Sunday, January 24, 2010

Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Sunday, January 24th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last Night I played the Press Club in Sean Flinn and The Royal We and Y La Bamba. The shows at the Press Club are very fun. The place is tiny so any amount of people make it feel packed. Granted I can't hear anything that I am singing or my bass when I am playing. I just like the vibe of the place. Very chill. There were a lot of great show last night so I was pleased that people came out at all. Anyways, there are some choice shows tonight as well:

Sunday, January 24th

Kennedy School is having a show with Classical Revolution PDX, Matt Sheehy, and The Dimes. This is a Haita Benefit show. Classical Revolution PDX plays classical music on classical instruments. The "revolution" is getting the masses to listen to classical music (Classical music is often pretty rad, by the way). Matt Sheehy is great, I think I likened him to Sufjan last time I wrote about him. I don't think I am am too far off with that statement. The Dimes are a indie pop band that have very sweet vocals, melodies, and arrangements not too dissimilar to Blind Pilot. The show is by donations and starts at 7 PM.

Ella Street Social Club is having a show with Nick Jaina, Kaylee Cole (Spokane), and Shenandoah Davis (Seattle). This may look very similar to a show that happened last night. Because this is the same line up that played The Waypost last night. My guess is that they are all friends. The ladies of this line up mostly perform using the piano. I have seen Nick Jaina do an all piano set before and he pulls it off quite nicely considering it is not his main instrument. I had a friend who caught a bit of Shenandoah before coming over to the press club tell me that she was pretty good. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Rontoms is havingWorld's Greatest Ghosts, Tempo No Tempo, and The Angry Orts. World's Greatest Ghosts are hands down one of the most fun bands to see from Portland. Their music pulls energy out of you that you had no idea was there. They have have insanely catchy songs that get stuck in your head for months. But in a good way. Their album was one of my favorite local releases last year. Tempo No Tempo is a band from San Francisco who have a very energetic vibe as well they are many cool guitar parts and have a very driving rhythm section. I really like what I heard. They seem to be a really good fit with WGG. The Angry Orts is a female led band that also has upbeat rock music. They Angry Orts are named after some Lord of The Rings reference. Which is kinda nerdy. But I know that WGG are also kinda nerdy. I mean they do a gnome themed show every year. They seem to be in good company with each other. A fun fun fun show for sure. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Valentine's is having a Prism Index Release Party with Arrington de Dionyso, Alps and Ohioan. This is a similar show to that of what Artistery had last night in celebration of the new label Infinite Font. They have a cool 4-way split 7" in mono. You actually have to hard pan your speakers to to get the mono songs individually, otherwise you will get the madness of two songs at once. Cool idea. Ohioan is cool his band ranges from one to however many he can pull together. He always pulls together cool people. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Blackbird Wine Shop is having a show with Blue Cranes. I don't listen to a lot of jazz, but I really like what the Blue Cranes do. It is jazz that builds upon itself like post-rock does. Super cool stuff. Check them out for sure. The show is having a show with $15-20 and starts at 7 PM.

Holocene is having L'Union Fait La Force aka a Haiti benefit. This one features Pyramiddd, Deelay Ceelay, Gulls, and DJ New Moon Poncho. "100% of the bar profits and door proceeds tonight will go to Mercy Corps for their relief efforts in the aftermath of Haiti's devastating earthquake. Tonight, Portland is united with Haiti under their national motto: "l'union fait la force: with unity comes strength"." All of these bands are really fun to see. I have not seen Pyramiddd since the the name change, but I imagine that they still work a crowd like no ones business. I saw Deelay Ceelay the other week. I know they still bring it. I only saw Gulls once, but it was awesome. The show is $10 and starts at 8 PM.

If you see someone who looks like me at one of these shows please say, "Hi". It pleases me when you do.

-Ben


Pyramiddd will get sexy on stage for Haiti at Holocene.

2 comments:

The Temp said...

Sara of The Angry Orts here. Just wanted to clarify that our name isn't referencing Lord of the Rings... That would be orcs.

An ort is a small crumb or leftover scrap. So while we ARE total dorks, we use our dork-out powers for English class and crosswords, not dragons and middle-earth. :)

Ben Meyercord said...

I guess I just wanted it to be true soooo badly that I stopped myself from fact checking. Sorry.