Project Pabst 2017 Lineup Guide | Saturday August 26th

This August, everyone’s favorite alcoholic swill is putting on their yearly music festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. It’s Portland’s biggest music festival, and at this point, one of the best in the Pacific Northwest given Sasquatch’s recent descent into madness. But Project Pabst has managed to wrangle great line-ups year after year from Ghostface Killah to a recently-reunited Ween. The festival itself walks a great line between scale and obscurity with enough genres in its lineup to have a little something for everybody. Overall it feels like a very “Portland” festival, and this year is no different.

I’m essentially much writing this as a guide for a couple of friends who are interested in the festival but unfamiliar with some of the artists in this year’s lineup. While it’s written with them in mind, I also hope this guide can double as an entry point for introducing yourself to these artists you may or may not know.

The Last Artful, Dodgr

Alongside Illmaculate and 2017 XXL FreshmanAminé, The Last Artful, Dodgr is one of the few artists holding down the Portland rap scene. In 2013 Alana Chenevert quit her job and wrote “Sway” which served as her mission statement and road map to stardom. A prophecy that came true in 2016, proving that if you put it out into the universe with enough confidence, you have the power to materialize your own destiny. That moment of transformation from graphic designer to rapper isn’t (quite) a story old as time, but serves as a perfect example of the explosive creative scene that is Portland.

Choice Track “Squadron”

White Reaper

People love to claim that rock is either dead or in the process of dying. It’s too commercial. Other genres have become more exciting. The legacy acts are getting too old to “rock out” in the same way they used to. Fuck that. White Reaper is a symbolic middle finger towards the non-believers. White Reaper is part of a new class of rock along with acts like the poetically-named Diarrhea Planet. They’re not a sub genre, they don’t have an asterisk, and they don’t give a fuck. They are just pure, unadulterated, rip-ass rock. With fuzzed out guitar, catchy choruses, and snarling vocals, they’re living proof that rock is far from dead in 2017.

Choice Track “Make Me Wanna Die”

Filthy Friends

An alt rock supergroup comprised of Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Kurt Bloch and Scott McCaughey (the Minus 5), Bill Rieflin (King Crimson), and occasionally Krist Novoselic (Nirvana). It’s a murderer’s row of 90’s icons (and one prog figurehead) that formed in 2012 with the simple goal of covering David Bowie songs. The group has since evolved into a fully-realized politically-charged entity as they queue up to release an album the day before Project Pabst.

Choice Track “The Arrival”

PUP

PUP is a Canadian group comprised of four lifelong friends who make throat-shredding punk… And I use ‘throat-shredding’ as an adjective, but also as a reference to lead singer Stefan Babcock’s diagnosis at the end of 2015 that extensive touring had damaged his vocal chords beyond repair. Despite the doctor’s claims that he’d never sing again, the band released the impeccable “The Dream is Over” in 2016 (the title itself a reference to a quote from the doctor.) The band packs a ton into the album’s 30-minute running time, but the opening track “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, Then I Will” does all the explaining for them. PUP is here to stay, and their struggle is a testament to artistic resilience.   

Choice Track “Guilt Trip” followed immediately by “Sleep In The Heat” (just trust me.)

Lizzo

Lizzo is a singer who fuses R&B, hip-hop, and gospel into one absurdly-dancey package. It’s pure, soaring, feel-good music that’s guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Lizzo somehow manages to make this mix of genres feel familiar yet fresh at the same time. Her most recent release Coconut Oil feels like something that can only be a by product of the times we live in; a celebration of all things strong in which the listener hopes that even a fraction of Lizzo’s confidence rubs off on them.

Choice Track “Worship”

FIDLAR

Every once in awhile you’ll make a discovery in the least-expected place. FIDLAR is a skate punk band in the same vein as Wavves or Cloud Nothings, and while their sound technically falls in-line with the sunny skate punk genre, the band manages to bring something special to the table with a unique brand of drugged-out rock. I first discovered the band through Grand Theft Auto V’s in-game indie station which featured the band’s breakout song “Cocaine.” While the group’s blistering self-titled debut remains their best, their 2015 follow-up Too is admirable for its attempt at a darker, more dynamic aesthetic. Tracks like “Overdose” prove the band has more to say than ‘partying rules,’ although their breezy ‘fuck it’ songs remain the most engaging in their catalog.

