There are days when it feels like Southern Oregon has as many string bands as it does pine trees. And with stylized uniformity like that, it can be hard for any of them to really stand out. But that’s a nifty track managed with aplomb by The John Dough Boys

Warhol had soup cans. Bowie had space. Motley Crue had girls, girls, and lessee…. right, girls. Sometimes an artist just finds their thing and sticks to it. Such is the case with Ashland band Fractal Love Jam. Every album cover is fractals. Every poster. Every show-augmenting projection. And the band

In a smaller market like the Rogue Valley, there are some fingers that seem to be in every pie. The property management company that controls every building, the entrepreneur that owns every business, the performers and artists involved in every happening. T Poe Varnado is such a performer. The Ashland

Though there is no sonic comparison whatsoever, I can’t help but think of The Rocky Horror Picture Show when talking about the self-titled debut from Ashland band, The Sky System. Because it had me shivering with antici….pation. The two-piece ambient electro-rock band is—in this critic’s mind anyhow—one of the more

The Brothers Reed, half of local cowpunks Bucklerash, launched as an acoustic duo a little over a year ago. Their debut album, Sick as Folk, was one of 2015’s best local albums, chock full of catchy songcraft and the sweet oozinaahs of the bros entrancing two-part harmonies. But the band’s

The Legendary Goodtimes 2013 self-titled album is an exercise in purism, with 12 tracks of straight-ahead no-nonsense rock and roll, recorded on analog equipment in single takes. Their follow-up, This is Rock and Roll, which the band will officially release at Howiee’s on Front on Sat., March 5, is even

  It’s no secret that Southern Oregon’s generation gap is second only in size to Nietsche’s abyss. As a retirement mecca, the young are fine to keep around for washing dishes in cafes, but are politely invited to move to Portland if they want to be heard, not just seen.

The Messenger just launched voting for its annual Best of the Rogue contest. Last year’s winner for Best Band was Seaons, a victory earned in large part because the band’s boisterous delivery was so much fun to see live. Strangely enough, the only ones not having fun were Seaons themselves.

Prolific Ashland-based beat-producer Toonorth (Dominic Martin) just dropped his latest collection, Anemoia, on January 13. The five-song EP is Toonorth’s first with the Michigan-based BLVNT RECORDS, and is a smooth and sultry collection, from a smooth and sultry producer. While much of Toonorth’s previous work mined the world of lo-fi,

For full disclosure: I’ll admit a certain bias against local old-time supastah’s St. Cinder, who released their long-due debut full-length album, Vagabond Dreams at the start of December, before hitting the road to live out the album’s namesake. The bias is not just because as a critic I’m far more