UP&COMING THIS WEEK’S MUSIC PREVIEWS
CRYSTAL FIGHTERS, 8pm 6/2 doors/ Wonder Ballroom,
503.288.3895 3939 N. Mississippi info@mississippistudios.com
9pm show BarBar all ages until 9pm 21+ unless otherwise noted
Nanotear Presents Fall Into Darkness 2012: Drawing inspiration from metal, doom, and folk, these bands create a dark genre all their own
CALOBO Crystal Ballroom, 10/5
WORM OUROBOROS
JASON QUIGLEY
THURSDAY 10/4 ELVIS TURNS 50
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) See My, What a Busy Week!, pg. 22.
WOODEN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND, STILL CAVES, AU DUNES (Barlow Tavern, 6008 N Greeley) Hot holy jeezums, Wooden Indian Burial Ground’s new, self-titled record is it. The Portland four-piece hammers out jumping-bean psychedelic garage boogie that’s jam-packed with yips, rips, trips, flips, and more unnecessary feedback than an employee evaluation card. Wooden Indian Burial Ground doesn’t have a single dull moment on it, whether it be from the full-throttle shredfest of opener “Helicopter,” the damaged military three-step of “Waltz for Eldritch,” the blunted caravan roll of “Bryant St. Death Cult,” or the wah-wah-strewn horror-movie theme of album closer “A Long Way from Cerrillos.” With this record, Wooden Indian Burial Ground have squealed and moaned their way to the upper echelon of West Coast psych—a crowded and competitive field, to say the least. To raise money for a cross-country trip to CMJ, they’re playing a record release show at Barlow Tavern, the revamped new spot (formerly the Corner Spot Tavern) brought to you by the good folks from Vendetta. NED LANNAMANN
GRIZZLY BEAR, LOWER DENS (Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay) Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear have maintained their long-held status as indie-rock royalty the old-fashioned way—by releasing beautifully composed, arranged, and produced albums that reward repeat listens. Shields, their latest, takes a step back from the brighter, upbeat sound on 2009’s celebrated Veckatimest, but offers the same kind of complex textures and song structures for listeners to get lost in. The band isn’t all mixing/mastering tricks, and they have the instrumental and vocal chops to make their stuff sound even better live. The spacious Keller Auditorium offers an ideal setting to sit back and let the new album material, and probably some old favorites, soak in. MIKE RAMOS
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS, THE CHEVIN (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) The first two Psychedelic Furs albums—1980’s The Psychedelic Furs and 1981’s Talk Talk Talk—stand as towering monuments of British post-punk. This was rock shot through with world-weary cynicism, a haggard descendent of glam that had disgustedly thrown off the glitter, platform boots, and feather boas, accruing deep pathos in the process. The Furs’ first LP rivals anything done by Echo and the Bunnymen or Joy Division for melodic grandeur and lyrical gravitas, but 1982’s Forever Now marked a slow, increasingly sugary decline. Still, those earlier songs should form the nucleus of a strong set. And Richard Butler’s cancerous croon remains one of rock’s most distinctive sounds. DAVE SEGAL
LAETITIA SADIER, ORCA TEAM (Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) “There Is a Price to Pay for Freedom (And It Isn’t Security),” from Laetitia Sadier’s second solo outing Silencio, is a mouthful of a song that brings futuristic lounge to good ol’ politically divided 2012. While the former Stereolab frontwoman does get in a few political barbs here and there, she’s also preoccupied with making pop music that is lush and dramatic. Stereolab did it for more than a decade, offering twee-minded folks a little lyrical sustenance so they didn’t have to resort to Rage Against the Machine or Bad Religion. And while things don’t always look so bright in her songs, Sadier will at least keep Stereolab hangers-on happy for the time being. MARK LORE
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE, LOW HUMS, COLOSSAL YES (Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Despite Ben Chasny’s mercurial nerdiness, I’ve always liked Six Organs of Admittance. Emotionally, I ascribe this to the fact that the band came into existence at the same time I became an adult, and it’s comforting to hear that somebody else also experiences frequent fluctuations in mood
and identity. In reality though, SOOA may have faded from my consciousness were it not for Chasny’s affiliation with Comets on Fire, the face-melting psychedelic band whose depressingly long hiatus effectively ended with this year’s Ascent. In name, it’s an SOOA album, but the huge sound, drawn-out solos, and sonic stoniness fill the aural gap where a long-awaited Comets on Fire album should be, and each band’s lineup is coterminous with the other. Ascent also marks a meaningful—and by now expected—departure from SOOA’s 2011 release, Asleep on the Floodplain, a gorgeously sparse album in which Chasny played every last instrument himself. REBECCA WILSON
BULLETS OR BALLOONS, OUTER SPACE HEATERS, IN PUBLIC VIEW (Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) Olympia trio Bullets or Balloons reside in the sort of free-for-all punk-rock mish-mash first explored by the Minutemen, and later fIREHOSE—all three bands basking in temporal timesignature noodling and noose-tight riffs. Not surprisingly, the band recently opened for Mike Watt and his Missingmen in Spokane. But while the resemblance between the two bands is an easy distinction, Bullets or Balloons is also clearly a conglomeration of varying influences. Their self-titled debut carries bold musical choices, like the instrumental, bass-led track “Number 2,” which is followed by the speak-sung political progpunk tune “GNR,” barked in homage to readymade tuneless vocalists like Spencer Moody. With this kind of open-book experimentalism, there are some downright strange avenues explored, too (“Relapsecore”), but the vast majority of the material coming from the trio so far is extremely provocative, and a promising bastion for Northwest punk. RYAN J. PRADO
FRIDAY 10/5
Fri, Oct 5 / FREE SHOW!
