John Craig Comes Home

Ah, Portland, our colossal neighbor to the north. It’s got all of the things a big city needs: buildings, parks, rivers, bridges — and let’s not forget the artists. In fact, Portland has been home to a whole lot of great musicians in its time.

Here’s another that nobody should miss: John Craig, who started out his days as a musician right here in Eugene. As UO students, Craig and his friend Ryan Dobrowski — who now plays his part for Blind Pilot — created Tympanic, gaining mild success on the West Coast before graduation. Since then, Craig has pursued a solo career based on a touching blend of electro, rock and pop that is hard to categorize. At times, his voice is reminiscent of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), while other times it’s just something completely different.



Craig’s music is mellow yet danceable, colorful yet gray, grounded yet spacey and everything in between. In each song, he achieves a rich framework of textures and sounds that aims to please. If you are in need of a reminder that Oregon still rocks ridiculously hard, this is your man. John Craig plays at 8:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 3, at Taylor’s Bar & Grille. 21+. Free.

[EW 9/30]
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Voodoun Moi: My First Writing In Print

Picture this: A bar in the early years of jazz, notes floating softly from the stage and smoke lingering in a thick haze. Okay, now throw that bar into a time machine, sex it all up a bit, and set the date for 2010 — you’ve just discovered Voodoun Moi, a new outfit that includes Eric Valentine and Genevieve Bellemare, former members of “Next Best Thing, Eugene”-winning band John Giovanni.

With a delicious concoction of nu-jazz, funk and folk, this groovy quartet combines smoky, better-than-burlesque vocals with sly grooves, bass lines and rhythms right out of jazz music’s sassiest eras. Damn hard to capture their sound in words, so best to see them live and let the music speak for itself. Voodoun Moi plays with Phoebe Blume at 8pm Friday, June 25, at WOW Hall; $10 adv., $12 door.

(From the 6/24 Issue of Eugene Weekly)