LimeWire Music Blog

The latest installment of LimeWire Store’s Ear to the Ground series shines the spotlight on Portland. OR. Curated by the staff of Willamette Week, the 17-track compendium features some of the city’s brightest up-and-coming talent, including Lifesavas, Pure Country Gold, YACHT and Starfucker.

Portland, Oregon has always been a music town: It’s notable for being the birthplace of the Kingsmen’s “Louie, Louie” and the longtime home of famed singer-song…writer Elliott Smith. But much of the city’s rich musical history involves influential bands, rather than platinum-selling ones. Dead Moon, The Wipers, Team Dresch, Poison Idea, Hazel: These bands still exert a sizable influence on the region’s sound, and one can still find members of ’80s sensations like Nu Shooz and the Motels performing around town today. But Portland’s last decade has been one of transition from a quaint indie-rock community into a full-fledged musical economy. Bands from all over the country flock to the city, attracted by cheap rent and the success of groups like The Shins and The Decemberists. This is great news for area music lovers, even if it makes it tougher for good bands to stand out. There’s plenty going on in PDX besides a thriving indie-rock scene: strong jazz, hip-hop, and experimental music emanates from Portland as well, often under the radar. The cliché is that many of Portland’s hometown bands are received more enthusiastically in other cities, but some of them even seem to like it that way. They keep coming back for the music scene, the natural environment, the food carts (tons of ‘em), and the disastrous job market. Home sweet home.

Download Panther’s “Love Is Sold” and grab the full compilation over at LimeWire Store.

Panther – “Love Is Sold”

Tracklisting for Ear to the Ground: Portland

1. Lovers – “Igloos for Ojos”
2. Horse Feathers – “Curs in the Weeds”
3. Lifesavas – “No Surprise”
4. Pure Country Gold – “Moanin’ in the Moonlight”
5. Nurses – “Technicolor”
6. Cool Nutz feat. Kenny Mack and Maniac Lok – “So Drunk”
7. The Shaky Hands Allison and the Ancient Eyes – “Allison and the Ancient Eyes”
8. Sleep of Oldominion – “So Far”
9. Tara Jane O’Neil – “In Tall Grass”
10. The Builders and the Butchers – “Barcelona”
11. Sandpeople – “Hate Aside”
12. Panther – “Love Is Sold”
13. Luck-One & Dekk feat. Randa Smith – “Could’ve Been Me”
14 Old Growth - “Setting Sun”
15. YACHT – “Psychic City” (Classixx remix)
16. Starfucker – “Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second
17. Blind Pilot – “Go On, Say It”