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Believe In new music
T he I nfinite X s
The Infinite Xs •
Chainsaw Records
T he N arcissist
Rory Merritt Stztt •
S elfreleased
Just Out finds a bunch of Portland queers
o a few years
ago you threw
in the towel
and finally conced
ed that all new
music is shit. You
stopped buying CDs
and reading pop culture magazines, you stopped
going to shows.
Well, folks, I’m here to tell you: G o buy the
Infinite Xs record. It will make you believe in
new music again.
The hand is composed of four recognizable
players: Jody Bley le, who made a name for her
self as the outspoken member of two former
Portland groups, Hazel and Team Dresch;
Tamala Poljak and Scotty Walsh, who, along
with Bleyle, were once with Automaticans;
and Whitney Skillcom, former singer/guitarist
for Fighter D.
All talented, all queer.
T he self-titled record features three dis
tinct songwriting voices (Bleyle, Poljak and
Skillcom ) hut is masterfully pieced together,
so it flows with both the ease o f a meandering
stream and the spunk of whitewater rapids.
Bleyle’s songs are deep and ferocious, true,
mortal, yet invincible. One of her contributions
is powerfully titled “What I Believe." She belts,
“I believe good things are gonna come/that’s
what I believe/1 believe inspiration will fill my
lungs/that’s what 1 believe,” and later, “I believe
that vision will come, and the fear will go.”
Poljak is like Paul McCartneys evil dyke sis
ter, writing pop songs that stick to you like dirty
S
underwear. “Joanna” is an infectious, ’80s-style
dance number; “Shoot ’Em in the Foot” and
“Brand New Reconnection” are hard-rocking
and hook-filled.
Skillcom has the grittiest style of the three,
hut it’s also sensitive and beautifully emotive.
“The Body’s Beat” seems to he about her deep
relationship to music and music’s deep relation
ship to love. On this song, she’s composed
seamless time signature switches, so the music
itself moves like a confused, tormented dancer.
Riding on the strength of these uniquely
powerful female songwriters, the Infinite Xs
has something almost every single new group
doesn’t: talent.
Talent, folks.
It’s enough to make you forget you gave up
on music in the first place.
— Katy Davidson
G aragepro
Leila Chieko Trio • S e lf released
t’s a wonderful thing to he surprised. For
example, when I was given the Garagepro EP
(available at Music Millennium and Bor
ders in Portland and C D World and Mother
Kali’s in Eugene) by the Leila Chieko Trio, I
took one look at the shoddy, home computer
generated cover and thought to myself, “This is
totally gonna blow.”
I
But when I put on the CD, I found myself
wanting to listen, wanting to learn more about
Leila, rocking out.
I found myself in a pleasurably hazy world
of grunge, blues and rock music. I found
myself on the Internet, reading through her
lyrics (at www.leilaleilaleila.com), bonding
with her about womanly love and its joys
and misfortunes.
Chieko is a Hawaiian Portlander who plays
the dnims whenever she’s not heavily riffing on
her guitar or belting out lyrics, which she does
often at local clubs.
G aragepro (named after the hand’s prac
tice space, perhaps) opens with “Silver
Rings,” a catchy tune about two women tom
apart. I detect traces of Melissa Etheridge
and Ani DiFranco in her singing style and
traces of Soundgarden and Nirvana in her
riffs. It wouldn’t faze me to find some old
metal records in Chieko’s collection. I can
respect this.
Equally as respectable, the singer shows a
more delicate side on the third track, “Swept
Off.” It’s slow and it has a pretty piano intro,
giving the mostly rocking EP some breathing
room.
Chieko’s style is a little too recycled to
change the world. But her raw talent is enough
to surprise even the most skeptical critic.
— KD
C ru sh
Voua F rm E stivai ^j)
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MTO (MT?MATTONAI K m FfSnw
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"W hen the year is over, Cuaron’s
film w ill be remembered as
AS ONE OF
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TWO THUMBS
WAY UP!"
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K aty D avidson fronts the Portland band
Dear N ora.
L ynn THOMAS is a Portland'orea musician.
wine ba
presents:
B ut F ore tew K
he music of
Portlander Rory
Merritt Stitt is
an eclectic fusion of
Techno-Sondheim-
Bowie with snatch
es of Fats Waller
thrown in for good measure. The Narcissist (avail
able at Music Millennium and Everyday Music in
Portland) has it all— haunting melodies, riveting
rhythms and synthetic sound— juxtaposed over a
solid foundation of jazz piano.
While much of the music world is busily rac
ing from retro to pure acoustic, Stitt rides an atom
splitter of synthesized percussion right through the
heart of Yanni. “Crazy Horse” harnesses together
multiple rhythmic schemes, which then toss the
listener along the bucking path blazed by the
lyrics of the song. The rich, dark timbre of his
voice embraces the eros of his truth.
Because Stitt is also a visual artist, much of
his music evokes strong images. The song
“Even in You" exploits a four-chord theme that
is restless and repetitive yet hubbies incessantly
upward toward the surface.
Stitt is the only two-time winner of the
Juneau Symphony Concerto competition and
was chosen as one of only 10 new artists to be
represented by Unsigned America for further
promotion in Europe and Asia.
— Lynn Thomas J H
T
making some damn fine sounds
Morrison
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