Music seen at SPACE Gallery, September 24, 2008
By CHAD CHAMBERLAIN | October 2, 2008
Death Vessel are something Mainers should be most proud of. Joel Thibodeau, the man behind the moniker, is native to Kennebunk, as are many of the transient guest- members of his band. On Wednesday at SPACE, Portlanders got to celebrate the release of Nothing is Precious Enough for Us, Death Vessel’s most promising effort to date (Sub Pop 2008).
Death Vessel are a neo-folk band, also blending elements of ‘60s pop-rock with bluegrass, all layered with a wide variety of instrumentation. Thibodeau has a piercing and heartbreaking soprano that, live, didn’t miss a note. With Micah Blue Smaldone he performed “Mandan Dink” in duet, off 2005’s Stay Close. Later, during the encore, Thibodeau soloed a song from his old band String Builder, knowingly dedicating it to “all the Kennebunkers.”
Death Vessel wed music from the past with music from the present and render something pure and unique. At SPACE, the live performance was bursting with just as much spirit as the record — a rare and precious quality we all were lucky to have back in our home state, even just once.
On the Web:
www.myspace.com/deathvessel
Related:
Death Vessel, Double duty DJ, Portland scene report: October 31, 2008, More 
- Death Vessel
My only criticism of Death Vessel’s second LP is their trouble with slow songs. Otherwise, it's an astonishing forward leap for this Brooklyn-based folk group.
- Double duty DJ
Electronica DJ Masonic, who will be performing October 5 at SPACE Gallery, has an alter ego. He is also classical music composer Mason Bates.
- Portland scene report: October 31, 2008
Civil Disturbance drummer Nick “Nikko” Villaci, who’s been in the local rock scene long enough to have produced progeny to fill out other local bands, has announced his retirement from the original music scene.
- Halloween Dance Party
Portland brought out its dead for SPACE Gallery’s annual Halloween smash on Friday.
- Curiouser and curiouser
Sara Hallie Richardson, we hardly knew ye.
- Music seen: 48 Hour Music Festival
"Never underestimate the power of the repeated note" was a dictum drilled into my head. Bands at SPACE gallery on Saturday night employed this method liberally, and to great success.
- The outsiders
Ocean's album Pantheon of the Lesser — a two-track, hour-long, deconstructionist monster — is the linchpin of what's become an exciting moment for the Portland doom metal four-piece.
- Music seen: Christopher Teret + Huak
Chris Teret's singing is just as unassuming as his songwriting.
- Stage blogging
The main characters of the play Speech and Debate, three Oregon high school misfits, do a lot of their living among the modern technologies of chat rooms, Google, and personal video blogs.
- Dancing with himself
Arthur Russell's music does little to illuminate the mysteries and vagaries of his life. It simply tosses them aside, in pursuit of moods and rhythms few have successfully replicated, two decades later.
- Rattle your cage
You'll excuse Emilia Dahlin if her first release since the well-received God Machine in 2006 is a six-song EP.
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, SPACE Gallery, Joel Thibodeau, DEATH VESSEL
