Local DJ and music aficionado Arya Imig has been organizing Portland’s Sound Judgment Festival to celebrate his birthdays for three successful years. With an impressive lineup and enough bands to fill a three-day festival, it had to take a mastermind to think of such a creative show year after year.
“It started in October of 2007 when I turned 25 and invited 25 bands to play over three days. Last year, 26 bands played over two nights.” Imig came up with the idea to have a birthday show after realizing he had enough friends and connections to support an impressive lineup.
“I basically decided that since I had the connections to have a diverse and enjoyable festival and couldn’t really pick just a few favorite bands to play a normal birthday show, I’d make a weekend out of it!”
This year’s lineup promises to be very entertaining. One of the headliners, Reporter, has been creating quite a buzz around the local music scene. This year is their first year playing at Sound Judgment.
“Our old band (Wet Confetti) was asked to do it another year, but we didn’t agree with Arya aging so we said ‘no,'” said vocalist Alberta Poon.
The “European-electronic” band has been together for about two years and is known for their eclectic sound. “We combine live rock instruments with samples and loops so it’s really sonically impressive live.” If you have ever heard Reporter live, it’s hard to disagree.
Another band worth seeing will be Blue Skies for Black Hearts. They began as a solo project, with lead vocalist Pat Kearns releasing an album in 2002. By 2005, the current band had come together and began opening for bands like Of Montreal and The Minders. Blue Skies for Black Hearts describes themselves as “the classic side of pop … Goffin and King, Boyce and Hart, Lennon and McCartney.” They are also newcomers to Sound Judgment.
A band that many may be pleasantly surprised by at the festival is Duck. Little Brother, Duck! Their unique math rock-inspired style is a fresh sound to Portland. Founded last March, they are excited about getting their name out at this weekend’s festivities. Their music is hard to place into a specific genre.
“We were inspired to form Duck. Little Brother, Duck! because of all of the bands we loved back in high school,” frontman John Scheid said.
With such an array of sounds and characters coming together for this Friday’s festival, you would think that things are bound to get pretty wild. Poon recalled a show from this summer at Ghost Realm that apparently “got so hot and sweaty, the condensation from sweat had collected on the ceiling and started to rain back down. I almost threw up when droplets were hitting me.”
Even Scheid had a stinging slap in the face from his microphone while playing a show this summer.
“Some kid just got too crazy and knocked it into my face, and then spilled beer all over the foot equipment,” he recalls. Despite all the strange things that can happen at a music festival, Imig hasn’t had to deal with too many problems during past Sound Judgment Fests.
“I can’t recall anything super crazy or out of control. We have discouraged drugs and alcohol at the festival over the past few years, and this has made it run smoothly. Everybody still has a really good time,” he explains.
“Some favorite moments I guess would be The Rainy States covering ‘Making Time’ by The Creation (from the Rushmore soundtrack) last year, and Starfucker playing ‘Emma,’ a Sexton Blake song (Josh Hodges’ pre-Starfucker band) at the 2007 festival.”
With so much to look forward to and so many memories to make, Sound Judgment Festival should be a refreshing way to spend the days off after that first tedious school week.