♫♪  Xua - “Matahari”

While I (perhaps foolishly) biked from Seattle to Portland in early July, the fine folks at Debacle Records put on their eighth annual Debacle Fest, and by all accounts it ruled very hard. I was fortunate enough to catch up with them before the fest (see the link above), and they talked up a few upcoming releases, Portland’s Xua being one of them. The solo venture of Joshua Lee Vineyard, whose main gig is PDX’s Swahili, Xua was inspired in part by Vineyard’s trip to Southeast Asia, where he amassed a number of field recordings that coincidentally do not appear on “Matahari,” but otherwise are all over Mekong Moon. This jam is an incredibly smooth mind-melter that recalls 70s German psychedelic outfits Cluster and Kraftwerk, as well as contemporary PacNW synth gurus Panabrite and Pulse Emitter. Pre-orders are up now, but the vinyl comes out THIS FRIDAY (order here).

• Xua: https://www.facebook.com/XUAsound
• Debacle Records: http://www.debaclerecords.com

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CHOCOLATE GRINDER is our audio/visual section, with an emphasis on the lesser heard and lesser known. We aim to dig deep, but we’ll post any song or video we find interesting, big or small.

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