During the recent MusicFest NW in Portland, we put our heads together with friend and longtime MFNW producer Trevor Solomon to curate “Room 205 Live.” After filming more than 30 episodes and 90 videos in a tiny 15×20-foot rehearsal space, we wanted to have a go at collaborating in front of a live audience. Held at venerable downtown venue Ted’s, (formerly Berbati’s Pan), the night showcased five of our favorite past collaborators from Room 205, including Blouse, Crystal Antlers, Craft Spells, Tropic of Cancer and Chelsea Wolfe.

Based in Portland, Oregon, Blouse is comprised of members Charlie Hilton, Patrick Adams, Jacob Portrait, and Paul Roper. Here we find them swooning elegantly through the standout track, “Videotapes,” from the 2011 debut album, BLOUSE, on Captured Tracks. Wildly pitch-shifted and wonderfully out-of-whack, this song is near-perfect in almost every imaginable way. Enjoy.

We’re excited to present this week’s episode of Room 205 featuring Chelsea Wolfe. After filming more than 30 episodes and 90 videos in a tiny 15×20-foot rehearsal space, we put our heads together with friend and longtime MFNW producer Trevor Solomon to curate “Room 205 Live” held at venerable downtown venue Ted’s, (formerly Berbati’s Pan) during this year’s MusicfestNW. The night featured some of our favorite Room 205 collaborators, including Chelsea Wolfe, Craft Spells, Crystal Antlers, Tropic of Cancer and Blouse. In this episode, Chelsea Wolfe performs “Noorus,” a track from her first LP, The Grime and The Glow.

Northern California native Chelsea Wolfe’s sound is best described with broad juxtaposing strokes: elemental and intense, ancient yet modern, radiant, dark, intimate and expansive. Hues of black metal and deep blues inform her ever-evolving electric folk. Wolfe’s voice haunts and soothes, revealing the unlikely truths and beauty hidden in life’s darker corners. Whether stripped bare or fully backed, Wolfe and company carry a serious heaviness of sound offset by that ever-present counterweight: transcendence of spirit.

In this week’s episode of Room 205, we present Craft Spells performing “Love Well Spent” at last month’s Room 205 Live showcase at MusicFest NW. After filming more than 30 episodes and 90 videos in a tiny 15×20-foot rehearsal space, we wanted to have a go at collaborating in front of a live audience. We put our heads together with friend and longtime MFNW producer Trevor Solomon to curate “Room 205 Live” held at venerable downtown venue Ted’s, (formerly Berbati’s Pan). The night featured some of our favorite Room 205 visitors, including Craft Spells, Crystal Antlers, Tropic of Cancer, Chelsea Wolfe and Blouse.

Craft Spells began as the bedroom project of Justin Vallesteros. Holed up in his Stockton, CA home, rolling tape while winter beat the bushes outside, Vellesteros crafted a decidedly 80s strain of sentimental indie-pop; chiming guitars, atmospheric synths, and delicate drum-machines. Vallesteros now resides in Seattle and fronts a full band comprised of friends and serious shredders. They make records. They tour Europe. And they write very, very good songs. As we said in their previous Room 205 episode, if you love Felt, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, and the beautiful monotone drone of Ian Curtis, then Craft Spells might soon be your favorite nuevo-new romantics.

Last month while at MusicFest NW in Portland, we put our heads together with friend and longtime MFNW producer Trevor Solomon to curate “Room 205 Live.” After filming more than 30 episodes and 90 videos in a tiny 15×20-foot rehearsal space, we wanted to have a go at collaborating in front of a live audience. Held at venerable downtown venue Ted’s, (formerly Berbati’s Pan), the night showcased five featured artists from Room 205, including Crystal Antlers, Craft Spells, Tropic of Cancer, Chelsea Wolfe and Blouse. To document this very special night, we worked with director Greg Hunt, DP Greg Schmitt, and audio engineer Griffin Rodriguez. No overdubs, no second takes. 100% raw live weirdness.

