Derby On Tonight's Episode Of The Hills

I would normally NEVER encourage anyone to watch MTV's "The Hills," especially not my friends, who I care for too much to subject them to such mindless entertainment (though I did find myself watching the show for the first time with my good friends Becky and Cla and found myself somewhat amused by Spencer and his flesh-colored beard).

That being said, Derby, a band whose management team I am now a part of, will have their song "All Or Nothing" from their most excellent album Posters Fade featured on tonight's episode of "The Hills." I chatted with Derby Dave last night at the Doug Fir Lounge about having their music featured on the show and he was able to poke some fun at himself and the band. They even posted a brief, humorous blog about it on their website here.

If you are able to get to a TV tonight at 10pm and not have your roommates or significant others give you too much grief about it, be sure to check it out.

Brandon Chandler At Mississippi Studios

As is typical in RIP City, musicians retreat to their basements during the rainy winters, honing their creative juices, only to emerge alongside the "Blue Sunshine" of the spring with a new album to show for their hibernation.


Such is the case with Brandon Chandler. This local singer songwriter has been MIA for months, working on a new album with his band, The Revival. However, I'm happy to say the CD Make.Love.Sing. is complete (it sounds great!) and Brandon will make his return to the stage this Thursday night at the newly reopened Mississippi Studios.

I met Brandon last summer at a show at the Doug Fir. I was immediately impressed with his music, reminiscent of Jason Mraz, but more soulful. While I enjoyed his first album After All This Time, the new stuff surpasses the old. There's sure to be plenty of the new tunes played Thursday. And if you haven't been to the remodeled Mississippi Studios, this is a great time to do it. The new space is amazing and hardly recognizable as the old room, until you hear the sound (the sound techs are top notch).

Kirk Duncan, Krista Herring, and Ezza Rose share the bill that night. It's an early show with a 7:30pm start time, so make sure you don't show up too late. Tickets are only $10 and available at the door.

Welcome Home, Darlings!

My favorite darlings of the band Oh Darling have been busy lately. After leaving Portland for the sunny skies of Los Angeles, the band has been hard at work on new tunes to follow last year's most excellent album Nice Nice.

If you are a regular viewer of Dancing With The Stars or CSI: Miami, you may have heard some of the new music and not even realized it. "Colorful Day" is featured in a new Volkswagon commercial which aired during the previously mentioned shows a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't seen it yet, or are a Tivo junkie and forward right through all the commercials, here it is for your listening pleasure. Had the clip featured Jasmine's vocals as well, I may have been tempted to head out and purchase a VW right then and there.


VW Commercial featuring Oh Darlings "Colorful Day" from Oh Darling on Vimeo.

I haven't seen the Darlings since they moved south at the beginning of the year, so I am very excited that they are heading out on tour this month, including a stop at Portland's own Doug Fir Lounge on April 26th. I'm very stoked to see my friends and hear all of the new music they are working on. Their west coast tour dates are as follows and I can't recommend enough checking them out if you can do so.

April 22: San Jose State University

April 23: Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA.

April 25: The Brown Lantern - Anacortes, WA.

April 26: The Doug Fir - Portland, OR.

April 28: Sonoma State University

April 30: Old Ironsides - Sacramento, CA.

May 1: Fresno State University

Finally, if you haven't yet checked out Oh Darling's debut album Nice Nice, now you can and it won't cost you a cent. For the month of April, you can head to the band's blog at ohdarlingmusic.com/blog and download the album in it's entirety for no charge. Score!

Download Nice Nice here.

Intervision Returns To Jimmy Maks To Say Goodbye To An Old Friend

The boys of Intervision return to the stage of Jimmy Maks on Saturday April 11th in what will be the last performance for bassist Mike Glidden, who is leaving the band to pursue other interests. Intervision combines the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Jamiriquai, and Maroon 5, stirring them up into the band's own delicious stew, ready to be ingested by hungry ears. Oh, and the ladies love these guys.
Northwest Noise interviewed Intervision's lead singer, Paul Creighton, last year in what was a very bizarre meeting indeed. However, the bizarre is well worth checking out as it produced plenty of laughs. You can listen to the interview here.

Opening for Intervision are the Jerrod Lawson Trio. Music starts at 8pm and tickets are just $10.

Great Article To Check Out

Dave over at Pamplemoose wrote a great article about the decline of the full length album as the representation of the pinnacle of a musician's creativity. A great read in this digital age for where the music community is likely going. How The Decemberists new album The Hazards Of Love, certainly an album to appreciated as a whole, fits into this new model remains to be seen...

Check the article here.

NW Noise Interviews The Dimes

Have you headed over to Northwest Noise lately? We recently posted an interview with one of my favorite bands, The Dimes, on the site.

Only hours before Arctic Blast '08 hit our fair city, Tim, Gears, and myself sat down with Johnny, Pierre, and Ryan (Jake was on a train to Seattle) to discuss the band's upcoming album, their blogging efforts, and Pierre's lack of responding to friend requests on Facebook. The Dimes have been working on their second full length album for about a year now, featuring songs about the people and history of Boston. Johnny has posted a TON of new music for fans to sample on their blog here, including what may be my favorite song by the band 'Walden and the Willow Tree' which I dug immediately after hearing when he first played a demo for me last fall (you can hear it here). Talking with the band last week, the album is nearly done and currently they are working on the sequencing of the tracks. It seems as if the album will primarily focus on the songs about the exordinary women of Boston, while the songs about the gents may be featured on a bonus album to be released later.

We only posted Part 1 of 3 of the interview, so there's plenty more to come, including a few acoustic tracks that the guys recorded in my living room. I'll be sure to let y'all know when we have more of the interview up on the site.

The Dimes play a show with Chris Robley at the newly reopened Mississippi Studios on Friday March 27. Show starts at 9.

Check out the NW Noise interview with The Dimes here.

Debra Arlyn Returns To Jimmy Maks

In about an hour and a half, Debra Arlyn will be performing at Jimmy Maks in the Pearl, recognized as one of the world's top 100 places to hear jazz. It's Ms. Arlyn's 24th birthday and it's sure to be a great time, featuring birthday cake for all! Paul Creighton of Intervision will join Debra for a song or two and Vicci Martinez and the Jacob Merlin Band will continue the evening with their own sets as well. The NW Noise boys will also be there, of course, to support our good friend on her special day. If you haven't yet checked out a concert from this amazing Oregon songstress, tonight is an excellent opportunity to do so. Show starts at 8PM.