“Tangerine Reef,” the latest musical project from psychedelic pop group Animal Collective, is akin to a drugged-up ocean documentary. The audiovisual album combines ambient musical explorations with vibrant footage of coral and various other reef creatures. It is not only a meditative journey down to the ocean floor but a welcome return to the group’s earlier experimental work.

The album settles into its meandering, aquatic soundscapes right from the beginning with the track “Hair Cutter.” The band’s billowing synth sounds and abstract percussive noises are filtered through strong amounts of reverb, which builds an atmosphere of a deeply submerged marine environment.

That mood persists throughout the majority of “Tangerine Reef.” At almost an hour long, the album offers up no discernable singles and the transitions between each track are subtle. But instead of functioning as an extreme test of patience, “Tangerine Reef” is captivating when experienced in its intended audiovisual format.

The band collaborated with the “art-science” duo Coral Morphologic to bring a visual counterpart to the music. Formed by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D. McKay in 2007, Coral Morphologic sits somewhere between avant-garde filmmaking and environmental activism. According to the duo’s website, the work aims to document, protect and bring awareness to Miami’s coral reef organisms through stunning macro-videography.

The imagery found throughout “Tangerine Reef” is breathtaking and the up-close footage of both hard and soft coral lends itself to a psychedelic experience. Through minimal directing — only slow pans, zooms, crossfades and time-lapses — the video brings a tight focus on the fluorescent and often otherworldly marine life. It shifts through scenes that are playful, haunting and sometimes even erotic.

Animal Collective does its best to compliment this changing aquatic cast with a consistent yet dynamic flow of music. The group brings in ominous industrial noises on tracks such as “Inspector Gadget” and “Coral Realization” while others, such as “Jake and Me,” create a relaxed and comforting environment.

Three out of the four Animal Collective members — Avey Tare, Deakin and Geologist — found their way onto this new record. For Animal Collective, it’s not unusual for some members to sit albums out, but this marks the very first absence of the fourth member, Panda Bear, in the group’s now eleven album discography.

The intermittent vocals on “Tangerine Reef,” handled solely by Avey Tare, work best when they are washed out in echo and reverb. As soon as the mix allows any of the lyrics to become too audible, the immersion within the album’s ocean environment begins to break.

That type of break is most noticeable on the track “Hip Sponge,” with the repeated phrase “The time is now / Now is the time,” lyrics that the album could have done without. In other moments, however, Avey Tare’s erratic melodies fit in perfectly with the coral environment and add depth to instrumentals that may have otherwise come out flat.

The album is certainly a departure from Animal Collective’s more recent releases. The band’s 2016 album, “Painting With,” was much closer to a standard pop record. The ambient and experimental nature of “Tangerine Reef” is exciting, though. It hearkens back to an earlier period in the band’s discography that allowed for beautifully strange and abrasive albums such 2003’s “Here Comes the Indian.”

It might be a slog to some, and it is certainly weaker as a standalone audio-only album; however, as a complete audiovisual experience, this new Animal Collective project is mesmerizing. At the very least, “Tangerine Reef” gives hardcore Animal Collective fans an incentive to get high and watch stunning videos of marine life for an hour.

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Rioters ran through the streets of downtown Eugene, blocking traffic and resisting arrest on June 18, 1999. The event had escalated from an international protest named “Carnival Against Capital” earlier that same day. People went to the nearest bank and started smashing windows according to John Zerzan, a prominent, Eugene-based anarchist thinker. Activist Rob los Ricos, who was present at the riot, ended up spending seven years in prison for hitting a cop in the shoulder with a rock. 

“Nobody would have predicted that,” Zerzan said about the spontaneous downtown riot. “No anarchists were planning it, but it was called the ‘Anarchist Riot’ in the giant front page headline the next day.”

From the riot, two were hospitalized, more than 25 arrested and over a hundred left with minor throat and eye wounds caused from anti-riot tear gas, according to an Oregonian article published the day after.

It was around this time that the city of Eugene began to develop a national reputation for anarchist movements and activism. In 2000, the Chicago Tribune described the city as a “cradle to [the] latest generation of anarchist protesters.” That reputation may have since diminished, but traces of Eugene’s once bustling anarchist community are still alive today.

At the time, then Republican mayor Jim Torrey labeled Eugene as the “Anarchist Capital of the United States.” He considered the protests to have a definite negative impact on the city.

“We had a substantial amount of anarchism going on in Eugene at that time,” Torrey said. He remembers anarchists “throwing rocks through windows, blocking traffic, attacking cars.”

