Maybe next time we'll get it right

Intermittent is a word, right? So is infrequent, yeah? There doesn’t seem to be a schedule anymore, pretty sure those are words too. Uh huh. Been a minute. I won’t recount everything we saw since (checks notes… August!?!), but here are some highlights in no particular order. Tatsuya Nakatani at Leaven Community Church. Damn. The gong orchestra piece of the show was really intense and mesmerizing, I felt almost embraced by sound, the ebb and flow perfectly orchestrated. Really beautiful. And his solo playing, wow. That kind of modern percussion can seem random, but to watch him pick and choose between cups and cans and metal and know exactly when to grab them and exactly what they’ll do for, what I presume is, a largely improvised set is nothing short of impressive. Awesome show overall. Had a ticket for Boris and Melvins, but only got to the front door at Roseland; at least there’s a funny story there. Saw Dengue Fever at Mississippi, they’re still real fun. They break all my don’t smile on stage rules and I’m totally fine with that. Ruth Radelet at Lolliopop. She’s not exactly a wild stage presence, but it was nice to see her live. Her solo stuff is real good. Opener for Ruth, Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo, and their sorta west Texas stylings, were quite good too. And Angel Olsen the other night at Rev Hall. She’s so goddamn good. A lot of older songs mixed into the set and a lot of light re-working of them, was a terrific show. I think we saw something at the bookstore (Broken Crow and Zac Rowden?) plus some other stuff too, but I have no idea. The last few months have really been a blur, but I feel like with summer over and it getting dark and damp, I’ll actually stay a little more up to date on shit. On the horizon...

Guantanamo Baywatch, Sat 10/28, Lolliipop Shoppe. Or in this case, on the immediate horizon, like, this is tonight! Lollipop’s first birthday party! Haven’t seen Guantanamo Baywatch since before the pandemic, their exemplary blend of sleazy surf/garage/punk is perfect live. We have tix for this already; I realize that there’s a lot of Halloween shit going on this night as well (not to mention a 50th birthday celebration for a friend of this thread!), but ya might wanna come down to this, should be super fun. Reptaliens open. Dreckig, Mon 10/30, Turn! Turn! Turn! Mississippi Records benefit show. Papi and wife’s very entertaining Latin inflected dancey Kraut rock duo. Two other locals, Lo Fives and Lo Glo open. I’d love to go to this and Clara’s gonna be outtta town for the night, who wants to join me? Fun and a good cause. Body Shame, Tues 10/31, No Fun. Local noise guy we saw at Fixin’ To a while back. Don’t know the other bands, but No Fun is a great little spot. Acid Mothers Temple, Wed 11/1, Lollipop Shoppe. Legendary Japanese psych rockers; never been a mega fan, but have always admired, excited to finally see them. A few of us have tickets for this already (there’s a show Tuesday as well, but we’ll be there night 2 on Wednessday). Broken Crow, Fri 11/3, 13th Moon Gravity Well. Where? Yeah, some beer bar in SE. Okay! You heard me rave about Broken Crow a while back when we saw them at the bookstore and then again, at the church I think, or maybe at the bookstore again? Anyhoo, I’ll be at this, this burgeoning acoustic noise scene in Portland has got my attention. Death Valley Girls, Sun 11/5, Lollipop Shoppe. Never listened to them a ton, but I certainly enjoy them and I bet their sorta garage psych pop sound would translate well to seeing them live. Maybe? Anybody have tix for these two DEVO shows at Rev Hall? How do we feel about this? How many members are dead is too many to keep going? I get that, at least as far as I’ve always understood, Mothersbaugh and Gerald were always the driving forces and they’re still here, but… curious what people think. If I didn’t adore them, I might be a little more sour about this. The shows are both sold out and, FWIW, I didn’t try to get tickets. Puzzle Teeth, Wed 11/8, Turn! Turn! Turn!. Three piece electro noise band we saw at Turn a while back and really liked. A lot of noise bands, whether solo acts or not, I feel like a lot of them are “just noise”, like there’s no pulse, no connective tissue that makes the set feel like a composed whole. Puzzle Teeth was the opposite. Pretty harsh noise, but it all made sense, if that makes any sense. Gaythiest, Fri 11/10, The World Famous Kenton Club. Lonnie Holley, Mon 11/13, Polaris Hall. Legendary artist... and now musician! He plays a sort of loose, I think mostly improvised, awkward blues, almost marching at times. I know, that sounds like it could be bad, but it’s pretty interesting. A little spacey too and kinda just rambles along (at least the songs I’ve heard). This could be super interesting.

