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posted 01/11/10 03:31 PM | updated 01/11/10 03:36 PM
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Oh, the Places You'll Go with Cars & Trains at Chop Suey Tonight

By Audrey Hendrickson
Film & TV Editor
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Cars & Trains is really just one guy: Portland-based multi-instrumentalist Tom Filepp.  Filepp makes dreamy singer-songwriter folk-pop, but accents the acoustic guitars with little electronic flourishes.  Not so much that it's twee or overdone (see Owl City), but just enough to separate him from the rest of the hushed bedroom crowd.  His second album The Roots, The Leaves is out later this month (the 26th), with a remixed version of the album available the same day that includes such like-minded musicians as Universal Studios Florida, Melodium, and Ernest Gonzales, all of whom crafted their own nuanced take on Cars & Trains' tunes.

In his musical mishmashes, Tom deftly mixes electronic elements and found sounds with acoustic instrumentation as varied as woodwinds, banjos, guitars, strings, and glockenspiel.  It's tech-driven yet organic, and if that sounds like a contradiction, it is--but it works, with Tom's thickly layered breathy vocals sitting atop all those rambling sounds, giving them a natural, cohesive fit.  Tonight at Chop Suey is your chance to see him loop everything together live. I'd say that based on the above, during his set, dude keeps busy.

 

  • Cars & Trains play Chop Suey tonight, along with the aforementioned USF and Big Spider's Back (it's the latter's headlining CD release show).  Doors 8pm, show 9.  $6, 21+.
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