Choice Track “Wake Bake Skate”

Father John Misty

Father John Misty (aka Papa John Misty, aka Father Jah Mystery, aka dozens of other absurdist nicknames) is the irony-riddled folk alter ego of Josh Tillman. While Tillman has a storied history of releasing solo projects under his own name, drumming for Fleet Foxes, and writing for pop acts like Beyoncé, he’s recently found success with this indie-parodying pseudonym. While his out-of-music escapades are too many to count, he first came to my attention in 2015 with his biting love record I Love You, Honeybear. It’s a grand, beautiful, and honest album about love in the smartphone era, that has since become one of my all-time favorite records. More recently he dropped Pure Comedy a sprawling album about the cosmic joke of life in a post-Trump world. It’s not as fun of a listen as Honeybear, but it’s just as honest. It also manages to raise some tough questions, even if it doesn’t try to give any answers.

Choice Track “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)”

Die Antwoord

To describe Die Antwoord as “out there” would be a disservice. This South African hip-hop group began making waves at the end of the aughts with their otherworldly songs and the ballistic music video accompaniments. While a semi-watered-down version of the duo made it into Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie, they are probably best introduced in the same way I stumbled across them: the music video for “Evil Boy.” Once you watch you’ll know why I have such a hard time formulating their description into words. The group currently plans to disband this fall following the release of their fifth album, so Project Pabst may be one of the last chances to see the group in all their weirdness.

Choice Track “I Fink U Freaky”

Iggy Pop

What can be said about Iggy Pop that hasn’t been said before? He’s the godfather of punk. From the world-changing debut, his flawless sophomore solo album, or his later career classics like Beat Em Up, Pop has proven himself to be an enduring figure worthy of his title. He’s survived a sea of drugs, dozens of self-inflicted lacerations, and somehow made his way to his 70’s despite himself. In 2016 he released his final album: Post Pop Depression, a dark desert rock epic that’s a beyond-suitable send off for the aging legend. He’s one of the last true rockers, and to see him live before his retirement is an honor.

Choice Track “Sunday”

The Top 7 Video Game Monkeys

Monkeys are important.

Perhaps it’s because I finished Westworld and watched War For the Planet of the Apes in the same weekend, but I can’t stop thinking about our race’s eventual demise. We can’t be the top of the food chain forever. And while I do believe in aliens, I think that a robotic or monkey-based uprising is far more likely from a statistical standpoint, and also something I’m more likely to see in my lifetime.

With all that in mind, I’d like to give a quick shout out to the species by highlighting some of their important figureheads within the realm of gaming. I’m on your side. Please don’t enslave me.

#7 - Specter (Ape Escape Series)

While he gets points for being a minority (albino) he also loses points for dressing like an anime character.

#6 - Monkey (Timesplitters Series)

He shoots. He dresses up. He has an eerily-posed mouth that’s constantly open. What’s not to like? Toss him some Tommy guns.

#5 - AiAi (Super Monkey Ball Series)

While he puts up a smiling and happy facade we all know he’s crumbling on the inside, constantly crushed by the fact that he’ll never emerge from the glass prison that encases him. He’s living in hell.

#4 - Gorilla Grodd (Injustice 2)

Man, this dude’s smart as hell. Plus he’s on TV. Good taste in headwear.

#3 - King Kong (Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie)

He tall. He’s dark. He’s Handsome. He’s in love with Nicki Kids, and he’s not afraid to kill a few dinosaurs to protect her (can you blame him?)

#2 - Winston (Overwatch)

Man, he smart too. Maybe smarter than Gorilla Grodd? Will need to do more research on character battle message boards. Points in favor: has nice reading glass frames, is friends with a lesbian, uses renewable weaponry, very progressive.

