Radiation City

Portland-based indie pop quartet Radiation City draw from doo wop, girl groups, and classic pop and rock influences and throw in male/female vocals as well as electronic touches for a sound equal parts throwback and forward-looking. Naming themselves with the idea of making music that could be found in the wreckage of a future dystopia, the group formed in 2010 with organist Elisabeth Ellison and guitarist Cameron Spies, who share vocal duties and who played together in Soap Collectors and Spesus Christ and ran D.I.Y. cassette tape label Apes Tapes. The band was fleshed out in late 2010 with the addition of drummer Randy Bemrose and, early the following year, bassist Matt Rafferty. Their full-length debut, The Hands That Take You, followed shortly thereafter on Apes Tapes, getting an expanded release on Tender Loving Empire that fall. In May of 2012, they were named Best New Band in a poll taken by Portland entertainment paper Willamette Weekly, which tagged the band's sound "Jetsons-era doo wop." Sophomore album Animals in the Median appeared in 2013.