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12 JULY 7, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
KICKIN’ OUT THE JAMS
Warpaint, Marv Ellis bring it all back home
BY ANDY VALENTINE
C
ome ye! Come all ye hippies,
craftsmen, musicians, artists,
faeries, potheads, salesmen
and other such Eugeneans; this
year’s Oregon Country Fair has
a fabulous music lineup and
you defi nitely want to be in the know
before you fi nd your buzz being harshed
by something you’d sooner not hear. Of
course, the chances of this happening are
incredibly low — that is, unless you’ve
managed to procure some of Hunter
S. Thompson’s mythic, recreationally
accessible Adrenochrome — but it might
put your mind at ease to have advance
warning of what you’re in for.
So here we go: Chill out, make a
dandelion chain and let this be a guide
of six to your awesome musical Country
Fair experience.
As always, the Country Fair lineup
packs a punch delivered mostly by blue-
grass, jam and reggae groups — but what
of Warpaint? This locally rooted, four-
part female powerhouse out of L.A. is
about as describable through language as
a volatile and heart-pounding LSD trip in
the middle of a ticking clock, yet there’s
something hauntingly familiar about the
band’s droning, pop-rock sound that makes
you want to drop what you’re doing and
follow them into the perfectly tuned dreamworld they create. Theorists
around here speculate that only alien technology could be responsible
for bringing such a foursome together back in ‘04, but chances are it
was just a perfectly harmonized, well-executed conspiracy designed to
throw the world into shock and awe.
All levity aside, though, the women in Warpaint have a chemistry
that’s hard to top, their chops are intense, and the best part is they’ve
found a sound that works. It’s their fi rst year playing the Country
Fair, but that shouldn’t stop them from feeling right at home, and
it also shouldn’t stop you from feeling like you’ve found a place
to call home when they step on stage. They’re sanitary, post-hippie
masterminds, and every second of their dense compositional power
warrants attention.
Speaking of dense, this year’s Country Fair welcomes a group
that could be a contender for the most dreadlocks per capita
award: Hailing originally from Jamaica, the members of Rootz
Underground are staunch purveyors of synergistic, revolutionary
reggae. They’ve combined the chilled-out vibe of a modernized
Wailers, the soul and consistency of blues and the wild musical chops
of modern funk to form the basis for their overlordic reggaelution,
and that’s just the tip of the iceberg-devil’s-lettuce. When Stephen
Newland starts pouring out his soul into the microphone, an air of
passionate genius seems to fl oat down from the sky like some kind
of veiled, rebellious precipitation. Seriously, if these guys were
louder they’d sound like Rage Against the Machine any day: “You
are the ones who can hold your ground, / the more you listen the
more you learn, / romp with fi re and your skin gonna burn, / What
you gonna do when the tables turn?” So yeah, by the time they’re
done you’re pretty much gonna be on their side, like it or not.
If you’re at the Country Fair, scrupulously performed mathematics
tell us that you have a 59 percent chance of being a dirty, stinking
hippie. With this in mind, a cool majority of you are gonna love
7 Walkers. Ex-Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann has, in
recent years, taken his chops down a path of isolation from the other
Dead members, and while his new music stays in touch with the
bluesy country jams of his hayday, the tunes still stand apart with
wicked, beautiful intensity. Lovers of that dusty, tie-dyed, dancing
bear, psychedelic-fueled jam band music will fi nd solace in 7
Walkers, but don’t be surprised when the ratio of originals-to-Dead
songs is weighted more toward the former. That said, you’ll probably
be trippin’ balls, so it doesn’t much matter what you’re hearing as
long as the Steal Your Face vibe stands strong.
Warpaint
PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
Before you hit the peak of this long, three-day adventure, by the
way, you might want a little pick-me-up to get things started. Enter
Marv Ellis and The Platform, a locally founded, fully fl edged hip
hop jazz group with infl uence that can be credited to acts such as the
Roots and Digable Planets. Not only does lead MC Marv Ellis have
reasonable fl ow and cooled-off vocals to offer, he’s also been known
to throw down a freestyle or two. By the time his fi rst year on the
scene had drawn to a close, he’d already gotten more than 100 shows
buckled under his belt and been named the Northwest’s number one
unsigned hip hop and fusion artist. Are we intrigued yet?
At this point, you might be freaking out, thinking there are no
string bands to groove on. Have no fear, Elephant Revival is
here. The members of this neo-acoustic quintet — which hails from
Nederland, Colo. — have far more tricks up their fl annel sleeves
than you might fi rst think. From the moment they began cutting
their teeth, they’ve been pioneers of an emerging genre known as
“transcendental folk,” and it seems the only way to sum this sound
up is by listening to it. Take the eerie, folky string band sound of
last year’s Country Fair bigwig Black Prairie, add some electrifi ed
energy and throw it into a beautiful, wide-echoing well of reverb.
The skinny is this: Not only are they beautiful compositionally,
they’re all fantastic at what they do — fun, poppy-come-mellow
folk music. Oh yeah, and they have voices like poppy sirens, so
that’s a bonus.
If you’re still in the mood to get your sweaty, sunny dance
on after two full days of Country Fair, then Cabinessence is
defi nitely worth checking out. They’re opening up for Warpaint
and they should set the stage nicely. With a real funky rock ‘n’ roll
feel going on, Cabinessence has a penchant for taking the rock
genre and fucking with everything beneath the umbrella. You’ll
hear funky ass wah-wah guitars side by side with rock ‘n’ roll
twang piano, happy lyrics sidling their way mischievously into
minor chord progressions, indie-folk pop vibes dancing for joy
behind walls of ‘50s boogie woogie and whinging dobro falling
neatly into place between modernized country emotives. This is
where your Sunday night starts to get psychedelic, so don’t fret;
just chill out and enjoy.
The Oregon Country Fair music scene is something to revel in,
and if you don’t you’re gonna have a bad time. At fi rst glance it’ll
probably look like a bunch of dirty, stinking hippies jamming out,
but trust me, they’re so much more than that.
ew
More information on dates, times, and stages at oregoncountryfair.org
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