming LP due out late this month on XL Recordings (The Magician’s Private Library), her new project is set to take off. Read More »Holly Miranda: Viva Radio’s Me+You Pt. 70
Thunder Power seems content to just dish out EPs, having given us quite a few since they debuted in 2008 with Love Yourself. A split between Thunder Power and The 1959 Hat Company, Hearts Intersect is their fourth proper EP, and it hits in early March via Slumber Party Records. Read More »Thunder Power: Heartifact [mp3]
It’s been a while since a real intelligent art punk band has emerged from the sewers of the dying underground. With the up-and-coming return of pop punk hitting the mainstream (knocking cry baby bullshit emo bands out of the tear-filled water), it’s almost hard to understand why any artist in their right mind would want to try and handle such a quickly burning torch. Enter Castevet and their debut album Summer Fences. Now we’re talking. Break out the acoustic guitars, PBR, and lack of self respect. It’s time for a good scream. Read More »Castevet: Summer Fences [Album Review]
You’re nuts if you pass up a chance to see Microphones perform live. After all, they’re typically billed as Mount Eerie these days. Essentially, they’re the same band and the music they make is, for lack of a better term, eerily similar. For the final performance Department of Safety would ever have, Microphones were the obvious choice of performer to conclude it all. Read More »Microphones: Anacortes, WA [2010.01.30]
I would love to re-experience those four minutes during which I listened for the first time to “Albatross”, the new Besnard Lakes single. Filled with dreamy layers of vocals and lush, guitar-backed chorales, Olga Groreas sings to the very moment of disappearing love amidst a background of sound that evokes anything but sadness. Read More »The Besnard Lakes: Albatross [mp3]
The boys of Westfold have outdone themselves yet again, this time on their third EP. In Westfold, the band takes the raw elements from their first release, No Frills Catalyst, and smash it against the proverbial high tower of obscurity that was their second release, Morning Commute. Portland’s rising stars had no reason to take unnecessary risks; instead they merely master their craft and up production value a bit on what can only be considered their finest work to date. Read More »Westfold: Westfold EP [Album Review]
