Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Saturday, May 1st

Hello Dear Readers,

I returned to Portland as the the sun crept up this morning. I had a little two day jaunt up to Seattle and Anacortes, WA. Fun times. Who knew that there are still cool bands from Seattle that I have not heard of. Probably everyone. Regardless, I am glad that we got to see Yuni In Taxco last night they were pretty cool. It kinda reminded me a bit of Portland's own aan. Who I absolutely love. Anyway there are a but load of good shows tonight. See:

Langano Lounge is having a show with Hey Lover, Electric Castle, Curious Hands, and AristeiA. I am listing this show because well... I play in AristeiA and I want you to come and see us play. I think were are constantly bettering and refining our instrumental rock sound. We are going to be debuting a new song tonight. Hey Lover are a pretty high energy garage pop band. Electric Castle is coming from some of the people that were in that amazing band The Minders. Curious Hands are a extremely poppy garage pop band. They sound kinda in the same vein as The Undertones (you know the band that sang "Teenage Kicks"). Plus there will be DJ's Electric M and Splitpills. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Backspace is doing a the ALL AGES release show for Typhoon's new record Hunger an Thirst. The show is also with Last Slice of Butter (Seattle), and Wampire. Typhoon is an amazing band. I love the album that they are releasing tonight. It is so good. You should if anything go to this show to pick it up because it is not in stores until Tuesday. Their brand of epic folk pieces is just awe inspiring and they are able to pull it off live as well. For real listen to this band and fall in love already. Last Slice of Butter is a noisy band from Seattle that have a relationship to Boy Gorilla just like Typhoon. They are the good kind of noisy though, they are all things considered pretty catchy. Wampire is an extremely catchy group though. Their songs are chill and danceable and so melodic all at the same time. Plus if you are down to see some dudes strip down to their undies, it is almost a sure thing at a Wampire show. The ALL AGES show is $5 and starts at 6 PM.

Next door, Someday Lounge is having the 21+ release show for Typhoon's new record Hunger and Thirst. This one is with Point Juncture, WA and Jared Mees & The Grown Children. Say you can't make the earlier Typhoon show, this is your second chance. Or maybe you are tempted to see them twice. There is no shame in that game. Especially considering that the other two acts on this bill are so good. Point Juncture is to me basically like Portland's answer to Yo La Tengo with some of the instrumentation of Tortoise (ie vibes and cool percussion and all). I was just listening to their last LP the other day thinking about how good they are. Jared Mees is one of the people behind Tender Loving Empire who is not only putting out Typhoon's record this week, but will also be opening the doors to the new store. It's gonna be awesome. Plus his band is super fun to see live and his songs are great. He and his Grown Children have several new songs that they want to play for you. You really should give them a listen. The show is $7 and starts at 9:30 PM.

The Woods is having a show wtih AgesAndAges, Brothers Young, and The Spinning Leaves (Philadelphia, PA). AgesAndAges are super good. They are in the midst of recording their debut album so don't have much in the way of recorded music to listen to. But they have one song on their myspace. It is good. But what you really have to do is see their highly vocally arranged pop tunes in person to get a feel for what they are doing. The Brothers Young are another vocal heavy band. They specialize in the power of brotherly (literally) unison singing. Along with honest to goodness good tunes. The Spinning Leaves are a pretty good Americana band from Philadelphia. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.

The Wail is having a show with Yeah Great Fine, Wax Fingers, and Wishyunu. Yeah Great Fine and Wax Fingers seem like a perfect fit together because they both play pretty progressive pop music that delves in to other sub genres quite often. Wishyunu are mostly a dream pop band. A mighty good one at that. Or so I have heard. I sadly missed all of their residency at Berbati's last month. But I be that playing so regularly made them super tight. Now is the time to see them. The ALL AGES show is $6 and starts at 7 PM.

If you see me at the Langano Lounge please say, "Hi", I will the one playing the bass tones.

-Ben


This band plays twice tonight: Backspace and Someday Lounge.