Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Wednesday, September 8th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last Night I ended up having a very full day I worked and then hung out with the Nike folks and then had a Meyercord practice. It was 10:30 before I knew it. I could not go to any shows. But I will be out tonight. There are a lot of good shows tonight. But as the big name out of towners start to take over our stages (for example Panda Bear or Mark Kozelek, tonight), remember that the local bands are playing too:

Mississippi Studios is having something called Two-Timer 2.0. Two-Timer is a series that displays art by musicians. There is art by Hutch Harris (Thermals), Kathy Foster (Thermals), Corina Repp (Tu Fawning), Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo), Tim Rutley (Califone), Rachel Blumberg, Shelly Short, Alicia J. Rose (Miss Murgatroid), Amy Ruppel. There will also be music provided by Ylang Ylang, Arch Cape, and Meyercord. Plus there is going to be vintage soul by DJ Cooky Parker. Those people who are lucky enough to have both musical and visual artistic talent are really lucky. They should be celebrated. It was put together by musician/artist Rachel Blumberg. She may have gotten known by playing drums (The Decemberists, Norfolk & Western, M. Ward Bright Eyes, Sean Flinn etc..) but she has been doing quite a bit of painting lately too. A lot of painting. And what's more she has has started a new band, Arch Cape. I have not seen them live but I know all of the band members and they are all great musicians. Rachel has snagged Seth Mankoski (Captain My Captain, Jen Moon, Sean Flinn) and Michael Kitson (Y La Bamba, Oh Captain My Captain). Together they make music that is chill pop music. I really like it. It sometimes reminds me of popper down tempo music. Ylang Ylang is one of the many many bands that I caught at PDX Pop Now! 2010. They were pretty great. Many of the band members have played in many bands around town. Most notably Charlie Salas-Humara (Panther) and Jake Morris (Joggers). They make rock music surprisingly accessible. I also remember that i kept hearing a lead guitar and could not find it on stage anywhere. I eventually realized that the lead guitar was actually Caroline Buchalter's viola. Meyercord is my band. Tonight I will be joined by Holland Andrews (Like a Villain) and Tim Adam Maynard on clarinet and trombone respectively. They will both be joining me on vocals to flesh out my songs. The Willamette Week called my music to be "moody indie ballads". I am afraid they might be right. Anyway if you missed the first Two-Timer show, like me, then you will not want to miss this one. The show is FREE. The Event starts at 6 PM. The Music starts at 9 PM.

Backspace is having a show with Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa, Ohioan, Death Songs, and Zoe Boekbinder. Apparently the house that the Ohioan folks live in burned down recently. I can't even imagine that happening to me. Anyway this is a benefit show for them. Dionyso has actualy personally wanted this to happen. He has a new project that had some interesting origins. This was on the Backspace webseite "Like most great music, ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO's latest musical venture was created to woo a young lady. The central lyrics of this new project are all in Indonesian, the native language of a woman that de Dionyso was pursuing. The erstwhile leader of the skronk blues rock outfit Old Time Relijun gave himself a crash course in the language and then recorded an album of songs that use the poems of William Blake and a traditional Hebrew text (translated into Indonesian, natch) as their core. Apparently this little gambit worked, as de Dionyso got the girl. And he has created what he says is some of the best work he's ever done to boot." Death Songs is another vehicle for Nathan and Nicholas Delffs of The Shaky Hands. I love that band. And I like what I have heard of Death Songs. I think that Death Songs is to Shaky Hands what The Cajun Gems is to Joggers. I hear that there is an elusive cassette release of Death Songs somewhere (at their rare shows). Zoe is one half of a burlesque duo called Vermillion Lies. I am not familiar with Vermillion Lies, but Zoe is good. I like the recordings which includes cool arrangements of brass keyboards and vocal parts over her acoustic guitar and warm and immediate vocals. Check out her song "Paralysing" It is so good. The ALL AGES show is $6 and starts at 9 PM.

Holocene is having a show with Stls, Palo Verde, Hot Victory, ASSS, DJ Jen Olsen, and DJ New Moon Poncho. The show is kinda a celebration of the Kill Rock Stars release if Stls 7". Stls is a drum duo, a rarity, which features celebrated drummer Lisa Schonberg (Explode into Colors/ Kickball) and St (Th Haggard, Cadallaca). It is also a celebration of the release of the Palo Verde/Hot Victory split 7". Hot Victory is also mostly a drum duo, but they have a third member playing non drum music on synths and such, but it is still the drum show. Palo Verde is a band that contains two members but only one of them drums. When LKN is drumming you don't need much else. But the mostly improvised sludgy rock that she creates with TJK (not to be confused with TJO) is awesome. ASSS is another drum duo that takes it further in that they only have two drums and two high-hats. But they also have vocals, synth and sax laid between the duo. Jen Olsen is the woman behind Valentine's. Dj New Moon is part of Sword & fern. So if you are a fan of the drum, or the drum duo, or of 7"s this might be the show for you. The show is $5 and starts at 8:30 PM.

If you see me at Mississippi Studios please say, "Hi". I will be in good mood. Promise.

-Ben


Palo Verde will tear it up at Holocene tonight.

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