Pussy Riot, Mon 11/13, Roseland Theater. Intriguing. What would this show consist of? Music? Spoken word? Some other performance? Oh, the listing says “an activist multimedia experience”. Still intrigued! Deap Valley, Fri 11/17, Star Theater. I don’t know anything about them, but this is apparently some farewell tour? Openers are both good, that must mean something. L.A. Witch, who I really liked last year, and locals Spoon Benders. I will look up Deap Valley.

Codeine, Tues 12/5, Mississippi Studios. Aaannnndd here were are back at another reunion show. Remember way back when when I said I’m anti-reunion shows except when I’m not? Here’s one where I’m not. Frigid Stars remains one of my favorite records, 30 years after it’s release. I saw Codeine once, I think it was when the second record was out, so Brokaw had already left (to join Thalia Zedek in the Boston band, Come). I remember liking it, but not as distinctly as I’d think I would’ve. Gonna remedy that. Too bad I don’t still have their tour shirt with the cat on it. Already bought a ticket, kinda can’t wait for this.

Jessica Moss, Sun 12/10, Polaris Hall. Don’t know her well, but she’s a pretty interesting violinist, her records often include other artists too (like Jim White, on one), but her playing is the center. Pleasantly droney, I might should listen to her more and go to this. The fantastic local electronics artist Avola opens. Bell Witch, Fri 12/15, Star Theater. Long form doom metal may not be everybody’s thing, but is often mine. That’ll do, hit send and start looking at the calendars more regularly. Or listening to the suggestions of this group, last time we had lots of chatter and I liked that. Anything else? Twilight Cafe is back, like for real this time, shows on the calendar and everything. I still love karaoke. Hurricanes, Mexico, waterfalls, canyons, fall leaves, yadda yadda yadda. Get yr shit together and maybe I’ll see you somewhere soon! As always always, additions, corrections, and/or subtractions welcomed.

DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF35FtWgh_8

The Patriarchy is not about horses

Well, shit it’s been a minute, huh. Summer more than half over. It’s rare that I feel so at a loss for words, but that seems to be where I’m at at the moment, life’s twists and turns revealing new and old truths that we can’t always understand. Maybe we just scoot to what we saw in the last month or two? Finally saw Still/Form. They were pretty good. There were as much metal as they were punky or garagey. They reminded me a tad of a great long lost band from Boston (who I think I’ve mentioned before), La Gritona (and who’s record release show, in, I’m guessing 1996, upstairs at The Middle East, remains one of my top 5 favorite shows ever). https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/la-gritona-feature?utm_source=footer Saw Djunah, also at HWM. There were moments, but they could be rocking out at a sports bar just as easily. Saw local faves Sea Moss again, their noisy, dancey, frantic drum sound never disappoints. Among my miscellaneous notes is this, “even at Baby Ketten dudes sing country, WTF”. As is often the case, I crack myself up. Help with Party Time at Fixin’ To. Help was much better than I remembered, yeah the guy kinda has a faux tough guy growl, but I loved (and still love) Laughing Hyenas and John Brannon is deep in that tough dude scream zone, and shit, he’s a minor legend at this point. Help had some bad hey we’re just rock n roll buddies antics but generally they’re good. And has there really been no other band named Help?? That seems very surprising. Never seen The Fixin’ To so crowded and certainly felt like Party Time sent them all home happy. Saw Effluvia Supper again at Fixin To. Real good, although Caspar had equipment issues and he mostly just screamed and growled into the mic. It worked! There were a couple other bands that night (including a great set from Vern Avola) but one, Eternities, really stood out to me. They were incredible. I can’t find anything about them on the internet. Did someone tell me that it was kind of a one-off collaboration and that they’re not usually a duo? Totally spaced on the Wolf Eyes show. How did I do that? And Jim White and Marisa Anderson the other night at Holocene. First, I should add that Methods Body opened and they were really good. You might remember my lukewarm response to them at Dundee Lodge last summer (whereas Scott and Levon loved them), but I’m a convert now having seen them a couple more times. Okay, there aren’t many drummers out there that I’d call something close to a living legend, but Jim White is one. His loose, flowing style perfectly complements the airy, never fussy guitar of Marissa Anderson. Really wonderful, perfect collaborators. I think there were other things that we saw, but it’s been a minute and this summer has felt kinda crazy, like last week seems like a year ago crazy. Here’s an abbreviated list of what I see coming up, maybe once we cross that semi-arbitrary Labor Day threshold and things settle into the familiar calm of autumn, I’ll start churning out this spam more regularly.

