Category Archives: Recorded Music

Album Review: Art Deco Cathedrals – Every Pain & Every Pleasure

Art Deco Cathedrals – Every Pain and Every Pleasure (2011, self-released) Portland’s Art Deco Cathedrals makes sparse, purely instrumental music with plucked strings, reverb, and the occasional drum machine. Rather than the quiet->less quiet->kinda loud->loud loud->quiet comedown arc of contemporary … Continue reading

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Thank You Chico, Goodnight

Apparently this is “Levi reminisces about road trips” week. A friend on [Social Networking Site] just posted a link to a song, and since I wasn’t listening to anything at the time, I went over to check it out. Turns … Continue reading

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Album Review: Stellarondo

Stellarondo – Stellarondo (2011, self-released) I’ve had a soft spot for Missoula, Montana since the first (and only) time I ever visited there. My band The Luna Moth drove the 8 or so hours out, played a show at a … Continue reading

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Peter Vukmirovic Stevens’s Duets for Piano and Buddha Machine

One of the artists featured on Volume 24 of Ball of Wax (coming out tonight!) is a local composer named Peter Vukmirovic Stevens. He has composed for everything from solo piano to symphony orchestra, but the pieces of his that … Continue reading

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[glocal scene] Beast Reality

I love a band with intensity and ‘balls’. The latter is not a well-defined term, and can no doubt be argued to mean many a thing; ‘balls’ here means courageous. I don’t wish to get into the etymological origins of … Continue reading

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Discover the Magic of Multiples

Brooklyn-based the Magic of Multiples (heard on Ball of Wax Volumes 19, 23, and the forthcoming 24) is one Alex Drum, a lo fi classicist in possession of the indisputable formula for fuzzy, charming bedroom pop.  The goodness found all … Continue reading

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Album Review: The Stares – Meridians

The Stares – Meridians (2010, self-released) (Listen and purchase on their site.) The Stares – Drew Whittemore, Angie Benintendi, and the various other brilliant musicians they surround themselves with – are slow and quiet, and not just in the music … Continue reading

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This Scottish Guy You Should Hear Has an Honest Heart AND a Brain: Check out Withered Hand

Two years ago, I went to Scotland on tour, and a very good friend sat me down and played an EP by Withered Hand (Dan Willson is his non-stage name). The EP blew me away for its songwriting. The singer, … Continue reading

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Welcome to Town: Isaac Pierce

I first met Isaac Pierce trading mini-sets at Citizen Coffee in Lower Queen Anne. Mattie P (a totally unique soul who just left town last month) had invited me to join one of his periodic afternoon gatherings of songwriters playing … Continue reading

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Album review: Yarn Owl – Montaña Y Caballo

Yarn Owl – Montaña Y Caballo (2011, self-released) Way back in 2006 I played in Pullman with a band called Ether Hour, a piano-driven, Elliott Smith-esque indie rock band that I found on MySpace, back when it was still useful … Continue reading

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