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opbmusic Presents: Ryley Walker

Jerad Walker — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 09:03:39 +0000

This week, opbmusic presents the first video in a series of performances from the 2015 Pickathon Woods Stage. The videos showcase some of the most exciting performances from this summer’s festival, held at Pendarvis Farm just outside Portland, Ore.

On the first day of the festival, Illinois native Ryley Walker brought his distinct brand of jazz- and psychedelic-rock-inspired folk music to the Woods Stage, a picturesque pavilion nestled in a holler and made out of twisted twigs and trees. Here, Walker performs an extended version of “Summer Dress” from his 2015 album, Primrose Green.

SET LIST

“Summer Dress”

If The Floor’s A-Rockin’, Just Keep A-Bouncin’

Jerad Walker — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 02:03:00 +0000

In a town known for “keeping it weird,” the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Ore., doesn’t immediately stand out. But it’s got plenty of character below the surface.

The interior of this 100-year-old brick building is striking — high ceilings are accented by two gorgeous antique chandeliers, and massive arched windows line the walls. But ask concertgoers what they think the most interesting feature is and one always stands out: “I hate to say it, but the flooring,” Katy Stellern says, laughing.

When the music and dancing start, the floor bounces. A lot. Zachary Carroll says he loves the sensation.

“It’s like springs or tennis balls,” he says. “I don’t know how they make it.”

It’s not tennis balls or springs. Walking across the maple planking, Jack Headinger, the construction superintendent who supervised the building’s restoration, describes what’s underneath.

“I’m going to call it rocking-chair-type members,” Headinger says. “And so when you step on one part of it, it’ll go down and the other part will go up. So it gives you this feeling of walking on a mattress, you might say. And then, when you get 1,500 people in here dancing, this whole place starts moving.”

Floating dance floors were fairly common during the early part of the 20th century, and some of them are still in use elsewhere. But most use springs to achieve the floating sensation, and virtually none of them have dealt with the wear and tear that the Crystal Ballroom has experienced. According to historian Tim Hills, the floor is part of the original structure from 1914.

“And its design is so simple, but it’s ingenious,” Hills says. “And around the perimeter of the floor are these ratchet holes where you can change the tension of the floor depending on what dance you wanted to do. I mean, it was just incredible.”

The unusual rocker-and-ball-bearing design, patented by Charles R. Hunt in 1905, was originally intended for ballroom dancing. However, jazz dances quickly became the hall’s main source of income in the early 1920s, much to the chagrin of local authorities who deemed the new music and moves indecent.

“The city fathers and parents, they couldn’t control it,” Hills says. “They couldn’t regulate it, and the controversy and the tension came to a breaking point.”

The city of Portland banned lewd dances and appointed a dance-hall inspector who shut down the shows. In the following decades, the Crystal Ballroom mostly featured old-time dances until the late 1950s, when financial difficulties and pragmatic ownership forced the venue to accommodate new events like college dances and R&B shows.

“What’s fascinating about the Crystal Ballroom’s history is [that] it was around long enough that it saw history repeat itself by the time you get to the 1960s,” Hills says. “It was the same thing.”

The culprit this time was psychedelic rock. With the counterculture movement in full swing, the conservative Portland city government once again shut down the venue in June 1968. It remained largely unused until 1994, when the property was purchased by McMenamins, a Portland-based entertainment company that wanted to reopen the legendary venue. That’s when Jack Headinger got the call to begin work on restoring and upgrading the building. He’d gone to rock shows here when he was a teenager.

“I was just stoked,” Headinger says. “In the ’60s, this was the place to come. “The Grateful Dead played here, and so it was really exciting to think that we were going to recover this building, because it had been sitting unoccupied for a number of years.”

In its latest incarnation, the Crystal Ballroom is a successful Portland rock venue that hosts everything from electronic dance music to country. It’s a fitting rebirth.

“It’s just one of those special places that has served so many people in this city since 1914 when it opened and welcomed so … many different people of different backgrounds,” Tim Hills says. “To have a building last as long as this one has and continue to flourish now — it’s rare and it’s important.”

opbmusic Presents: Calexico

Jerad Walker — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 11:17:35 +0000

Calexico, the Tucson, Ariz.-based collective led by founding members Joey Burns and John Convertino, has long had a penchant for grandiose arrangements and genre-defying songwriting. But they’ve always gravitated toward the traditional music of their home in the American Southwest. And like the band, that region’s cultural heritage is inextricably linked with the music of Mexico.

