Jake Oken-Berg
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Jake Oken-Berg was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. A "Portland prodigy" (KINK FM), Jake's been playing piano, singing, and writing songs since age five and has performed in over 50 cities around the world. Combining jazz and pop piano styles with powerful vocals, Jake's music is instantly catchy and his live shows are full of improvisational surprises.
Just released at the beginning of 2009, Jake's debut album, Find Love EP, received immediate praise from critics. Willamette Week wrote "Oken-Berg definitely knows how to play—anything from the five-song EP would sit well next to the Fray in an ABC promo," and The Portland Mercury said "Oken-Berg never fails to sound unpresumptuous and heartfelt. It's emotional music, without a trace of irony."
His second album, Out The Door EP, reveals even more of Jake's musical talent. Recorded and produced by Rob Stroup at Portland's 8 Ball Studio, the album ranges from blues to straight ahead pop-rock, and explores issues of trust, death and political courage. Jake was joined in the studio by a full cast of top west coast musicians including drummer Jeff Anthony (Sheryl Crow) and cellist Skip vonKuske (Portland Cello Project).
Out The Door EP will be released on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR and you can hear Jake's songs at www.jakeokenberg.com.
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Echo Helstrom
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After garnering critical acclaim for their debut album, The Veil, orchestral rock band Echo Helstrom retreated to the studio to do something different. Or, continue to do something different. But what is it? This Portland, Oregon collective, consisting of some of Portland's best classical and jazz musicians, are definitely playing rock music. Their adventurous arrangements run the gamut from chamber music to punk rock with a lot to offer in between. Named after Bob Dylan's first high school girlfriend and muse, Echo grabbed the attention of critics and music fans around the world, including the woman actually named Echo Helstrom in Hibbing, Minnesota. No, since you're wondering, she didn't mind. At the Aladdin Theater, Echo Helstrom will be debuting their new record which is an evolution of the sound they created with The Veil. It is acoustic. It is electronic. It has strings. But it is not ELO, nor The Moody Blues. As others have said, Echo Helstrom is "Rock enough for the parents currently subjected to their children's emo band of the week, indie enough for the kids tired of hearing their 40-something parents blasting Wilco on NPR. Only one record deep into Echo Helstrom's career, The Veil leaves behind genre and enters the realm of simply good music." (Rebel X) "The elements are numerous and varied -- from country-rock shuffles by the rhythm section to unison pizzicato passages by the strings to urgent electric guitar riffs to sweetly folksy vocal harmonies by lead singer/songwriter Ross Seligman, and so on. The band indulges its artier influences without sounding precious, and when it surprises us with greater volume or an agitated mood it never sounds as if it's straining for its rock bona fides. (The Oregonian)
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Justin Jude
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Descended from preachers himself, and born with a gift for the salty sermon, Justin Jude, a multiple-award-winning songwriter pens songs of love lost, home found, and spirits broken and mended. Impossible to categorize, his mix of roots rock, folk, blues, gospel and faded old hymns makes Jude a true original. Sounds like? Ryan Adams gets religion. Wilco wades in the water. Counting Crows count their blessings. And this sermonizer can sing. Jude’s live show is a rafter-raising, soul-saving circus of soaring vocals and inspiring songs. Jude has performed with national acts like Erin McKeown and Lisa Loeb, as well as West Coast favorites Stephanie Schneiderman, The Dimes, Scott Fisher and Chris Robley. He’s played all over the country, been featured on national television, FM radio, internet radio and several compilations, including KINK-FM’s Plug in Portland Vol. 2 (2009).
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