I watch a ton of videos for Portland bands and this is easily one of the most enjoyable I’ve seen in awhile. It helps that the band, Portland-based Portugal the Man puts out music that’s deserving of badass videos. The pacing is superb (my biggest gripe with Portland music videos is that they’re slow as molasses) and the cinematography is glistening. Like the previous Portugal the Man video (which I also fawned over) this was directed by Ryan Rothermel with Michael Ragan as the Director of Photography.
Check out this awesomely psycadelic video for Portland band Au’s “Ida Walked Away,” off of their new EP “Versions.” It was skillfully animated by Takafumi Tsuchiya, a Tokyo-based video artist and motion graphics designer. How did the band get set up with such a talented dude? Portland Mercury’s End Hits music blog is on the case, read the interview here.
Check out the new track “Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler” off of Quasi’s new album “American Gong.” The album was just released on February 23 by Kill Rock Stars. The video was directed by Clyde Petersen and Forrest Baum.
We’re big fans of both Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose (check out our Penny Jam episode with Laura here) so it stands to reason that their new collaborative project, Bridge Carols will please those same mellow, ambient sensibilities. The video is a slow and meditative, but ultimately quite beautiful. Directed by Ryan Jeffery.
Jon Ragel’s one-man-band Boy Eats Drum Machine is in a small group of Portland music that I listen to on repeat. His last album BOOOMBOXXX was killer, and having got my mitts on his new one “Hoop and Wire” I can safely say that it is even better. The video, “ABQ” is full of BEDM’s signature of deep, sticky beats and intensity. Directed by Benjamin Meader also directed the Portland Roller Derby documentary Brutal Beauty, which I blogged about previously.
Check out episode 27 of the podcast that Sean and I produce, The Penny Jam in association with our Sound Engineer friends at Dexterous Productions. If I haven’t already explained it to you, it’s a video series that chronicles Portland musicians performing in unusual locations. This episode featured Fogatron at Acme Donuts. Fogotron often accompanies other musicians, aside from performing alone. As a result, you might find him on stage sometime with some rappers and other musicians if you keep an eye out for his upcoming shows.
Portland rapper Josh Martinez just released another awesome video, purportedly the 8th video from his recently-released “The World Famous Sex Buffet.” The track is called “Underground Pop” and as you’ll immediately notice is a close visual adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” And as far as adaptations of Thompson’s work goes, this one is actually really fucking well done. The Ralph Steadman-esque handdrawn details take the style over the edge and do a good job selling the drug-addled mania of the situation.
Check out the new video “Bottom Your Way To The Top” from Logan Lynn’s “From Pillar To Post” directed by Jeffrey McHale and illustrated by John Parot. Lynn, a Portland native, recently signed to the Dandy Warhols’ Beat The World Records, and this is his first release with the label. Lynn’s music is a mix of electronic, dance and pop music, and overall pretty catchy.
The video mixes equal parts awesome illustrations and PG-13 man-love to an overall impressive result. If I had heard this song for the first time I may have noticed the significance of the title. But yes, now that I think of it, the title “Bottom Your Way To The Top” has some significance. Either way, cool video from a local artist worth knowing about.
Season 3, episode 2 of the web series “the Snowboard Realms” just came out, featuring Mt. Hood Meadows with a twist of Portland. Awesome to see some footage, even if it is a wet, rainy day.
The show appears to be the product of Vancouver, Canada resident and filmmaker TJ Schneider. Here is bonus video from TJ called “Portland Faces.” It’s a mellow, well-shot piece from his visit to Portland.
