Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday

Hello Dear Readers,

Yesterday I pulled one of those I mostly finish a post and then run out of time or wifi or both before posting it. I could have told you about the Y La Bamba show I played. Or the amazing bill of Ah Holly Fam'ly, Ghost to Falco, Grey Anne, and Billygoat show at Holocene. But alas, you heard nothing from me. Here are some shows that look good to me:

The Knife Shop is having a show with Bruxing, AristeiA, and Design.Drift.Distance. Ha ha! I listed the show I am playing first. Check out what I learned from the Bruxing myspace, "brux [bruhks]:to clench and grind the teeth; gnash". I suppose that is a pretty fitting name for the band as their guitars will often gnash out and the music often gets very tight similar to clenched teeth. The music is made by a drums and guitar duo and is progressive instrumental rock. It makes sense for them to play with AristeiA because we too are a progressive instrumental rock band. But I think we sound a bit bigger because we are technically twice as many band members. We have narrative structures to our songs. If you have not seen us in a while, we have a set with mostly new songs. We are planning on recording this year. Design.Drift.Distance. is a band that I have been meaning to check out for quite some time. I have heard some pretty good things about them from pretty reliable friends. One thing you may notice right off the bat, is that they have vocals. But underneath them, you will find some pretty cool post rock type music. The show is $4 and starts at 9 PM.

Holocene is having Eat Yr Heart Out Culinary Music Fest. It will feature the music of St. Frankie Lee, Wampire, and DJ Brokenwindow. This is lazy, but I am going to straight up cut and paste directly from the Holocene website, "As Portland garners national and international praise for its vibrant music scene, it's also gaining an equally great reputation for its foodie sensibility. We are serious about great food. We love it. We live for it. Snacking, and snacking well, is a lifestyle in this town. We at Holocene are letting Portland's two favorite things, great food and great tunes, collide for an evening....and we expect delectable results! The tunes will be provided by synth poppers Wampire and utterly cuddly folk rockers St. Frankie Lee. DJ Brokenwindow of Community Library will be playing a set of 100% food-themed songs to set the mood for snacking. Come watch a live demo on making delicious vegan enchiladas by Guidance Counselor! Sign up with a partner for the DoubleDare-style poutine eating challenge, sponsored by that most beloved fry cart, Potato Champion! Experience cookies baked by your favorite local bands (The Angry Orts, White Fang, Breakfast Mountain, Reverse Dotty, Ocean Age, Blue Horns, DJs New Moon Poncho, Fleshtone, St. Frankie Lee and more), and see which cookie takes the prize....the epic panel of judges will be none other than your favorite orchestral pop ensemble: Typhoon! Throw in a screening of Brennan Novak/Potlach Presents' delightful song-and-a-recipe video series "Cooking with...", which will include the premiere of the Typhoon and Y La Bamba episodes (heads up, I am in the Y La Bamba one despite my inability to cook), and you've got a most enthralling evening." Pretty crazy, no? The show is $3 and starts at 8 PM.

Ella Street Social Club is having a show with Gratitillium, Ocean Age, Yeah Great Fine, and Like a Villain. Gratitillium is a band that makes folk music with an attempt to make it a little more "wild". I have heard about animal costumes ala early Animal Collective. Ocean Age is a band that has made quite an impression on me. I have not heard their latest offering in the way of recordings, But I have their first ep and like it. Yeah Great Fine is a great progressive math pop band with some electronic elements (as well as several other elements). They have some great music. I believe they will be releasing an album sometime this year. I have heard really great things about it. They have a nice mix of acoustic and not acoustic instrumentation (like a lot of keyboard type things). Like a Villain is the solo project of Holland Andrews. Hollad is an awesome girl. She plays in Meyercord and has contributed to a number of bands including Svay Pak and many of the Bro Fam Collective. Her main instruments are clarinet and sax. She layers these along with her vocals to create very cool and often beautiful songs. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

The Woods is having a show with On the Stairs, Ezza Rose, and Audie Darling. This show serves as the the release show for On The Stairs debut album "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt." I did some backing vocals on the CD. Though this is the debut for this band, Nate Clark is no stranger to the Portland music. He also fronts another band called Les Flaneurs and plays in many other groups including Leonard Mynx. Ezza Rose has a very pretty voice which in addition to helping create her own wonderful music, she has lent to many other groups around town. She only has one song on her myspace right now, but it is a very impressive one in how well it builds and how well it ties all of the diverse elements of the song together. Check it out. Then there is Audie Darling who has been splitting her time between Portland and Nashville. In fact, I can't even remember the last she played in Portland. She too also has contributed vocals to many groups in Portland. The Americana or folk scene or whatever is very incestuous. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at the Knife Shop please say "Hi". Automatic high five. No questions asked.

-Ben

Yeah Great Fine - Don't Wake Up (live @ Burgerville) from Matthew Ross on VimeoYeah Great Fine play at Ella Street tonight!

1 comment:

Dr. Something said...

Live MS Paint pictorial review of the On The Stairs show at The Woods coming soon.