#1 - Donkey Kong (Everything)

He has bars. We all know that. He’ll take your girl, toss barrels at you, and then go kart with you years later like it’s nbd. He just doesn’t give a care. He popularized Jimmy Neutron hair (thank you) and isn’t afraid to stunt on hoes by dressing up a little. A true catch. Iconic. Historical. Monkey.

Pop Culture Cannibalism

One of the fondest memories of my childhood is a simple one. It’s not a surprise trip to Disneyland, or my first kiss, or the unboxing of a brand new video game console at Christmas. No, in fact, it’s more banal than almost anything you could ever imagine. In reality, one of the most saccharine and amber-coated memories of my pre-teens involved sitting in my family’s living room with my best friend on a lazy summer day watching VH1’s I Love The… Series. We sat there lethargically sprawled out on my family’s couch, pacified by the television as we killed an entire bag of those cheap grocery store fudge pops and gleefully watched early 2000’s actors, comedians, and musicians warmly reflect on the pop culture events of yesteryear.

It feels like such a small thing. It wasn’t a “big” event, there was no defining moment, and if you asked me, I probably couldn’t even remember which season of the show we were watching at the time. If you asked my friend, he probably wouldn’t even remember this happening in the first place. It’s lost to time, one of the dozens of other nameless summer days that we all happily wasted enjoying our reprieve from of middle school.

I remember this day because I remember the feeling. I remember appreciating it in the moment, and it’s something I think of often, especially during the summer. I spent the rest of that summer playing video games, running around with friends, and watching as much as of the “I Love The” series possibly could. Luckily my family had just set up our first DVR, so I was able to methodically record every episode of each season and watch them all sequentially.

It felt good. Actually, it felt incredible. It was like a self-imposed history lesson. I felt like I was doing homework that I actually enjoyed. In my mind, I this show was a comprehensive look at every year of pop culture before I was born. It was the first time I was ever “pop culture woke,” and I realized that a lot of important stuff happened before I was born. I made it my duty to study it. This was my first step toward becoming a pop culture historian.

A couple years later in 2008, I listened to my first podcast. That’s a topic deserving of its own post somewhere down the line (it’s something I’ve been working up to for years). But in 2011 that podcast spun-off into its own show and subsequent network: Laser Time. Laser Time is a topic-based podcast that covers the hyper-specific happenings of our pop-cultural landscape. The show has covered everything from bad Beatles covers, and dirty Christmas songs to surprisingly pervasive concepts like 80’s rap commercials and celebrity vanity projects. The network is also home to a comic book show, a video game podcast, a chronological exploration of The Simpsons, and much more.

Amongst the days and days worth of programming on the Laser Time Network, there is a slightly higher-concept show titled Thirty Twenty Ten. Thirty Twenty Ten is a “pop culture time machine” podcast that looks back at the music, movies, TV, and video games of this exact week 30, 20, and 10 years ago. It’s a blast to listen to, and it just recently clicked that I love this podcast for the same reason that I watched I Love The… series as a kid: it’s a fast-paced, unrelenting, and (relatively) comprehensive look back at our own pop culture history. It’s a carnivorous approach to media, one that doesn’t discriminate, and talks about these bits of the past with an absurd amount of reverence… well, as much reverence as you can have with a fart joke every episode.

I mean what other show would take the time to describe the beauty of the 1986 Transformers movie with an earnest and loving 30-minute discussion? And speaking of earnest, what podcast would care to break down the surprisingly-complicated history of Ernest P. Worrell? Hell, what other piece of media would jump from Predator, OK Computer, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the finale of The Sopranos all within in the same episode?

Thirty Twenty Ten is a blitz of pop culture past. Like a train whizzing by at 50 miles an hour where each compartment is a great forgotten album or hilariously-shitty TV movie. The conflux of the host’s knowledge and anecdotes from the audience (like yours truly) combines into a beautiful listening experience that’s unlike anything else out on the digital airwaves right now.

