Weinland

"La Lamentor delivers an impressive set of dusty folk rock ballads that easily recall the quieter side of Neil Young and maybe even some Elliot Smith. It only took one listen for the addictive melodies of lead singer/songwriter Adam Shearer’s best tunes to find a new home lodged inside my head." - Pop Headwound

I had the pleasure of running sound for Weinland (myspace | vimeo) at the Skinless Productions Art Gallery in June. The audio rig at Skinless is small and I pretty much just run vocals and an occasional line in or two.

The point is that Weinland sounded fantastic. Their levels were even across the board. To me, it's a sign of a good band when everyone knows where they fit without needing any help from the sound guy. I just raised the vocals and cello so that they fit in.

But, don't take my word for it. Here are some videos for your viewing and listening pleasure:



Weinland and The Portland Cello Project: "God Here I Come" from Douglas Jenkins on Vimeo.




Weinland with The Portland Cello Project: "La Lamentor" from Douglas Jenkins on Vimeo.


Douglas Jenkins of the Portland Cello Project joined their tour prior to the show. I'm so glad he did. Hopefully the video's can illustrate why.

So go see Weinland play. Tell them, "Chris says hello." They'll tell you stories of the road and be happy to share their time with you. They have super cool t-shirts as well. Thank you guys for a fantastic show and the chance to meet some wonderful people. Best of luck to you all.

Reviews:

• “Sick as a Gun” and “The Devil in Me” both document drunken power games (or the past-times of those who dig drama) and seem set during the yesteryear when drama was an even better game of chess because the advent of cell phones hadn’t introduced its expedited means of conflict-resolution. Consider the following: “Don’t pick up the phone, I’d rather think there’s no one home / And I will leave my voice, and never tell you where I’ve been” (“Sick as a Gun”); “He knows he’ll always love her so he carves it in his arm / Hoping she will call him and break his fucking heart” (“The Devil in Me”). Land lines? Enough time in between calls to get a tattoo? That was another world, one where romantic disputes weren’t solved by deleting friends on MySpace. Such mind games may have been inspired by Weinland’s six-year tenure working with emotionally-disturbed adolescents. Weinland himself has noted that much of the content on this LP was written in the studio while recalling personal stories or everyday struggles.
  -by David MacFadden-Elliott on Crawdaddy!
  


• Having spent most waking and sleeping moments on the road since late March in service of supporting its sophomore LP "La Lamentor," the Portland-based sextet Weinland staged a triumphant return to its native soil in front of a packed, energized crowd at the Aladdin Theater on Saturday night, bringing fellow Stumptown indie purveyors Norfolk & Western and A Weather along for the ride in a terrific all-local bill.
  -by COREY duBROWA on www.oregonlive.com
  

Buy Weinland Music

• La Lamentor


• Demersville

Gotye's Refreshing Sound

"Variously described as (i) a reclusive hunchback with a penchant for blue cheese and a horrible flatulence problem, (ii) a leading Soviet authority on ancient and early modern Russian political, economic and social history or (iii) a debilitating affliction of the neck (resulting from a childhood inattention to spelling), in actual fact, Gotye is just a young Australian fellow named Wally De Backer who makes music in his bedroom."
-www.gotye.com

Wally De Backer's solo musical wonder, Gotye (myspace), is...well, frankly so good I'm at a loss for words. Apparently, critics agree, as he was the recipient of 2007's best male artist ARIA (beaten out on other nominations by another amazing Australian 2007 release - Silverchair's "Young Modern"). If you are a fan of rich instrumentation, or simply enjoy catchy lyrics to sing along to, this man delivers with rich orchestration and a sound that gives shame to any of the genre's that it emerges from. I have yet to hear a track from Gotye's latest release "Like Drawing Blood" that wouldn't stand on it's own as a single. You're already here, watch the videos and listen for yourself. You WILL be missing out if you don't click "play" on all of the videos below...

Reviews:

• "The result is one of the most diverse and pleasing musical experiences you are likely to come across. It's not quite rock, it's not quite dance, it's not quite chill, it's not even blues - in fact, trying to define a genre for "Like Drawing Blood" is about as easy as pronouning the name Gotye itself. But it's so rich with sincerity and melody, genre seems almost irrelevant."
  www.webwombat.com


• "...Like Drawing Blood is an important album, not only for its music (which grooves and croons its way into your heart) but for the encouraging fact that it’s at least a contender, and that this fiercely singular Australian musician could really get somewhere based upon the strength of his music."
  www.popmatters.com


• "The other big standout-- "Heart's a Mess"-- sounds a lot like its animated video looks. In the video, long-legged machine-creatures stalk a ravaged mechanical countryside in the moonlight and ultimately float off into space. A simple but effective organ figure balances De Backer's softly delivered verses with an off-kilter counterpart, egging him on to the song's climax, where he rises to a full shout on the lines "It makes no sense/ But I'm desperate to connect." Judging by the sounds here, the connection isn't going to happen anytime soon, and he'll probably be wandering in the moonlight for quite a while."
  www.pitchforkmedia.com

Buy "Like Drawing Blood"