Lo-Fi Pop Purveyors Memory Boys & Electrician at Cheer Up Charlie’s Wednesday, Oct 29th

If you frequent the pages of Pop Press International, you know we have the deepest love for two of the nation’s music communities. One is of course Austin, where we live and see music multiple times a week. The other is the Pacific Northwest, another community solidly rooted in music and sustained by the relationships and industry fostered by music. The Northwest seems to have cornered the market on subtle, downtempo yet unignorably delightful lo-fi pop music with beloved bands such as LAKE, Hungry Cloud Darkening, and iji. Tomorrow night at Cheer Up Charlie’s two bands cut from this same cloth will perform. One is Memory Boys, a project rooted in relaxed guitars, soft vocal textures, and earnest lyricism. There are hints of Elliott Smith in sharp inhalations and layered tracks. The second band is Electrician, a duo that has no home, but has moved between Portland and Austin, living out of a motor home while remaining devoted to the creation of music. Their most recent song channels (and I mean like, really channels) the Microphones/Mount Eerie by using mellow, plaintive vocals and synthesized horns. The track centers on the fear of being killed by the police. Hear both bands below. See them tomorrow.