ALL THINGS MUSIC
PAGE 4 • GO! MAGAZINE
Thursday, June 17, 2021 • The BuLLeTIn
Bandcampin’: Good stuff for your ears
BY BEN SALMON • For The Bulletin
B
andcamp is an online music platform used largely by independent artists and record labels to stream songs and sell merchandise. It’s
also a vibrant virtual community teeming with interesting sounds just waiting to be discovered. Each week, I’ll highlight three releases
available on the site that are well worth your time and attention. If you find something you dig, please consider supporting the artist with a
purchase.
WAKE UP, “Tigers Can’t Be Choosers”
According to the blurb on the al-
bum’s Bandcamp page, “Tigers Can’t Be
Choosers” was recorded nearly 10 years
ago, but you’d be forgiven for thinking
that’s a typo and that the correct num-
ber is 30. That would peg it to 1991-ish,
which lines up perfectly with Wake Up’s
classic indie-rock sound. This Califor-
nia band is totally sick of being com-
pared to Pavement or they’re as flattered
as can be. Or maybe it’s both. Either
way, “Tigers” contains lots of Pave-
ment-isms, from the tumbling rhythms,
jangling guitars and breezy cool to Evan
Mui’s lead vocals, which share more
than a passing resemblance to Stephen
Malkmus. It’s a familiar sound, and one
“Wake Up” does really well!
TRISTEN, “Aquatic Flowers”
Nashville-based singer-songwriter
Tristen came to Bend a few years ago,
sandwiched on a bill between two me-
diocre dude bands. At the time, it felt
like she was trying to figure out if she
was more of a folk singer or a roots-pop
aspirant, and she seemed like she was
spinning her wheels. “Aquatic Flowers”
finds her unstuck and cruising. These
tunes are efficient and catchy: “Complex”
is all warm, strummy acoustic guitar,
with a vaguely motorik beat and gauzy
outro. “Wrong With You” takes crush-
ing self-loathing and dips it in perfectly
crisp indie-pop. And “Athena” feels like
a throwback to the ‘60s, with cool surf-
rock ‘n’ soul vibes reverberating through
the song. Toe-tappers, all of ’em.
ROSTAM, “Changephobia”
Rostam Batmanglij is still best
known as a key cog in the musical ma-
chine that made Vampire Weekend one
of the best rock bands of the past 15
years or so. But he left VW in 2016, and
since then, he has released two fine solo
albums under his own name. The new-
music notes
Lake Street Dive to headline
Les Schwab on Sept. 17
Lake Street Dive will perform with special guest Allison Russell
Sept. 17 at Les Schwab Amphitheater, according to an Old Mill Dis-
trict announcement.
The versatile, genre-defying group opened for the Avett Brothers
in 2019 at the Amphitheater, whose current season is up to 22 con-
certs so far, with a promise of more show announce-
ments in the offing.
Online presales run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thurs-
day at www.bendconcerts.com, with the password
“OBVIOUSLY,” according to the release. Regular sales
will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at either bendconcerts.
com or the Old Mill District Ticket Mill, located be-
tween Lush and Tumalo Art Co.
— David Jasper: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com
est one is “Changephobia,” which finds
Batmanglij reining in his brighter ten-
dencies and rolling out a more muted
— but still synth-heavy — sound. One
thing hasn’t changed, however: his
knack for sophisticated pop songs ar-
ranged in ways that feel warm and un-
cluttered and intimate. If you felt like
something was missing from VW’s last
album (2019’s “Father of the Bride”),
you may very well find it on “Change-
phobia.”
e
Ben Salmon is a Bend-based music journalist
and host of Left Of The Dial, which airs 8-10 p.m.
Thursdays on KPOV, 88.9 FM and streams at kpov.
org. You can find him on Bandcamp and Twitter at
@bcsalmon.
Lake Street Dive
is seen opening
for Avett Broth-
ers in 2019 at Les
Schwab Amphi-
theater, where
Lake Street Dive
will headline
Sept. 17.
Nate Wyeth/submitted