Genuine Saskatchewan seal-skin bindings
- DW
- Jan 3, 2019
- 5 min read
Its 2019. Remember Y2K? Ha! I was in the last months of my many years as a bike messenger and was dispatching at that point, we had some shitty software that the guy who’d recently taken over the company had created and we were all convinced everything was gonna go to serious shit at the stroke of midnight. He was working on stuff non-stop all of December trying to stave off said presumed disaster. Of course nothing happened, to us, or, as far as I ever heard, to anyone else, but it was kinda funny cuz I’d been there since we tracked deliveries on little post its and we all hated the software anyway. That was nineteen years ago. Nineteen. Wow. We old. I think the only thing I went to in December was Red Fang at Wonder. I missed Gaythiest and was way less into Thunderpussy than I remember, but Red Fang was predictably awesome. A fine way to see they year out. January has a lot of “I’ve been wanting to see this band” or “I’ve been curious about this band” and that’s exciting.
Slang, Deathlist, Roseblood, Fri 1/4, Doug Fir. As previously mentioned. Slang was a duo featuring Janet Weiss for a few years but now they’ve grown into a four-piece that includes Kathy from The Thermals. And y’all know I really like Deathlist, when they lean moodier, less rock’n’roll, they’re super good (and Jenny is lightly mesmerizing). And, and, Roseblood is Kathy’s new band that I wanna see and that now includes… wait for it… Janet! Holy Portland-centrc show. I was planning on going to this, but I forgot I have Blazers tix, so unless I scoot over there right when the game ends (and even then I’d have missed Roseblood), I probably won’t make it to this.
Finn Wolfhard, AKA Mike from Stranger Things, has a band called Calpurnia? At Crystal if anyone’s curious.
Sad Horse, Sat 1/5, Turn! Turn! Turn!.
Heavy Tuesdays roll on.
Trujillo, Fri 1/11, Kelly’s Olympian. Freddy Trujillo plays a sorta psych influenced Chicano rock that I’m kinda intrigued by. I believe he refers to his sound as “the new brown soul” and furthermore I believe it might very well be both interesting as well as good and even more furthermore I believe it would def be fun live. https://kellysolympian.com/event/trujillo-hearts-of-oak-and-warren-pash/
Get yr knobs twiddled and/or twisted at Volt Divers, Sat 1/12, Lovecraft.
Miss Rayon, Wed 1/16, Doug Fir. Intrigued by this band. Was apparently a solo project for a while, but has grown beyond just original frontman and now includes live drums (Hannah Blilie!) and bass (Jenny from Deathlist!). https://missrayon.bandcamp.com/track/eclipse With fellow Portlander Elly Swope opening, she too seems like she might be quite good. The little I’ve heard, her sound, a charming, lightly poppy, solo, home recording style is really enjoyable. https://ellyswope.bandcamp.com/track/arrow I really like that song. Let’s check them out, yeah?
Amulets, Thurs 1/17, Holocene. Amulets is the tape loop guy that we saw as part of that very worthwhile solo noisemaker night at Turn!Turn!Turn! a month or so ago and he was maybe my favorite of the night (although we missed Daniel Menche). I’d like to check him out again. This sounds like it might be a similar bill, stylistically. https://www.holocene.org/event/1806775-amulets-portland/ Need a mellow night of dreamy, droney, moody, noise? (Hint: I usually do.) Six bucks? Yeah, I’ll probably go to this.
Peter Murphy, Fri 1/18, Roseland Theater. Bela Lugosi may be dead but apparently Peter Murphy’s still alive. Hashtag gothdadjokes.
Vice Device, Sat 1/19, Black Water. As I’ve mentioned before, I think Vice Device is really great. Their kinda perfect, angular, lurching breed of darkwave augmented by occasional post-no wave sax (think of Jim Sclavunos’ sax work on Lydia Lunch’s remarkable In Limbo EP) and throw in some Siouxsie informed vocals, its all right there, super good. They’re opening for Arctic Flowers, who, I’ve often seen in listings, but didn’t know anything about so I’ve always just scanned right past them. But, ya know how this goes, you look em up when they play with a band you like. And, well, they’re pretty good. Def punk, but more than just that, darker and a little post-punk, or that’s what I heard from the few songs I listened to. At the very least, they’d for sure be good live. Haven’t been to Black Water in a bit, sign me up for this one.
The Flesh Eaters, Tues 1/22, Star Theater. If I remember correctly, this is some sort of punk supergroup that someone was raving about maybe a year or so ago? I know, I know, I can look it up. Sometimes I’m lazy (and that’s okay).
Hackedepicciotto, Fri 1/25, Star Theater. Dude. Alexander Hacke from Einstürzende Neubauten and his partner Danielle de Picciotto (an artist who’s sung with Die Haut and the reformed Crime and the City Solution, among other things) making records together. What do they sound like? Kinda like you’d expect if you look at their resumes (although their most recent record is a soundtrack for meditation). But really, I’m checking out anything that any founding member of EN does (IMHO, one of the ten, if not maybe even five, best bands ever). Not sold yet? What if I told you that none other than David Yow is opening?! In what capactiy? I dunno! I guess some sort of solo or other non-Jesus Lizard thing, maybe he even performs with them, but who cares. Could this show be amazing? Absofuckinglutely. Could it be crappy? Yeah, probably. Gonna roll the dice on this one. See ya there.
Cursive, Sat 1/25, Doug Fir. Remember when Omaha was gonna be “the next Seattle”? Yeah. They did say that for a minute though. (Who’s they?)
Anika, Tues 1/29, Mississippi Studios. She and the rest of Exploding View was great (also at Mississippi), I expect this would be too.
Ólafur Arnalds, Tues 1/29, Revolution Hall. I knew somebody years ago who raved about Ólafur Arnalds. He also loved Explosions in the Sky (I quite like them as well), but I don’t remember too much else about him (other than an ill-fitting Batman costume he wore to a Halloween party of mine).
Kelli Shaefer, Thurs 1/31, Holocene. I haven’t heard too many songs, but it seems she’s got a kinda Sharon Van Etten or maybe a if PJ Harvey was from Portland thing going on. Which could be good. The aforementioned Miss Rayon opens. Hmmm.
Interpol, Fri 2/1, Keller Auditorium. Man, when I first got Turn on the Bright Lights I couldn’t stop listening to it. It was like they came out of nowhere. Yeah, they had a couple half assed EPs, but it wasn’t like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs where there was all this buzz and some awesome early singles that left us eagerly awaiting the first LP, with Interpol it seemed like they showed up practically unannounced, already polished and complete. I saw them right around then, probably 2003 I guess (The Ravonettes opened!), I half expected them to suck and that they were just a producer's slight of hand. But they killed. Was in the middle of a snow storm, there’s some line in one of those early songs about snow or a snow storm or something and the whole crowd went nuts. Crazy weather is a key ingredient in a lot of my best random memories. I don’t know the last couple records, but I still listen to the old ones from time to time and forget how good they were.
K, friends, don’t let the bastards get ya down, the bottom probably isn’t here yet. As always always, additions, corrections, and/or subtractions welcomed.
DW
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