The ghosts of Port O'Brien come to life with a record built for a Hummingbird Award - Ryan Stively
Uncorked™ Ryan Stively
Port O’Brien breaking up messed with my head. I loved their last record Threadbare so much, it was a combination of Built to Spill and Bowerbirds. Folky, fuzzy and good. Then they dissolved the unit, Van floated over to WATERS and Ryan Stively, the long-time member and co-conspirator has now stepped out to create some southern fried, San Francisco gems on his debut record Soft Kingdom. It was recorded over the span of 6 months on borrowed and leftover studio time with former tour-mate and Portland multi-instrumentalist Cory Gray (Carcrashlander, Desert City Soundtrack). It’s part Broken Social Scene, part National brooding and a whole lot of Wilco (Tweedy) or even Bridwell’s stylings for Band of Horses…hell even a little M. Wardy. These 8 tracks could rival any record we’ve heard in the past 6 months. Buy it here.
Vitals: Hometown: Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA (Right in our own backyard) Members: Ryan Stively (Port O’Brien), Cambria Goodwin (Port O’Brien), Graham LeBron (Rogue Wave, Album Leaf) and Joey Ficken (Sea Wolf) appear. Sonic Soulmates™: Bowerbirds, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Rogue Wave, M. Ward Trackables™:
“We Forget Everything”
Port O'Brien flooded with WATERS and the sound is magnificent
BOD (10.26.11) WATERS
It’s easy to say that bands these days are derivative. I hear so many people refer to bands as “Sounding like…” or “These guys are so derivative of…” that too easy. Making music isn’t easy and if you’re a talented artist and you do the work, then you shouldn’t have to suffer from comparisons. It’s hard not to, we even showcase our “Sonic Soulmates” because it makes it more palatable for the listener, but I have to admit that it bias the listening experience. You instantly think of the artist referred then the artist playing. The reason for this diatribe is that our BOD WATERS just doesn’t conjure up that easy comparison. Making our job so much easier today. Van Pierszalowski formerly of Port O’Brien, which is no more (so sad), traversed the coasts from Alaska to Oslo back to SF and he’s created more aqually awesome music. You could say that his reverb heavy garage rock sounds are college radio friendly, but I tend lean towards his softer approach that still cranks out troubling guitar riffs and distorted ear piercing sounds. He’s getting all the play and his vocals hover around Yo La Tengo. Grab the new record Out In The Night and make your day with new music.
Vitals:
Hometown: Oslo, Norway; San Francisco, CA; Brooklyn, NY
Members: Van Pierszalowski
Sonic Soulmates™: Yo La Tengo?
Trackables™:
“For the One”
NewBandDay 