Portrayal of Guilt, Mon 8/21, Mississippi Studios. I have it on good authority that these guys are awesome. I will check this out.

Cannons, Thurs 8/24, Crystal Ballroom. Did someone either recently tell me to check them out or play them for me?

Jenny Don’t and The Spurs, Fri 8/25, Mississippi Studios. Gonna be out of town, but, and I know I keep saying this and not making it happen, I really want to finally go see them.

Mike Scheit, Fri 8/25, The Six. YOB dude solo, this could be real interesting. With Aerial Ruin opening. I haven’t been to The Six, I believe it’s the former Liquor Store downstairs space, is that right?

Broken Crow, Wed 8/30, Mother Foucault’s Bookshop. Local acoustic noise, raved about them a couple months ago. Also others playing this, including Zach Rowdon, who’s in Tongue Depresser. I will be at this unless I’m dead or similarly incapacitated.

Boris & Melvins, Thurs 8/31, Roseland Theater. I’d want to go to this show anyway, but Melvins are playing Bullhead. I mean, what else do you need, it’s only one of the great rock records of all time. Yes, I already have a ticket for this (ten fucking dollars of “fees” later).

Pink Mountaintops, Thurs 8/31, Polaris Hall.

Shannon and the Clams, Fri 9/1, Revolution Hall. One of the best purveyors of surf inflected garage, this would be a real fun show. Hunx and his Punx opens, I’m pretty sure I saw them years ago and loved them, but I’m finding nothing searching old emails. Hmmm.

Also on Friday the first, there’s a show at High Water Mark with local tape loop/electronics guy Amulets as one of the openers. Headliner is Glassing. Will inspect and report back, maybe this is a show to have on our radar.

Rebirth Brass Band, Sat 9/2, Aladdin Theater.

This year’s Lose Yr Mind Fest is coming up on September 8th and 9th. www.loseyrmind.com

U.S. Girls, Tues 9/12, Mississippi Studios.

Swans, Fri 9/15, Revolution Hall. Is this where I talk about the impact that the Filth LP had on me in 1989 or 90? Oh, you’ve heard that one before? A few times? Yeah, I know. But really. Kinda life altering.

Dengue Fever, Mon 9/18, Mississippi Studios. Really enjoy this band, I’ve seen them before, they’re also really good live.

Alright. What else? Oh, Twilight is back, at the corner of Grand and Belmont, where that shitty sports bar used to be. They don’t have too much on their calendar yet though, sounds like they’re having trouble getting their liquor license squared away or something. Stay tuned.

Yeah, I need to just hit send on this already. It’s funny that Scott half restarted this thread this morning right when I was finally close to finishing this (yes, Scott, you’re going to keep getting these emails until you move back 😂). Also funny to see Clover play percussion with a tree branch, she’d fit right in at half the shows me and Levon go to.

Anyhoo, this is very much a half assed list this month (year, decade, whatever, fucking time) so help us all out with what you know. As always always always, additions, corrections, and/or subtractions welcomed.

DW

https://lagritona.bandcamp.com/track/victory-at-sea

Vision Facilitator

June already? Sheesh. I feel like the first half of May was all bitching about the weather. Too cold, too rainy, holy shit it’s hot now, too cloudy, OMG where’s the sunscreen, yadda yadda yadda. Okay, sure, I even complained a little about this spring (it really did seem exceptionally lousy) and I try to never bitch about the weather. Why not? Cuz what are ya gonna do?!? Weather’s gonna weather, yo. Life’s hard enough without stressing about the cosmic shit that’s out of our control. But here we are. Yes, we had an unusually cold and wet spring, we had a splash of unseasonably hot, and now we're back to something closer to “normal” (whatever that is in 2023). Like the tide of every season, meteorological or emotional, full of sleet and rain, or sorrow and loneliness, there’s an ebb and flow and we really need to just learn how to ride each out and accept that control is something that our little hands will never grasp. (Apparently, it’s gonna be real hot again on Tuesday. So it goes.)