Initially, these occurrences were tied to a larger anti-globalization movement, but in the years following, Eugene began to function as a hub for a broader range of anarchist activity.

The anarchist publication Disorderly conduct, which was distributed around Eugene circa 2000. (Courtesy of Disorderly Conduct)

A number of small, independent anarchist publications were produced and distributed in and around the area. A newsletter called “Break The Chains” focused on political prisoner support as well as critiques of the prison system. Another publication, “Disorderly Conduct,” featured general anarchist news, essays and information — along with its slogan, “Fuck the civil, let’s get disobedient!” 

In the Whitaker district, Zerzan was airing a talk radio show on the pirate radio station Radio Free Cascadia. “It was kind of a lot different,” Zerzan said, speaking of the content on his early broadcasts. Since nobody could call in on pirate radio, Zerzan mostly read from his favorite texts and highlighted anarchist news stories.

RFC was eventually raided and shut down by the police, but Zerzan evolved his show into the still-running Anarchy Radio on KWVA, which broadcasts every Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Zerzan now acts as one of the most prominent voices in anarcho-primitivism or green anarchy, a subset of anarchist thought that focuses on environmentalism and deindustrialization. The philosophy critiques both civilization and technology.

Some of these ideas also gained national attention in the 1990s after the arrest and conviction of Ted Kaczynski — otherwise known as the Unabomber — who killed three people and injured many others during a bombing campaign that ran from 1978-1995.

Before his arrest, Kaczynski had written “The Industrial Society and Its Future,” an essay criticizing technology and industrialization as a detriment to society and human freedom. Zerzan thinks the Unabomber and this essay had at least some influence on later anarchist protests in Eugene.

Zerzan himself visited Kaczynski before his 1998 conviction. “I could see that we have the same ideas,” Zerzan said. He made sure, however, to differentiate his methods: “Not the same tactical approach, to put something in mail that might blow up some secretary or mail carrier or whatever — that ain’t right.”

Zerzan has kept his radio show going since 2001, now having broadcast over 800 episodes. He is also an editor of “Black and Green Review,” an anarcho-primitivist magazine currently in its fifth issue. The magazine’s main goal is to “deepen the anarcho-primitivist and green anarchist critiques through open discussion and debate.”

Despite Zerzan’s lasting relevance, he remains one of the few vestiges of Eugene’s once bustling and highly-visible anarchist community.

He admits that the anarchist scene in Eugene has certainly died down.

“By [2006] the whole thing was done,” he said. “It was just back to normal, quiet Eugene — and I love Eugene, but the anarchist scene… everybody had headed for the hills.”

Signs in the front window of Zerzan’s home reflect political messages. Zerzan acts as a highly prominent voice in green anarchy, a subset of anarchist thought that focuses on environmentalism and deindustrialization. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Former mayor Torrey also admits to this shift, but recognizes the ways in which a Eugene anarchist culture still exists: “It isn’t nearly as prevalent as it was in the past. I think now [anarchist activities] are more socially-oriented activities.”

And that certainly rings true with the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective, one of the more recent developments within the Eugene anarchist community.

According to NAC’s principles, the collective bases its operation on a vision of social anarchism that emphasizes the ideas of mutual aid, autonomy and community support.

“The problem with our current system is that democracy isn’t real in it,” said Serra Joy, who helped found NAC just last year. “If everybody actually has a voice and actually gets to participate in that system, then that is direct democracy. That is anarchism in the sense that I see it — social anarchism.”

Joy did not always identify as an anarchist. In fact, she only recently became involved with it after a series of events caused her to lose faith in the country’s current political system.

“Bernie [Sanders] came along… and Bernie went as it did,” Joy said. “Before that, I could tell myself that we just need the right person, we just need enough people, but even having the right person and the right people and the right party, it still didn’t work.”

For Joy, the emphasis that social anarchism places on community is what gives her hope outside of a difficult political system. “If you can’t affect democracy, if you can’t vote for a change on the grand scale, then we have to just look more local,” she said. “Ever since I’ve done that, I feel more empowered.”

Part of NAC’s goal is to reconnect with the strong anarchist culture of Eugene’s past. “We were aware of that and we feel like we want to help that culture revive,” Joy said. “We want to help empower people, to see the power that they have within themselves and their friend group.”

One way NAC attempts to achieve that goal is through a monthly event called the Share Fair. “We generally gather a bunch of resources and support from organizations and create a space for people to come and receive those resources and find community connection,” Joy said. The event makes things such as medical care, haircuts, emotional support, food and clothes available to the community, all free of charge.

