“Portland” (Used 14 times)

The Whines are a garage band from Portland Oregon with ties to Michigan and maybe also Alaska. The trio of Karianne (Vox/Bass) Jesse (guitar) and Bobby (drums) has released music on three great Portland-based labels:

* Gnar Tapes (YACHT, White Rainbow, Meth Teeth, Lucky Dragons, Woolen Men) released the Go, Demos, Go cassette

* Just For The Hell Of It (Talk Normal, Explode Into Colors) released the "Insane OK" 7" EP

* Meds Records (imprint of excellent PDX record shop Exiled) released the Hell To Play LP in 2010.

Hell To Play was recorded in collaboration Rob & Rod from Eat Skull, and Kyle from Meth Teeth / Meercaz. This was one of my favorite albums of last year, and I'm not the only one -- it was one of Ty Segall's favorite albums of 2010 too! But despite getting great reviews in spots like Still Single I get the feeling that we'd all be better off if more people heard The Whines. So lucky for us, they've kindly offered up three tracks from Hell To Play: the basement anthem "Vacation," the Young Marble Giants-y "It's Raining," and the kick ass "Cut Meat."

More good news: The Whines have a 7" up for pre-order from Mt St Mtn, and are touring this way for the first time ever (tourdates here and here). There was talk of them playing my basement, but instead they're playing at the Tip Top Bar that day (May 22nd), so I can tell you about their shows without it being a conflict of interest! While they're in town, The Whines are gonna record a WFMU session to air on my radio show, Talk's Cheap, on June 2nd -- stay tuned!

While the reader is, of course, already well aware of the undeniably extraterrestrial qualities of the modular synthesizer, c'mon, let me go on about it a little anyways. To be honest, I sort of can't help but get really stoked just thinking of the way in which the instrument allows Sound, that most elusive creature, to be created from scratch and manipulated at the purest, most basic of levels, getting tweaked and shaped, proceeding constant through time on a slow evolutionary scale, yeah, a cosmic scale even, waveforms like planets, their orbits being drawn by an unseen hand at the module controls. I can't underline this quality enough: folks, if you ever really need reminding of the interstellar nature of things (like, if start taking the seasons for granted, or otherwise forget how cool the sun and moon are), just turn on a synth jam, let it draw you into its orbit, surrender to its gravity--and you'll be right as rain.

It's no longer a fluke: cassette tapes are back. I cringe with memories of discovering musical favorites melted in the dashboard, warped from too much play, or the sinking sensation associated with hearing that tell-tale cartoonish scrambled noise emitted by magnetic tape upon rapid mechanic unraveling. Not to mention the hiss.

But alas, I'll grudgingly accept this backpedaling in certain cases, especially for bands that are well-suited to the medium. Enter the Polyps, a band from Portland, whose lo-fi buzzy pop sounds are actually complemented by tape hiss.

One member of the Polyps is Raf, who runs the Eggy tape label and tape distribution, and is a member of other tape-friendly bands the Golden Hours, the Woolen Men, and the now-defunct Blood Lemons (along with FMA honcho Jason Sigal!).

The FMA is hosting selections from 5 great Polyps releases, including tracks from their July 2008 tape, "Isla & Elma" (the song "Elsewhere" from this tape is featured below). Also check out a more recent release, "Twenty-Colored Circle;" two spacey, contemplative tracks mix acoustic pop with nature-heavy audio collage.

No Magick, the first full-length album from World's Greatest Ghosts is a nod to childhood narratives of make-believe monsters and plywood clubhouses. With lyrics referencing ghouls chasing you through mazes and houses sinking in quicksand, this album presents its nostalgic concepts with a dice-throwing Dungeon and Dragons filter. Friends reliving their clubhouse fantasies may not be such an abstract concept for this group. The Ghosts comprise of two brothers, Casey and Jesse Laney, and a college sweetheart, Emily Laney (Jesse's wife). Brandon Anderson has been with the group since its beginnings in the deep South. And now in Portland, Eric Ambrosius has joined them, replacing their long-time drummer. No Magick is produced by the Portland label Lucky Madison, run by local rocker Kevin O'Connor from the dynamic group, Talkedemonic. WWG will be playing this year's SXSW festival in Austin Texas, and be sure to check out their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/worldsgreatestghosts for updates. Long live D'n'D synth-rock.

We love when our friend White Rainbow comes to town. He’s known for having the finest, most potent sound machines and is super generous with his product. As soon as he started recording this surreal sprout session the walls in our studio began to melt, the cables tangled themselves into intricate designs on the floor and time started to move at a snail’s pace. When we woke up, there was no trace of the White Rainbow. Was it all a dream? Is this reality?

Find more to freak out to with this set from White Rainbow at our Tonalism happening as part of the all night GLOW Festival in Santa Monica, CA.