Pickathon 2017

[Ojai Sam]

The shorthand for Pickathon is "roots meets rock" and that about covers it. From a local Portland community radio fund raiser attended by fewer than 100 people, the festival has grown to become a major event for the Northwest. The whole amazing story is here:

http://www.wweek.com/music/2016/08/03/how-pickathon-became-portlands-biggest-little-music-festival/

Every year, the planners mix familiar acts with exciting new ones from all over the musical spectrum. I will start posting my discoveries from Pickathon 2017 in this thread. Naturally, I will run a Spotify playlist which you can find here:

 

[Ojai Sam]

Charles Bradley - Changes (2016)

It takes guts to cover Black Sabbath but Charles Bradley is more than up to the task. Wikipedia sez of the Florida born and Brooklyn raised singer:

When he was fourteen, Bradley ran away from home to escape poor living conditions—his bedroom was in a basement with a sand floor—and lived on the streets during the day and slept nights in subway cars for two years. Later, he enlisted in Job Corps which eventually led him to Bar Harbor, Maine to train as a chef. A co-worker told him he looked like James Brown and asked if he could sing; he was at first shy but then admitted that he could. He overcame his stage fright (when a crew member pushed him through the curtains onto the stage) and performed five or six times with a band. His band mates were later drafted into the Vietnam War, and the act never re-formed.

Bradley worked in Maine as a cook for ten years, and then headed to head west, hitchhiking across the country. He lived in upstate New York, Seattle, Canada and Alaska before settling in California in 1977. There, Bradley worked odd jobs and played small shows for 20 years.

His career took off after he was discovered by the founder of soul revival specialist Daptone Records. This album certainly owes a debt to James Brown and Wilson Pickett but it stands proudly on its own two feet. Bradley's powerful voice holds up to the guitar-fueled arrangements that veer into psychedelia.

on the Sam-O-Meter. Ain't Gonna Give It Up.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

^
Really like that album

 

[Ojai Sam]

Deer Tick - Negativity (2013)

Growling bar punk guitars belie the introspective lyrics from a band that tries hard to make us think they are too wasted to play. Don't let the mug shots fool you, these guys can really write and play.

 

[Nickyboy]

^ Local RI band!

 

[Ojai Sam]

A-Wa - Habib Galbi (2016)

Want something more eclectic? Pickathon's got you covered.

From the Pickathon website:

To tell the story of A-WA, we have to go a few years back, to a family who lives in the small village ‘Shaharut’ in southern Israel. Not too far from the Egyptian border. In beautiful prairie landscapes with magical desert sunsets, Tair, Liron and Tagel grew up – three sisters (out of six siblings) to the Haim family.

As a gift from God, all members of the Haim family are blessed with musical talent. All three sisters studied music, sang, danced and performed together and separately since a very young age. In their childhood home they listened to many different kinds of music, such as Greek music, Yemenite music, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, Reggae, Progressive rock and more. The inspirations that sustained them, and the warm musical home that encouraged them, have become the creative part and parcel of their lives.

[snip]

While searching for materials and in the spirit of fate that accompanies this story, one day the girls bumped into the song “Habib Galbi”, an old Yemenite song that they knew from childhood, but this time they heard the first original recording by the Yemeni singer Shlomo Moga’a. From there, a door was opened of a hidden treasure of ancient Yemenite women’s chanting, that was passed from generation to generation for centuries and has been recorded a few times. Moga’a was one of the only chief curators of these songs and after passing has left a legacy, just waiting to be discovered. A-WA’s debut album includes 12 songs, composed entirely of original performance of these folk songs.

I'm normally not a fan of cross-cultural mashups but this album blew me away at first listen. It's now in our Spotify playlist. The Haim sisters must be an unbelievable live act.

 

[Nickyboy]

They were featured on NPR's world music last year when that came out. I loved the single, but never got around to checking out the whole disc. But now I can!

 

[Ojai Sam]

Mandolin Orange - Blindfaller (2016)

The fifth album from North Carolina duo Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin finds them working with a full band, notably Allyn Love on pedal steel. Some call them folk, some call them bluegrass. I call them No Depression-style alt country from the mid-90's with haunting vocals, dark songs and late-night fiddle and steel. This one is strong from start to finish. RIYL Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

Added to our Spotify playlist.

 

[earcartoons]

Love this band. Discovered them because of being Yep Roc completist member, gradually got their whole collection.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Dinosaur Jr. - Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not (2016)

One of the two biggest name acts at this year's Pickathon. Last year's album is a very strong one, full of the crunchy guitars we would expect as well as a varied crop of songs.

