Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for June 5th to June 7th

Hello Dear Readers,

Summer time is crazy. It is super nice outside which makes you want to go outside. It is also means that it stays light for like forever. Which means generally you do more things. As a show=goer this can be dangerous. I have missed several shows due to exhaustion. So pace yourself. If there is a show that you know you NEED to see, then do not go outside during the day. You will get tired, and then you will miss the show. That being said yesterday was all stormy so I went to see a show. The Grey Anne/PWRFL Power show which was excellent. Here are some more excellent shows.

Friday, June 5th

• Backspace is having a show with Atole, Breakfast Mountain, Guidance Counselor, Mattress and DJ Hostile Tapeover. If you feel like getting your hot summer ass dancing. This is the show you want to go to. I still have not seen Breakfast Moutain. I think this would be a nice introduction. This ALL AGES show is $6 and starts at 9 PM.

• Berbati's is having a show with Blue Horns, The Rosewood Thieves (Somewhere else), St. Frankie Lee and Mississippi Man (Fullerton, CA). Blue Horns are pretty bomb. I think of them as in the same sort of ballpark as Shaky Hands I think they are neighbors with St. Frankie Lee. Who are bomb in their own right. I have played shows with St. Frankie Lee several times and they are super fun to see. They always have cool hand made merch. Last time I saw them they had St. Frankie Lee pillow cases. How cool is that? The cost is $5-7 and starts at 10 PM.

• Hawthorne Theater is having a show with Hide & Go Hustle, Dandelion Snow (NYC), and Morgan Erinaa. Hide & Go Hustle make very beautiful music. It is where classical, instrumental post rock, and beats meet. I have only seen them once but it was very good. The other tow people playing this seem more singer songwriter-y. I think one of them used to live in Seattle. The ALL AGES show is $3 and starts at 7 PM

• Slabtown is having a show with We're From Japan!, Pony Village and Donovan Breakwater. We're From Japan! pretty much rule it. They make instrumental rock music sort of in the same vein as EITS. They know how to build a song. I often get caught up in the momentum of their music (ie dance). I have been meaning to check out Pony Village for a while now, they make indie rock. Donovan Breaker does too. They actually sound like they came directly fro like 1997 or something (not a bad thing). Who doesn't like a little indie rock every once and a while? The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Saturday, June 6th

• Holocene's Six Year Anniversary with: Talkdemonic, Explode into Colors, Nurses, Gulls, E*Rock and Bobby Dangerous. Six years is a pretty substantial amount of time for a music venue in this day and age. Why not celebrate? Plus this looks like an awesome show. I listen to Talkdemonic all the time. I personally think they make a good soundtrack to about everything. You know like putting salt on something. It was good before, but now its awesome. I have not seen Explode into Colors despite the amount press they have gotten. Nurses however, I have seen and I think they are fantastic. This show is FREE and starts 9 PM.
  

• The Know is having a show with Vs. the Sea and a band called Mister Steak. I have never heard of Mister Steak. But Vs. The Sea is a band that has a friend of mine, Jared, who used to play the Zilla Sake house. This is the place where I started playing my solo stuff and started playing with Luz Elena of Y La Bamba. It is good to see that he is still doing his thing as I always thought he was a really good songwriter. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

• The Waypost is having a show with Damon Moon & The Whispering Drifters (Georgia), Travis Wiggins and Alan Singley. I am writing this because it is nice to see that the two kings of quirky pop (Alan and Travis) are sharing a bill together again. Though I suppose Alan has gone more and more traditional pop late, and Travis weirder and weirder. Travis used to play in Alan's band or vice versa (or both?). Any way this will be a very fun show. This is a FREE ALL AGES show and starts at 8 PM.

• The Artistery is having a shows with Gejus, Very International Love, Glasssmoustache and Gameshow. I don't know anything about the other bands, but Gejius is really good at the laptop/live electronics dance thing. It isn't straight up techno or pop, pop more of a grove thing. The thing he did with Huey Louis's Heart and Soul is so awesome. The ALL AGES show is $6 and starts at 8 PM.

