Formed in 2018 by longtime DIY musician Jordan LeVeque, whose punk rock bonafides include a stint as the final resident/booker of North Portland standby Fail House, Slender Gems are a murderer’s row of some of the city’s finest musical talents. Equally influenced by the big, opened-tuned chords of 90s slacker-rock and the elegant shredding of 70s AOR, they are at once grandiose and intimate, with LeVeque’s acerbic observations of our spiritually bankrupt world, a resounding clarion call over their guitar pyrotechnics
Rambush is an experimental sludge-pop trio originally formed in Portland, OR in 2012. Members, Jack Stringer, Hank Smith, and Joey Furness have now found themselves in Los Angeles to start anew after a 7 year hiatus. Blending a mixture of grunge, rock, pop, and experimental sounds, Rambush is recognized by their dynamic arrangements and multi-part vocal harmonies.
Portland’s Collate play music that recalls late ’70s/early ’80s minimalist post-punk, and loops through the styles and genres influenced by that music a million times until you end up with a sound that is evocative of the past but also modern—kind of like when you photocopy and re-photocopy something until it distorts and becomes something new and weird. The lyrics are sometimes blatantly political but always wry and clever. Collate always handles themselves with cool restraint, even when frustration, anger, and joy are palpably bubbling under the surface. Made up of Erika (bass/vox), Jacyn (guitar/vox), and Janie (drums), Collate has put out two full lengths, two 7”s, and a handful of random tapes over the years and there’s more to come.