When I sat down to start writing this it was a warm sunny summer afternoon that brought to mind that one day I spent with my friend watching low-budget VH1 programming. Now as the sun sets over the trees I’m grateful that I have a new weekly fix that emulates the same experience, improves upon it, and gives me a 90-minute trip down memory lane every week.

It’s a pop culture geek’s dream.

We’re blessed to live in a world where we can find anything we want in an instant. From childhood recipes to old commercials, to half-remembered lyrics of some distant song. The thing is, most of us don’t take advantage of that resource because these memories aren’t on the forefront of our consciousness. Both I Love The… and Thirty Twenty Ten are great because they capitalize on this information in a way that nobody else is. They’re diving into the rich mine of our shared cultural touch points, and emerging with something from the listener’s own memory. Something that reflects who we are.

Over a decade ago VH1 programmed me to be an absolute dork of a pop culture sponge. Someone who collects, categorizes, and memorizes obsessively. Someone who values the history of art both high and low. It changed my life and made me into the person I am today.

And now Thirty Twenty Ten is reinforcing that. Giving me weekly satiation for my pop cultural hunger. And as my life becomes busier and busier, I can’t be that kid anymore. I can no longer be that middle schooler who spends an entire summer day sitting on his couch downing half a bag of fudgsicles. And as I’ve felt my post-college life whirring into place over the past year I’m grateful to have something like Thirty Twenty Ten there for me when I’m too busy or too tired to do it myself. It’s an absolute joy to have this program and its hosts in my life, and I hope that they continue the show until its logical conclusion. Podcasts have changed my life, and Thirty Twenty Ten is proof that this is all worth it.

Issa Grocery List: Every Reference to Food on 21 Savage's Issa Album

21 Savage is a man of few words, even fewer topics. Like most mainstream rappers in 2017, his songs tend to revolve around the modern day rapper’s delight: money, drugs, jewelry, and women. Of course, the only way to talk about these subjects with any sort of uniqueness is to discuss them in in a Tamarian-like language of punchlines and similes.  

On his latest release Issa Album 21 Savage uses food as a common reference point for many of these tropes. For a guy that makes “murder music,” he seems to have an affinity for common grocery store items to the point where it’s almost jarring. Issa a fantastically-produced album that’s full of bangers and exciting to listen to, but these lines stuck out like a sore thumb on first listen. I’ve compiled every food reference on the album here for your enjoyment.

#1

For those unaware, “cookie” refers to marijuana. A quality play on words and subversion of expectations by 21 here.

#2

Despite some criticism that Pringles aren’t produced or sold individually, this line acts as more of a reference to this common “dad joke” rhyme.

#3

An aggressive allusion to the fact that 21 Savage will unflinchingly shoot you in the head. Either that, or he’s a cartoonish high school bully dumping the nerd’s sodium-laden lunch in the cafeteria.

#4

A crass reference to fellatio. While I imagine “gumbo” is meant to be a clever reference to meat, I would personally find a comparison between my genitalia and the southern comfort food less than flattering.

#5

21 Savage is known for being a true street rapper with a troubled past. In contrast to many of his peers in the genre, his personality stems from experience while others tend to merely put up a facade of savagery.

#6

In one of the more braggadocious food-related similes on the record, 21 compares his style and essence to the freshest garnish in the kitchen: mint.

#7

A surprisingly-veiled and localized lyric referencing an Atlanta-based prison where 21 (presumably) consumed a great number of meals consisting of soup.

#8

I’m not even sure what this one means.

#9

A shoutout to this bakeware brand whose glassware is commonly used in cooking crack cocaine (or wrapping up leftovers.)

Thanks for reading

Japanese Breakfast – Soft Sounds From Another Planet | Album Review

Oh her sophomore album Michelle Zauner stretches the boundaries of space, time, and love.