The Share Fair has seen over 100 people in attendance at each event over the course of its six month existence. “It’s a lot of fun and I feel like for me that’s the best project that’s come out of the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective,” Joy said.

In addition to the Share Fair, NAC organizes educational opportunities such as film screenings and radical reading clubs, as well as letter writing events to support political prisoners.

For both Joy and Zerzan, these anarchist ideas are still very much relevant and are necessary in order to regain a sense of community.

“Community is gone,” Zerzan said. “It’s been swallowed by mass society, so everybody wants it… but no, you don’t get that.” For this reason, Zerzan even says that society is likely due for another uprising.

Whether or not that’s true, it is clear that anarchist thought still holds its place within Eugene.

“It’s amazing how many people are really interested in the core, fundamental values of the anarchistic theory that we engage in,” Joy said. “My hopes with anarchism in general is that its helping people find that community that we desperately need.”

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Pop music parody artist and goofball satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic performed a sold-out show Thursday night at the McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene. Billed as “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour,” Yankovic’s set featured a setlist consisting of mostly deep cuts and original material for an audience of hardcore fans.

The night began at 8 p.m. with an opening stand up set from the comedian Emo Philips. His sardonic and often surrealist comedy was delivered mostly in the form of one-liners and paraprosdokians, phrases with unexpected endings that call for a reinterpretation of the setup. Philips, with his trench coat and his bob haircut, remained in character for the entire set, speaking his jokes in a signature wispy and wandering voice.

Weird Al sings songs that aren’t normally performed live. “Weird Al” Yankovic sells out the ‘Ill-Advised Vanity Tour’ at the McDonald Theatre in Eugene, Ore. on May 24, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Philips and Yankovic have a history together. In 1989, Phillips played the role of Joe Early in Yankovic’s cult comedy film “UHF.” On stage, Phillips joked about finally getting to do shows with his longtime friend. He claimed that back in the day “Weird Al” told him they would tour together when Donald Trump was elected president. “He’s a man of his word,” Philips said, gaining a laugh from the crowd.

Emo Philips performed for half an hour before a brief intermission as the stage was prepared for “Weird Al.” The crowd was mostly older, as many of Yankovic’s fans have been following him since his career began in the ‘80s. The Gen X-ers definitely outnumbered the college students and young children in the audience.

Yankovic and his band were met with a standing applause as they came out on stage. He started the set with the song “Good Old Days,” off the 1988 album “Even Worse.” Yankovic sang and played bongos, sitting in the middle of the stage behind his microphone.

The setup was much simpler than typical “Weird Al” shows, which usually consist of numerous costume changes, props and complex audio-visual components. It made for a very intimate experience. The stripped-down production came along with the tour’s special setlist, which highlighted Yankovic’s original material instead of his popular parody songs.

Yankovic referenced this during the first break in the set, but soon went into a joke about how the rest of the night would consist entirely of Grateful Dead covers. He introduced the next song as a rare bonus track on the Japanese import version the Dead album “American Beauty,” before going into the title track from his own 1985 album “Dare to Be Stupid.”

The song featured a swing beat and a classic rock-inspired arrangement instead of the tight Devo-style parody of the original album version. For an artist who typically has to restrain himself to follow the style of others, this was a refreshing change. The career-spanning setlist also included two of Yankovic’s humorous breakup songs, “One More Minute” and “You Don’t Love Me Anymore.”

Yankovic’s live band, whose members have remained consistent since the artist’s early career, was also tight and professional as usual. Keyboardist Rubén Valtierra played an excellent part on the narcissistic anthem “Why Does This Always Happen to Me?,” while guitarist Jim West took some solos on a few of the more rock-driven songs such as “Stuck In a Closet With Vanna White.”

Yankovic concluded his main set with a with an amazing medley of some of his more popular parodies, changing the arrangement of each song drastically. The instrumental of the Michael Jackson-inspired “Eat It” was replaced with a hilarious note-for-note recreation of the Eric Clapton song “Layla (Unplugged).”

The grungy “Smells Like Nirvana” was swapped out for a goofy, upbeat sound, and the hip-hop beats of “Amish Paradise” were substituted with chimes and a Spanish-style guitar. The medley concluded with “Like A Surgeon,” doing away with the Madonna instrumental in favor of an arena ballad approach. Yankovic grabbed the mic and stood up from his chair triumphantly, for the very first time in the set, during the song’s dramatic chorus.

