Sorry we missed you: Catching up on Central Oregon’s new music

Published 12:15 am Thursday, January 2, 2020

Back in July, I rounded up a handful of new releases from Central Oregon artists that I hadn’t had time or space to get to, with the promise of “another one of these in a month or so.”

That article didn’t come to pass, but local musicians didn’t slow down with the albums, EPs and singles. Last year seemed unusually fertile for musicians, with many releasing long-awaited debut or follow-up albums.

So here’s my final roundup of local music reviews for 2019. As always, I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible, but I can’t promise this is definitive (I’m already thinking of things I missed; I’m sure you will too).

“Guardian of the Underdog,” Guardian of the Underdog

April, Cascaida Sounds

Larry and His Flask bassist Jeshua Marshall proves his mettle as a songwriter and vocalist with a lot to say on this three-song debut EP, recorded at The Firing Room. Of course, anyone who’s followed Guardian of the Underdog over the last few years knows this, but it’s still revelatory to hear the songs in recorded form. Cellist extraordinaire Billy Mickelson, trumpeter Alex Nauth and drummer Alan Viramontes provide dramatic musical foil to Marshall’s strident socio-political messages (sample lyric: “Take your combat boots, take your flag and troops; you can stick k’em where the sun don’t shine; we’re not the murdering kind”).

This is just the appetizer, however. Guardian of the Underdog is hard at work on its debut studio album at Parkway Sounds, and recently released a behind-the-scenes video for “Dragonfly” on vimeo.com.

Key track: “Sun Don’t Shine”

“Dispatch from the Sage Sea,” Caldwell Lee

June, Cypress Studios Records

The Sage Sea must be a beautiful place, judging from the 11 folk-rock offerings on this de facto studio band’s debut album. (One of the duo’s two principles, songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/sound engineer Cameron Harris, now lives in Saudi Arabia — the album was recorded in spring 2018 before he left.) The duo’s other half, singer-songwriter Peter Allen, dominates the proceedings, contributing eight songs that cover a range of emotions, from the introspective “Daughter of the Harvest” to the hilarious “Band Leader,” in which Allen and Harris trade verses arguing who between them best fits that title. Harris contributes some fun, catchy numbers — his best, the choir-driven “Oh Lord!,” perfectly compliments Allen’s treatise on today’s fear- and anxiety-driven world, “We Got Love.” Strains of Violent Femmes (“Carmel”) and minor-key reggae (“We Got Love”) keep things interesting sonically.

Key tracks: “Carmel,” “It’s Always Cloudy When I Travel”

“Cling to Nothing,” Chupra-Cobra

June, Beer:30 Records

No frills — just loud, fast and mean punk rock from this Bend foursome. Another record to come out of The Firing Room, “Cling to Nothing” shows why this band is at the forefront of Central Oregon’s underground punk scene. Songs such as “Neckbone” and “Body Count” deliver righteously angry vocal performances and thick, chainsaw guitar riffs. While much of the eight-song album gallops along at breakneck speeds, there are enough rhythmic twists and turns to keep things interesting, as on the whiplash-incuding “Anthem of Our Demise.” There are even touches of (relative) vulnerability in “No Control.”

Key tracks; “Anthem of Our Demise,” “No Control”

“Infinity/Meridian,” Tentareign

July, self-released

One of, if not the longest-running hard rock act in Bend returned with this double album after an 11-year recording hiatus. With its crushing guitars, progressive song structures and Hannah Hoard’s powerhouse pipes, “Infinity” is the proper follow-up to 2008’s “The Power Between,” while “Meridian” showcases the trio’s gentler side (and, on album-closing cover “Cruel Summer,” their sense of humor). Both records were recorded more than a decade ago, but the ideas here are fresh by any standard for a new release — let alone in the hard rock or metal genres, which are not always bastions of new ideas.

