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| Friday, August 13, 2010 at Hawthorne Theatre |
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(click for full-page printable poster)
GENRES
Indie Rock
Pop
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Autolux
This Will Destroy You
Wishyunu
Friday, August 13, 2010
Hawthorne Theatre 503-233-7100
1507 SE 39th Ave, Portland, OR (MapQuest)
9pm (doors open at 8pm). All Ages.
$13.00 advance tix from TicketsWest.
$15.00 at the door.
Autolux are a three piece band consisting of Eugene Goreshter, Carla Azar, and Greg Edwards. Since they formed and began playing shows in early 2000, Autolux has gained much critical acclaim and respect on either side of the atlantic.
Autolux lives somewhere between nonconventional means and outer space. Lush, sonic meltdowns with melodies and lyrics that set themselves up for the long haul - vacillating between economy and experimentation, hybrid and rock classicism. Their first album, Future Perfect, was released on DMZ/Columbia in October 2004. DMZ was created by musician/producer T-Bone Burnett and the Coen Brothers. Shortly after signing the band, Burnett also took on the role as producer. Edwards describes his influences while working on Future Perfect -- "The sound of old elevators, an iron fence on a windy hill in Texas, the Doppler effect, and the geographical acumen of Peter Sellers."
After touring incessantly on Future Perfect, the band took a long break before diving into writing for their second full-length, Transit Transit.
Keeping themselves busy, Autolux teamed up with UNKLE on a song for the album War Stories, composed music for an exhibit at The Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles, called "Sonic Scenery", performed on Nigel Godrich's tv series From The Basement, and traveled to Russia to open for PJ Harvey. In February of 2008, Carla went into the studio with PJ Harvey and John Parish to play drums on their latest record, A Woman A Man Walked By.
Autolux recorded and produced the long overdue Transit Transit themselves and it is expected to come out later this year.
It used to be pretty easy to describe THIS WILL DESTROY YOU. I could pen something like "a cascading brand of cinematic rock music" and everything was cool for a bit. But then dudes were rolling to shows, going straight up front, snapping pictures of the pedalboards, rebuilding them at home, essentially re-recording Young Mountain, and sending it in to the label thinking that we should put it out. It was a weird time and it sent all involved down different paths of musical inspiration and exploration for future recordings and general direction. Somewhere after the recording of S/T, the departure of Raymond Brown (original bassist) eventually led the band to the more permanent fixture of Donovan Jones. And somewhere after the recording of the Field Studies split CD/LP, Alex Bhore came on board to relieve Andrew Miller of drum duty.
What made the first two albums work like they did and sound like they did was ultimately the dynamics between the personnel and their individual backgrounds and expertise. It was one of the more unique brands of band/songwriting alchemy I'd experienced in working with countless other bands to that point. Without speaking out of school, I had never seen four people go through what they went through in order to get to the end result. It was intense, but it was highly effective and passionate.
So when two key components to the original equation are removed, where does a young band under the microscope take it from there? The answer, it would seem, is a very dark dive from out on the fringe and into the abyss, clear out near Fuck-You-land. What once was a band that you could play over the holidays, in the office, in the coffee shop, and video-sync anything to is now something more along the lines of what you'd listen to with the shades drawn and the lights out, most likely lighting candles in preparation for some sort of mythic and secretive ceremony to follow. When you first hear the current incarnation of the band, you're going to be in for a shock. Straight up. But before you can even think to run for the door, they've already got their teeth out and claws dug in. Whereas their early work may have "destroyed" your inability to get nostalgic or emotional, the current lineup seems intent on ACTUALLY destroying you. Think Warchild from "Point Break." We're just gonna fuck you up.
"...'In My Sleep' is a crystalline, gorgeous waltz, layered with dreamcatcher synths and brushed percussion. It's a lovely pop song in the mold of the Cocteau Twins or Mazzy Star, content to ride singer Bei Yan's lush voice to some faraway fantasy land. It's perfect late-night driving music, comforting but not boring, catchy but not accident causing. You can sing along to A Day No How, or you can just let it wash over you. "-Willamette Week
Portland,OR drum/synth duo Wishyunu will be self-releasing their new EP A Day No How as a follow-up to their 2008 full-length Age of Revealing. Recorded and produced by the pair, mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk, the 5-song EP features In My Sleep which was included on Pop Tomorrow's 2009 compilation.
Most of Wishyunu's recordings have been described as "atmospheric rock" or "dream pop" yet during live performances the two-piece generate a soundscape more akin to krautrock, through layered keyboards and solid, danceable rhythms.
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