The band came back for a two-song encore, beginning with an accordion cover of the Mason Williams composition “Classical Gas,” which Yankovic said was his favorite song when he was 10 years old and also the first single he ever bought. The band then finished off the night with the Star Wars-themed Don McLean parody “The Saga Begins.” Plenty of audience members sang along.

It may have been an unconventional show for the beloved artist, but that didn’t detract from any of the enjoyment. “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour” felt more like a much-deserved victory lap for an artist that has brought so many laughs over his nearly 40-year career.

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“Wide Awake!” — the sixth album from the New York-based indie rock band Parquet Courts — is a frenzied mix of politically-conscious music, equally informed by both punk rock and funk. With help from pop producer Danger Mouse, the band has created its most varied studio effort yet, adding danceable beats and a broader production sound to its familiar art punk blueprint. But along with the refreshing musical tangents, the band also sacrifices some of its previous raw energy.

The album begins on a somewhat expected note with the song “Total Football,” a fast-paced guitar tune that is both anxious and precise. Like previous Parquet Courts songs, the track takes influence from a number of post-punk heavyweights such as Wire and Talking Heads.

Andrew Savage, the band’s guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, takes his usual approach to the lyrics. They’re intellectual and academic — not too far off from a college lecture or some heady literary fiction. He references the tactical soccer theory  Total Football, and places it in a socio-political context: “Swapping parts and roles is not acting but rather emancipation from expectation / Collectivism and autonomy are not mutually exclusive.”

But from there the album takes a bit of a left turn sonically. “Violence,” the album’s second track, comes in with a funked-up bass line and features a Dr. Dre-style synthesizer underneath a down-pitched spoken word bit. Other tracks, such as “Back to Earth,” bring in a subtle dub influence with spaced-out echo and reverb.

The presence of producer Danger Mouse — who has worked with everyone from the Black Keys to A$AP Rocky — pushes Parquet Courts out of its comfort zone throughout this record. The album’s title track, “Wide Awake,” acts as a prime example with a groove unlike anything the band has released up to this point.

The song itself is not a misstep, though. Its busy percussion and funky guitar riffs are incredibly infectious and they feel like a natural progression for a band so influenced by the dancey punk acts of the past. But at times the music feels too clean and overproduced, especially with some of its studio tricks. The inclusion of a faux crowd in the mix, cheering like a live audience, can feel like a gimmick.

The overall musical direction is not what detracts from this album. It’s just the bad taste that comes along with a punk band being polished up a bit for the radio.

The good news is that this sound does not define the entire record. Songs like “Almost Had to Start a Fight / In And Out of Patience” and “Extinction” keep the band’s staccato notes and accelerated sound.

And it’s impossible not to mention the record’s overall lyrical themes, which come with their own sense of urgency. Savage seems more cued in here to the present moment than he has on past records, and he chooses to shout a lot of his words rather than sing them.

On “Violence,” he speaks about the normalization of tragedy in the United States — “Violence is daily life,” the entire band repeats in unison. The track “NYC Observation” revolves around the overwhelming presence of poverty in New York City. “You never learned, you never got it did ya? / How to glide past people sleeping on the sidewalk,” Savage sings.

The album closes with an upbeat number entitled “Tenderness.” It plays out like a satisfying ‘70s pop song but retains a certain hominess with an upright piano and Savage’s raspy voice. The hints of optimism in the lyrics make it a nice track to go out on.

“Wide Awake!” may have its flaws, but the good outweighs the bad. It not only proves that Parquet Courts is willing to go in new directions with its sound, but it demonstrates how hard it is for the band to come out with anything that’s less than solid.

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On this latest Arctic Monkeys album, frontman Alex Turner has essentially transformed himself and his band into a space-age lounge act. Many of the songs here are based around a futuristic hotel on the moon. If that sounds like a bad thing, it’s not. “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” is a carefully thought out record as much as it is an amusing oddity.

The album arrives as a follow up to 2013’s hugely successful “AM,” which not only found typical success in the band’s home country of England, but also helped solidify Arctic Monkeys as international rock stars, with a break into the mainstream here in the United States. The album’s catchy, riff-heavy singles found a comfortable place on the playlists of many modern rock radio stations.

Instead of playing it safe, with the same market-tested sound of ”AM,” the band opted to take things in a different direction this time around. Turner, who wrote the entire album himself and  also co-produced it, sat down at the piano in order to gain inspiration for the majority of these tracks. This change in the writing process allows for a noticeable break in the polished and possibly overproduced guitar music of the previous record.

