Friday Roundup: Blue is back, Mouth Washington, HI-DEF VIDZ and more

Spencer Albee and Walter Craven of 6gig in a HI-DEF VID by Knack Factory.

I’m writing this roundup from my grown-up desk at my grown-up job, but I will assure you all that it’s just a facade. The true and only reason I have a job is so I can take an hour out of every week to live my glory days of writing things that I actually care about (j.k., I really do like my job).

What a blast from the past I experienced when Dispatch magazine made the headlines this week with its announcement that it will share editorial and sales resources with Maine print heavyweight Down East Magazine! Dispatch has changed somewhat in its focus over the years since starting out as a music and film publication in 2011. But, as we were reminded in a blog comment last month, Dispatch is still committed to the local music scene.

Disclosurebrag: I was Dispatch’s first writer! But then I left in six months. My byline isn’t even on my old stories anymore, but oh well! Life moves on.

AFRAID gets a little chesty in this interview with SPACE Gallery, and when I say chesty, I only mean that you can see Jakob Battick’s chest in the photo used for the blog post.

Mouth Washington plays their album release party at SPACE Gallery tonight, and the Portland Phoenix has some words about that album, called Don’t Mean. The city’s last-standing alt-weekly calls them “one of Portland’s scrappiest bands.” I prefer the term “slop-rock,” as popularized by Portland’s favorite blog of yesteryear, the Portland Point.

Also in the Phoenix, Bangor metal act Holyfilth has some strong words for their hometown:

“It says a lot that we would rather play in Portland than our own hometown. People in Portland actually care about music; that’s the difference between the two cities.”

Did you know Blue on Congress Street was closed for a month? It was! And now it’s open again! With expanded space for dancing! And it can serve spirits now! (Bonus: If you clicked on that link to the Eater Maine story, take a look at the photo of Blue: oh, who’s that in the window’s reflection? It’s the blog’s mysterious editor, Adam Callaghan!)

It seems like there has been a lot of cool online media projects about music sprouting up lately (besides here, of course). Holly Nunan now blogs about daily music events on Knack Factory’s website. Sam Pfeifle, perhaps the most prolific music writer in the state, has been uploading a lot of his music reviews and features to the SEO-friendly PortlandsBestAlbums.com. Factory Portland, which started out with providing design services for local bands, has fully evolved into a music blog with album reviews and artist interviews. Kitty Critic combines my two favorite things: music and cats. The freezingprocess.net podcast is stil a thing (dat archive of unfiltered opinions tho).

Speaking of Knack Factory, they have some nice HI-DEF VIDZ of interviews with Sasha Alcott of When Particles Collide, Spencer Albee and 6gig frontman Walter Craven and Maine folk legend Dave Mallett. The videos are promoting Saturday’s two-part State of the State show at One Longfellow Square and the State Theatre. Be there, or be mare.

South Portland native and one-time Reindeer Rockoff co-host Kegan Zema got some nice press for his ZEMA solo project in IMPOSE magazine. His band, Journalism, which has another guy from South Portland, recently recorded at Converse’s studio in Brooklyn.

Another disclosurebrag: I, like, went to school and played in a band with them.

Recent words of wisdom from Metal Feathers:

Pipe organists must play footsie amazingly.

— Metal Feathers (@metalfeathers) March 10, 2015

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t show off all those pretty Hilly Town posts from the past week. Don’t forget to check out our latest edition of Hilly Town Goes Record Shopping, which features Lady Lamb proprietor Ally Spaltro.

Hilly Town posts from this week:

Mouth Washington album release show and tour starts tomorrow night at SPACE

Portland’s Fur finalizing their debut LP

Recap: Lady Lamb / Cuddle Magic / Henry Jamison @ PCMH [3.13.2015]

AFRAID kicks off East Coast Tour to support debut LP

Interview: OLS Live And Local Spring 2015 Season

Song of the week:

There’s a song by Jared Fairfield that used to be on Soundcloud, and it would break my heart in the best possible way every time I heard it.

I can’t find it. So here’s “Honey.”

Did I miss something? Do you want to keep me updated with important muzak developments? Email me at dylanmartin89@gmail.com.