Blitzen Trapper

There is no clear genre categorization for the music Portland, Oregon’s Blitzen Trapper make. Experimental folk? Pop? Indie rock? Post-emo-meets-alt-country with a twist of Malkmus and a dash of Sub Pop’s New Americana sound? We could go on but, lucky for us, we recently had the opportunity to ask the man himself, Blitzen frontman Eric Earley. 

“I don’t know,” Earley responded from a van somewhere in his America, as if not to be bothered. “It’s just American music. Back to when people weren’t so concerned with genre - Like how The Kinks were.” Right on, brother; way to not show your cards. All Music Guide calls the buzz band - Earley, guitarist Erik Menteer, drummer Brian Adrian Koch, bassist Michael Van Pelt, keymen Drew Laughery and marty Marquis - “raucous, lo-fi country rock.” Sure thing, but they also compare Blitzen Trapper’s artful-yet-rustic (and slightly adventurous) take on American music to Wilco and Beachwood Sparks. Nope. Double nope. Grateful Dead and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?! What the fuck ever. If you must know, Blitzen Trapper make art-damaged indie-pop that keeps its foot in the alt-country door. Or that’s what we’re sticking with, at least when talking about the band’s just released fourth album, Furr (Sub Pop).

“We toured Europe and now we’re touring the States, you know,” Earley continued when asked about Blitzen Trapper’s upcoming show on November 10 show at Locals Only - set to take place following dates with Stephen Malkmus and prior to a tour with Iron & Wine. “When you put out a new record you have to start that whole cycle up. Travel.”

This, their fourth proper studio album (and only second nationally released set), Furr has been collecting some of 2008’s best accumulative press, many publications calling the record - which fills the space between ‘90s indie rock and modern alt-country - one of the Top 10 of the year. How, we wondered, did this still-modest Portland band go from Wild Mountain Nation buzz band in 2007 to Sup Pop giants in 2008? Again, we asked the source.

“They got a hold of Wild Mountain and liked it a lot,” Earley, a man of few words said, “and they liked our songs. The [new] songs stretch out a long way, but the majority of them were recorded after we signed with Sub Pop.

“It’s a different kind of lifestyle,” Earley said in closing when asked about his band’s big year. “Everything kind of gets compressed.” Sounds like just another year for a crew of post-Pearl Jam Dylan fans with DIY tendencies, short sentences and killer - and catchy - songs that are nearly impossible to find proper reference for.

Written by G. William Locke