Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Sunday, October 11th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last night I performed at Live Wire! It was super fun. Plus I got to connect with the drummer to one of my favorite bands growing up (Lift to Experience). Andy Young, said drummer, is currently splitting his time between here and Texas. but when he is here, he is helping record and drum for Tahoe Jackson. I saw her perform for the first time last night and it was awesome. It sounded like I was listening to an old soul record. She's got soul. Plus her band was great. She should be someone to keep an ear out for. Anyways, here is what I am interested in tonight.

Sunday, October 11th

Valentine's is having a show with Bodhi, The Pigeons, and Brass Clouds. Bodhi is a rock band. I first saw them play at PDX Pop 208 where I believe they were the first band in PDX Pop history to smash its instruments. This was an image that was left in my head. I somehow remembered them being loud maybe even a heavy band. They are not. They are a rock band. Not like an intelligent rock band, but a dumb rock band. Like in a good way (like how The Ramones were a dumb rock band). They are fun. They know how to let the bass and drums do most of the work leaving the keyboards and guitars to come in when they are absolutely necessary or to kick the song up several notches. It is cool. They lead singer has a slight delay on his vocals that makes it feel slightly retro which is something that I am a fan of. Pigeons is a band that is a rock band that has some twang in it. Justin the lead singer has an inescapable warble in his voice that you will probably either love or hate. But when they get it together and are "on", they are on. Take a listen to "send a mt to my valentine". It is gorgeous (also has a slight delay on the vocals). Brass Cloud is mostly instrumental music that upon my first listen seemed to bridge the gap between Tortoise and Prefuse 73. I love it and I'm like, "from my town? Nice." I look forward to hearing more from this band and their tightly wound grooves and many many instruments. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Rontoms is having a show with Boy Eats Drum Machine and The Hugs. There is also a rumor of Finn Riginns. Actually, I just got an email it is confirmed that the experimental pop band will in fact be performing which is very very tempting because I missed the show they played last night at Berbati's. BEDM is the unlikely mix of one man's ability to write songs, play sax, DJ and croon at the same time (well maybe not play sax at the same time but he still has it in the mix fro when he is not singing). He is part of the Tender Loving Empire family. The Hugs are a garage pop band who write very catchy...garage pop. Their songs have as many vocal hooks as it does guitar hooks. There are a lot of guitar hooks. This is the last show before the band goes to England for a bit. Apparently they are pretty big over there. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Rotture is having a show with Diminished Men (Seattle), Rollerball, ZZYZZAX (Seattle/Portland), and Dead Cinema. I love it when bands are not ironic in the genres they list themselves as. The Diminished Men list themselves as Psychedlic and Surf. Well after listening, I agree they are totally psychedelic surf music. It is instrumental as most surf music is and seems pretty cool. But I am mostly listing this because of Rollerball and their dark experimental rock music. They pretty much do whatever they want to musically have been doing so for about ten years. This has led to acclaim over seas (They are on Italian label) and not much over here. Yay! Zzyzzax is another band that appropriately lists itself. They are Ambient Experimental Metal. Granted these are very vague genres. I still fumble with my words when I try to describe them as anything else. Oh and one of the reasons I like writing this blog is that I come across bands I probably would not come across otherwise. Dead Cinema is really good. The guys voice falls somewhere between Destroyer and Jello Biafra (i.s. unique). There are two songs that are kinda dark piano tunes, and the third track sounds like it could be off something on Constellation records. I love it. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Mississippi Studios is having something called Strangers Together. It will feature the Flash Choir which is led by Sarah Dougher and Pat Janowski. The Flash Choir is a group of people made up of all ages and all levels of singers. They are led by Pat Janowski tonight performing music that Sarah Dougher wrote as a way to translate the poems of William Stanford into musical form. The show is $10 and will be a matinee show at 2:30 PM.

So if you see me at any of these, please let me know by saying "Hi". You could also encourage your friends to do so as well.

-Ben


Rollerball plays tonight at Rotture.