Blah, blah, blah, did we see any music this month? We did! Etran De L’Aïr. Wow, so good. As I’ve made well known, I’m a total sucker for this Taureg, guitar led, Sub Saharan rock sound, and these guys were every bit the magical purveyors of that sound that they were billed to be. Apparently the first time they’ve toured the states. Hot damn.

Xiu Xiu. I’m pretty sure I saw them way back when, but when I try to conjure up a picture of that, I can’t. Did I not? I guess I need to consult my most trusted music comrade and see if they remember. Anyway, this was a real good show. The new stuff that I didn’t know well was mixed in with a little bit of the old stuff, including a perfectly overly intense, unvarnished version of “Ian Curtis Wishlist” that I didn’t expect, the very song that hooked me on Xiu Xiu almost 20 years ago. It was sold out and packed, but I was there by myself, and somewhere, as the their arrestingly emotional set wore on, I definitely felt some sad, holy shit I’m 35 years old again, finally an “adult”, the world my oyster, but I don’t yet know the red hot dreams from that time would leave nothing but ashes behind kinda shit. It wasn’t like I was at a Pharmakon show where the whole world felt like it was about to collapse on me, but the weight and melancholy were there. Control as something our little hands will never grasp, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Don’t start. If I was better read I’d throw out some classic quote here, maybe some pithy Wilde or some predictably saucy Henry Miller, something that would elicit both groans and applause, but, alas, I’m just a dipshit with a surprisingly positive attitude, a hot wife, and too much liquor.

Bonnie “Prince” BIllie. I think I mentioned last time that somehow, despite being a fan for 25 years or so, I’ve never seen Will Oldham live (although, again, I suppose I should verify this with said most trusted music comrade, cuz that seems kinda implausible). His newer stuff leans maybe a little too clever and I miss the bleakness of the I See A Darkness era records. I know, he’s a dad now, and his brain has been rewired by the gods of protecting your flock to be kinder and less misanthropic, but still. On that note, new dad Bill Callahan. I don’t know what’s left to say about the guy who I’d argue is the best songwriter of our generation. Y’all know how I feel about his mid to late 90’s Smog output, from 1995’s Wild Love (the magical transition from the wonderfully noisy, Lisa Carver inspired, home recording stuff like Julius Caesar) through 2000’s Dongs of Sevotion (and if you wanna argue that the next two, Rain On Lens and Supper, deserve to be added to the list, you won’t get an argument from me), he churned out all time classics (there are a couple of solid EPs mixed in there too!). Okay, maybe Wild Love isn’t quite on the level of The Doctor Came At Dawn, Red Apple Falls, Knock Knock, or Dongs of Sevotion, but still. Has anyone made four records in a row that are that incredible, that perfect?! I think, no. Not even Sonic Youth. Not even Siouxsie. Not Einstürzende Neubauten. Not Neil Young. Not even Leonard Cohen. And this show? It was real good. But maybe that’s it. He played a few oldies, a lightly amped up "Bathysphere" plus "Let’s Move To The Country", but much like Will Oldham a couple nights prior, the newer stuff just doesn’t hit me the same way. And I legit don’t think it’s just a matter of familiarity. But I dunno.

I think some among us might’ve gone to see Suzanne Ciani at the First Congregational Church, I’d love to hear how that was. I’m disappointed in myself for not getting off my lazy ass and going to see Thomas Lauderdale Meets The Pilgrims at Crystal. A (very reliable, insider) source told me that the show was just good, maybe a little rough around the edges (apologies if I’m misrepresenting!). There’s gotta be a lot of weight to finally presenting twenty year old songs and performing live together for the first time; I bet us regular folk woulda though it was great.

The Tinariwen show at Wonder sold out before I even saw it on the calendar. I really want to see them some time (see earlier comment about loving the Taureg, guitar led, Sub Saharan rock sound). Anybody see them?

Tim Hecker at Holocene. It was early evening and it was crowded and you couldn’t really see him anyway, so we lollygagged around and ended up listening from the lower level, which worked pretty well, after all, it’s just a guy with some electronics and no lights on. He’s great. The music was lovely. But when I found space to slide in through the side door that’s up by the bathrooms and really feel the sound, well, that sure did help. Tip to my fellow oldsters- it’s okay to still want to be up front. And I haven’t been to Holocene during the early evening, still daylight hours in a minute, it’s pretty lovely in there. Wouldn’t be a bad place for a wedding or something…

And last night, a few locals at Mother Foucault’s bookstore. We missed the first dude, appeared to be pedals, electronics and whatnot, as was the second guy, who was pretty good, fairly harsh noise, but the set had cohesion that a lot of lesser noisemakers lack. Then Broken Crow, a band that includes Caspar Sonnet, a guy who single handedly seems to keep these rad noise shows going in Portland. And they were fantastic. He played percussion- kinda, a stick spun on a cymbal on top of a drum for resonance-, a guy on violin, some sax dude from L.A., and another guy playing some sort of wind up electronic noisemaker. You really need to see these shows because I’m not enmeshed in the scene enough to accurately describe some of the ways people make noise acoustically. Droney, but tense, each perfectly filling a part, clearly working off each other. Terrific. Was their first show, keep an eye out.