Added to our Spotify playlist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Dungen - Haxan (2016)

No, not music for a cigar commercial but something maybe even more surprising. What we have here is the soundtrack for a 1926 avant garde animated feature film, "The Adventures of Prince Achmed". Dungen is a Swedish rock quartet known for sprawling psychedelic soundscapes. AMG describes Haxan ("the Witch") thusly:

Dungen call on all the musical styles they've done in the past, from sweeping guitar rock to jazz that ranges from free to pretty straight-ahead, from late-night psychedelic jams to pastoral meanderings and lots of guitar exploration. Mixed in among the stylistic variants are shimmering organs, melancholy Mellotrons, abstract flutes, drums that range from pounding like thunder to drifting like clouds, and the occasional straight-ahead melody that sounds like it could have been taken from one of their poppier albums.

Interesting stuff. And it's on our Spotify playlist for you to explore.

 

[Nickyboy]

^ That sounds interesting. Going to check it out.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Tank And The Bangas - The Big Bang Theory (2014)

From New Orleans come Tank and The Bangas, a high energy horn-blasting group powered by the vocals of Tarriona "Tank" Ball. Pickathon sez "rummaging through their sound like a thrift store hippie, you’ll find the Bangas to provoke a musical reference of Rhythmic Soul and Spoken word among other genres such as Rock, Gospel, Funk, and Folk." Lots of fun but Ball's rambling slam poetry narratives like "Walmart" and "Themeparks" offer a bit too much quirky personal humor over the long haul. Think mashup of Sly & The Family Stone with Moms Mabley. They did win the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest, however.

Check them out on our Spotify playlist.

 

[Worm]

melancholy Mellotrons

LOL. Good name for a band.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Drive-By Truckers - American Band (2016)

Full disclosure: I was never a huge DBT fan during the Jason Isbell days and lost track of them completely after he left in 2007. So this record came is a very pleasant surprise. Although full of southern fried guitars, this is the polar opposite of Lynyrd Skynyrd's regional pride. AB is more like Los Lobos' "Will The Wolf Survive?": wistful and occasionally fiery political ruminations seen through the lens of local attitudes and experience. Patterson Hood's 2015 move to Portland, Oregon apparently gave him a fresh new perspective. Highly recommended, and on our Spotify playlist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Pinegrove - Cardinal (2016)

This New Jersey based band has been together for many years, but Cardinal is their debut on a real label. AMG sez "indie rock that at times resembles shambling heartland rock with occasional shades of emo catharsis spiking out of the mix now and again." Actually, with the steel wafting through once in awhile, this seems like alt country ala Uncle Tupelo. Pinegrove isn't THAT good but they are mighty fine.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Ty Segall - Ty Rex (2015)

Segall is a prolific garage puck rocker from California. He draws a lot from the psychedelia of the late 60's/early 70's. Here he returns the favor with 2 ep's worth of T. Rex covers. Marc Bolan's material holds up well to the sonic assault.

This one is linked individuaally above. I also added it to our Pickathon playlist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Xenia Rubinos - Black Terry Cat (2016)

I like this eclectic album a lot. The groove never lets down. Or as AMG sez:

Singer, songwriter, and keyboardist/bass player Xenia Rubinos first unleashed her inventive indie rock on a broader audience with her 2013 debut, Magic Trix. Three years later, she delivers a similarly ambitious and spunky bricolage of rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop, Caribbean rhythms, and electronics with Black Terry Cat. It was produced by longtime collaborator and drummer Marco Buccelli, whom Rubinos met while studying voice at the Berklee College of Music. The album opens with a brief prelude that prepares listeners for crisp production, infectious grooves, and a mix of organic and mechanical sounds including loops. The songwriter's elegant and agile, jazzy vocal quality is revealed over time, beginning with the relaxed R&B patter and modest scatting of "Don't Wanna Be," and perhaps cresting with her Billie Holiday-inspired delivery on "Lonely Lover," though other tunes are in the running.

Album is linked individually above and added to our Spotify Pickathon playlist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jonathan Richman - O Moon Queen Of Night On Earth (2010)

OK, I admit that I never paid much attention to Jonathan Richman. He was always one of those quirky artists I meant to check out but never did. Based on OMQONOE, his most recent album to date, that's a big mistake. AMG sez:

"Richman's songwriting has gained an unexpected maturity and sophistication as he's entered his fifties, especially as he began writing and singing in Spanish and French, as well as English, and though he's long aimed for instrumental simplicity, peeling his recordings back to just a guitar and percussion, as on his recent albums, has given them a spare, stark quality that points to the deeper hues of the melodies and the greater gravity of the lyrics."

These songs are uniformly excellent: witty, insightful and poetic. This one is a BIG surprise.

Album is linked individually above and added to our Spotify Pickathon playlist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Andy Shauf - The Party (2016)

Indie pop which Pickathon describes as a "tightly narrated thirty-eight minutes, all set to ornate arrangements of fuzzed-out guitars, string sections, clarinets and dreamy synths, all draped over delicate piano, acoustic guitars and rainy-day drums."

I found it all rather twee, but here it is for you to test drive. It's also on our Pickathon playlist.