Fall 2014.
9.14:: Beacon Sound Re-opening
My good friend Andrew, proprietor of Portland record store and label Beacon Sound, was hard at work with a team of friends throughout July and August on a new space. Originally located between two other fabulous Portland businesses – Revival Drums and Tiga (R.I.P.) – up on NE 15th and Prescott, Beacon Sound has now moved to a larger space on N Mississippi Ave, just next to Reading Frenzy and Black Book Guitars. The front half of the new space is a record store/performance room, and the back half is FISK art gallery. Midway into October, the new space has already become a community and cultural hub for music, art, and design.
photo courtesy of \\ Beacon Sound
I did live sound for the opening event (pictured above), featuring Gordon Ashworth, and a super group of Peter Broderick, Gabriel Saloman, Heather Woods Broderick and Lisa Schoenberg performing pieces from the split EP released by Beacon Sound this past summer. The second night featured Haste, Like a Villain and 1939 Ensemble.
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9.14:: Cibo Matto w/ Nels Cline Tour
I spent about a week and a half in September on the road tour managing and live sounding for Cibo Matto. Yes, they’re back after a ten-year hiatus! Yuka and Miho were joined onstage by guitarist Nels Cline (Geraldine Fibbers, Nels Cline Trio, Nels Cline Singers, Wilco), drummer Yuval Lion (John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Martha Wainwright) and bassist Devin Hoff (Nels Cline Singers, Xiu Xiu, Good For Cows, Julia Holter). We hit Baltimore, Charlotte, Athens, Jacksonville and Nashville on the way back up to NYC. I couldn’t have asked for a more lovely group of people to tour with. For those of you who are familiar with Cibo Matto, you’ll know that they are somewhat food obsessed. Needless to say, we ate well.
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9.14:: Live Sound – Ghostly Showcase w/Jacaszek, Erased Tapes/Beacon Sound Showcase
photo courtesy of \\ Beacon Sound
Decibel Festival happens every September up in Seattle and has a fortunate side effect for Portland – some acts which would normally be less inclined to play here end up coming down while in the Pacific Northwest for the festival. This year, there were two nights of friends’ label showcases at Mississippi Studios that I worked sound for. The first was a Ghostly Records showcase with locals Philip Grass, SF-based Christopher Wilits, and a rare performance with Polish electroacoustic artist, and recent Ghostly signing Jacaszek. The second night, co-sponsored by Beacon Sound, was a showcase of acts from London’s Erased Tapes label (who have released Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick, Ólafur Arnalds, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, amongst others). The show featured a rare set by Greg Gives Peter Space, a dub collaboration between Peter Broderick and Greg Haines, joined on the bill by London-based electronic artist Rival Consoles and Peter’s sister, Heather Woods Broderick opening. They were a great couple of nights of music and friends that were a joy to work.
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9.14-10.14:: Alan Kanning Recording
I spent a week at Type Foundry in late September with singer songwriter Alan Kanning and his two brothers, Mark and Kendall, tracking his first full length LP. The three brothers were a pleasure to work with, and have such a great chemistry from growing up and playing together. So far we have recorded basic tracks for 14 songs in all, and will continue overdubs into the winter. For all you recording nerds: this project reinvigorated my love for dynamic microphones – we used a Beyerdynamic M69 for the vocals, and a Beyerdynamic M88 and Sennheiser 441 for all the acoustic guitars.
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10.14:: Portland Cello Project Sound
The Portland Cello Project had me join them on live sound for a concert out in Hillsboro. Their combination of “serious” classical sensibilities, along with various, sometimes playful, re-arranged for multiple cello cover songs (including Kanye West, Radiohead, Beck, Dave Brubeck, to name a few) is always a pleasure to hear and mix. Below is one of their originals,”Denmark,” which I had nothing to do with the creation of, but really like the song and video.
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10.14:: Warm Hands “Blurred” EP/Sinis Records 001
The Warm Hands EP I recorded and mixed back in April is finally out. It is the inaugural release on my friend Mehran’s new label Sinis. I loved working on this project: great band, great songs, and very promising label. Mastered by Gus Elg at Sky Onion. Look for it on vinyl soon, including a limited run of smokey clear vinyl. Included below, in addition to the EP, are several remixes, including one by Soft Metals, and another by my good friend Alex, aka Apartment Fox.