More on the Portland wins at life front

Caution: When visibility is low, biking is inadvisable.

I love compilation albums. They remind me of prix fixe menus, because even though you don’t have a say in what you’re served, you’re sure to taste something delicious that you never would have ordered yourself. Of course, in a lot of restaurants the prix fixe menus are on the pricier end of the spectrum. In this troubling economic climate, I usually prefer to spend money on sure-fire pleasers. Luckily, PDX Pop Now!’s 2009 double-CD sampler is out and, in news that will surely lift your recession-heavy spirits, costs just $8. Best prix fixe ever, right?

Not that it would be extravagant to have paid the typical $15-and-upwards price for the forty-track compilation that highlights musicians scheduled to perform sometime during the three-day festival. PDX Pop Now!’s importance extends beyond the series of concerts. PDX Pop Now! is a non-profit organization that offers support for performers, both through its involvement in live shows as well as its partnership with groups that advocate to keep music programs in public schools. You know how I drool over all the bands that appear to be drawn to Portland? PDX Pop Now! ensures that the dribble shall continue to flow.

Among the performers who will grace stages across Portland from July 24 through July 26 are local sensations M. Ward and Explode into Colors. One featured band I’d heard about often but never actually heard is Starfucker and their dance-ready synth beats. Maybe I’m conservative or something, but it really pains me to say their name out loud. Jared Mees and the Grown Children can also be found in the lineup with an optimistic song about agony that includes a refrain that everyone can shout along with.

So while I will share a couple of my favorite songs on the roster, I super-encourage you to head to a local record store (or CD Baby, if you prefer to keep yourself parked at your compy) and pick up the compilation yourself. Think of it as an investment towards a future full of raucous, joyous, endless clamor and clangor. You didn’t want to rock out to the sound of corporate radio’s death knell, right?

Just so you know, it was this week’s mission to use the phrase “prix fixe” in a pertinent way. And I thank you all for sharing in my triumph.

Starfucker will play as part of the 3rd annual Music in the Schools Benefit Concert at Cleveland High on Thursday, June 11. Lifesavas, Starparty, and Don’t Hurt Miles! will also play.

• Starfucker ~ Jupiter ~ Badman Recording Co.

Boy Toy

Jared Mees and the Grown Children will play at many venues over the next couple of weeks, including the Mississippi Studios on Friday, June 26 with the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International. Check their MySpace for other times and locations.

• Jared Mees and the Grown Children ~ Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money ~ Tender Loving Empire

The Tallest Building in Hell

Cover Friday Saturday: Fear tonight is all

Portland boys are so serious

At the time I began writing, it was raining in Portland again. The weather report today claims that there will be snow in the city late tomorrow or early Monday. To a kid who grew up on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the idea of snow alone can elicit some bizarre reactions. For example, I bought butterscotch schnapps last December. I don’t know that I like schnapps that much. But mostly, the winter evokes the same cerebral patterns that people have been documenting for ages. Introspection, check. Nostalgia, check. Depression, sometimes, check. T.S. Eliot was incorrect. It’s not April at all.

Once in a while, the predominant emotion is a strange one. Like overwhelming joy at scarves still being an appropriate sartorial choice (just try to accessorize with one in Hawaii, I dare you). But in certain cases, the oddball thing feels a little like sacrilege. Why? Because I love David Bowie. Who doesn’t love David Bowie? The man exemplifies glamor in a way that few people can. His rock ‘n roll lifestyle is the stuff of legends. Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust are considered major achievements by critics across the board, but he continues to try new things with each new album. And should anyone doubt the mythos surrounding David Bowie, I have but one word for you: Labyrinth.

But I like M. Ward’s version of “Let’s Dance” more. Is that wrong? I’m somewhat ashamed to admit it. It can’t be helped. Because while the song allowed Bowie some deserved recognition among 80’s club-going kids, the lyrics illustrate such an intense yearning and wide-eyed surrender to the immediacy of love and its companion, obliteration. I recently watched Jemaine inexplicably repel me and while I didn’t care for the movie, I loved the use of M. Ward’s cover. I love how he’s slowed the tempo down to emphasize the words and the calm measures with the harmonica. I love how fragile Ward’s voice sounds, like he’s really choked up trying to convince the person that a dance is all they need. Mainly, I love how much of a winter song the cover is. Matt Ward lives in Portland. I’m sure he understands.

M. Ward’s new album, Hold Time, will be released on Merge on February 17.

• M. Ward ~ Transfiguration of Vincent ~ Merge

Let’s Dance