Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, October 29th

Hello Dear Readers,

Yesterday I was sick. I basically could not think due to a massive sinus head ache. I had most of the post for yesterday done, but I just could not bring myself to do anything. I pretty much checked out for 24 hours while awaited my recovery. I did not make it to any of the shows. Did you? If you did let me know what I missed. Here are the shows that look especially good to me tonight.

Thursday, October 29th

Mississippi Studios is having a PDX Pop Now! benefit with Britt Daniel, The Robinsons, and ioa. Now as many of your may now, I am a huge fan of all things PDX Pop. How cool is it to have a FREE ALL AGES festival with loads of Portland bands? Very. Anyway this show will help them out a bit financially (apparently it is not free to put on) while being a sweet show in general. Britt Daniel is probably best known for his band Spoon. I love that band. They have a sense of rhythm and melody that is unstoppable. I have seen him play as Britt Daniel twice here in Portland. I remember the first one about four years ago a Dante's when he play really solo with the exception of some CD boom box backup drums. It was awesome. Then I also saw him at last years MFNW show at Wonder Ballroom which was way cool because Janet Weiss joined him on a couple of numbers. She is such a good drummer. Rumor has it that he will be recording a solo album eventually. He has at least a couple of non-Spoon songs that he has been known to play at solo gigs. Plus he might play some new Spoon songs from the album coming out next year. The Robinsons are probably better known for their main project Viva Voce, or maybe their side project/super group Blue Giant. Regardless, I am saying you probably know about them. Viva Voce has a bit of a classic rock feel and a whole lot of hooks. Blue Giant has a psychedelic country sound not far off from The Beach Wood Sparks (a band that I really like and that if you have not heard, you should look into). So they will probably pull from both of these and maybe some songs that nobody has heard yet. ioa is also best known for her role in the band Point Juncture, WA. Her solo project definitely has some of the aspects of PJW like lots of members of PJW and therefore lots of trumpet and vibes and such. But these songs are obviously not from the same band. Many of them have a breezy bossanova thing going on. It sounds good. The show is $25 and starts at 8 PM.

Holocene is having a show called Chix w/ Stix. It is a show that celebrates the female drummer. It features Rhinestone Eagle, Palo Verde, Broken Water (Olympia), Hot Victory, and DJ L Train. Purple Rhinestone Eagle play riff laded rock music. They have garnered Black Sabbath comparisons from some, I sort of see that what with all the riffs and fuzz and all. Palo Verde is the Heavy-ish improv group that includes LKN on drums. Though it sometimes feels jammy, it always sounds awesome. Broken Water sound pretty awesome. From the top of the dome it reminds me of both Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Hot Victory has "Chick" drummer and a "Dude" drummer. They make really beats together and have another guy make weird sounds over with synth type stuff. But the main focus is totally the drums. As far as I know DJ L Train has no drummer female or otherwise. The show is $6 and starts at 8:30 PM.


If you see me at any of these shows please say "Hi".

-Ben

Boxcar Children by ioa from Weird Tapes on Vimeo.

I think she looks kinda crazy in this video, but ioa sounds good. She plays tonight at Mississippi Studios.