So it may come as surprise that before their most recent album, the group had spent little time south of the border. The sessions that would become their new effort, Edge of the Sun, marked the first time in the band’s nearly 20-year history that they had taken the creative process abroad. Recorded in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City, Edge of the Sun is a sweeping 12-song effort that showcases a band seemingly reinvigorated by the change of scenery.

With dramatic landscapes in mind, opbmusic caught up with Calexico before a recent performance with The Decemberists at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Ore. There, the full seven-piece group performed songs in the vineyard at the nearby Edgefield Winery, including this track, “Falling from the Sky.”

SET LIST

“Falling from the Sky”

Find more recordings from this session with Calexico at opbmusic.org.

opbmusic Presents: People Under The Stairs

David Christensen — Tue, 19 May 2015 09:03:17 +0000

Double K and Thes One, of the underground hip-hop duo People Under The Stairs, do their share of freestyling in this song, “Tuxedo Rap,” recorded live at Pickathon. The song was a high point in a set that seemed perfectly in tune with its setting: a warm August Saturday night, the woods on the festival grounds, a mellow crowd and kids at the front of the stage.

Each month through the start of the 2015 Pickathon festival, opbmusic and NPR Music will release another video recorded on the Woods Stage at Pickathon, hand-picked by opbmusic to showcase some of the most exciting performances from last summer’s lineup. The next premiere takes place on June 16.

SET LIST

“Tuxedo Rap”

opbmusic Presents: Diarrhea Planet

David Christensen — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 09:58:56 +0000

A first impression of Diarrhea Planet is likely going to be four guitarists at the front of the stage: “Wow — that’s a lot of guitars.” And also the intentionally obnoxious name. Onstage, they start songs with volleys of hooks and distortion, not so much counting in a tune as launching it into the crowd. In this performance from the Woods Stage at Pickathon, they play “Spooners.”

The Nashville six-piece has released two albums and several EPs, including last year’s Aliens in the Outfield. The song “Spooners” will appear on a vinyl-only Record Store Day release (April 18) featuring live Pickathon sets from Diarrhea Planet and Those Darlins. If you’re in Austin this week, you can see Diarrhea Planet play a pair of shows at SXSW.

Each month through the start of the 2015 Pickathon festival, opbmusic and NPR Music premiere another video recorded at the Woods Stage, handpicked by opbmusic to show some of the most exciting performances from last summer’s lineup. The next premiere will be on April 21.

opbmusic Presents: Valerie June

David Christensen — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 10:18:55 +0000

Valerie June‘s surprising blend of Appalachian folk and blues styles is rendered unusually powerful by her timeless but distinctive voice. Dan Auerbach produced June’s 2013 album Pushin’ Against A Stone, which introduced us to this song, “Workin’ Woman Blues,” with its shifting rhythms, dulcimer-like guitar and plaintive lament. Here, she performs with violinist Mazz Swift and cellist Adam Hurst on the Woods Stage at Pickathon.

Each month through the start of the 2015 Pickathon in late July, opbmusic and NPR Music premiere another video recorded at the Woods Stage, each hand-picked by opbmusic to showcase some of the most exciting performances from last summer’s lineup. The next premiere will run on March 17.

opbmusic Presents: Angel Olsen

David Christensen — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:27:00 +0000

This week, opbmusic and NPR Music present the first video in a new series: Pickathon Woods Stage. Each month, we’ll premiere a new video recorded at the 2014 Pickathon Music Festival, hand-picked by opbmusic to showcase some of the most exciting performances from last summer’s lineup.

Last year, Angel Olsen‘s Burn Your Fire For No Witness broke through in a big way, landing on many year-end best lists. Olsen’s songs hit with heartbreaking vulnerability, lost somewhere between what could be and what can’t be. In this song, “Stars,” she showcases her impressively agile voice in front of an enthralled audience.

The 2014 edition of Pickathon was held over three days at Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland, Ore. In 16 seasons, the festival has built a solid reputation for its curatorial independence, family-friendly environment and green focus. Throughout the weekend, bands often perform on several stages, including the main stage, a pair of converted barns, and one in the woods. To get to the Woods Stage, you follow a footpath through the trees to a natural bowl-shaped amphitheater. At night, the path is lit by suspended lights, while the stage itself is situated under a nest of branches, surrounded on three sides by the audience.

SET LIST

“Stars”