“It’s the love we give ourselves that is the love that grows, and we can’t give outward till our own cup overflows…”
–Reb & the Good News
Debut album “Wings” out now.
Reb & the Good News is a Portland based funk, world, and soul group that brings optimism and cathartic release to the dance floor. Catchy horn lines and sultry vocals soar over grooves that you can’t help but move to. Led by vocalist and guitarist Reb Conner, Reb’s love of rhythms from around the world bring the dance floor on a journey that’s full of surprises. Formed in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic, these songs reach for hope in a world under pressure. Reb believes that through feeling deeply and dancing together, we can face all that we’re up against in this life. She is supported by her partner, sax and keys player Leon Cotter, (a touring member of the California Honeydrops), as well as some of Portland’s heaviest hitters: Cyrus Nabipoor on trumpet, Ross Garlow on bass and Kirk Kalbfleisch on drums.
Reb & the Good News released their debut album “Wings” on May 11th 2021. This album is a culmination of a lifetime searching for Reb’s own voice in music. At 19, her love affair with music began by playing songs around a beach fire in her coastal hometown of Lincoln City. During a subsequent trip to Europe with a guitar, jazz was the music that most spoke to her, and she returned to the States to pursue an education. Reb went to music school at the age of 21 not yet knowing a major scale. With a lot of catching up to do, her education lasted all of 7 years, starting at LCC and finishing at the University of Oregon where she focused on Jazz guitar. Reb left her last collaborative project, High Step society in 2018, and moved from Eugene to Portland ready to tell her own story and bring her own aesthetic to life.
Falkons
Layering jazz, classical, and psychedelia on top of late-60’s swinging rock, Falkons composes the melodic voices of its 8-member ensemble into a sound that dances with catchy instrumental interplay and stands on a foundation of songwriting that is both timeless and unique. A 3-piece horn section (Tenor Sax, Alto Sax, Trombone) doles out heaps of charm, energy, and depth alongside vocal harmonies and a rhythm section that loves to get busy, but keeps a strong groove.
Falkons’ creative leadership comes from Alex Wargo, a veteran of the Boise music scene who might talk about My Chemical Romance and the delightful countermelodies of a Haydn piece in the same breath. His original vision in 2022 was to combine lofi hip-hop rhythms and aesthetics with psychedelic guitar textures and orchestral instruments, wrapped up in a package of symphonic arrangement. Over the course of a year and the addition of horns, the members of Falkons couldn’t help but let their rock’n’roll out and that vision morphed into the driving, dynamic experience that it is today. The name Falkons stems from a common lyrical thread of encountering struggle and rising up above it through mindfulness and addressing specific emotions.