And along with that musical shift also comes a shift in Turner’s persona. On this record, he downplays the ladykiller character with the sunglasses and the slicked back hair, maybe in favor of sincerity. The album’s opening track, “Star Treatment,” kicks things off with the attention-grabbing line, “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes / Now look at the mess you made me make.”

Much of the lyrical content also serves to set the album in its exotic lunar setting, caught somewhere between the future and the consumerist 1950s — because this is also a concept album about a luxury hotel on the moon. On “Four out of Five,” Turner uses his crooning voice as an advertisement for the album’s titular space hotel: “Come stay with us / It’s such an easy flight.”

For the most part, the music matches greatly with this space-age aesthetic. Loungey piano chords pair nicely with the reverberated drums, and the robotic synthesizer sounds help round out the atmosphere. On “Batphone,” the band allows just the right amount of kitschy organ sounds and surf rock riffs to slip into the mix.

About three quarters of the way through the record, on the song “Science Fiction,” Turner gives some of these thematic subjects a purpose. “I want to stay with you, my love / The way some science fiction does,” he sings. “I want to make a simple point about peace and love / But in a sexy way where it’s not obvious / The way some science fiction does.”

With the lyrics on this album, Turner weaves his way through both a fictional world and a realist setting, set simultaneously in the past, present and future. He creates odd characters mixed in with his own personal perspectives — and it’s all brilliant. But of course, Turner has never struggled with writing excellent lyrics, even if they are sometimes a bit over the top.

There’s a number of other fun tracks thrown in throughout the record, including the sleazy “She Looks Like Fun” and a more theatrical closer, “The Ultracheese.”

But if there’s a complaint to made with this record musically, it’s that most of the compositions end up sounding a little tame. Drummer Matt Helder’s beats are tight as usual, but when compared with the explosive energy of his playing on the first few Arctic Monkeys records, it feels like he is forced to hold himself back.

Nevertheless, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” offers up an engaging listen. It may not be the best Arctic Monkeys album to date, but it will surely stand as a worthwhile oddity in the band’s acclaimed discography.

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The annual Willamette Valley Music Festival will return to the heart of the University of Oregon campus this Saturday to celebrate Eugene’s music and art scene. The festival will feature a wide variety of music throughout the day with a lineup that includes a slew of local talent in addition to the festival’s two main headliners, STRFKR and Mr. Carmack.

“This is a big part of building the University of Oregon tradition,” said Elissa Carlson, one of the festival’s student coordinators. The event was originally founded 50 years ago as the Willamette Valley Folk Festival, but in the late 2000s, the name was changed in order to bring in more genres and cater to a broader student audience.

“Since this is for students, we want to try and encompass as many interests as possible,” Carlson said. The lineup this year touches on everything from indie-rock to electronic music and hip-hop.

The Portland-based indie band STRFKR is set to close out the festival, from 9:45 to 11 p.m. STRFKR’s sound is based around a blend of catchy hooks and bright, synth-driven production. The band gained notoriety back in 2008 with its self-titled debut and the popular single, “Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second.”

It’s been over a year since the release of STRFKR’s latest album, “Being No One, Going Nowhere,” but since then, the band has been touring extensively. STRFKR’s most recent stop in Eugene was just earlier this year at the McDonald Theatre downtown.

DJ and electronic music producer Aaron Carmack — better known by his more formal stage name, Mr. Carmack — will perform just before STRFKR from 8 to 9:15 p.m. Over the last decade, Mr. Carmack has built up a prolific discography with a number of eclectic EPs in addition to a stream of remixes and collaborations released through his own SoundCloud page.

For the most part, Mr. Carmack’s music blurs the line between dance music and hip-hop. For his set on Saturday, fans can expect a wide-ranging mix of high-energy music that pushes boundaries, touching on all different styles and genres.

But outside of these big-name headliners, the Willamette Valley Music Festival aims to highlight a number of up-and-coming performers, many of which are local acts or student artists. The music will be split throughout the day between two different stages: one in the EMU amphitheater and another behind the EMU on the lawn.

The Portland-based synth pop duo Small Million will perform at 4:30 p.m. on the EMU Green Stage while Ghostnaps, a Eugene-based producer and DJ, will bring his chilled out house music to the EMU Amphitheater at 6 p.m. Other sets to look out for include the Los Angeles-based garage-rock trio The Gooms, as well as Portland’s Sharlet Crooks with its self-described “desert Americana” sound.

