Loch Lomond, Live at WFMU (MP3s)

Since moving to New York this fall, Portland, OR seems to be slipping further away from me by the week. I'm not sure I can remember the bus routes anymore. Hearing that Loch Lomond, a Portland-based chamber folk ensemble signed to Hush Records, was touring New York this week gave me the chance to have them over to our studio and be aurally reminded of all the bike lanes and good coffee that I've done without.

Loch Lomond is comprised of a precious gaggle of players led by Richie Young, a young man who could walk amongst deer and not frighten them. They stir up a lush and intelligently sentimental sound that fans of Stuart David-era Belle and Sebastian will enjoy.

This is what became of a few enjoyable evening hours at WFMU this weekend. They dragged a variety of stringed and reeded instruments and played the drums very lightly. (Thanks for the engineering support, gang.)

Bird and a Bear
Tick
Song in 3/4
Carl Sagan
Elephants and Little Girls
Stripe II
Witchy

They played a show at The Knitting Factory last week but don't worry - you haven't missed your chance to see them live in NY. They're playing two shows in Brooklyn this week: Thursday (tomorrow) at Union Hall with Tiny Vipers and Jill Barber and then 8 PM Friday at SoundFix Records with Dappled Cities.

t

Comments

[K]

hmmm... sort of a Steeleye Span/Fairport Convention Lite version. Didn't know this sort of stuff was popular now; prolly heard more of this genre at the old Bottom Line than I'd care to admit. As I might be heading out to Portland OR soon anything you'd care to recommend of the music scene there?

[Jordan]

I moved from portland to Indiana in August and I still remember some of the bus lines. The 9 goes from Powell to downtown and the 20 runs down burnside and the 4 goes down division....that's all I got. Oh yeah the 14 is goes down Hawthorne.

[Alan P. Scott]

Fascinating... and beautiful music. As it happens, Loch Lomond's violist Amanda (in the back on the left, in the picture on this page) is our kids' talented violin teacher as well (for now, anyway... though I fear this tour will change that!).
More Portland bus lines for ya: the 15 is the Belmont bus, and the 71 runs N/S to Clackamas... those are the ones I'm most familiar with.
Going off to give another listen to "Carl Sagan."

[Cary Clarke]

Some of my current favorite Portland bands, K:

Nice Nice
Menomena
The Joggers
Au
Dragging an Ox through Water
Evolutionary Jass Band
Starfucker
Alan Singley
Copy
Talkdemonic
Yellow Swans
Horse Feathers
Black Elk
YACHT

There's really an embarrassment of riches here. I'm certainly partial, as I'm one of the founders, but probably the easiest one-stop way to get a sense of what's going on in Portland music-wise is to pick up a copy of the annual (since '04) PDX Pop Now! double-disc compilations of Portland music, which only cost $7 and can be found on cdbaby.com here. Happy hunting!

[K]

Thanx for the tip Cary; I'll be sure to check it out when I land.

Here's a tip for Alan, get out the 6 string and play along with Carl. The first bit is in the nabe of Dmaj ( open the first and third strings to get the changes ), then Amaj, Emaj, Gmaj for a few, then back to the D. I could imagine a pretty sweet solo at the break with the electric, it could use a little umph there to put it over the top. All open chords, easy enough, your kid'll love it.