Review & Photos | Woods And Real Estate | Portland

Words by: Donovan Farley
Images by: Caitlin Webb

Real Estate and Woods :: 5.21.15 :: Revolution Hall :: Portland, OR

Read Donovan’s review below Caitlin’s gallery!

When it comes to seeing a show in a truly unique setting, it’s nearly impossible to think of a more uncommon locale than a massive, closed high school’s former gymnasium like Portland, Oregon’s newly opened Revolution Hall. The impressive creativity and non-conformist line of thinking that went into the planning and reconfiguration of the space is probably its greatest virtue, and something you can’t help but notice and be taken aback by. As such, Rev. Hall served as the perfect setting for one of the year’s most intriguing co-bills thus far in Portland, Woods and Real Estate.

To the uninitiated, hastily giving these bands a cursory glance, it may seem easy to “get” what they’re are all about: both reside in Brooklyn, both have received rave reviews from outlets known for covering “indie” music and neither favor especially showy histrionics, preferring instead to let their songs speak for themselves. However, as I said, that would be for the uninitiated, because both acts are perfectly willing to be freewheeling and unbuttoned when the mood and occasion strikes.

Consider the run of West Coast shows the bands were in the middle of when they reached Portland: it began in Los Angeles with Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker’s band, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks (which also features Woods’ Jarvis Tanviere and Real Estate’s Jackson Pollis) opening a string of dates for Woods. These shows then lead up to Woods record label Woodsist’s annual festival at Loma Vista Gardens in Big Sur, where the two bands played separate sets and then joined forces for a tribute to the Grateful Dead that featured many members of both bands playing with others musicians at the fest. The next leg of the tour saw Woods then take the opening slot and Real Estate headlining. Still with me? Does all this incestuous commingling sound like the work of stuffy pretentious Brooklynites?

[Steal Your Face Meets Woods/Woodsist Logo]

But far more than sharing a Festival Express-esque aesthetic, both bands can, and do, jam out their carefully crafted songs live, doing so as deftly and as entertainingly as most any band. I had seen both groups multiple times before last Thursday night, but I have never seen either (especially Woods) bring down the house in such dramatic fashion as in that former high school gym.

Woods has made a name for themselves under the “freak folk” banner, churning out a string of consistently excellent records that manage to pair sunshine-sounding music with deceptively dark but ultimately uplifting lyrics. The group then stretched their wings a bit (with fantastic results) on last year’s , a release that echoed a bit more of the band’s looser live sound. Seeing Woods live previously, one often got the feeling that bubbling just below the surface was a monster waiting to be let (jammed) out, and the tour behind With Light and With Love let them explore that facet of their music.

I’m not sure if it was all the fun they’d been having on the tour, the influence of practicing all that Dead or what, but to put on my music critic hat and get technical for a second: Woods absolutely fucking brought the house down. Somehow managing to sound exhilaratingly psychedelic and unhinged while not wasting a single note, the ride Jeremy Earl, Jarvis Tanviere and company took Rev. Hall on was easily one of the best I’ve seen all year. From the set closing fireworks of “With Light and With Love” to the amazing jam in the middle of “Bend Beyond” (which you can watch in its entirety below), Woods’ ability to mix Earl’s fantastic gift for writing accessible and intelligent folk-pop masterpieces like “Cali In A Cup” with psychedelic freak-outs of the highest order is unparalleled in the rock world today. I have pity on the pour souls who sleep on getting tickets when Woods rolls through town (I totally advise traveling to see this band as well), as the night’s events placed them near the top of my “can’t miss” list and left me more than a little blown away.

Real Estate has made their bones crafting a wonderfully jangly sound that evokes perpetually floating in a pool in summer time suburbia while one ponders some of life’s deeper questions like “What am I actually doing with this life I’ve been given!?” In the time it took to release their three records, the NJ-founded group managed something very rare in the music world: they were able to craft a sound that is unmistakably theirs via impossibly catchy songs like “Talking Backwards” and the dreamy daze of numbers like set opener “Suburban Beverage.”

Typically I would say Real Estate’s “stoned person pondering life’s veritable quandaries while stroking their beard” aesthetic would be absolutely perfect for perpetually chilled out Portland, but in all honesty after the frenzy Woods had worked the crowd into it seemed to take the room a few minutes to come down and focus. But the ever patient and soothing sounds singer and guitarist Martin Courtney, guitarist Matt Mondanile, bassist Alex Bleeker, drummer Jackson Pollis and keyboardist Matt Kallman create soon had Revolution Hall happily swaying in time. Seemingly not wanting to be outdone by their counterparts, once Real Estate had the crowd’s attention they took them on a couple of lysergically-enhanced sounding journeys, and did so to great effect.

Whereas Woods’s jams reached out and slapped you directly in the psyche, forcing you to listen, Real Estate’s style politely slipped their arm around you and asked if would like you to spend a few minutes dancing in the clouds with them. Both worked exceptionally well, and it was captivating to watch the two bands having so much fun explore the outer regions of their respective sounds.

With it’s functioning lockers, trophy cases still filled with sports trophies and homecoming pictures and staff wearing shirts that say “Hall Monitor” on them, the eerie-in-a-fantastic-way nostalgia of Revolution Hall is unlike anywhere I’ve ever seen a show, and I’ve seen ‘em all over this wonderfully weird country. The setting was also perfect for a gorgeous night in Portland where two established “indie” bands (whatever that means these days) subverted the expectations that many probably have for bands of their ilk and jammed their asses off … probably like they dreamed of doing back when they roamed the halls of their own high schools, with old Grateful Dead boots blasting in their headphones.

Watch Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker lead Alex Bleeker & The Freaks on “It Must Have Been The Roses” for our Songs Of Their Own series:

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