Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, February 3rd

Hello Dear Readers,

Yesterday was a long day for me. Wait. Isn't that how I started yesterday's post. Yes. I just checked. Yeah yesterday ended up being even longer than the previous day. I pretty much went to work from 5 am to 4 pm and then went home got my gear and went to band meeting/practice and got home at 9:30 pm. That is a long time of continuous activity. I was not feeling a show afterwards. But enough about my long and boring life. Here are the shows that look good to me tonight:

Holocene is having "A Few of My Favorite Things" with local film guy Lance Bangs. It is not entirely a music show. Though Mister Heavenly and Carrie Brownstein with both be playing. There will also me stand up by Human Giant's Paul Scheer, Brandon Johnson, Jon Daly, and Brett Gelman. Mister Heavenly is super group or Nick Diamond from Islands, Honus Honus from Man Man, and Joe Plumber from Modest Mouse. They make sad doo wop songs. apparently. To make them extra super they usually have Michael Cera as a bass player that's crazy. You can get a FREE digital Mister Heavenly single here Oh and Carrie Brownstein is actually only going to DJ. There will be some screening of some shorts by Lance and his friends too. There is also story telling and a live photo booth As with all of the "A Few of My Favorite Things" the money will go to a benefit. Lance is going to help out The Hollywood Theater. The show is $10 and starts at 8 PM.

Ella Street is having a show with Pwrfl Power, Aan, and Matt Carlson. Pwrfl Power is the sometimes Seattlite, sometimes Tokyo dwelling musical project of Kazutaka Nomura. His songs are often cute, funny, and sad all at once. They tell stories of social awkwardness or failed attmepts of love. Plus that dude can shred on guitar and often does. It is an interesting formula for sure. Aan is one of the coolest bands in Portland. I knew from the first time I saw them years ago that it was something special. Bud Wilson is the leader of the group and has mastered a blend of stark and honest lyrics that are placed over a very dynamic bed of music. I cannot get enough of it. Matt Carlson is in Oregon Painting Society, Parenthetical Girls, and Golden Retriever. I have written about all of those bands. Favorably. They are all kinda of experimental yet touch on pop. I have a CD-R of his that I bought sometime ago it was good. Kinda droney kinda not. I liked it. You can get a lot of his music here on his website. Also I heard a rumour that The Sarcastic Dharma Society will play a few songs before the show. That is awesome as Mat Vuksinich is one of my favorites. This is an awesome line up. The show is $6 and starts at 9 PM.

The Knife Shop is having a special show that features some band leaders playing solo. They have Krist Krueger of Southerly, Jared Mees of Jared Mees and The Grown Children, and Ryan Barber of Pony Village. I know all of these guys. I have written about all of their bands. That is because I think that all of those bands are good. I am trying to say that this is a good line up. I have seen Krist play solo before. His songs stand up pretty good on their own. Jared Mees is an interesting case. I think he started out playing mostly solo and then grew a lot with the benefit of a band. In the past year I have seen his band grow a lot musically. In fact it is so epic in nature now, that I have a hard time imagining the songs in a solo. That being said, his songs are great and should more than just stand on their own. Pony Village's Ryan Barber has been known to play his songs in different arrangement and configurations. This configuration of one makes total sense. The show is $6 and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi". That would make me happy.

-Ben


Aan plays tonight at Ella Street. I am stoked!