Author: Stephanie Fine Sasse

In seventh grade I couldn’t have been more excited to bring home a new CD, rip open the packaging and read the jacket from cover to cover.

Sun-soaked road trip music comes in phases. To start, you need that fast-paced, living-out-loud sort of music. By the time you reach your destination, the blood-bouncing tunes demand audience once again. But, for the six hours in between, while the scenery rushes past your window and you’re left alone with your thoughts, you need Portland’s latest lady of indie pop—Annie Bethancourt.

It is no new feat to be a genre-bending indie artist in Portland. In fact, single-style bands have become a sort of endangered species in the music world.

This weekend, the romantic lights of Jimmy Mak’s will play host to the charming and able Damon Castillo Band. Castillo’s simple and insightful way of writing entire songs about those things the rest of us see every day—but never actually notice—will completely captivate you.

In a city iconic for its vegan cuisine and health-obsessed canvassers on every low-cholesterol street corner, a small group of dedicated equal-opportunity eaters remains unscathed. This time around, the carnivores are taking a stand with Baconfest, a shameless festival as bad for you as it is good.

In the time I have spent interviewing local artists, the question of preferred venues consistently solicits the same passionate response: the Doug Fir Lounge.

Painted Grey has spent the last nine months trimming their sound, evolving gradually from their folksy Montana roots to their current position on the cusp of Portland’s music world.

When Portland standbys The Carolines split up, half of their members regrouped to form an indie rock supergroup led by trumpeter/singer/guitarist Nate Purscelley. In a recent interview with the Vanguard, Purscelley explains the origins of his new group’s name.

A few years ago, I made my way to the late Music Millenium on 23rd Avenue to request a top-notch, locally bred album for a Christmas gift. Without hesitation, the stylishly garbed employee led me to a CD featuring strangely triangular typeface, minimally groomed body hair and the image of two seemingly gender-neutral individuals on the cover. I was in.

During a recent interview with the Vanguard, musician Chris Lay sat with a spiral notebook peeking out of his bag. “It’s one of about 12 filled with songs,” he says. Clearly it acted as more of an appendage than a casual thought collector.

For most of us, there are moments when our ears crave an unusual concoction that simply will not be satisfied by a pop song. As though bred for just such occasions, Beats Antique offer listeners a multifaceted sound-circus, ridden with musical acrobatics, animalistic spontaneity and ageless global influences.