“The thing about Willamette Valley Music Festival is that it brings together a bunch of different bands that we don’t usually play with,” said Macks Johanesen, who will also be performing on Saturday with his band The Shifts. Johansen describes his band’s music as “sardonic indie garage rock, or dadrock for the kids.”

On the opposite end of the musical spectrum is hip-hop artist August Jefferson, who performs under the name AJ. Jefferson mixes ‘90s influences, pop culture references and the Black experience into his own brand of conscious hip-hop.

As a senior at the University of Oregon, Jefferson is grateful for the opportunity to perform on campus.

“This was my dream back in freshman year,” Jefferson said. “I was living in Hamilton, making shitty music on my shitty microphone, but now I’m going to be performing on my campus about 500 feet away from my freshman dorm, doing something that I love doing.”

Spiller, a local favorite that blends both jazz and emo influences into its sound, shares this sentiment.

“It’s cool that it happens on campus,” Luke Broadbent, Spiller’s guitarist and vocalist, said. “People that go to shows are there, but there’s also a lot of people that wouldn’t have otherwise checked out local music.”

One big reason for this is the fact that Willamette Valley Music Festival is completely free and open to the public. But the festival also offers a number of things for people to enjoy outside of the music.

This year, the University of Oregon Craft Center will be partnering with the festival to bring an interactive vinyl spin art project to the event. The ever-popular therapy dogs will also be present for people to relax and hang out with behind the stage. Student artwork will be on display and a number of campus organizations will be tabling as well, allowing for plenty of things to do during the breaks in the music.

“It’s our last year as students,” Sam Mendoza, Spiller’s second guitarist and vocalist, said. “It’s a good send-off. We’re really excited.”

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The end of week five has arrived. At this point in the term, most students are either cramming for that next big test or taking a much-needed break after finishing all their midterms. This playlist of instrumental music will hopefully come in handy, either as distraction-free study music or simply as something to relax to while patiently waiting for grades.

“Cabezon” – Red House Painters

For the band’s fourth album, “Ocean Beach,” Red House Painters decided to take somewhat of a break from its typical slow and drawn-out sound. “Cabezon,” the album’s opening track, communicates this very change. Folky guitars lead this pleasant instrumental, backed by light drumming and a homely acoustic bass. It all adds up to the kind of carefree mood an album title like “Ocean Beach” would most likely suggest.

“Superstar-Watcher” – Yo La Tengo

Nobody can create a mood in the same way Yo La Tengo does. “Superstar-Watcher,” comes as an introspective interlude on the band’s 1993 masterpiece, “Painful.” The track gently floats by with a subtle organ underneath Ira Kaplan’s mellow electric guitar playing. But at only a minute and 45 seconds, it ends too soon. This pick might be somewhat controversial on an instrumental playlist given the quiet spoken word sample used throughout; however, it’s hardly intrusive, so it’ll count.

“Djed” – Tortoise

In 1996, the post-rock band Tortoise reached a high point with its album “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” The album’s 20-minute opener, “Djed,” could have easily turned into some kind of grand statement, but instead, it feels like an energetic walk in the park followed by a soothing, dream-filled nap at home. Jazzy keyboards and spacey synth sounds introduce themselves throughout the composition, all with a complete subtlety and tranquility. It’s worth listening to this one with a nice pair of headphones.

“Avril 14th” – Aphex Twin

Kanye West made this Aphex Twin track a little more famous after sampling it on his 2010 album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” The original recording, however, is a much calmer piece crafted for a solo piano. “Avril 14th” comes from the often underrated Aphex Twin album “Drukqs.” It acts as a smooth break from electronic artist’s frantic bleeps and bloops, but it doesn’t sacrifice any of Aphex Twin’s typical attention to detail.

“In a Silent Way” – Miles Davis

Legendary jazz artist Miles Davis broke into new territory with his 1969 album “In a Silent Way.” The title track — which also takes up the record’s entire b-side at nearly 20 minutes — glides through a series of sparkling jazz chords before jumping into an upbeat and improvisational jam with electric guitar noodling and, of course, some of Davis’ own expert trumpet playing. “In a Silent Way” is often cited as an early example of jazz fusion and the beginning of Davis’ electric period.

“Thursday Afternoon” – Brian Eno

Despite its title, “Thursday Afternoon” can be enjoyed during any day of the week, and at any time of day. The track was originally composed as a soundtrack for a 1985 video art project of the same name, and like other Brian Eno ambient releases it features plenty of ethereal soundscapes and wispy piano melodies. It also lasts just over an hour, but it’s okay to sleep through most of this one.

