THRU Magazine Archive
Portland Jazz Festival slipped by like a stealth bomber, like an underground speakeasy, like a super-hip fad, like so many things we can’t all see. The annual flower of PDX Jazz draws audiences into theaters and clubs by the hundreds with dozens of shows. After twelve years, it has earned the expectation of carrying legendary […]
My relationship with Death Grips and any other cultural obsession I’ve had. April 25th, 2011: a screaming came across the sky. I personally was not there to witness this mysterious and sudden advent arrival, but some dedicated audiophiles were. Within the internet, a free digital package of brimstone-breathing, high-energy concentrate, visceral-sensation music had managed to […]
The Alonzo King LINES Ballet begins as abruptly as it ends. The stage curtain at the Newmark Theater in downtown Portland lifts and a company of ten dancers is thrust into movement by the opening jolting chords of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto For Two Violins. The show seems to start in the middle of something, […]
No matter the context, the first feature from any director is always interesting. Sometimes their debut manages to be one of their best. Richard Linklater’s Slacker comes to mind as a feature that is one of his most powerful; it is simple, emotionally profound and adventurous in its execution. There is also the debut that falls short of […]
Joëlle Léandre rips it. She leans in to the double bass with eyes sealed shut to block out all but tactile and audible information. It is self-imposed sensory deprivation because improvising is difficult—making music in that manner requires a certain kind of focus. Perhaps it compares to singing with virtuosity and dancing with choreography at once: […]