Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Sunday, March 6th

Hello Dear Readers,

Greetings from California. I normally don't blog when I am out of town. I have noticed however that I am out of town a lot. So I am making an effort to blog on my vacation. Mainly because I like to do it. It is part of my daily routine. I feel funny when I don't do it. But most importantly, I want to let you know whats going on. Last night I was so afraid that no one went to the Kelli Schaefer/Aan show at Artistery. Or what if no one went to see Kusikia at that house show? I just feel that Portland has so many great bands. I think you should support them by going to their shows. That's all. Anyways, here are the shows that look good tonight:

Rontoms is having a show with Nevele Nevele and Duover. Nevele Nevele is the band led by Michela Weishaar. Basically I think she is the last Portland musician that I has made me stop and take note of. Her songs are songs are great. Her voice is perfect for the songs of longing that emanate from her acoustic guitar. It sounds familiar and unique at the same time. I can't quite describe it, but I love it. She used to play it alone, but recently has been pulling together a band. I believe tonight she will have members of Monrques and Y La Bamba backing her. It should be good. Then of course there is Duover who have won me over as one of the better folky duo's. They have two albums one of which is a Christmas album. Both are great. The Christmas songs are made with the same care of a "real" album. There aren't any lame covers or anything. As a fan of holiday music. This pleased me to no end. But whatever. When Rebecca Rasmussen and Nathan Jr. bust out their acoustic guitars and start singing, you are in for a treat. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Mississippi Studios is having a show with Pegasus Dream, Housefire, Vanimal, and DoublePlusGood. Pegasus Dream is re-releasing Pegasus Dream's Painting Pantheons. The band self released it in August. I think you can still do the pay what you want thing somewhere. But now thanks you to SoHiTek Records, you can get the album in a physical and more tangible form. I think a record? On the SoHiTek website I can't tell if the album is released on vinyl or CD. Since SoHiTek put out the Church (now Hosannas) album on vinyl, I want to assume that they will do the same for Pegasus Dream. Also I would like to mention that The guys in Pegasus Dream had a successful Kickstarter Campaign the other month. Hopefully the results will be on display tonight in the form of a sweet new keyboard (their old one was stolen) and some sweet visuals projected by a sweet new projector thanks to their fans. Oh and their music? It is great. Probably the best electro pop I have heard in this town (sorry STRFKR). Housefire is a band that has an easy point of reference. Radiohead. See: spacey guitars, high vocals. Not necessarily a bad thing. Radiohead never visits the same place twice, so there is plenty of room for other bands to explore what doors have been opened up. Vanimal, like Pegasus Dream, make electro pop. Instead of catchy melodic vocal lines, Vanimal has chosen the route of cold detached vocals that sound straight from the 80's. It reminds me of the Gary Numan a bit. You can get their EP at Vanimal's Tumblr. DoublePlusGood are right up there with Pegasus Dream as far as quality electro Pop. Eric from that band also runs SoHiTek records and is a great guy. I think that there have been several EPs of DoublePlusGood that have been circulated in small doses. I don't have them but wish very much that I had them. You should give them a listen. And check out the Sounds Illustrated piece on them that Crappy Indie Music blogger Dr. Something did a while back. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows, then you are a crazy person. I am not there.

-Ben
Nevele Nevele plays tonight at Rontoms!