Typhoon

After getting my ass kicked by a hurricane last week, it's only fitting that a new song is released from the fine Portland band Typhoon, their first new music in over two years..

Typhoon

Typhoon at Terminal West, 2014

Here's a pretty impressive video of Portland's Typhoon performing in their home-town Crystal Ballroom, a great venue even if it's not air-conditioned and was punishingly hot the times I visited during MFNW (RIP) events in past Septembers.  Like almost every Typhoon song ever written, those in this video are mostly about growing up afflicted with Lyme's disease. 

Typhoon at Terminal West, Atlanta, March 17, 2014

Typhoon at Terminal West, March 17, 2014

Now that the tragedy-marred SXSW is over and done with, we can resume March Madness here in the ATL.

Phox is a six-piece indie pop band from Baraboo, Wisconsin. Fronted by alluring singer Monica Martin, they kicked off the second half of March Madness with a fine set at Terminal West.

Actually, that's not completely correct.  The truth of the matter is, I was late getting there last night, having attended to my standing obligation on Monday evenings, and by the time I got there at around 8:45, I had missed the opener, Natural Blond, and Phox was already well into the second set of the night.

I liked what I heard, but I was also a little surprised by how crowded the venue was, given the relatively early (by rock standards) hour and that it was only the headliner's first appearance in Atlanta.  I spent most of Phox's set trying to find a decent vantage point to see the stage in the crowded room without rudely cutting right in front of someone already there.  By the time I finally settled in about five or so rows back from the stage, Phox only had a few songs left to their set, but as I said, I liked what I heard.  I hope they pass this way again when I can make it on time.   

They were good, but the large crowd was really there to see Portland's Typhoon, an 11-piece, folk-rock mini-orchestra fronted by Kyle Morton.

Bragging rights: unlike most people in the audience (this was the band's first appearance in Atlanta), I've seen Typhoon play before, twice in fact, both times at MFNW (RIP).  They performed during 2011 on the festival's showcase stage, the outdoor Pioneer Courthouse Square, and the day before at a KEXP radio broadcast from the Doug Fir Lounge.  Here's a Dude-I-Was-There video from the Doug Fir performance to give you an idea of what they're like: 

Fortunately, they haven't changed much in the 2 1/2 years since that show, and Typhoon brought much the same sound to Terminal West last night. The large audience greeted them enthusiastically, and from the opening Honest Truth to the end of the set, everyone, including your humble narrator, was pumping their fists and bobbing their heads along with the music.  

Typhoon are an 11-piece band, and their tour must be an interesting logistical challenge in its own right. They feature two drummers, a three-piece horn section, two strings, two guitars, bass, and keyboards, and frontman Kyle Morton sings and plays both guitar and keyboards. 

By the time their set started, I managed to work my way up to about the third row, but it was still hard to get good pictures of the band, or any pictures of the entire band at all, as they took up so much stage space, one would need an ultra-wide-angle lens and an empty venue to capture them all. 

So, yes, it was a great set.  Typhoon played triumphantly, the audience was over-the-top receptive, Morton was blown away by how nice Terminal West is to play, and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.  The band even snuck in a few stanzas of With A Little Help From My Friends near the end of their set, playing it in their own distinctive style that sounded neither like The Beatles nor Joe Cocker.   

For their encore, the band played a long, extended number, and what can you say about a band that in the course of one song, can evoke comparisons to Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Dirty Projectors, Beirut, Fanfarlo, and Jim James?  This isn't that song, but here's their video for set opener The Honest Truth.

New Shows

I finally got the Upcoming Shows gadget over there to the right working again and apparently just in time as there have been a lot of announcements today about new concerts coming up in Atlanta.  The most exciting of these announcements, IMHO, is Portland's folk-rock orchestra Typhoon finally coming to town (March 17), and playing at what is perhaps my favorite venue, Terminal West, one of the few stages in town large enough to accommodate the large band.

Back on October 28, 2001, when we saw her play a sold-out and packed Earl, we knew we'd never see St. Vincent perform in a venue that small again.  Since then, she's moved up to Variety Playhouse (May 2012), and then the Cobb Energy Center (October 2012) with David Byrne.  

Today, it was announced that she'll next be playing Atlanta on March 8 at the large Tabernacle to support her upcoming album.  The first song from the album is below. 

Meanwhile, back at The Earl, Portland's Blouse will be opening on March 20 for Brooklyn's Dum Dum Girls, who recently told Brooklyn Vegan that their favorite artist of 2013 was our old friend Jessica Pratt.

Finally, it's been announced that New York's Vampire Weekend will be playing Atlanta's majestic Fox Theater on May 5. 

Not bad for one day . . . 

Typhoon

If you're a fan or orchestral folk-rock, you know, bands like Beirut, Lost In The Trees, Fanfarlo, and Shearwater, or, if you live in Atlanta, Little Tybee and Oryx & Crake (if you live in San Francisco, Family Crest, I suppose), and you haven't yet heard Portland's Typhoon, arguably the best of all of them, then prepare yourself because you're in for a real treat.

Here they are, all 11 of them, in an August 29 session at Oregon Public Broadcasting.