If the Land of Misfit
Toys elected a team of cultural ambassadors, Logan
Lynn would be its poet laureate. In Portland's
pulsating music scene, he occupies a singular
position- an emo prophet with a penchant for
electronic beats, preaching the Good Word to
drug-damaged crybabies.
For the past decade, Logan has been writing and
recording his own music. In 2000, he released his
debut album, Glee, a blissful, sex-drenched romp
through some emotionally treacherous territory.
Produced by Pfog, heavy themes of religion,
sexuality and identity played out alongside upbeat
grooves and smiley-face rhythms. One critic said it
"put the 'disco' back in discomfort." That blend of
spleen-venting lyrics and "Let's dance!" optimism
owes a lot to Logan's unique, mildly scary
upbringing.
Homeschooled in a fundamentalist Christian
household, he was completely isolated from popular
music. (Let's just say the tagline "I Want My MTV"
had especial resonance for this 80s baby.) Escape
came in the form of the mid-90s underground rave
scene, deejaying for tweaked-out teenagers in the
Midwest, and later moving to the West Coast to
pursue a degree in art school. All this helps to
account for the leitmotifs threaded through much of
his music: sex, drugs and Jesus.
His self-titled sophomore effort came out in 2006,
using his earlier work as a springboard for
exploring fresh sonic territory. He collaborated
with several Portland artists on some truly radical
music videos- Think the backroom of a bathhouse as
reenacted by Ken dolls. The album release coincided
with a much-praised performance at San Francisco's
all-leather Folsom Street Fair. To retool a phrase
from the aforementioned music critic, he puts the
'mo back in emo.
A recent collaboration with Producer Carlos
Cortes of Portland DJ collective Assemble The
Empire has yielded an album entitled "From Pillar
To Post", due out in October 2007 (Preview
the album on our station now.). Look for
his videos on MTV's LOGO network as well as ADD-TV
in New York and Out Of The Closet Television in Los
Angeles. (For more information on these broadcasts,
go to LogoOnline.com, ADD-TV.com and
OutOfTheCloset.tv).