Check out the full playlist below:

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“Grid of Points” is the eleventh album from the prolific Oregon-based recording artist Liz Harris, otherwise known as Grouper. Similar to previous Grouper releases, the record is slow, ambient and emotional, with a heavy emphasis placed on the overall atmosphere of the recordings. But it would be wrong to dismiss this album as boring background music. “Grid of Points” offers up an arresting set of songs for the patient listener.

Most of the music on the record sits somewhere between ambient music and dream pop. Soft vocals are matched with airy song structures and introspective piano accompaniment, most of which rests on a very minimalistic approach.

“The Races,” the album’s opening track, acts as a prime example of Harris’ stripped-down method. The song lasts less than a minute and features no instrumentation beyond a few reverberated vocal harmonies. Despite the song’s length and minimal arrangement, it ends up being one of the liveliest tracks on the album.

As the piano comes in on the second track, “Parking Lot,” the album settles into a very relaxed pace. Harris gives the song’s chords room to breathe, letting thoughtful pauses sneak in between the changes. The effect allows for a comfortable listening experience.

Though the total runtime for the album is only 22 minutes — closer to the length of an EP — “Grid of Points” never feels rushed. The songs are gentle and meandering, and none of them really come to a conclusive ending; they simply drift off into silence.

Long pauses also come between the breaks in the tracklist, but none of this feels like Harris is grasping for extra length. Instead, it gives the album a calm and meditative feel. No time is wasted, just spent in the moment.

Harris’ lyrics, for the most part, are indiscernible as heavy reverb and a soft vocal delivery wash out most of the melodies. But the songwriting and instrumentation still allow for a clear pathos.

“Birthday Song,” a standout track, provides a hazy melancholia with its dizzying vocals and descending chord progression, while the song “Driving” is more reflective and somewhat nostalgic. “Grid of Points” may present interchangeable emotions at many points, but the moods of each song are still distinct and carefully constructed.

There is little variation in the album’s production, that is, until the final track “Breathing,” which is also the longest track on the album at four minutes. About midway through the track, the song abruptly transitions into what sounds like a helicopter passing by overhead, then blending into the sound of a passing freight train.

The juxtaposition of these industrial field recordings with the gentle nature of the album could have easily felt abrasive, but instead they provide a natural movement and conclusion. “Grid of Points” may be brief and somewhat esoteric, but Harris’ music allows for quiet contemplation and rewards attentive listening.

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Joe Jack Talcum — a founding member of the cult punk rock outfit the Dead Milkmen — performed an acoustic solo set at the WOW Hall on Monday. The venue was less than halfway full, with only about fifty people in the audience, but Talcum gave a more than worthwhile performance for the fans that were willing to show up on cold weekday night.

The night started around 8:30 p.m. with a half-hour set from the local Eugene band Not A Part Of It. There was only about 20 people in the audience as the band hopped up on stage. Some people sat off to the side while others came in close. Talcum himself wandered around the venue while the band performed.

Not A Part Of It’s set — which ended up being the noisiest of the night — remained somewhere in between hardcore punk and early pop punk bands, at some points reminiscent of bay area groups such as Green Day and Operation Ivy.

Nerdcore hip-hop artist Coolzey was next to perform, after the stage was reduced to just a microphone, a stool and an electric guitar. Coolzey’s set featured an absurd mix of hip-hop and humorous alternative rock. He switched between playing guitar and triggering his own hip-hop backing track. Sometimes he mixed the two.

It was often hard to distinguish between the irony and sincerity in Coolzey’s performance. On the punk song “The Ballad of Marshall Mathers,” Coolzey complimented and encouraged the hip-hop artist Eminem, offering an alternative view to the people who claim that “he sucks.”

Coolzey wore a suit jacket over a t-shirt and he danced around on stage. It was all thoroughly entertaining. At the end of his set, he stepped down to dance among the audience members, performing his own version of the Frank Sinatra tune “Come Fly With Me.”

Joe Jack Talcum took the stage at 10 p.m. with an acoustic guitar and a set of harmonicas. The Dead Milkmen songs that he performed kept all of their original energy, as the band’s cowpunk aesthetic transitioned perfectly to Talcum’s acoustic guitar. The bare-bones performance even added a personal feel to the often sardonic and satirical Milkmen songs.

Talcum performed a slightly reworked version of “Dean’s Dream” off of the first Dead Milkmen album as well as the popular “Punk Rock Girl” from “Beelzebubba,” replacing the guitar solo with a solo on the harmonica. Coolzey even came back on stage to play tambourine on the song “If I Had A Gun” from the album “Soul Rotation.”