Okay. I kinda think I’m missing something else, but I don’t know. Cherubs, Fri 6/2, Dante's. Tonight. Does anyone remember Cherubs? I’ll admit, I do not. Early 90’s Austin band, very of the era noise/hardcore, Unsane-ish, but with a lighter sound, maybe even a mix of fellow Texans Butthole Surfers irony mixed in. Sounds kinda meh now, but I’d bet may have been rad at the time. Also, while Portland was a musical backwater in the early 90’s (and maybe still is, this town is still tiny and not super forward thinking), Austin must’ve been even worse (and probably still is)- there was (briefly) Scratch Acid and…. yeah. So, good on Cherubs, I guess. Wipers, Dead Moon, Poison Idea all look even better every second. Ermagerd, I don’t mind Austin, but my anti-Texas juices just got accidentally set to flow, sorry. This Cherubs show is with Ils, who I’ve wanted to see for a while, and that 90s noise rock usually works great live, so, maybe?

Djunah, Sat 6/3, High Water Mark. 90s influenced noise rock, not totally sure about this one, could be good but it could definitely be cheesy, we’ll see. Locals Still/Form, who I’m intrigued by, open. Looks like a few of us are going to this, meet us there.

Bob Log III, Tues 6/6, Mississippi Studios. I still have a Doo Rag t-shirt and I’m still a sucker for his schtick. With absolute local favorites Mattress and Sea Moss! Can we please have a big contingent that shows up for this?! I will buy drinks.

Sea Moss, Wed 6/7, High Water Mark. Didn’t see ‘em open for Bob Log last night? No worries, Sea Moss plays at our favorite little northeast hole in the wall the very next night. https://www.treetix.com/event/198588/highwatermark

Clan of Xymox, Sun 6/11, Star Theater. Some classic 80s, Dutch goth. Sounds like maybe only one of the original guys is still involved.

Riki, Tues 6/13, Doug Fir. “L.A. based synth-pop songstress” is what her Bandcamp page says and that says it all. Just dark enough to be lightly interesting though. One of the openers is Light Asylum doing a DJ set, we saw her perform at the Campout last summer, she was super good. Also Xibling opens, I feel like I’ve seen them and liked them?

Mehtods Body, Thurs 6/15, Lollipop Shoppe. Hey, maybe I’ll finally get to Lollipop Shoppe! Record release party for Methods Body, who I first saw last summer, also at the Campout, and then open for William Basinski. Two piece, jazz influenced sound collages (is that a thing?). Dude, I’m tired of labels, how bout they’re real interesting. With DJ set from Papi Fimbres. This will be crowded. The Soul Rebels, Wed 6/21, Star Theater. Updated take on the classic New Orleans brass band, these guys are fantastic. Liturgy, Sun 6/25, Star Theater. I’ve written about their evolution a few times now, and how I think they may be sneaky great. Black metal is just the tip of the Liturgy iceberg. With Big Brave, who aforementioned most trusted music comrade raves about and told me to check out. I’ll be just back from New Mexico and will probably go to this. Godflesh, Wed 6/28, Hawthorne Theater. What year is it? As I’ve recounted before, Slavestate was an important moment in my musical evolution, to hear something that heavy but without live drums, that was so surprising to me. Opened my eyes to things that stretched the bounds of guitar based rock in ways I didn’t expect.

Slender Gems, Fri 6/30, No Fun. Friend of a friends band, very polite indie rock, but not bad.

That’ll do. Stay current. Keep listening to new artists, to local artists. Talk to each other about the stuff you discover. Make music. It doesn’t have to be great, just play. It all keeps us young. I’m sure there’s all kinds of stuff I missed, you know the drill, as always always, additions, corrections, and/or subtractions welcomed.

DW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eht6ylrIuJQ