Vacant Stares are a fairly new gem here in Portland, but they’ve been difficult to miss lately. At this point I’ve seen them everywhere from the Out From The Shadows Festival Pre-Event Party to Doctor Who themed bar/restaurant The Tardis Room. They’re the perfect amount of gloomy, rainy post-punk and their ever-presence in Portland is highly appreciated. They take a minimalist approach often bordering on shoegaze – it’s excellent moody music. “Anomie” is the latest of several music videos they’ve released in the last 6 months. If you’re into this, I highly recommend subscribing to their YouTube channel and checking out the rest of their videos (my favorite is “Depopulist”). You can also keep updated about their shows through Facebook. For now they just have 3 singles available on Bandcamp, but they’re releasing a cassette next month on Vacant Decade!
[youtube id=”fl_c94yKrrg”]
At this point, Portland darkwave/synthpop duo Sex Park (with Daniel Blumenthal on vocals/guitar and Paul Burkhart on synths/drum machines) is pretty well known locally. They never fail to put on an excellent show, getting better and better each of the 4-5 times I’ve seen them, most recently and impressively at Out From The Shadows III Festival. For those whose ears have not yet been graced, I’d say they definitely lean on the dance-y Joy Division/New Order side of post-punk/darkwave. Be sure to follow their Facebook to keep updated!
[youtube id=”cp-pRk86Njk”]
Many of you probably know Shadowlands from the Out From The Shadows festivals where they kill on stage each year. They really put their hearts and souls into the music and it shows every single time; they completely come alive on stage. My first experience with them was their record release show for 001. The bar was completely packed with people, several of which I overheard discussing how they “never come out to shows, but couldn’t miss this.” These guys have their own unique flavor of post-punk/darkwave that I really haven’t heard anywhere else. From drummer Casey, “We made it ourselves with the help of our videographer friend Bryon Phillips, and those are my kids. The song was written by Amy about raising the kids to have connection with real life and rejecting the false reality that social media can portray.” Their kids will also be in attendance at the all-ages video release show on June 25th with Tweaker Sneakers and Dreckig at Blackwater Bar!
[youtube id=”f0jTaGOr2Fw”]