Japanese Breakfast began as therapy. An outlet for Michelle Zauner to stitch together scraps of feelings and lo-fi pieces of self-help as a way to cope with life. Initially conceived as a solo spin-off from the Philadelphia-based Little Big League, Japanese Breakfast soon grew into a full-on meditation of death, guilt, and humanity that culminated in 2016’s unparalleled Psychopomp. Clocking in at a blazing 25 minutes, the album tackles life from every angle, directly contrasting the bliss of love with the impenetrable grief of loss. It’s a raw view of life that can only come from losing a parent.  

In her second album as a solo act, Michelle turns her focus toward what comes after death. At its core, Soft Sounds From Another Planet is an album about intimacy. Real intimacy. Love that is complicated, and modernized, and imperfect. It’s not quite as heavy of a listen as Psychopomp but manages to address the broad subject in an equally honest and poetic way.

Soft Sounds opens with the absurdly-groovy “Diving Woman.” A spaced-out bass-driven 6-minute epic that sounds like a track off of a Breeders album or a forgotten Sonic Youth b-side. Based on pre-release interviews, this song seems to be the album’s “thesis” drawing parallels between relationships in 2017 and the Korean tradition of female sea divers called haenyeo.

After outlining her aim to be a “woman of regimen” Michelle repeatedly sings her desires: “I want it all.” After flashes of faded drugs and dead animals Michelle addresses a third party “When I get back there, baby / Gonna make it a home” which is followed up with “You’ll have it all / We’ll have it all.” It’s still a song about insatiability, but also wanting somebody to share it with. The tracks’ jangly 3-minute outro provides a meditative period for the listener to reflect on the tracks’ reassurances that “We’ll have it all.”  

From there Michelle ventures back into the grimy and dark word of modern day Philadelphia with “Road Head” where she recounts the visceral sex scene of a failed relationship over a dreamy soundscape. It’s a sexy but unsettling song, especially when paired with the song’s self-directed video. The outro of this song finds Michelle toying with her own vocal samples on a loop board over the now-familiar beat.

As a side note: I’ve had “Road Head” stuck in my head since seeing the band live in June. Witnessing Michelle improvise this song’s extended outro on her loop board was one of the musical highlights of my year so far. I still haven’t been able to make it through the album without rewinding to listen to this track at least once.

From there the “Road Head” bleeds warmly into the swirl and artificial air of “Machinist” which serves as the album’s lead single. When played live, Michelle introduces “Machinist” as ‘a song about falling in love with a robot.’ The track opens with a calmly-delivered monologue by Michelle that sound as if she’s talking to you directly. “I don’t know how it happened / Was it always this way, and I just couldn’t see it? / Heart burning hot enough for the both of us / I never realized how much you were holding back.” It’s a painful set of lines that immediately launches into a dancy explosion of instrumentation and distorted vocals.

“Machinist” concludes with a chorus that calls back directly to the album’s first track: “Can’t speak / You wanted it all / Let go a piece of your heart / All the pleasure it gives / Leave me, lost in the night / Shadows go in and go by / I just wanted it all” This brings back up the concept of wanting “it all” with some unknown force standing in the way.

When asked about the recurring use of space as a framing device on the album Michelle explained: “I used the theme as a means to disassociate from trauma.” The remainder of Soft Sounds’ tracks revolve around Michelle’s relationships large and small. From meeting her husband at a smoke-filled bar to her bassist who took a break from their previous band to write on Jimmy Fallon. In jumping between all these different people that have filtered in and out of her life, Michelle reveals a little bit about herself piece by piece.

And while I don’t think we’ll ever know all there is to know about Michelle, I’ll happily study each breadcrumb that she lays down. People come in and out of our lives every day. Sometimes it’s a sudden painful shock, sometimes it’s a gradual fade over time. Japanese Breakfast is proof that life continues. And through all the obstacles and cosmic unfairness, there are still people out there for you.

Even as loved ones die. Even as celebrities pass. Even as cruel men continue to win. Happiness can flourish. Sometimes all it takes is a chance encounter at the bar down the street. Or battling through multiple terrible relationships to arrive at the right one. It’s about sharing life and sharing trauma. If you truly want it all, that means good and bad, but you’ll emerge from the other side a more whole person.