This week (or month, or however long it's been since I last posted anything) I'm putting up two songs by bands or artists from Portland, Oregon. The city puts out massive amounts of music (Modest Mouse, the Decemberists, Everclear!) despite the fact that it's in Oregon, the Manitoba of the United States.
The first is by Grey Anne, formerly known as Per Se. The singer has a nice voice and a unique enough sounding background to lay it over that her songs don't get lost in the typical indie traps. The song is Riddle and it's vaguely activist lyrics are both challenging and entertaining.
Grey Anne [myspace]
Facts N Figurines [buy it here]
Riddle [mp3]
The next is a song from Eat Skull, a delightful, de-tuned band who I must say is much more my style. I can respect Grey Anne's artistry, but I love this raw, poorly produced sound. Calling it poorly produced might be a skosh unfair actually. The sound that they achieve is so obviously intentional that the production can't be a mistake and for that reason, the technical merits of the album should be celebrated just as much as those of any band with clear harmonies and wonderful sound quality.
Eat Skull produces the kind of music that I, and I alone, enjoy immensely. Not being a musician myself, I don't think I appreciate the same things in music as most people I know (people who play instruments). I look for hooks, emotion and most of all, sincerity. When I am able to feel like a band is having as much fun playing their music as I am listening to it [Here, Here, Here, and Here(song 2)] despite its flaws, that's when i truly love them. I look forward to hearing more from these guys.
Eat Skull [myspace]
Wild and Inside [buy it here]
Stick To The Formula [mp3]
