The Memories - "Higher"

Discovering Erik Gage's spectacular DIY tape label Gnar Tapes and his shred-happy band White Fang was a serious highlight from my time in Portland. These days though, you don't need to live in Oregon to take in hits of Gage's enthusiastically lo-fi bong-soaked pop music. His newest project, The Memories—comprised of fellow White Fanger Kyle Handley and members of Portland's Boom!—just put out its self-titled debut bicoastally with vinyl from Underwater Peoples and its tape counterpart on Burger Records. Like a copy of a copy of an old beaten up cassette that you have to wind back to life with a pencil, The Memories' music has a real warm, inviting, and lived in quality to it. And don't let the feedback or rawness of the recordings fool you—that's just a little bit of dress-up and misdirection—these guys write simple pop music with the instincts of true pop classicists (see "Silly Little Picture"). Only two songs on the LP break the two-minute mark, so don't be surprised if you find yourself playing honey-sweet gems like "Higher" over and over again.

Nab the vinyl or the tape.

The Memories - "Higher" (from The Memories)


Previously:
Erik Gage - "Little Brother" (from Inner Cosmic)
White Fang - "Not Listening" (from Grateful To Shred)

White Fang - "Not Listening"

Perhaps the only band as simultaneously unserious and talented as Nashville's Natural Child is Portland's White Fang, a band that enjoys purposely making their records sound like old stepped on and beaten up cassette tapes (they run their own cassete-only label, Gnar Tapes). The band's newest record, Grateful To Shred, is due out on April 20th (that's for 4/20 for you non-stoners, the same date Natural Child's 1971 is out). But as much as White Fang like to mess around (see: "Can't Find our Weed") and live up to their punk rock reputation (see: "Fuck Up A Fascist [I'm Down]"), they also know how to write a damn fine rock and roll song: hooks, attitude, and all. Peep the album's short but catchy as hell straight-out-of-the-garage "Not Listening" and singer Erik Gage's excellent "oohs" laden vocals.

White Fang - "Not Listening" (from Grateful To Shred)

Erik Gage - "Little Brother"

Erik Gage, a member of the rabid Portland band White Fang as well as the curator of Gnar Tapes, releases solo music a few times a year via cassette tape. "Little Brother," taken from last year's Inner Cosmic, is a rough gem and a must listen—a bong-filled basement recording full of whistles, acoustic guitar and emotive loosely layered vocals. If you're a fan, make sure to look out for Memories—Gage's forthcoming project with fellow White Fanger Kyle Handley. And if you're a Portlander looking for new music, Gage's Gnar Tapes and local label Marriage Records are wonderful places to start.

Erik Gage - "Little Brother" (from Inner Cosmic)
White Fang - "Tall Shadow" (from Pure Evil)

Don't Move Here: A PDX Web Series

Portland, Oregon, one of the country's meccas for artists and musicians, now has its own music-centered web video series over at famed advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy. You can watch the free series here, which contains interviews with local record labels like Marriage Records and Audio Dregs as well as performances from local bands Explode Into Colors, Grouper, Rob Walmart, White Fang, Atole and more. If you enjoy weird, eccentric and experimental music, this is certainly a great place for discovery.

Atole - "The Black Hand"