Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Wednesday, August 24th

Hello Dear Readers,

I haven't seen any shows recently. But the good thing is that they happen everyday. There is an abundance of them. Especially here in Portland. Anyway here are the shows going on tonight. Check it out:

Mississippi Studios is having a show with Nick Jaina, Dovekins (Denver), and Run On Sentence. This is the CD Release show for Nick's new album, The Beanstalks That Have Brought Us Here Are Gone. I remember hearing about this album a long time ago. It sounded like a great concept. Take a great songwriter, Nick Jaina, then get a group of lovely female voices to sing his new album. There is a lot of great local talent including Luzelena Mendoza (Y La Bamba), Annalisa Tornfelt (Black Prairie), Johanna Kunin (Bright Archer), Amanda Spring (Point Junture, WA), Corrina Repp ( Tu Fawning), Audie Darling, and Laura Gibson. There is also some other women from other places as well. Take Jolie Holland and Kaylee Cole. I am not sure if he is having any of these ladies to sing the songs tonight, but regardless it should be a great show. I mean someone who has toured as much as Mr. Jaina knows how to perform. Plus Dovekins will be playing. I have written about them before. They make really good music folk based music. But they do more than just that. I mean they backed AU before. Run On Sentence is Nick's Hush Records label mate and has in the past shared members. But they also sound very different. I feel like Dustin Hammond of Run On Sentence is something to be experienced. The music flows though him. Unlike Nick Jaina's carefully crated songs. I really like both but feel they come from opposite sides of the songwriting spectrum. The show is $10 and starts at 9 PM.

Holocene is having a show with Mattress, Religious Girls, The Crow, and Jizz Wisard. Mattress is one of the musical outlets of Rex Marshall. He also does time in The Reservations. But Mattress is where I first became aware if him. He made very minimal techno with Nick Cave-esque soulful vocals. He used to back himself with a tape cassette. He has a new tape out today called Lonely Souls. And his first release is being put out vinyl. Religious Girls is a crazy experimental group. The Crow makes electro influenced pop music. Jizz Wisard is a mix of a few different kinds of more aggressive electronic genres. The show is FREE and starts at 8:30 PM.

Plan B is having a show with Wax Edison, Grrlfriend, Vises, and Winter Ox. Wax Edison is an awesome band that makes very riff heavy music. It is really cool. Grrlfriend is messy and noisy shoegaze rock music. Vises is punk rock music. Winter Ox is heavy music with some schreeked vocals. The show is at 8 PM.

Backspace is having a show with Mystery Siblings, On the Stairs, Jon Gary Williams, Denim Wedding, and Jonah Luke. Mystery Siblings are a folk rock band that I am not too familiar with. It sounds pretty promising. You can get their album for FREE here by clicking the reel to reel icon. The reason this show caught my eye was because of On The Stairs. This group lead by Nate Clark is pretty good. His last album, At Muted Dawn, is sided with some soulful and sometime latin sounding brass and contains my favorite track of his "Stand" which seems to be a nod to 60's soul. Denim Wedding Wedding sounds like a bad idea, but it also sounds like what happens when Jennifer Faust and Brian Kunkel get together to make slower country tinged music. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Lola's Room is having a show with The Protomen and Airwar. Okay I have beaver heard of The Protomen but I am impressed with what I have learned today. They are a band that makes concept albums based on Mega Man. Crazy, I know. They have recently released their album called Act II and will be playing it along with Act I at Lola's Room tonight and tomorrow night. Apparently their performances are very theatrical. Cool. I a lsting the show because of Air War a band that is kinda sot rock kinda porgy and kinda underrated. The show is $15 and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "hi". That would be the nice thing to do.

Ben


Nick Jaina is gonna tear it up tonight at Mississippi Studios.