For the next five weeks we’ll debut one performance per week from each Room 205 Live artist. Today’s premiere episode features a performance from Crystal Antlers, who originally visited Room 205 in 2010. The Room 205 Live showcase at MFNW marked the debut of the band’s new blazer, “Persephone.”

We hope you’ll enjoy watching our experiment as much as we’ve enjoyed making it. Huge thanks to the performing artists, MFNW and the good people of PDX, as well to production manager Nathan Ostrander, in-house engineer Dave Hite and booker Kenric Ashe at Ted’s.

After five days of non-stop shows Portland’s MusicFest NW is now finally over. As part of Incase’s 6th-year returning sponsorship, this year festival organizer Trevor Solomon tasked us with curating two nights of shows at the downtown PDX venue Ted’s (formerly Berbati’s Pan). Rad.

On Friday, Sept. 7th, we debuted ‘Room 205 live’, bringing together a cadre of recent Room 205 musical guests for a night of live performance and sweaty, spasmodic dance moves, (including sets by Tropic of Cancer, Craft Spells, Crystal Antlers, Chelsea Wolfe, and hometown favorites BLOUSE). For this special event we filmed a concert documentary with celebrated director Greg Hunt, dp Gregg Schmitt and audio engineer Griffin Rodriguez. Look for the first episode of the doc to launch mid-October and the second half in mid-November.

On a related-but-entirely creepy note, Incase also sponsored the MFNW art show and pop-up shop of enigmatic entertainer Neckface at the One Grand Gallery on East Burnside. Titled “A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL!!!”, the exhibit showcases a wide range of Neck’s newest pen & ink drawings and a bevy of chilling tchotchkes, (including t-shirts, hoodies, poster prints, and pentagram-frosted chocolate cupcakes). For the occasion Incase created custom laser-etched Incase iPhone 4s cases brandishing one-of-a-kind Neckfacian one-liners like, “DRUNK AGAIN…,” “Snake Eyes,” and the ominous “YOU LOOK LIKE A MESS…THAT’S THE ONLY LOOK I’VE GOT LEFT”. Yes, it was a packed house. And yes, Ako Jefferson DJ’d using only an iPhone 4s and an RCA cable connected to a blown out PA. Brilliant. The gallery show and pop-up shop run Sept. 7th—Oct. 5th. Go if you’re feeling ghoulish.

On Saturday, September 8th, we hosted the Captured Tracks label showcase with Mac DeMarco, DIIV, The Soft Moon and Wild Nothing. From doors at 9PM until last call at 1:45AM, it is no exaggeration to say both night’s were sold out and sweaty beyond belief. All in all, both showcases went far beyond our expectations and made a lot of super-fans and festival attendees very, very happy.

Thanks again to Trevor Solomon, Matt Manza, Nathan Ostrander, Kenric Ashe, and Fasil Debeb at MFNW. Thanks again to our A/V crew Greg Hunt, Gregg Schmitt, and Griffin Rodriguez. Your friendship and considerable kindness have truly made this festival our favorite event of the year thus far. Thanks again to all of the performing artists and the extended Portland music community. We love this festival and are excited to return next year. Enjoy a quick Flickr set from MFNW 2012.

Friday, Sept. 7th, we present the ‘Room 205 live’ showcase with five featured artists from our collaborative Sound & Vision series Room 205, (including Blouse, Chelsea Wolfe, Craft Spells, Crystal Antlers and Tropic of Cancer).

Saturday, Sept. 8th, we present the Captured Tracks showcase with Wild Nothing, The Soft Moon, DIIV and Mac DeMarco. To all our Portland friends and MFNW performing artists, we look forward to sonically shredding with you again very, very soon.

Portland’s MusicFest Northwest has now come and gone. We are tired. Yes, so very, very tired. Five days of non-stop shows has taken its toll. To get us through we guzzled loads of Stumptown and Extracto coffee. We ripped around visiting friends and searching for battered Japanese guitars. We played with obscure analog synths and weird tube-driven audio equipment. We lurked with the legendary Aaron Draplin and stocked up on Field Notes. And we saw a lot of great shows. So…many…great shows.

