Pdx Pop Now! 2013

This is a compilation put together by organizers of the PDX Pop Now! fest in Portland, which celebrates local music every year and compiles a lot of the scene's best tracks into one album. Some great tracks and artists are represented here, and for your convenience, highlights by genre are as follows:

Synth-pop: 1-1!, 1-2, 1-18
Garage: 1-5, 1-8 (FCC)
Hipster hip-hop: 1-16 (FCC)
Indie-folk: 1-19
Girl group indie-pop: 2-3

RIYL: Menomena, The Decemberists, Chromatics

***1 (4:31) Nighttime synthpop, cinematic funky bassline, from critics' 2012 darlings Chromatics
*2 (3:11) Clean synth+guitar pop, touch of nervous energy, young sounding fem vox
3 (3:08) Glitchy indie-pop, drumstick noise, vox like a darker Ben Gibbard, backing vox Radiohead
4 (3:28) ~8 sec quiet intro; upbeat, straightforward indie-rock, a bit garagey, yodely M vox
**5 (3:23) Slow western surf intro, things pick up a minute in and it becomes an all-in garage-psych onslaught. Reminds me of Master's Bedroom era Thee Oh Sees, Guantanamo Baywatch
6 (3:51) Currently trendy indie-rock (Bon Iver, Local Natives, maybe Vampire Weekend) especially in the vox, with some surfy licks for flavor.
7 (4:14) Total 80s pop throwback, sounds like a b-side to "Come On Eileen" in that the voice, backing vox, melodies, synths, drums, seem to be the same; chorus is more modern sounding, sounds like it was designed to get kids bouncing at a festival
8 (**FCC FUCK) (3:19) Awesome garage-punk in the vein of the Stooges, medium-lo-fi. Too bad about the FCC, it's in an 8 sec voc sample at beginning if you're inclined to hide it
9 (FCC SHITTY) (3:37) Just like the Arcade Fire, with bigger emphasis on horns.
10 (3:41) Singer-songwriter voice with a big backing band and handclaps, self-doubting lyrics with monster imagery, somewhat cheery music
11 (3:45) Focus on drums and nostalgic keys, Joanna Newsom-inspired vox but way less extreme (I'm guessing the band is named after one of her songs)
12 (3:09) Bongos, falsetto vox, I'm a bad boy lyrics, goes after a soul/funk feeling
13 (4:40) Slow and psychy, bass and drums provide backing to slightly soulful fem vox, backing "ooh-ooh-oohs," post-rocky guitar comes in second half
14 (4:02) Driving psychy drum+guitar with a touch of spaghetti western feeling, heavily distorted M vox
15 (3:06) Stevie Wonder Innervisions meets synth pop and Ben Gibbard vocals. Also the guy singing looks just like Ben Gibbard
16 (*FCC MOTHERFUCKERS) (3:49) Melodic hip-hop, slow and spoke-sung rather than rapped. Lots of piano alongside synths/horns
17 (3:03) Upbeat guit+drums rock, reminds me of recent Scottish indie-rock (Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetbacks) with vox buried and no Scottish accents
*18 (4:26) Downtempo synthpop, nice guitar flourishes work really well to provide rhythm to the song. Dreamy F vox
*19 (2:32) Rhythmic folk, sparse, driving, upbeat, vox a bit like the Tallest Man on Earth
20 (1:58) 60s folk-rock flavor, with hints of country-rock and modern synth technology. Features Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel, Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper)
21 (2:38) Slightly dark folk song, Mexican-inspired, fem vox, M/F backing vox. Reminds me a bit of Laura Gibson

Disc 2

1 (3:43) Sparse, chiming instruments open, gradually builds, piano/drums come in. Mesh all the eras of Sufjan Stevens together, make his voice deeper, and you might get this
2 (FCC SHIT) (3:42) Straightforward psychy indie-pop structure, owes heavily to 60s, abrasively nasal M vox, repetitive
*3 (3:22) Really nice indie-pop with F vox, girl group chorus, surf and synthpop touches, really a great blending of many influences
4 (3:49) Upbeat dreamy indie-pop/rock, low fem vox, it sounds like there's a triangle in here
5 (4:11) Distorted but melodic and dancy electropop. Lots of whirring, with buried, unintelligible vox.
6 (3:01) Owl City meets boy band; "let's make this night ours- ours ours ours ours" kind of lyrics, probably not too KZSUesque
7 (3:41) Straightforward, midtempo, synthy indie-pop-rock
8 (FCC PUSSY, SHIT) (2:58) Hip-hop over a minimal, repetitive, synthy beat that repeats all song before a few synth notes at the end
9 (2:31) Shuffling upbeat drums, jagged guitars, jangly garage pop with a late 70s/early 80s touch. Pretty good
10 (FCC BULLSHIT) (2:57) Poppy, slightly beachy tune with a lot of piano. Straightforward but good
11 (4:00) Lots of instruments here, marimba, sax, has a kind of loungy, jungle (not the genre) theme running through it, vox and intensity come in during the final 90 seconds, where it gets a bit prog rocky too
12 (3:56) 80s pop again. A Flock of Seagulls chills with a few math rock guys, and they listen to the Beach Boys full discography (including Kokomo) before they all write a song
13 (2:23) Lo-fi garagey, obscured but searing fem vox, great buzzy rhythm guitar. Phone ring+"hello?" sample end song
14 (2:57) Bluesy, calm indie pop. Androgynous but probably fem vox, pulls a lot of indie tricks: drum fills, a cappella sections, folk sections, synth sections
15 (3:41) Folky but loud indie-pop, fem vox, RIYL Laura Gibson. Lyrics about blowing stuff up, being the queen of the damned.
16 (4:20) Super indie-poppy, wearing their P4K hearts on their sleeves. Dreamy, high-pitched M vox, feel the pot smoke blowing in your face as you see these guys early on at a big festival
17 (3:57) Synth-pop, for 19 year olds who attended Warped Tour 2 years before. Vibraphonic
18 (2:17) Liz Phair psyched up a bit, traditional psych "ah-ah-ah-ah"s
19 (3:41) Trip-hoppy, fem lead vox with backing roboto vox, electro-xylophone leads it, mildly white funky
20 (3:14) '13s trendy summer indie-pop a la Local Natives vox, guits and dimmer festival pop flavors
21 (FCC caution, a la liners, possibly "god damn") (3:27) Slightly garagey, light psych-pop, classic rock tones
22 (3:58) Garagey, bluesy loud M vox. Band describes selves as "post-funk" and that or funk-indie-rock is probably a good descriptor