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>> Old pal KURT BAKER left Portland for Madrid a dog’s age ago, but we’re still keeping tabs on him—for being such a crucial part of the scene, yeah, but also because he’s such a damned sweetheart. No musician we’ve known since is as simultaneously workmanlike and cheery. Baker’s cranked out another batch of confectionary power-pop blasts, classically, dutifully in the Joe Jackson mold, yet with every measure pumped full of maximum energy. Brand New B-Sides seems more like a companion piece to 2012’s Brand New Beat than a disc of outtakes—like your friend’s weird younger sister, you might just end up liking ‘em better. The dude is back for a few weeks before heading back overseas, playing an in-store at the Portland Bull Moose on September 9 as well as a send-off party at Bayside Bowl on September 20. For more info on the new disc—it’s actually a disc, not some digital-only thang—head to kurtbaker.bandcamp.com.
>> We covered their last rites last week (see Nick Schroeder’s review of It’s Great Dying in the August 22 issue), but fans of AWAAS’ epic, post-doom bliss-metal have new roads to travel in their wake. Frontman Zack Howard plans to collaborate with Portland noise artist Remy Brecht (SCROTAL TEAR) in a project rumored to be called the Big Holy, and bassist and fellow ex-Conifer member Sean Hadley is playing with a new rock unit called CUSHING. Murmurs exist on other projects too—these dudes don’t have much of a history of sitting idly. Check Cushing when they play with the the noirish local rock band Purse and instrumentalists Capture the Sun on the Bayside Bowl patio September 5).
>> Eager to see how this weekend’s PORTLAND MAINE SOUL SUMMIT plays out. A three-day roster of dance nights spread out over four venues (a fifth if you count the lobster bake at Portland Head Light on Labor Day), it seems like another touchstone in the city’s progress into a serious dance town. On Saturday, Detroit house guru Agent Mike X Clark starts it off at the Big Easy with DJ Silverchild; while a whole gaggle of house, electro, drum ‘n’ bass, techno, and dubstep DJs turn Bayside Bowl into a sweatfactory. For more details, including the main event at Port City Music Hall (with Detroit deep house artist Golf Clap), dig up the Portland Maine Soul Summit online.