Including sets by YACHT, Crypts, Dangerous Boys Club, The Soft Moon, Explosions In The Sky, Ted Leo, Rebecca Gates, Archers of Loaf, Sebadoh, Viva Voce, Ume, Grails, Thrones, You Am I, Kylesa, Neurosis, Phantogram, Iron & Wine, Sharon Van Etten, The Oh Sees, Glass Candy, The Horrors, Eluvium, Avi Buffalo, Poison Idea, Cass McCombs, OFF!, and Band of Horses…. And that’s just the short list.

Thanks again to Trevor Solomon, Dan Winters and Fasil Debeb at MFNW. Your friendship and goodwill truly makes this festival one of our favorite events of the year. Thanks again to Deane Sienega and the entire KEXP family. Thanks to all of the performing artists and the extended Portland music community. We love participating in this festival and sincerely look forward to returning next year.

Portland’s MusicFest Northwest has now come and gone. Did we sleep? Nope. Are we tired? Yes indeed, we are oh so tired. Did we eat a lot of great food and guzzle a few gallons of Stumptown coffee? Definitely. Did we walk around searching for obscure and ridiculous records, battered guitars, and weird old tube-driven audio equipment? Constantly. Did we have breakfast with the legendary Aaron Draplin? Man, we sure did. Did we see a lot of great shows? Yes! Including sets by Past Lives, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Big Freedia, Red Fang, David Bazan, Abe Vigoda, Thee Oh Sees, The Gories, Cave Singers, Akron/Family, Menomena, The Dodos, The Walkmen, The National, NoMeansNo, and the reunited Sleep (performing Holy Mountain). And that’s just the short list.

To be honest, we’re always a bit taken aback by just how surprising and lovely MFNW can be. Year after year, thanks to the ceaseless efforts of Trevor Solomon and Dan Winters, MFNW is consistently one of the best booked independent music festivals in the US. Two dudes just makin’ it happen. Bonkers.

In years past, MFNW has exclusively been an indoor festival playing host to hundreds of performers scattered throughout the city’s 40 odd bars, community centers, and all-ages clubs. This year, however, with a little help from Incase and Levis, Trevor and Dan produced the festival’s first ever outdoor event at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. Over the course of two days we gifted 3,700 iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 to a combined two-day audience of 8,000 patrons. Were people pumped? Oui. So much happy.

If you love food, fresh air, and live music, Portland, Oregon just might be your bag. It certainly is ours. Trevor and Dan, thanks again for all your hard work and friendship. We’ll see you again next year. Enjoy the photos!

If you’re in Portland, OR right now you probably already know MFNW began yesterday. The festival runs Sept. 8-12th and features more than 200 artists performing at some 40 venues around the greater Portland metro area (maybe this is an exaggeration? I can’t remember, I’m so tired). ANYWAY, that’s only half the point of this post. Get ready, here comes the other half:

On Friday, Sept. 10th, MFNW and Incase present Mogwai’s Burning at the Bagdad Theater in Portland’s Hawthorne District. As part of our presentation of the film we’ll be on hand eating popcorn and gifting free cases for your iPhone 4 & 3GS. Doors at 6PM, film starts at 7PM. Admission is $5 clams or free with MFNW wristband.

At the Bagdad Theater on Friday, September 10th, Incase & MFNW will present the new concert documentary Burning by Scottish post-rock giants Mogwai. If you’re at all wondering what this means, we can spell it out in three words: serious rock action. If an instrumental band ever deserved having a full-length concert film made about their live show it would be Mogwai. Bring ear plugs and a quadruple espresso. Doors at 7PM, tickets are $5 clams. For a chance to win film tickets and VIP passes to the festival check: @MUSICFESTNW

We’ll also be at Pioneer Square on September 11-12th for two nights of outdoor concerts with festival headliners The National, The Walkmen, Helio Sequence and The Decemberists. Join us as we gift a zillion Incase Snap Cases and get deeply weird enjoying the city’s Indian summer. Check the recap of MFNW 2009. Really, it’s worth it!