Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Saturday, October 16th

Hello Dear Readers,

I went to a show last night! After what seems forever (in actuality about a week) It felt good. I went to Doug Fir and caught The Angry Orts, Jared Mees and The Grown Children, and The Ascetic Junkies. The Angry Orts started the night, but saved their best stuff for the end of their set. Their guitar player can really play. He reminds me kinda of the Les Savy Fav or something. Their Singer can really wail and she works the crowd. It was good. But then Jared Mees totally killed it. They were so good. They have gotten even more epic sounding. Their trumpet player Javier now also plays guitar. There are more vocals. And there is more percussion by multi-instrumentalist Megan. I loved it. The Ascetic Junkies came on next and started strong with a cover of LCD Sound System, an interesting choice for a band that incorporates banjo. They played their whole record really well. They also had surprise dancers to knew how to umm… shake it. By the end of the set, all of the dudes in the band (it is mostly dudes) were shirtless. The lady was in a risque outfit as well. Everyone had fun. It was a blast to watch. Good times. Anyway, here are some shows that look good to me:

Record Room is a new record store in North Portland at 8 NE Killingsworth right next to In Other Words (Killingsworth and Williams). They are having Hey Lover play there tonight celebrating the release of their new 7" and The Grand Opening of the shop. They will also have DJ'ed sets by DJ Permanent Wave (Jenny from Erase Errata/Silver Interior) and DJ Nightschool (Nathan from The Gossip). This makes me a little sad. I used to up until a few months ago live blocks away from there. I want a record store right next to my house. Hey Lover is a high energy indie rock band. The music to me comes off as innocent and fun. The event is FREE and is ALL AGES until 7 PM. It will then become FREE and 21 and up until 10 PM (maybe this is when the music is?).

The Knife Shopis having a show with People Under the Sun, Blue Horns, and The Nightgowns. The reason I am listing this show is two fold. First off, I think Blue Horns are great. I love what they do which is jangle the crap out of some rock and roll. The second reason I write about this show is because my buddy Sean Flinn has mentioned on a couple of occasions The Nightgowns. It usually goes like this: Sean - "Hey have you ever heard of the The Nightgowns? Their from Tacoma. I played a show with them once. They were pretty great." Ben - "No, I have not heard them." Sean - "We really should set up a show with them." Well, it turns out that I have seen them. Actually Sean Flinn & The Royal We (myself included) played a show with them at Doug Fir with Blue Horns last November. I can't remember things! It kinda reminded me of brit pop a little. There was some synth action too. People Under The Sun is a band that makes chill pop music. The band features Alison who fronts her own band, the excellent Strange Holiday, and is in the same ball park as that band. That is to say there is a fair amount of reverb going on, but this band is fronted by a guy and has a lot more arppegiated keyboards. The show is $5 and starts at 10 PM.

Backspace is having a benefit show for a cat. How could I not list this show? Apparently Mike Harper's cat was victim of a hit and run. I have know idea who Mike Harper is, but I think it would be a good deed to go to this show and help out his feline companion. The bands playing are Spesus Christ, Your Canvas, Keep The Kids Quiet, Adventures With Might, and Bootz Orchestra. Spesus Christ make bedroom pop…electro style. Your Canvas play spacey female led dream rock. Adventures With Might play electro-pop as well. They along with Your Canvas and Spesus Christ are part of the Apes Tapes crew. Also, Bootz Orchestra is a band that I have written about before and liked which is another reason I am writing a bout the show. They seem to make epic folk. They have trumpets and clarinets, accordion, pianos, violin, uke, and much much more. I have never seen them live, but I bet it's cool. The ALL AGES show is FREE but I think that there will be some way to make donations for the poor hurt kitty. It all starts at 8 PM.

If you see me at either of these shows please say, "Hi". Or some sort of greeting

-Ben

Blue Horns play at The Knife Shop tonight. For real.