Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, May 12th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last night I played in Providence, RI at Lupo's. With Neko Case. I got to meet her very briefly. Hopefully i will get to actually hang out soon. Anyways, here are the Portland shows that look good to me tonight:

Hollywood Theatre is having something called Sound and Vision Fest. It is curated by Matt McCormick, Carrie Brownstein & Lance Bangs. It is a three day thing that has a lot of cool stuff by film people. But there is a lot of music related stuff too. Matt McCormick and Lance Bangs have both made a lot of music videos and therefore have made. Tonight they have Goodnight Billygoat and Eluvium. They both make very cinematic music. Goodnight Billygoat goes one step further and makes actual films. Animations to be specific. Eluvium has always had a cinematic sound. But recently he finally made the leap and actually scored a full length film. Matt McCormick's Some Day are Better Than Others. While the majority of his career has been instrumental, Eluvium has started to add vocals recently. I think it's pretty nice. The show is $10 and starts at 7 PM.

In other film related shows, Holocene is having Fin du Cinema tonight. If you are not familiar, it is where local bands are asked to make a score for sections of a film. Tonight the film is 1966's Blow-Up. The original score was done by Herbie Hancock. Tonight the bands making music to the pictures are Monarques, The Reservations, and Rocky and The Proms. It will be interesting since both Monarques and Rocky and the Proms are both known for doing retro 60's pop. The Reservations don't really fallen that category but none of the bands sound anything like Herbie Hancock. This is always a fun and interesting experiment in music. The show is $6 and starts at 8:30 PM.

The Knife Shop is having a show with Egg Plant and On The Stairs. Egg Plant is a band that I first heard of because my friend Tucker Jackson, who I used to play with in The Royal We, plays pedal steel in that band. I have been meaning to see them, but have not gotten a chance to yet. They are self described folk rock. Their recordings give off a sense of pop that is not inherent in a folk rock tag. It is good. On The Stairs is a good pairing. I have talked a lot about Nate Clark's latest album A Muted Dawn. It is mostly because I think it is good. Especially the song "Stand". That is a song that sounds like it was an old soul number, but it isn't. The show is $4 and starts at 9 PM.

Al's Den is having a show with Nate Lacy (Mimicking Birds). Nate Lacy has been booked to play every day this week at the happy hour time of 7 PM. You get to see Mimicking Bird in a super stripped down setting for FREE. It is a way of getting you to check out the new Crystal Hotel. Issac Brock produced self titled Mimicking Birds album. It reminds me a of his side project Ugly Cassanova. Which may be my favorite thing that Issac has done. I think that it is very promising for Nate Lacy's carreer as well. Check him out for FRE while you can. The show is FREE and starts at 7 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "hi". Actually this will not be possible because I will be in Woodstock.

Ben


Good Night Billygoat will be playing in The Hollywood Theatre tonight. Big Screen!