Sunday, December 13, 2009

Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Sunday, December 13th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last night I had a lot of fun. Right after I got off of work I went over the the Rock N Shop. Which was cool. I was able to catch the Ramones=esque punk of The Mean Jeans and then a bit of the loud rock (not in a bad way) of The Ax. There were a lot of cool labels and other organizations representing. I talked to the PDX Pop Now people, the Tender Loving Empire People, The High Scores person, and The Gnar Tapes people. I would have talked to more but, I had to cut out to see the Typhoon, aan, and Nurses show. Man I am glad that I did. It was such a good show. I mean that line up is just, for lack of a better word, redonkulous. I talked to a few people who had not seen or heard Typhoon or aan. I was so excited for them. I talked to them afterwards and they were totally won over. I talked to a few people who had not seen or heard Typhoon or aan. I was so excited for them. I talked to them afterwards and they were totally won over. Typhoon filled the whole of the stage and played really well. This was the biggest venue I had seen them in. It was weird I am used to being all up next to them and it being louder. But it was still really cool. When I was talking to the Tender Loving Empire people earlier they let it slip that they were releasing the Typhoon full length next May. I can't wait. Then aan came on strong. This was also the biggest place that I had seen them. Their set was a roller coaster ride of soft numbers mixed in with louder jaunts that made people move. I loved it. Hopefully his next full length will be out next year as well, because there are a lot of songs they play that are not on the CD he currently has available. Then came every one's favorite Nurses they started off with a new song that I had not heard. It sounded good. Man I love those guys. They had the audience losing their collective bowels. Though it was cold outside I eventually got sweaty. It happens. I make no apologies. I wish all shows were this good. Anyway, here are some shows that caught my attention for tonight:

Sunday, December 13th

Rontoms is having Inside Voices and White Hinterland play a show. It seems like I have not heard from Inside Voices in a while. I was never able to pick up the CD they put out this year. Every time I saw them I was pretty broke. Thus I they didn't make my top list of 2009 because I am poor. I have not really listened to them recorded. But live I know that they are simply great. They meld several things to get a sound of their own. I really don't know how to describe it, but it is good. Plus there is White Hinterland. She and her cohort make music displays Casey Dienel's voice and songwriting ability. It is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Valentine's is having a show with Benoit Pioulard, Foreign Orange, and < ahref="http://www.myspace.com/actualbirdsongs" target="_blank">Actual Birds (Ann Arbor). Benoit Pioulard is one of those artists that blurs the line between ambient and folk music. Kind of like Grouper. Though Benoit Pioulard leans towards the more structured song, but there are a lot of atmospheric elements that are pretty cool. TI can imagine him having a band, where I could never imagine Grouper having anyone backing her up. Foreign Orange is a indie-pop band with a slight touch of psychedelia. "ACTUAL BIRDS is the nom de guerre of Dustin Krcatovich, cartoonist/DJ/recording artist/Michiganian/record collector/bad comedian/amateur sociologist" Or so says his myspace. What I heard was fome lo-fi folk with some weirdness mixed in. Apparently he recorded an album with Fred Thomas of Saturday Looks Good to Me fame. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

The Parlour has a show with Bootz Orchestra and Lindsay Clark. Bootz Orchestra is a group that I have not heard of before. But from what I can tell they make Folk-rock that fall somewhere between Okkervil River and Beirut. As you might imagine the group is large with many instruments. But the real reason I am writing about the show is because of Lindsay Clark. I played a show with her a while back. I was so impressed by her traditional folk stylings that I bought her album at the show. It is nice. She originally comes from Nevada City and would not sound out of place on a bill with Alela Diane. The ALL AGES show is $4 and starts at 7 PM.

Ducketts Public House is having a show with Carrion Spring, Air War, and Get Up Get Down. I know nothing about the other bands, but Air War has been on my radar for awhile, though I still haven't seen them. They make self proclaimed "Sludge gaze" music. That is to say it is kinda like sludge and kinda shoe gaze. In other wards it is really cool sounding instrumental rock music. You guys should know by now that I am a fan of good instrumental rock music. Portland does not get light shown on the talent we have in that area of music. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at these shows please say, "Hi".
-Ben


Air War will rock you. If you are willing to head over to Ducketts tonight.

1 comment:

Dr. Something said...
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