I was down in Portland recently, and I think that it’s become better than Seattle. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Jet City; we’ve all but flushed out the hippie contingent that controls the cafes and parks of P-Town. But Portland’s got the feel that Seattle had about 15 years ago. Some would say that we’re much better off now than we were then, and in many ways we are. But Portland doesn’t have the mass of people that we’ve crammed into our corner of the world, and it doesn’t have 500 billionaires running around finding new ways to spend all that cash. What Portland does have is a local music scene that continues to thrive and a community willing to support it. People in the audience actually move around during a show. And their music scene doesn’t hinge on Seattle’s “civil society” crap, where civic leaders go out of their way to stop music from finding a voice, even attempting to outlaw “noise” and making it virtually impossible to put on an all-ages show. I was shocked to walk down the streets of Portland and see posters on telephone polls promoting upcoming all-ages shows. Hell, I was shocked just to see posters on telephone poles. The biggest difference may be the bands. In Seattle, the same bank of musicians continues to regroup and reform and reproduce the same music. In Portland, there seems to be a wealth of bands that create original, exciting, and at times unbelievable sounds. I used to go to shows primarily to see bands from our fine city, but now I find myself staying up past my bedtime when I know a van’s rumbling up I-5 on its way from Portland.

One of the best examples of the music you can find down south is Sunset Valley. These Portland boys recently released their second album on Sugar Free, Boyscout Superhero. It does things to me nothing from Seattle has done in a long time. It makes me excited for what the future holds for a town. Then again, maybe they have such good music because there’s nothing better to do there than make it.

Is Seattle music still better than Portland music? Find out weekday mornings on KCMU 90.3 FM from 6 to 10am.