Key tracks: “Vegas” from “Infinity,” “Cruel Summer” from “Meridian”

“The Hand,” Joseph Balsamo

July, self-released

The latest release from Balsamo, frontman for Bend rockabilly/blues trio Boxcar Stringband, offers up raw production and even rawer storytelling. Balsamo focuses on hardscrabble, down-on-their-luck characters on songs such as “Whiskey,” which namedrops Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, and “Devil’s Due.” Most songs feature only Balsamo’s acoustic guitar and his deep, craggy singing — a definite highlight, especially when he pushes his voice to the edge of his register as on “Going Down” or the chugging “The Bride” — while others feature minimal drumming and bass, to mixed results. But despite the rough nature of some of these recordings, the songwriting always sticks.

Key tracks: “Birdhouse,” “Better Days”

“7 Hills” (score), Colten Tyler Williams and Third Seven

July, self-released

When not composing beats and music for Bend rapper/poet/artist Mosley Wotta, Williams creates film scores — his score for the 2017 documentary “Radiance of Resistance,” also composed with Third Seven, aka Billy Mickelson, was picked up by London label Nulogic Netlabel. The duo again teams for the score to “7 Hills,” a documentary about the skate park of the same name in Amman, Jordan, and the results are similarly immersive and thought-provoking. Building on Middle Eastern scales, the two musicians weave in and out of each other, with Mickelson’s dark cello playing driven home by Williams’ insistent beats on tracks such as “August” and “7 HILLS.” (The soundtrack also features cuts from Beats and Breakfast, Mosley Wotta, DCL and more.)

Key tracks: “Act Nice,” “August”

“Baby Cowboy’s Basement Tape,” Problem Stick

August, self-released

Lead vocalist/guitarist/mastermind Wayne “Newks” Newcome (Morgan P. Salvo to the late-night KPOV crowd) has called this sprawling, double-disc set “the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ of wrecked rock,” and honestly, this reviewer can’t better that description. The album’s 18 songs, many dating back from Newcome’s San Francisco years with Ugly Stick, snarl, spit and scream away at the listener — often, the ragged guitars sound as if they’re going to blow out whatever device you happen to be listening on. Still, you’ll be hard pressed not to find yourself singing along to “Tremors,” “Smooch World (Lost In)” and the hilariously inappropriate “Ain’t it Good B—-?” Cowpunk meets noise rock meets jam band (Seriously? Seriously.), with a healthy dose of Newcome’s twisted sense of humor sprinkled throughout.

Key tracks: “Tremors,” “Ain’t it Good B—-?”

“High Desert Underground Vol. 1,” compilation

August, self-released

Released on the heels of the first High Desert Underground Music Fest at Volcanic Theatre Pub in August, this album compiles previously released and new songs from the 14 bands that shared the bill over two days. This local music who’s-who sticks mainly to the city’s rock scene, covering hard rock (Strange Rover), alternative (Bony Chanterelle, Cosmonautical), soul (Jess Ryan Band), pop-punk (The Roof Rabbits) and much more. Even the previously released songs here get a polish/remix, revealing new details.

Key tracks: “Tower Peeler,” Scary Busey; “Pillar of Privilege,” Helga; “Cornucopia of Evil,” The Kronk Men; “Wooden Indian,” Lurk & Loiter

“Fractured,” The Jess Ryan Band

September, self-released

A debut album more than a decade in the making for lead vocalist/songwriter Ryan, “Fractured” runs through a gauntlet of emotions, from heartbreak (“In Vain,” the sax-heavy “Numb”) to righteous anger (“Fool’s Gold, “These Boots”). The band pushes the music in all sorts of directions: guitarist/co-songwriter James Hutchens brings blues and classic rock attitude; drummer Patrick Bedard and bassist Joshua Hernandez deliver hard-rock groove and grit; and saxophonist Andrew Lyons glides over the top, pulling the band into soulful, tear-in-beer, late-night-at-the-club territory. But Ryan, whose vocals can go from sultry croon to barely contained roar in the space of a measure, is the rightful star here.

