Eclectic Grooves

Ideally this post would have been up shortly after Music Fest NW was over, but I have been fighting a cold for almost a month now. Due to this, I will be providing a much shorter breakdown of the shows to allow time for a new podcast and some new Halloween-themed posts. Wednesday Eyelids- 8:00 I decided to check out Eyelids at the Doug Fir Lounge, but due to a late start and a difficulty with finding a parking space, I arrived in the middle of their set. My initial feeling was that they were an adequate rock band who was lacking a strong, engaging stage presence. The highlight of their set was when they brought out a special guest to sing lead on a cover version of the Gun Club classic "Sex Beat". Lonnie Holley - 9:30 I arrived at the Crystal Ballroom about 15 minutes prior to Lonnie Holley's performance, and it already felt like a sweat box despite the fact that it wasn't even close to capacity. I think that I had fairly high expectations for his performan...

As the Breeders so aptly stated on their infectious slice of summer jam “Saints”, “Summer is ready when you are”.   While I’ve been ready for summer since it ended last year, I wasn’t quite expecting the sudden onslaught of heat that the Portland area received at the beginning of July.   But once the days started to stretch longer and the warm air was hitting my skin, I became inspired to create a new soundtrack for my summer days. Since summer weather in Portland doesn't typically start until around the first of July, I started to compile my summer playlist at this point. Over the past few days, I have managed to narrow my selection down to an eclectic mix of songs spanning genres as diverse as funk, jazz, rap, soul, gospel and rock that clock in at just over an hour. So fire up the barbecue, bask in the afternoon sunlight and don't hesitate to dive right into this year's summer mix! Summer Mix 2013 1) New Dawn- There...

The latest edition of I Hear a New World is available for download here, and at http://ihearanewworld.podomatic.com/. This podcast largely focuses on the records that I pickd up at this year's Record Store Day . Even though Record Store Day has been going on for four years now, this was the first time that I was actually able to attend. Among the gems that I was able to snag are new 7 inches from Deerhunter and Lower Dens, full lengths from Sonic Youth and Akron Family and many other limited pressings recorded especially for Record Store Day . To round out the sound, I have included a couple of other records that weren't Record Store Day purchases. Record Store Day podcast 1) Jimi Hendrix- Touch You 2) Sonic Youth- Personality Crisis 3) Deerhunter- Nosebleed 4) Akron Family- Untitled 5) MF Doom- Gas Drawls 6) Can- Father Cannot Yell 7) SJOB Movement- No One Cares 8) Thee Oh Sees- The Drag 9) Lower Dens- Deer Knives 10) Grinderman- Palaces of Montezuma 11) Bla...

I can hardly believe that I managed to squeeze my hundredth post in just before the new year. Even though it took me over two years to reach this milestone, it doesn't take away from the fact that I have shared lots of great music with you all. So here's to a hundred more or even thousand posts on Eclectic Grooves in the coming years. I hope to keep this blog going for awhile, so I hope you'll come along for the ride. This portion of the list took a little longer due to the breadth of music that I have been listening to over the past week. It was really difficult to narrow this list down, especially when I got it down to about fifteen albums. I wanted to keep them all because they whole-heartedly deserve to be on this list, but some of them were unfortunately knocked off the final list. I have placed an "Honorable Mentions" section at the bottom of this post for the artists that were cut from my final list. As you can see from the selection of artists that I have ...

I know that I said I would have this up on Sunday, but I have been too wiped out to even think about posting anything. I don't know if I'll be able to post these reviews of Musicfest in consecutive days, but I'll do my best. September 4, 2008- Thursday No Age/Battles- Wonder Ballroom- 5:30- 7:30 p.m. No Age has been receiving a lot of buzz on the internet lately, especially receiving accolades from the "tastemakers" at Pitchfork and blogs such as Gorilla Vs. Bear and Anacusic. I downloaded their latest record Nouns from Anacusic, and my initial feeling was that it was yet another example of the media overhyping some "next best thing" that wasn't worth the attention. To my ears, it sounded like noisy garage punk with a penchant for catchy melodies. It wasn't groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn't help feeling curious about what they could bring into a live setting. I arrived at the Wonder Ballroom around 3:30, expect...