SUBROSA WILD HUNT ARANYA
The band debuts songs from their latest album, Tucson, an expansive country-rock opera
Giant Giant Sand FLASH FLOOD AND THE DIKES
Mon, Oct 8
$13 Adv
7pm Doors/8pm Show
Gorgeous, harmony-rich folk-pop songs from a duo of acoustic prestidigitation
THE MILK CARTON KIDS
LESLIE STEVENS
Wed, Oct 10
Nanotear Presents Fall Into Darkness 2012: Cinematic soundscapes of drone metal, avant prog, and the experimental
wolvserpent VHOL BELL WITCH EIGHT BELLS
Sun, Oct 7
$10 Adv
Monqui Presents: A Scottish quintet of orchestral-tinged songs with a lauded album, Tree Bursts in Snow
Admiral Fallow Young BuFFAlo
Tue, Oct 9
$10 Adv
A vivacious L.A. duo deemed L.A.’s best band reunite and return with a new album, Making It
STEW& THE NEGRO PROBLEM
SUZANNE TUFAN
Mostly Seated. 200 TIX AVAIL. $14 Adv
Thu, Oct 11
Eerily somber acoustic songs to kraut-rock inspired fugues from a band celebrating the release of Bend Beyond
An avant-garde Johnny and June. -Houston Press
7pm Doors/8pm Show
$20 Adv
ERIC WOODS WRECKLESS AND AMY RIGBY
EAT SKULL THE WOOLEN MEN
STREETCAR MOBILE MUSIC FEST (Various locations) See My, What a Busy Week!, pg. 22.
FALL INTO DARKNESS: WORM OUROBOROS, SUBROSA, WILD HUNT, ARANYA (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The music of ethereal doom unit Worm Ouroboros moves at a glacial pace; and even though it won’t necessarily level listeners with merciless riffs or vocals that sound like they come from the bowels of Hades, there’s still something dark and eerie about the Bay Area trio’s second LP, Come the Thaw. A lot of that has to do with core members Jessica Way and Lorraine Rath, whose vocals float over guitars that are more often spartan and elegant than caked in sludge. The band helps kick off the three-night Fall into Darkness fest, which assembles heavies from all over the country. Also playing tonight’s free show are locals Aranya (featuring Witch Mountain vocalist Uta Plotkin), Salt Lake doomsters SubRosa, and Wild Hunt from the East Bay. Bone-crushing—minus the broken bones. ML Also see My, What a Busy Week!, pg. 22.
CALOBO, LEWI LONGMIRE BAND (Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) Do you remember Calobo? Through the ’90s, the roots-rock band toured up and down the West Coast and sold 100,000 records without the help of an outside label. They broke up in 2001, but they’re reuniting for three Northwest shows, including one at their old Portland stomping ground, the Crystal Ballroom. It’s worth mentioning the reunion for its own merits, but if you don’t remember Calobo, perhaps you know some of the famous Portland bands that descended from it: Bassist Nate Query and keyboardist Jenny Conlee went on to join the Decemberists and Black Prairie, and guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist Caleb Klauder is a lynchpin of Foghorn Stringband and the Caleb Klauder Country Band. Calobo—rounded out by guitarist/vocalist David Andrews, drummer Brian Bucolo, guitarist Kenneth Erlick, and vocalist Michelle Van Kleef—has an immaculate pedigree, and tonight’s a not-to-be-repeated-anytimesoon opportunity for bereft fans to revisit one of the most important Oregon bands of the ’90s. Chances are, Calobo will earn some new fans as well. NL
Fri, Oct 12
$12 Adv
A visually explosive dance party ranging from booty bass to soul to reggae to rock
MRS QUEEN OF THE
DAMNED Sat, Oct 13
GUEST DJ AUTOMATON (LA) DJ BEYONDADOUBT DJ ILL CAMINO
10pm Doors/10pm Show
$5 Adv
A triple-threat artist — a gifted singer, superb songwriter, and skillful guitarist, Merritt returns with a superb new album, Traveling Alone
Tift MERRITT
Sat, Oct 13
6pm Doors/7pm Show
Woodchuck Cider Sweet-n-Local Presents: Joyful pop from Portland favorites
TIGER HOUSE Sun, Oct 14
7pm Doors/8pm Show Coming Soon... 10/16: JEREMY MESSERSMITH (Bar Bar Apt.) 10/17: KAKI KING 10/18: STEPHEN KELLOGG AND THE SIXERS 10/19: SPIRIT LAKE (Record Release) 10/20: HOWLIN RAIN 10/21: RUSTED ROOT 10/22: WILLIS EARL BEAL
PAPER BRAIN STEPKID
$5 Adv
OPBMUSIC Presents PDX/RX: Powerful hooks and bottom heavy grooves from a PDX favorite
BATTLEME
XDS MONOPLANE
AMY COOK
Mon, Oct 15
$10 Adv
$16 Adv
Tue, Oct 16
10/23: THE WHIGS 10/24: ALLEN STONE 10/25: ALLEN STONE 10/26: WEINLAND (Record Release) 10/27: WEINLAND (Record Release) 10/28: AARON NIGEL SMITH (Early) 10/28: PAPER BIRD (Late) 10/30: GARY WAR 10/31: THE MIRACLES CLUB / MIDNIGHT MAGIC
FREE SHOW! 11/1: PETUNIA & THE VIPERS 11/2: THE YOUNG EVILS 11/3: OLD LIGHT / HUNGRY GHOST 11/4: THE HENRY CLAY PEOPLE 11/5: CINEBITCH 11/6: SOPHIE BARKER (Of Zero 7) 11/7: THOSE DARLINS 11/8: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM! 11/8: JD SAMSON & MEN 11/9: TRANS AM
mississippistudios.com October 4, 2012 Portland Mercury 29