Key tracks: “Fool’s Gold,” “Thin Line”

“Scary Busey,” Scary Busey

September, self-released

The local noise/punk quartet cleans up (marginally) but stays mean (naturally) on its self-titled debut album. All six songs featured on 2016’s self-produced EP “Faceless Beacons” show up here as well, but the re-recorded versions — produced at The Firing Room — beef up the sound (especially Jake Spece’s guitar — often sounding like a cross between a chainsaw and a garbage disposal, as on “Mine” — and James Stout’s bass). Vocalist Tim Vester howls his way through the sludge, digging up demons figurative and literal at nearly every turn, while drummer Jamie Sykes’ steady hand contains his band’s collective rage as much as possible. These songs are bleak, for sure, but it’s not just a wall of noise: “Un-American Pride” and “Crime & Punishment” come close to downright catchy.

Key tracks: “Un-American Pride,” “She’s a Spider”

“Home,” Grace Caston

November, self-released

Bend (by way of Southern California) singer Caston exudes quiet beauty on her debut, five-song EP, produced by Precious Byrd’s Casey Parnell and featuring performances from a bevy of Central Oregon talent, including Jared Nelson Smith (Wilderness), Travis Ehrenstrom and Mark Karwan. Songs range from the chugging country of the title track to closer “Goodbye to You,” which starts with stark acoustic chords and Caston’s moody vocal before blooming into a meticulous soundscape. Lyrically, Caston is at her best on “Songbird,” which delivers a message of encouragement to anyone afraid to speak their truth: “Even when your voice is silent, sing even louder through tears.”

Key tracks: “Songbird,” “Goodbye to You”

“Clearer Views,” The Bradley Parsons Project

December, self-released

Corner Gospel Explosion’s drummer and main songwriter returns after nearly two years with his first solo album, a return to meat-and-potatoes hard rock (or as close to that as we’ll get from the wildly inventive Parsons). The deeply confessional “It’s Hard to Be a Kid” closed out the CoGo recorded story in early 2018 (the group, which by that point featured just Brad Parsons and his brother, Tyler Parsons, disbanded soon after), and this album continues in a similar, soul-searching vein, with Parsons handling all instruments, vocals and production.

CoGo fans will dig the herky-jerky rhythms and copious ear candy to be heard on songs such as “Burnt Out” and “Coping,” while elsewhere Parsons expands into jazzy passages (“Adventure with Me”) and near-blues rock (“I Can’t Slow Down”).

Key tracks: “Coping,” “A Better Person”

Singles

“Kneel Down,” Victor Johnson

November, self-released

Johnson again delivers a message of hope on this recently recorded single, inspired by and dedicated to “Colin Kaepernick, Heather Heyer, Taliesin Namkai-Meche, Ricky Best, and all who take a stand against injustice, bigotry and hate,” per the Bandcamp page. As usual, Johnson’s guitar playing is on point and his chord voicings deliver unexpected counter-melodies. There’s a touch of Alice in Chains in the harmonies, surprisingly (Holly Wilson sings backups), and in producer Lino Alessio’s soaring guitar solo.

“Moon Repeats,” Profit Drama

December, self-released

Despite the band’s reunion earlier this year, Patrimony did not release a new record. This, however, might be even better. Singer-songwriter/guitarist Trevor Martell’s new project burns with all the fiery, rock ’n’ roll passion you’d expect from Patrimony or MASQ, but with the benefit of those bands’ years of experience on the road and in the studio.

Simply put, it’s a natural progression. Martell recorded everything himself while on the road in Oklahoma and Texas this summer, but the band now includes familiar faces Tyson Vandenbroucke (Heavy Light, ISLES), Jason Allenby (Patrimony, MASQ) and John Has Ellison (John St. Just, All You All).

Want your album reviewed? Reach music reporter Brian McElhiney at bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com or 541-617-7814.