• The Blood Bank is having a show with Firs of Prey, Snuffaluffagus, and Sec Saints Art Collective. I have heard of the Blood Bank, but have never been. I have heard of Birds of Prey from my friend Grey Anne who assured me that he is great. I listened to his myspace and she was right it kind of reminds me of the acoustic numbers on the Beatles White Album (live there is a lot of looping). I heard of Snuffaluffagus from my friend Tex Winters. I guess he is their roommate. He says that their practices sound pretty good. Again I checked the myspace, again they are pretty good. I have liked what I have heard of the Sec Saints Art Collective. So it looks to be a pretty amazing show. The ALL AGES show has set a cover as "FREE as Fuck" according to where I saw the show posted.

• Fun Run Records is having a house show (312 NE 61st ave) with Westfold, Hey Lover, Dio McCloud, Not To Reason (Petaluma, CA), and Goodriddler (Santa Rosa, CA), and DJ Skin So Soft. Westfold is one of my favorites though I have not seen them play i a long time. They apparently have a new drummer and a lot of new songs I have not heard. Dio McCloud is a guy who does not play out near enough. He kinda sounds like the Red House Painter (i.e. really good). I have not seen Hey Lover before or the two California bands (who are on tour together), but they all sound pretty good. This ALL AGES show is FREE (though donations will be accepted gratiously) and starts at 7 PM.

• The Green House is having a house show (gasp!) with Guidance Counselor, Fake Drugs, Saucy Yoda, Southern Belle, Torture Me Elmo, and Mythological Horses. I will try to describe each band in one sentence because there are so many of them. Guidance counselor is lo-tech techno-pop. Fake Drugs is lo-fi electro-disco. Saucy Yoda is DIY girl hip-hop. Sothern Belle plays music that is in the same indie rock ballpark as Wolf Parade or World's Greatest Ghosts and others they incorporate a heavy use of keyboards. Tourture me Elmo is a punk band. Mythological Horses plays curse drenched folk music. It might cost money? The ALL AGES show starts at 7 PM.

Sunday, June 7th

• PDX Salon is having something called Eat Music Brunch. It will feature music from Leviethan. I don't know if you have heard but Ol' Levi here has a new business model for making records. Which is essentiall having his listeners to pay for the costs. They would pay fro a pre-order type deal. You can read about it here. I believe that this is a fundraiser for the album as well. It is $40 a head. This seems very interesting. It will last from 10 Am to 2 PM.

• Valentine's is having an amazing show with Sunday (Austin, TX), Cajun Gems, and Inside Voices. Cajun Gems are the mostly acoustic side project of the Joggers. It is really good. Inside voices is a band that currently at the top of Portland I NEED to see this summer. I love what I have heard by them so far. This show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

• The Someday Lounge is having a show with Reclinerland and Carolyn Berk (of Lovers). This is the Willamette Week thing they do the first Sunday of every month at Someday Lounge. It features live performances and interviews. I don't know if you have ever seen a live interview, but it is awkward. Reclinerland writes catchy songs with good and entertaining lyrics. You may know the Michael Johnson (Reclinerland) from his other band Parks and Recreation. He recently decided to quit Reclinerland, then even more recently decided not to. But during the brief time he quit he offered a FREE album via his blog. Lovers the band that Carolyn Berk uses to perform her songs is pretty great, Though I have yet to see them their recently released album "I Am the West" is very good. I fell in love witht he first track, "Igloos for Ojos" straight away (it is one of my Summer Jamz). The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

• Ground Kontrol is having a heavy show with Thrones (Salem) and Silentist. DJ Nate C will be spinning some heavy metal records too. If you are into heavy music you probably know about Thrones and Silentist. If you don't, I just want to remind people that the Portland area make more than folk or dancey pop music. The show starts at 9 PM.

• Mississippi Pizza Pub is having a show with Hide & Go Hustle and Hair Envelope (Seattle). I wrote about Hide & Go Hustle for Friday. But if you can't make the Friday show, then check this one out. I know that my friend Luz Elena played a show with the Seattle group. They make very good Indie dancey music. For real it is better than average dance music. I know that it will be at 9 PM, I don't know if there is a cover, but donations will be acceptaded for sure.

Please do me the favor of saying "Hi" if you see me at any of these shows. It would make me happy. And give me an excuse to give you a high five. It should be noted I don't require much of an excuse to give a high five.

-Ben


Firs of Prey doing will do something something similar to this on Saturday at the Blood bank.