Sound Bites

Jared Mees and The Grown ChildrenJared and Brianne Mees could easily be poster children for Portland’s vaunted “creative class.” Their business venture, Tender Loving Empire, can likewise be held up as a model of Portland entrepreneurship. Tender Loving Empire functions simultaneously as a record label, music venue, publishing house, retail store, screenprinting service and gallery. But overseeing a multi-faceted business isn’t enough to keep Jared Mees busy–he is also a prolific songwriter.

Jared Mees’ 2007 debut album, If You Wanna Swim With The Sharks You’ve Gotta Concentrate, earned him considerable praise in Portland’s local press. Willamette Week described Mees as “Elvis Costello if he had grown up an American stoner.”

Sharks featured many guest artists, but remained a solo album. For his second album, Mees recruited over a dozen artists, including wife Brianne, to record the album with him. Released under the moniker of Jared Mees and the Grown Children, the album seems like a more collaborative effort, and is resplendent with duets and soaring group choruses.

Like Tender Loving Empire, Mees’ musical output is eclectic and all encompassing. Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine Money is a worthy follow-up to Mees’ first album. Echoes of Sunny Day Real Estate, Bright Eyes, Cursive, and The Shins can be found here in the latest offering from one Portland showbiz’s foremost workingmen.

Jared Mees and the Grown Childrenw/ Gratitillium, Tune YardsThe ArtisteryNov. 21, 8 p.m.$6, All ages

Southern BelleSouthern Belle is the most precocious band in Portland. A mainstay of the basement show circuit, the quartet churns out jittery, self-aware indie pop. The band started as the pet project of Ross McLeron and Austin Saylor-Jackson in mid-2007. By the end of the year, the two had recruited bassist Nicole Perry (who played with McLeron in Hurah Hurah) and drummer Max Lilien to round out the group.

In January 2008, the four were able to begin work on their first record. Drawing on the experience of Starfucker drummer Josh Hodges and Shay Scott, the producer who owns Klickitat Band Camp (a recording studio in Northeast Portland), the band cut their first album. The resulting self-released LP, Hurry Up And Thrill Me, features 17 examples of Southern Belle’s short, efficient pop.

It is impossible to discuss Southern Belle’s output without mentioning their age. All four of the band’s members are between 18 and 20. This makes their knack for composition and tight arrangements remarkable. But it’s what their age says about their influences that is more important to the music.

Southern Belle grew up listening to Modest Mouse and The Decemberists, and it shows. Yet, they have inherited an awareness of older bands that permeates their sound as well. It’s difficult imagining this synthesis coming from a band much older. Southern Belle’s youth seems to allow them to easily absorb and channel their influences, rather than slavishly working within any preconceived confines.

Southern Belle’s music sounds effortless, despite the hard work they have done appearing at house shows all over Portland. Southern Belle is a true opening act–those bands that have to work to get your attention.

Their diligence and experience has made their live shows a force to be reckoned with. A quick search of the reviews featured on their MySpace profile reveals that Southern Belle has moved fans to accomplish such feats as throwing punches and to wetting their own pants.

That may sound like a difficult standard to top, but if Southern Belle has proven anything, it’s that they capable of taking their past and using it to create something even more impressive.

Southern Bellew/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking and BarrHawthorne TheaterNov. 22, 8 p.m. $15, All ages