Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Friday, March 11th

Hello Dear Readers,

I had a great time at the Google Hotpot show last night. Typhoon played their new EP A New Kind of House and it sounded even better than the record. I love that band and wish them the best as they head out to SXSW. The Dandy Warhols set kind of washed over me in a haze of smoke light show and loud shoegaze. It was nice to see them doing what they do. Anyways, here are the shows that look good tonight:

The Artistery is another closing week show with Eternal Tapestry, Mt Eerie, White Fang, O Paon, and Pete Swanson. It is kinda crazy to me that they are closing. But is nice to see some people wanting to play there before it is over. Eternal Tapestry have been around for awhile. I have not taken too much notice of them because it isn't really my cup of tea. They pretty psychedelic music. Then they got signed to Thrill Jockey and I started paying attention. They are obviously good at what they do. The only competition they may have in Portland is Grails. I have been listening to Phil Elvrum for what seems forever. I really like it. There is a quality to his voice that for whatever reason I can't seem to get enough. And believe me he tries to give people to much. He writes at an unreal pace and tends to put out a good chunk of all those songs. He uses nature imagery and metaphor. A lot. But it still seems honest and worthwhile. White Fang is a band that I liked when I first saw them. I have not seen them play in a long time. But I know that those guys are always busy. Putting out all the Gnar Tapes and all. They have a very special connection to The Artistery. It is where they grew up as a band (if you can say they grew up as a band). O Paon is Geneviève Castrée she used to play under the name Woelv. She recorded with some of the A Silver Mont Zion/Godspeed people and very much has some of the epic and dark feel of those bands. The words are sung in French, she's Canadian. I could not find many places to hear her music but this Stereogum article has a 7 minute piece you can listen to or download. Pete Swanson was on half of the deceased noise duo Yellow Swan. He has been playing solo around town since. I have not seen him solo though. I would imagine it to be similarly noisy though. The ALL AGES show is $7 and starts at 8 PM.

Doug Fir is having a show with Balmorhea (Austin), Benoit Pioulard, and Helios. Pretty Music. All of these acts make unapologetically pretty music. I am a sucker for delicate music. This looks good to me. Austin has changed a lot since the phenomenon that is Explosions in the Sky. Instead of kids growing up and buying distortion pedals and starting rock bands. Now it seems like they are buying elbows and taking string lessons. Do not get me wrong. I am all for it. It has served Balmorhea well. Their last tour was with post rock giants Mono. Benoit Pioulard music actually isn't as delicate as these other artists. It is by no means hard. But he regularly has drums and uptempo drums and percussion maintaining a dreamy feeling all the while. Helios I first heard of because he toured with Peter Broderick. His music is very very pretty in the same realm as Eluvium. He has put out a lot of it on Unseen-music. The show is $12 and starts at 9 PM.

Tonic Lounge is having a show with Dirty Mittens and Strong Killings (Seattle). Okay here is the deal. I don't normally think of the Tonic Lounge as having good shows. My old band played our first show there. And played another one years later. A Weather played there once and I was there. Other than that I have never had a desire to go there. Dirty Mittens however are a great band. I missed their beach party with And And And. They make indie pop music with way above average soulful vocals. They even put out a 7" on indie pop staple Magic Marker Records. Strong Killings are a punk band from Seattle. So the Mercury had this show listed but Dirty Mittens didn't. But I see that the two bands played together on Wednesday in Seattle so that makes me feel a little better about this show happening. The show is at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi". It would be wonderful.

-Ben


Youtube is not working for me. Weird. This is a myspace video. Helios will play live at Doug Fir tonight. Preeeetty.