The latest “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” features solo singer and now Tu Fawningist Corrina Repp discussing her jobs working for Portland bands Pink Martini, The Decemberists, Laura Veirs, and HUSH Records.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEg49dPRQas
From Popwreckoning.
photo: Thomas Patterson
The upcoming release of A Bird In The Opera House got me thinking it would be fun to complile my faves from his collective output for HUSH.
So, without further ado, I present my own top ten which you can listen to by
1) Streaming in the updated Music Player (In the popup just click the playlist on the sidebar) or enjoying on the go via the
2) HUSHcast.
-Chad Crouch
Laura is about a week away from a short tour with Ethan Rose in support of the sublime Bridge Carols (out now on Holocene Music). The duo recently premiered a mesmerizing video for “Younger” from director Ryan Jeffries.
Not long ago the duo raised the bar about ten million notches for live ambient performance at their Portland album release show. Attendance at one of the upcoming shows is highly recommended, but since we don’t think they will be able to bring the additional ensemble in tow, here are some freshly uploaded videos that captured the surprise event from that show:
Watch all the videos from this performance in a playlist at YouTube.
Upcoming Dates
Mar 26 Bird on the Wire Festival Pullman, Washington
Mar 27 Visual Arts Collective Boise, Idaho
Mar 28 Slowtrain Records Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 31 Rickshaw Stop San Francisco, California
Apr 1 Cal Arts Valencia, California
Apr 2 Echo Curio Los Angeles, California
Check out this rather awesomely assembled mini-doc of Danish band Efterklang on tour, with them performing “The Soft Beating”—a highlight from their splendid new Magic Chairs album—in a variety of different places, with incredibly consistent results until the whole thing devolves into a pillow fight. Portland musicians (and siblings) Peter Broderick and Heather Woods Broderick have joined the Danish band Efterklang as auxiliary members, but due to unfortunate circumstances Peter had to drop out of the tour. (That’s Peter “softly beating” on his chest in the video.) You can read all about that in our article on Efterklang…
I asked Peter about the circumstances around his having to drop out of the tour, and he went above and beyond by writing me an incredibly detailed account of his injury and the subsequent events. I’m posting the entirety of Peter’s story; be sure to check it out. Peter is returning home later this month, ironically only a few short days after Efterklang plays their show here. It’s too bad Peter had to drop out of the tour, but it will be great to have him back home in Portland as he takes time to fully recuperate.
There’s a rumble of adulation around HUSH alumna Casey Dienel’s latest musical reinvention under the name White Hinterland. Kairos, out now on Dead Oceans, is the second full length from WH, and a departure to say the least.
Here are the tracks the label is generously sharing:
Casey is going out this spring with the excellent multi-instrumentalist DOSH. Check the dates here.
Lastly, enjoy this lovely video by Michaela Copikova for the track “Amsterdam”.
To delve into Dienel’s roots as a songwriter, and to appreciate her evolution, look no further than her debut Wind-up Canary.
Esperanza, former lead vocalist and stand up bassist for HUSH recording artist Noise For Pretend is cropping up again in the media. This time we find the The New Yorker lavishing an in-depth profile on the now 25 year old sensation. You’ll need to pick up the mag, or have a digital subscription to read that, but the website has a nice podcast to accompany the article:
Esperanza on The New Yorker Audio Podcast
Recently, Esperanza performed some amazing, seemingly frenetic renditions of jazz standards in studio on NPR affiliate Jazz24. Listen here.
The author also provided some candid behind-the-scenes video of Spalding’s songwriting process and work on a forthcoming album:
When I visited her home in Austin, Texas, I asked if I could shoot some video of her explaining how a song gets written and arranged. She happily obliged me by talking about the creation of an as-yet-untitled song:
Spalding plans to record this song but not for her next album, “The Chamber Music Society,” which is due out this summer. But I went out to Bennett Recording Studios, in Englewood, N.J., and watched her conduct a string section for a song that will be. It’s called “Apple Blossom”: