Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Saturday, January 8th

Hello Dear Readers,

I am at a loss for words. Why have I seemingly been unable to break my winter hibernation mode? I think I need your help. Make me go to shows. Harass me until I do. That being said I do NOT want to go out tonight. I have to work at 7 in the F'in morning and walk around in the F'n cold (F'in is short for Freaking). Anyway here are the shows that look good to me happening tonight:

Hungry Tiger Too is having a show with Youth, Leo Charles Gelbhart IV (Seattle), and Orca Team. Charles Leo Gebhardt IV is a mouthful of a name. I am not sure if it is real or not, but I know that the melodies of his songs are real good. He put out a record last month and will probably playing lots of songs of it. Orca Team is why I am writing about this show. I still have not seen them yet. I love the their take on pop music. It sounds great. The show might cost some money and starts at sometime PM (I am not sure how Hungry Tiger Too does their shows).

Press Club is having a show with Afterlife Revival and Y La Bamba (kinda). I think that Afterlife Revival has something to do with local artist Evan B. Harris. I seen shows listed for E.B. Harris and the Afterlife Revival. Luzelena Mendoza and Paul Cameron both of Y La Bamba are going to be playing some songs as a duo. The songs work really well when they are stripped down. Just saying. The show is FREE and starts at 8:30 PM.

The Knife Shop is having a show with New Century Schoolbook, Stories for Money, and Transistors & Brothers. New Century Schoolbook is a indie pop band that is great. I have played with them before. I have their first album. I think it is solid. Plus it features CIMTB contributor Amber Dawn. Stories For Money is a rock band. They have a name that pretty much sums up the music industry from the point of view of some songwriters. No my point of view. I don't get money for songs. Not that I'm jealous. Whatever. The show is $4 and starts at 9 PM.

Slabtown is having a show with Westfold, Tall as Rasputin, and Old North. Westfold is a band that I have been watching since their inception. They are always evolving. Getting better. I have not seen them in a long time. I expect that they no longer play any songs that I recognize. I couldn't figure out if the band I found called Old North is the one playing tonight, but if it is then here is download to their album. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi".

-Ben


This was filmed when I saw Westfold play all the time. They are playing again tonight at Slabtown

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Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Friday, January 7th

Hello Dear Readers,
Yowzers. I may have become boring. Or maybe I am just adjusting to working again, but I got tired way early last night. at about 9 last night I was ready to call it a day. Please bands, will you play in my house until I fall asleep and then quietly pack all your gear and take it away so that in the morning it seems like it was all a pleasant dream? Unless I start throwing house shows, I will get nothing even close to that experience. Not that I imagine that throwing house shows is necessarily a pleasant thing (however fun it may be). But this has nothing to do with what shows are happening tonight. I will rant no more. Here are the shows that I think look good:

Speaking of house shows, 6524 NE Garfield Ave. is having one with Caravels (Henderson, NV), Octaves (Baltimore), Girlfriends. Though I doubt that any of these bands would could lull anyone into sleep. Both Caravels and Octaves play loud music that has plenty of screaming. Not particularly my thing. Except when paired with cool music. Which both do. Those of you who regularly read the blog know that I am crazy about Duck Little Brother Duck. I urge you to please listen to them and go to their shows and make them as popular as they should be. Also I have been meaning to check out Girlfriends for a while. It is the one man phenomenon that is Jerry Joiner. These two groups are just two of the growing somewhat mathy music scene that is happening right now. Um. Actually this is just speculation on my part. The ALL AGES show is $5 and starts at 7:30 PM.

East End is having a Captian Couch Records showcase with Palo Verde, Lamprey, and Zsmoke. As far as I can tell Captain Couch Records is a new label that caters to those who like heavy music. Also only one of these bands, Lampery, is officially on the Captain Couch Records roster. Also I am wondering if it is pronounced couch that you sit on, or like the street is pronounced (a.k.a. the way the makes me giggle). But basically I think that Palo Verde is an amazing heavy band that is mostly instrumental and also mostly improvised. The show is probably for FREE or cheap and probably starts at 9 PM.

The Woods is having a show with Brothers Young, Pony Village and Total Noise. I like Brothers Young. No other band in Portland sounds like them. They have a cool unison voice thing going for them that sets them apart. It reminds me of Beta Band. Pony Village is a great indie pop rock band. Ryan Barber is the man who crafts the little gems that make up their output. Total Noise is a band that I have not been too well acquainted with, but I like what I have heard. A lot. It is pop to the core but in a very fresh way. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.

Mississippi Studios is having a show with Celilo, The Parson Redheads, and Norman. I feel there are two kinds of indie music appreciators: those who like a bit of Indie leaning Americana and those who hate it. I love me some faux country tunes. Portland has more than her fair share of bands that offer variations of Americana or Roots music or whatever. Celilo is a great example it is has elements of many genres but still fits well beneath the Americana umbrella. They did a UK tour a few months ago. Proving that other countries love "Americana" too. The Parson Red Heads also serve up country rock tunes. I believe they have a new record in the works. They know their way a great group harmony. Norman, again a solid example of the NW country rock. Love it or hate it. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.

You will not see me tonight but if you did, I would have suggested you say, "Hi".

-Ben


The Parson Red Heads play tonight at Mississippi Studios.

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Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, January 6th 2011

Hello Dear Readers,

I stepped out for a bit. Again. I am sorry, but I got the chance to go to California for FREE. I could not pass up the opportunity. Anyway, I am back now. I have a computer. I have a Internet connection and plenty of free time at my "job". Let's do this! Umm...okay. Here are the shows that look good to me tonight:

Holocene is having a show with Nucular Aminals, Psychic Feline, Edibles, and Forest Park. I have not seen Nucular Aminals. I have hear their self described "mutated pop" and enjoyed it, but have not witnessed it in action. Though the shows that have been recounted to me have sounded great. They will be re-releasing their self titled record this June on K Records. This is quite an honor and I wish them well. I think that K will take them to the next level. Psychic Feline is another seemingly good band that I have not seen. The music that they have posted online appeals to me as a person who listens to "indie rock". The vocals are a bit lower and more crooned than that of a lot of bands in the huge blanket of "indie rock". Edibles is a project of Dewey Mahodd of Eternal Tapestry. It is trippy. They have a aptly titled piece called "Mind Fry". Forest Park is a young band that touch on a lot of genres while never fully embracing any of them. I would say that if you like post-rock or shoegaze or maybe just interesting and dynamic heavy music, that you should give them a listen. The show is a freakishly low $3 and starts at 8:30 PM.

Rotture is having a show with The Babies (Brooklyn, NY), Karen, and Virgin Blood. At this point it is impossible to mention The Babies with out the bands that share members with it: Vivivan Girls and WOODS. Both were much blogged about/talked about/popular? bands in the last couple years. I mean I read about them before I heard them. That's what they call "hype". I was did not fall in love with Vivaian Girls like I was told I would when I first heard them. But they were pretty good. WOODS I actually first heard when their cover of "Military Madness", the old Graham Nash anti-war song, was played on Democracy Now! (a great news site). I instantly liked the lo-fi fuzzed out folk of WOODS. The Babies sound like they are somewhere between the two bands. Karen is a band that I have written about before. They let me know that they are a band. Kinda. They recorded some demo's they sent my way almost a year ago. They never posted them to their myspace. But they sounded a lot better than the live stuff they have on their current myspace (which is mostly muddy sounding love recordings). Virgin Blood is a girl a autoharp and a lot of reverb. It sounds nice. I have not seen her play, though. She is part of the Black Summer Collective. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Plan B is having a show with Porches, Heartbreak Beat, and The We Shared Milk. Porches is a band I have been meaning to see for quite a while now. I know that it used to share members with Autopilot is For Lovers. To me the music sounds like folk music, if it were a lot cooler. It is moodier and a little bit bigger sounding than most music that would come from a singular porch which is probably why they mad it singular. Heartbreak Beat is Martin from The Minders new band. It has a similar feel to his old band. The Minders where, in my mind, one of the Elephant 6's most underrated bands. If you guessed that it is indie pop, you would be correct. The We Spilled Milk is a band that seems to me to be inspired a little bit at least by the brit-pop of the 90's at least vocally. It is something that I can get down with. Also one of the guitar players from World's Greatest Ghost is in the band. The show is at 8 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi". It's the nice thing to do.

-Ben


Psychic Feline plays at Holocene tonight. Only $3!

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Sounds Illustrated: DoublePlusGood Plus...

Howdy Crappeteers!

It's been a long time since I've added any so-called content to this blog. Luckily, Erik Carlson of dance pop duo DoublePlusGood invited me to check out a sweet music/fashion show at Backspace way back in early December, hereby prompting me to make another Sounds Illustrated post. So here goes:

The night's entertainment featured Jeffrey Jerusalem soundchecking:


And then delivering some conga-laced disco-concrète accompanied by vibrant computer-animation loops.



Between sets, models clad in garb from local Portland designers strutted across the venue. I was not able to capture any of this in sketch form and am thus forced to hang my head and drawing-hand in shame. But I can say that the collections featured evening-wear fashioned out of recycled magnetic tape, silver-sequined shoulder-bags, lots of neutral colors, and low-slung fashion/utility belts.

Natasha Kmeto followed with a set of dense, trance-y R&B which equally showcased her smooth vocals and visceral, throbbing beats.





DoublePlusGood finished off the night with their fantastically danceable amalgam of glitchy indie electro-pop and sparkly, melodic top 40 gloss.




And on a rather different note (genre-wise), here's an apocryphal sketch of local folk legend Michael Hurley playing with the band Ida at Mississippi Studios on October 24th, which I didn't get around to scanning until just recently. Enjoy!

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Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Thursday, December 30th

Hello Dear Readers,

It has been a crazy month for me. I have been on tour. I have had my girlfriend in town. I was working at a place with out an Internet connection. I am listing excuses, but I guess what I am saying is that I have missed blogging. In the past several years it has become part of my daily routine. I feel like I have not been brushing my teeth for like a month (. I have made a couple of false starts. Yesterday I got most of a post done but got too caught up doing my job to finish it. I hate it when that happens. Anyway here are some shows that look good to me:

Black Rose Infoshop is having a show with Ordstro (San Francisco), Matsuri (San Francisco), Duck Little Brother Duck, and Lunge. Ordstro and Matsuri are on tour together from San Francisco. I am not well versed with their music though Matsuri has all of their music available for download here and all of Ordstro's music is here. As far as I can tell both are loud-ish bands that incorporate a vocal style that is best described as screaming. Listening to Ordstro hurts my voice. Matsuri while screams just as much has also added some interesting guitar parts to the music. Duck Little Brother Duck are why I am listing this show. I love their music. It is mathy at times. It is intricate. It is pretty epic at times. Their live show packs an amazing amount of energy. The ALL AGES show is $4 and starts at 7 PM.

Rotture is having a show with Problems?, Corpus Callosum (SD, Like a Villain, and Toyboat Toyboat Toyboat. I have written about the quirky pop of Problems? before. But the real reason I list this show is becuase of Like a Villain. She is great. Very dramatic songs crafted from clarinet and vocal loops accented with glockenspiel. Yes, she plays in a band with me, but I would love this anyway (she also plays in The Ocean Floor). The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi". It has been far too long, yes?

-Ben


Duck Little Brother Duck are set to kill it tonight at Black Rose Infoshop

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Magical Christmas Sparkles Tonight: The Woods & Friends First Annual Holiday Special

Christmas music can be a terrible experience. I can clearly recall being horrified and permanently scarred by the repeated playing of the 'N Sync Christmas album at Tower Records. Eventually my mind snapped and I came to associate Christmas with mindless hordes of consumption hungry Holiday Zombies and prancing ninnies in tight pants butchering classic tunes. So join me for an evening of reclaiming holiday music as something other than replaying whatever fucked up memories you may have of Christmas' past. There is nothing better than well played music and beer. Especially at The Woods. Which is Very Fancy.

You'll spot me there, drinking beer with a smile on my face.

:: A night of holiday standards and favorites ::

*** DOORS 7pm, SHOW 8pm ***

A night of holiday standards and favorites from Laura Gibson, Musee Mecanique, Alela Diane, Michael Hurley, Lewi Longmire, Denver, Duover, Johanna Kunin, Dave Depper, Mike Midlo (of Pancake Breakfast), Quiet Life, Great Wilderness, Ezza Rose, Greylag, and, of course, other special, not-to-be-named guests! Only $5!

$5 in advance, $5 day of show

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Well, since you asked. Top 5 records from 2010

The Portland Mercury is out asking people to round up their favorite 5 albums from this year so let's do this thing. Here's my contribution:

1. Delta Spirit - History From Below
2. Phosphorescent- Here's To Taking It Easy
3. The Walkmen - Lisbon
4. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig
5. Tartufi - Goodwill Of The Scar

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Children of Mercy Needs Your Love!

Dear Crappy Indie Reader-Friends,

I would like to bring to your attention a project I'm involved with called Children of Mercy. Children of Mercy is a book collecting stories and essays by several people in the indie music world, including myself and a couple other Crappy Indie bloggers, accompanied by a music CD, covering the gamut of topics from band breakups to success stories. Perhaps most importantly, the proceeds from sales of Children of Mercy will go to support the fight against Cystic Fibrosis. In order to get this project off the ground, we need some help. That's why we've got a Kickstarter page. So I'd like to invite you to take a look, and pledge if you can. I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important.

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