A few songs from Talcum’s lo-fi “home recordings” series were worked into the set in addition to some folk songs that Talcum said were older than the historic WOW Hall.

Talcum made the already intimate show even more personal by sharing brief comments about his songs during the breaks in the set. Towards the end of the night he asked the audience if there was anything they wanted to hear and then paused to listen as fans shouted their favorite tracks. He clearly was not using a setlist, but none of it felt unprofessional or lazy — just casual and endearing.

During the last few songs, Talcum performed “Life is Shit,” with shouts from the audience on the chorus. He also threw in a respectable cover of Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You In the End.”

The Milkmen song “Stuart,” an audience request, also made its way into the setlist, but only after a fan agreed to come up on stage and read the lyrics. Talcum claimed it was too difficult for him play the guitar while performing his bandmate’s original spoken word part.

By this point, the show felt a lot less formal than a typical concert, but it only added to the experience as Chris, the audience member, laughed his way through the lyrics to “Stuart” up on stage with his phone in hand.

The concert closed with a song about throwing up in your bed and sleeping in your own vomit, “The Puking Song.” It was fun, great music from a performer that didn’t take himself too seriously, the type of concert any Dead Milkmen fan would be happy to see.

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The Canadian indie pop band Alvvays generated a lot of buzz last year with the release of its sophomore record “Antisocialites.” During a concert at the Hi-Fi Music Hall in Eugene this Sunday, a crowd of mostly hip twenty-somethings were able to see the band perform nearly every song from the album live. The night also featured an opening set from the Brooklyn-based recording artist Frankie Rose.

The show started around 9 p.m. as Frankie Rose took the stage of the half full venue. She mentioned at the beginning of her set that she had not been to Eugene in a long time, but that she had vague memories of playing a local show in someone’s basement. Her half-hour set found a solid middle ground between reverb-drenched dream pop and upbeat new-wave music.

The live band consisted of only three members on bass, synthesizer and guitar in addition to a drum machine that rounded out the sound. The lighting, set up towards the back of stage, silhouetted each member for the entirety of the set while hypnotic, computer-generated visual projections — sometimes even more interesting than the music — rotated on screen.

Alvvays began its performance at 10 p.m. after the venue had filled up significantly. Molly Rankin, the band’s principal songwriter and frontwoman, lead the set’s opening song “Hey” with a precise performance on both guitar and vocals.

Alvvays relies heavily on melancholic melodies and jangly instrumentals, but its live sound seemed equally informed by the punk music of bands like Blondie. This was most noticeable on the more fast-paced songs such as “Saved By A Waif” and “Plimsoll Punks” which mixed catchy hooks with driving guitars.

“Lollipop (Ode to Jim)” also made its way into the setlist. Rankin made reference to Jim Reid of the noise pop band Jesus & Mary Chain in the song’s lyrics, another group that Alvvays is deeply indebted to sonically. Whether it was due to a conscious decision on the part of the band, or simply the show’s mixing, the noisier parts of Alvvays’ music seemed more pronounced during the live performance.

Those unfamiliar with Alvvays could have also interpreted the band’s calm demeanor throughout as disinterest. That would have been quickly dispelled, however, by Rankin’s genuine and appreciative thank-you’s in between songs.

During one break in the set, Rankin mentioned that she had asked the crowd at the band’s Portland show what Eugene was like since she had never been. Among the mixed responses, she said that the loud comment “Eugene is just fine” stood out to her the most.

Later on in the night, guitarist Alec O’Hanley asked the crowd if there were any college kids in the audience. There were only a handful of responses — it was a 21-and-over show. “Go Ducks,” he added afterwards.

A performance of the song “Archie, Marry Me,” a standout track from the band’s 2014 self-titled debut, was a crowd favorite as was the moody “Antisocialites” track “Dreams Tonite.” Parts of the performance were significantly looser than the tight production on the album, but the band’s excellent songwriting still managed to shine through.

Alvvays also revisited a number of other tracks from its debut LP including “Adult Diversion” and “Party Police,” the latter of which closed out the main set at just under an hour. It was a relatively short show, but it was hard to complain considering that there’s only two short albums in the current Alvvays discography.

The band came back for a brief encore, performing a cover of the Elastica song “Blue” — which was the most uptempo moment of the evening — and then finished off the night with one last track from the first album, the popular “Next of Kin.” Afterwards, the crowd made their way outside into the cool, spring night.

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