Bandcamp goes to Portland

Portland: Where Young People Go to Make Music

By Laurent Fintoni 

Fintoni is a DJ, label owner, writer for FACT magazine, and likes music from Portland (among many other places).

Photo by Ian Ransley

“This town is a great place to move at a slow pace and let your creative ideas germinate and stretch out. Aside from being very much a rock town, there has always been a thriving scene of makers and lovers of experimental music, and there continues to be a willing group of folks excited to hear something different.”— Jesse Munro Johnson, Boomarm Nation Records

Even if you’ve never been to Portland, you’ve probably got an idea of what this northwestern American city has to offer. With a unique mix of urban living and abundant nature, Portland has, in recent years, been stereotyped as a haven for the hip and creative. While nobody likes to have their city reduced to the amusing vignettes that the TV series Portlandia peddles, it’s brought Portland the sort of worldwide attention that any tourist board would die for. In one Portlandia sketch, a character declares Portland to be “where young people go to retire,” and a recent New York Times article, looking at just how long the city can maintain this aura, quotes a resident as saying that while people move to New York for finance, or L.A. for show business, “people move to Portland to move to Portland.” Beyond the jokes, people move to Portland because it affords opportunities to those who want to follow their creative ambitions, in ways that bigger cities like New York or London are increasingly unable to do.

Portland has a thriving music community that stretches across scenes, genres, and styles. Bubbles of nerdy obsession and interest coexist, collaborate and, in certain cases, thrive. For David Greenwald, music critic for The Oregonian and a transplant from Los Angeles, “Portland is known for its indie rock but it’s also an excellent home to folk and roots music, metal and hard rock, jazz, blues, electronic, hip-hop, and all types of musicians.” The city’s creatives have embraced the digital revolution that has engulfed the music industry in the past decade. They create and often manufacture locally and use the internet to broadcast their music and sell their goods from the comfort of their hometown. For Aaron Meola, who looks after the local Dropping Gems label, the city’s “mix of abundant nature and technology” is what keeps things interesting.

TO READ MORE AND HEAR SOME REALLY COOL PORTLAND MUSIC:
http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/09/30/portland-where-young-people-go-to-make-music/

Omega Supreme, Portland's funky side

From the Bandcamp blog:

http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/09/30/portland-where-young-people-go-to-make-music/

Omega Supreme

Representing the funky side of the musical spectrum in Portland is Omega Supreme, a label dedicated to modern funk. Founder James Vance moved from San Francisco to Portland in 2001, and the label has received healthy support from the DJ community. He has a roster of worldwide artists, but Vance is keen to keep things simple “so we can be sustainable and continue to put up music regularly.”
Despite having spent more than 10 years in the city, Vance has kept the label out of the local mix. He is, however, quick to extol the virtues of Portland when it comes to quality of life and physical pursuits. “What attracted me the most was all of the record stores. There are so many here in Portland, and there’s no tax so whatever the dollar amount is, that’s what you really pay, which is a nice incentive to buy more music.”

From Portland OR, Dropping Gems

From the Bandcamp blog:
http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/09/30/portland-where-young-people-go-to-make-music/

Dropping Gems

Dropping Gems was born in 2009 up the coast from Portland in Olympia, Washington. “Core members met while DJing parties, hanging at our college radio station and going to shows,” recalls Aaron Meola. “We began Dropping Gems because we felt there was no platform to showcase anyone’s work or a scene to fit in.” Meola migrated down the coast to Portland in 2010, taking the label with him and expanding to include a promotion company. Dropping Gems picked up more artists, including Seattle’s DJAO and local acts Philip Grass and Natasha Kmeto, and began the Gem Drops compilation series.

“It’s been gratifying to see the scene in Portland foster a solid community around experimental electronic music over the past several years,” Meola explains. “When Dropping Gems first took up operations in Portland, the dubstep label Lo Dubs, now defunct Anthem Records store, and associated club nights were a big inspiration. Fast-forward four years, and there are at least a dozen active collectives or labels. Most of the artists know each other and often play shows together and collaborate. Things like the Magnetic open deck and cassette DJ night are very much community-building events that cross-pollinate the scene.”

Beyond location and affordability, Meola points to “a supportive network of independent record stores, gear shops, material supplies stores, rental houses, warehouse spaces and venues” as enablers of the scenes. Add to that network the city’s creative population and liberal arts school and Meola reckons Portland to be “pretty special.”