Event
The Thermals, The Shaky Hands, Point Juncture
About The Thermals
Formed in 2002, are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon on the label Kill Rock Stars. The group is currently composed of Hutch Harris (vocals and guitar), Kathy Foster (bass), and Westin Glass (drums). Former members have included guitarist Ben Barnett (Kind of Like Spitting), drummer Jordan Hudson (The Operacycle, M. Ward), and drummer Lorin Coleman. Drummer Caitlin Love has also toured with the band. The albums The Body, The Blood, The Machine and Now We Can See were recorded without a full-time drummer. On TBTBTM Harris and Foster split keyboard/organ and bass duties with Foster on drums, and Foster performs all rhythm section duties on Now We Can See.
About The Shaky Hands
The arresting second album from this five-piece trades the jangly folk rock of their only-pleasant debut for a harsher, more jittery approach. Prodded by clattering drums and scraping guitars, frontman Nick Delffs often sounds desperate, moaning and muttering like someone who's torn between leaping into the abyss and clinging to hope. On the fascinating "Show Me Your Life," he mixes awkward romance and cosmic dread, murmuring, "There's time to kill / You won't or you will kill it with me," only to conclude, "Just leave me to rot." A smooth operator, he isn't.
The Shaky Hands live experience can be frenetic, which finds frontman Nick Delffs stomping and galloping across the stage, occasionally running directly into bassist Mayhaw Hoons' wildly swinging curly red hair. But The Shaky Hands were not content with being everyone's favorite good vibe summertime rockers. The now-quintent (Nick's brother, multi-instrumentalist Nathan Delffs, officially joined the band shortly after the full-length was recorded) went swiftly back into the studio to record Lunglight, a record that proves them to be evolving with remarkable speed. Where the Hands' debut was jangly and upbeat, prompting visions of long summer days spent lounging on the front porch, Lunglight lives in a slightly darker space. Tracks like "Neighbors" and "Love All Of" add a sheen of Doors' psychedelia to The Shaky Hands' early Talking Heads-influenced sound, with Nick Delffs looking increasingly inward for lyrical inspiration. On "World Gone Mad," perhaps the darkest and most driving Shaky Hands song recorded to date, Delffs sings "See it coming/ In his eyes/ You better stay where/ You can hide," and feedback flies like shrapnel around the verse. For a second there, The Shaky Hands get scary.
About Point Juncture, WA
This Portland band takes another step forward on their latest release with diverse, inventive arrangements featuring colorful instrumentation including horns and vibraphone along with an abundance of sparkling melodies for a sound that recalls Yo La Tengo's assured eclecticism, Stereolab's stylish trance-rock and a host of distortion-happy shoegazer-pop bands.(- Don Yates)
For five years Point Juncture has been a collaboration between four Portland, OR. songwriters, instrumentalists, recording engineers, and friends: Amanda Spring (vocals, drums) Victor Nash (keyboards, vocals) Skyler Norwood (guitar, vibraphone) and Wilson Vediner (guitar). Five years is middle age for a band but this one has aged well, having toured the country year after year and played with such like minded bands as Stereolab, Britt Daniel of Spoon, Dirty Three, Aloha, 31 Knots, Mates of State, Viva Voce... On this, their 3rd self-release they have put all their heads together, their resources and all the scientific know-how that comes from playing collectively in over a Bazillion bands in order to make a record that can describe what Portland has seen all along in their live show and their steadily growing recorded output.
"This band started as something we wanted to do at house parties and as a response to the growing underground music scene around Portland. When we were getting started we wanted to have something to flush all of our inspirations and frustrations into, not a business or something too precious to get a little rough around the edges from time to time. Something we could love but also let have a life of it's own. Portland has really worked with us towards that goal. The support weve gotten from this small but super talented music community has been overwhelming. No where but Portland could we take two years between releases and still get the kind of support weve had so far in the making of our newest record. People seem to appreciate what we do even when its under the banner of one of our many side projects, cassette only releases of our friends music, or in the form of band member and Producer/Engineer Skyler Norwoods work with Portlands best bands (Talkdemonic, Horse Feathers, Blind Pilot)."
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LocationSPACE Gallery
538 Congress St.
Portland, ME 04101
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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Contact
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