image from colinbrown via flickr. Against a painted backdrop of a Japanese landscape and bathed in the glow of red paper lanterns The Decemberists took the stage at the Wiltern on Saturday night to play for a full house in support of their latest album, The Crane Wife. The Portland quintet, augmented by a violin player on this tour, skillfully mingled the traditional guitar, bass and drums with a cornucopia of instruments not commonly... more ›

Trey Anastasio - Bar 17 (Red Ink) Beck - The Information (Geffen) Lindsey Buckingham - Under the Skin (Warner Bros.) Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo (Cirque Du Soleil) Dears - Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts) Decemberists - The Crane Wife (Capitol) Plácido Domingo - Moments of Passion (Sony Classical) Don't Die Cindy - Most Imperfect Skies (Cake) Evanescence - The Open Door (Wind-Up) Goldenboy - Underneath the Radio (Eenie Meenie) Robyn Hitchcock &... more ›

Though the biography on their website claims the musical group known as the Decemberists are a group of vagabonds brought together serendipitously and subsequently joined together like so many lone wolves to form a proper pack. They are, in fact, a talented group of musicians based in Portland, Oregon, led by singer/songwriter and the heir to the Rivers Cuomo School of looking like an unassuming hipster, Colin Meloy. If it seems that we're tending to the side of being overtly garrulous in our review of their new album The Crane Wife, we are, it's just the effect of their music on us. If you're not familiar with the music of the Decemberists, just think of sea shanties sung by the Shins with the instrumentation of Arcade Fire and you're almost there. more ›