Hello Dear Readers,
I almost was able to blog yesterday but it just didn't happen. Oh well. I am back in Portland and I have hit the ground running. I had a band meeting and practice that I was driven to straight from the airport. I dropped my band mate off at Jolie Holland who played Laurelthirst. I bet it was crowded. I was not in the head space required of a crowded show, so I passed. Anyways, here are the shows that look good tonight:
The University Chapel is having a show with The Dandy Warhols, Typhoon, and Y La Bamba. This is part of the Google Hot Pot "Best Ever" shows. Basically you need to figure out how to get a wristband by following @HotpotPDX on Twitter. The Dandy Warhols are really famous for making psychedelic rock music with enough of a pop edge to become ridiculously popular. They got all over the radio (remember that medium?) with "Bohemian Like You". Then they got more attention when they were the subject of the documentary Dig!. Their original drummer, Eric Hedford, will be drumming with them tonight. I also recorded some Meyercord stuff with him this past winter. I had no idea who he was. Crazy. Typhoon are an amazing band. They are so huge and have some epic choir like parts that it totally makes sense to see them in a church. Also, I have been listening to their new release, A New Kind of House, pretty much nonstop since I got it on Tuesday. I love it. Y La Bamba is a band that I am in playing bass, singing and clava-ing. If you have not seen us in a while we are now a six piece and we have new arrangements and at least one song you probably haven't heard. Hopefully we will be recording soon to document what we have been doing. A hint: there is a lot more percussion. The ALL AGES show is FREE with a wristband with doors at 6:30 PM.
The Artistery is having one of its last shows ever. That means they are pulling out all the stops. Liz Harris, The Tenses, JonnyX & The Groadies, Why I Must Be Careful, and Ghost To Falco. You probably know Liz Harris better as Grouper. She makes really blessed out looped based vocal and guitar drone based folk music? Or something along those lines. The Tenses has something to do with Smegma. I have not seen them since I moved here. I remember my friend who was really into experimental music talking about this band. JonnyX & The Groadies I have seen. It was pretty crazy. They had costumes, a light show, cordless mics and instruments allowing them to run around the venue. Their music is kinda metal. Very dramatic. Really worth checking out. Why I Must Be Careful are a spazzy duo that make jazz related music that is incredible to see live. Rhodes and drums do not generally command an audience like they do when they play. Ghost to Falco's dark dramatic and really cool sounding music is always a pleasure to see. It is hard to describe it, but easy to recognize as special. The ALL AGES show is $7 and starts at 8 PM.
Holocene is having Snack Attack 12011 with Guidance Counselor, Forbidden Friends, Unkle Funkle (Chris Uehlein of White Fang), and DJ Snakks. Snack Attack is an event which has live cooking shows with Wampire, Operative, and Ilyas Ahmed. Plus there will be FREE treats by local musicians and a poutine eating contest by Potato Champion. Guidance Counselor is a band that has an ability to get a crowd pumped with their vaguely new waviest dance rock. Forbidden Friends is the latest project of Hutch Harris of The Thermals. This project not only shares some members of his other band (in the live setting), it also sounds a lot like The Thermals. Not a bad thing at all. I like what I have heard of them so far. Unkle Funkle has a tape out on Gnar Tapes it is described as "an instant pop comedy classic. Self described as "Digi-Fi" and located somewhere between Ween, Weird Al and Miley Cyrus is our man Chris. With song titles like "Retarded Girls," "Japasneeze" and "Drunk Guy" and subject matter focused on masturbation, credit card debt, drunken persons, celebrities and diminishing your liver spots (whilst extended the size and length of up to ten digits or extremities on your body.) An operatically trained singer and music conservatory drop out, Chris' truly remarkable vocal prowess is the perfect instrument for his brand of self-effacing humor. Highly recommended and critically acclaimed; this one got leaked out here in Portland and has made fans of many of PDX's best musicians and artists. This one is for the nerds." That is all I could find about the band. DJ Snakks is Zach from Breakfast Mountain. It will be a delightfully delicious show. The cover is $5 and starts at 8:30 PM.
The Goodfoot is having a show with Blue Cranes and Indian Giver (Thousand Oaks, CA). Blue Cranes have a firm foot in indie music and the other in jazz. I love them. They are one of my favorite live bands in Portland. They have recently put out two CDs. One which covers songs of Blonde Redheard, Mark Kozelek, and David Bazan. I have heard it, but haven't had a chance to buy it yet. It is awesome. They also put out a remix CD of last years brilliant Observatories called Oversea Orbits. It has remixes by Ethan Rose, Gavin Castleton, Gulls and more. It also has some videos to boot. Indian Giver is a indie band that seems to have a lot of tricks up its sleeve. The main one: jazzy instrumental breaks that sound awesome. It reminds me of a lot of the lite jazzy guitar stuff that came out of Chicago in the late 90s. This is totally my thing. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.
Doug Fir is having a show with Morning Teleportation, Yours, and The Pink Snowflakes. The long awaited debut full length by the Issac Brock produced release by Morning Teleportation, Expamding Anyway is finally out on the aptly titled Glacial Pace Recordings. The band has no shortage of musical ideas and energy. The same kind that was sometimes present in early Modest Mouse. It is kinda crazy but not really in a bad way. It seems like these songs took a long time to get together. I could imagine they wanted to make sure everything was just right. Yours is a great band led by Matthan Minster and Adam Tachsel. The music they make is just really great. True students of what pop music should be. The Pink Snowflakes "are like a psyche-delicate noodle to the sledgehammer." That is according to The Internet (specifically their myspace). Their rock definitely has the marks of a band that may partake in some sort of hallucinogens. Just saying you may feel like you are on something when experiencing this band live. The show is $10 and starts at 9 PM.
If you see me at University Chapel please say, "Hi". It would be awesome to know that people read the blog.
-Ben
Blue Cranes plays at The Goodfoot tonight. Nice!
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