What better way to spend your lazy Sunday afternoon with Great Northern and The Upsidedown, a little Guitar Hero II, excellent hamburgers off the grill, and tasty cold beverages at Little Radio. There is no good excuse not to be at Little Radio's Sunday Summer camp.
The Upsidedown hailing from the musical hotbed of Portland stirred up the psychedelic with groovy throwback sun drenched sounds. Their listed influences were right on with elements of Dandy Warhols, Black Angels and Simon & Garfunkel. Their most recent release is "Trust Electricity" out on Reverb records and should resonate with fans of the psychedelic. Jsun Atoms (Vocals,Guitar) was dressed like a character out of Clockwork Orange providing some droney vocals that matched well with the washes of sound. Tristan Evans was impressive on her Rickenbacker Bass flanked by Sarah Jane (Keyboards, Tambourine) who added some percussion via the Tambourine as well as a few dance moves.
Warning. Great Northern is on the verge of becoming immensely popular. I hope you at least downloaded "Home" off itunes a few weeks ago as it was the featured download of the week. It is hard to think that I saw them six months ago at Little Radio for the Plug Awards. I have kept missing their shows due to concert conflicts but was eager to see them again. They recently released "Trading Twilight For Daylight" on Eenie Meenie records and it is an excellent album. The album features the soaring vocal melodies and lush orchestral string pads augmented by some dreamy guitar work. Solon Bixler (Vocals,Guitar) was coaxing guitar lines out of his Fender guitar effectively with a sampler and his Deluxe Memory Man. Rachel Stolte (Vocals, Keyboards) was the orchestral architect with her use of keyboard strings and piano sounds. Ashley Dzerigian was quitely playing her white Gibson Thunderbird bass until see stepped on her Big Muff Distortion pedal and got your attention quickly. Davey Latter (Drums) earned his money for the day pounding away on the drums in light of the increasing temperature in the venue. Overall though, it comes down to the fact that they write great songs that capture you and stick in your head. Some of the highlights included "Home", "Just A Dream" and "Telling Lies". They are playing the Belly Up on August 9th and Spaceland on August 10th. Get your tickets now before your friends tell you they saw Great Northern back in the day at a small venue.
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