SUPER PICK

LOSE YR MIND: TWIN PEAKS, WAND, TACOCAT, CHASTITY BELT, PUBLIC EYE, LITHICS, THE GHOST EASE, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT, FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS, NIGHT HERON
(The North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook) This weekend, hundreds of Portlanders will crowd beneath the warm glow of twinkle lights for the fourth annual Lose Yr Mind, a two-night warehouse festival showcasing some of the best garage and punk music in the business. Lose Yr Mind founder Elizabeth Elder says her inspiration for the festival is “that moment when everything slips away and you are present and connected. It’s sort of like meditation. I think anyone who is a musician or fan of music looks for that sort of catharsis.” AudioCinema quickly reached capacity both nights of last year’s sold-out festival, and they had to turn away hundreds of would-be revelers at the door. This year Lose Yr Mind is doubling in size with its move to the North Warehouse, which is cavernous enough to fit 1,000 concert-goers. Though it’s growing, Elder says “the goal is to make an event that’s accessible to everyone.” Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, with a portion of sales going to a local nonprofit (this year that’s XRAY.FM). Lose Yr Mind’s lineup looks especially promising this time around: Friday night opens with sets from two Portland bands, Lithics and the Ghost Ease, followed by Seattle post-punks Chastity Belt, who recently released their third album, I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone. Los Angeles psych-rock outfit Wand headlines, with melodies labyrinthine enough to rewire your brain (their new record Plum is one of the best of 2017), and Frankie and the Witch Fingers will close out the evening with late-night grooves. Saturday night kicks off with the kaleidoscopic psychedelia of Night Heron, rising stars Blackwater Holylight, and Public Eye, the Portland band formerly known as Autistic Youth. Seattle’s Tacocat is the crown jewel of the Lose Yr Mind bill, and a giant warehouse is the perfect venue for their candy-coated punk odes to periods and Special Agent Dana Scully. Twin Peaks will close out the weekend with explosive scream-alongs—don’t forget your earplugs. CIARA DOLAN


WEDNESDAY 10/18

STRANGE RANGER, MO TROPER, ALIEN BOY, SNOW ROLLER
(Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway) Read our story on Strange Ranger.


THURSDAY 10/19

KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH Thurs 10/19 Doug Fir TIM SACCENTI

KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH, MARIA USBECK, COOL MARITIME
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Los Angeles-based, Orcas Island-raised musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith just released The Kid, an album of ambient electronic compositions as deep and blue as the Puget Sound. Smith loops, layers, and distorts her voice while coaxing strange beauty from her modular synth. The result often sounds like rain falling, thunderstorms brewing, and wind rustling through trees. CIARA DOLAN

ARIEL PINK, TELECAVES
(Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark) The last time Ariel Pink played Portland, I left halfway through his set. He was on tour behind 2014’s Pom Pom, an album that sounds like radioactive synthesizers, millennial pink crayons, and decades of sexual frustration puréed through a dull blender—in a good way! Inspired by the absurdity of his hometown of Los Angeles, Pink approaches pop music like a mad scientist, deconstructing melodies and sewing them back together to create bizarre lo-fi masterpieces. With his new album, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, Pink eulogizes the late singer/songwriter Bobby Jameson, who strived for mainstream success in the 1960s and ’70s but never quite made the big time. There are clear parallels between Pink and Jameson’s careers: Both have been painted as either misunderstood geniuses or controversial antiheros of pop music. Beginning with the opening track, “Time to Meet Your God,” the record follows Jameson’s multiple near-death experiences and subsequent rebirths and reinventions through Manson-era psychedelia (“Dreamdate Narcissist”), artificially sweetened pop (“Bubblegum Dreams”), and experimental chaos (“Time to Live”). It’s a good record, and it’s very LA; you can practically hear the Santa Ana winds rustling through palm trees on “Another Weekend.” Unfortunately, all I remember from Pink’s 2015 concert at the Roseland is lots of feedback and onstage egomania. CD


FRIDAY 10/20

BOB MOULD, MOON TIGER
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Alt-rock/post-punk icon Bob Mould, the former frontman for the legendary 1980s band Hüsker Dü who’s followed up with a great solo career, is coming back to town and you won’t want to miss it. He’s still going hard. His show last year at the Wonder Ballroom was one of my favorites and it’s going to be awesome to see him in a smaller, more intimate venue. Mould seems to dig Portland: He released a dope music video last year (“Hold On”) that was filmed around town. DOUG BROWN

LOSE YR MIND FEST: WAND, CHASTITY BELT, THE GHOST EASE, LITHICS, FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS
(The North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook) Read our super pick on Lose Yr Mind Fest.

YUMI ZOUMA, CHAD VALLEY
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Until the rise of Lorde, much of the music from New Zealand that made an impression on American ears bore hallmarks of the famed “Dunedin Sound”—a scrappy, jangly, collegiate tunefulness that littered the records of such marvelous bands as the Clean and Sneaky Feelings. There’s none of that in Yumi Zouma, whose members are from New Zealand but live scattered across the globe. (They don’t sound much like Lorde, either.) Started as a long-distance recording project, Yumi Zouma’s buffed-smooth dream pop is all Instagram-filter gloss and magic-hour romance, but there are human, beating hearts beneath these ridiculously gorgeous sounds, transforming their placid surfaces into something pretty darn irresistible. Yumi Zouma’s sophomore full-length, Willowbank, was recorded amid the rubble of earthquake-stricken Christchurch, and it’s the kind of record you fall hard in love with on first listen. Its universal appeal makes perfect sense no matter what part of the globe you’re standing on. NED LANNAMANN

COURTNEY BARNETT AND KURT VILE (AND THE SEA LICE), JEN CLOHER
(Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway) It seems like we’ve reached a consensus that Courtney Barnett’s “Depreston” is the best indie rock song of the past decade (suck it, Vampire Weekend—Neo Yokio was just okay). What would happen if the Australian singer/songwriter and pun-master teamed up with Philadelphia’s aggressively mild rock star Kurt Vile? Some pleasant blues melodies and decent wordplay, as proven with their collaborative debut, Lotta Sea Lice. It’s neither artist’s best work by a longshot (Vile’s best song is “Baby’s Arms,” for the record), but there’s no denying how easy it is to latch on to their music. The sweet, bright guitar riff of “Over Everything” is so laid-back that you won’t even realize the track’s more than six minutes long. CAMERON CROWELL

A CELEBRATION FOR ANDREW MASSETT: PARTY APARTMENT, LEE COREY OSWALD, LUBEC, GARDENER, JIM BERGMAN & CO.
(Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton) Over the summer, Portland’s music community suffered a devastating loss in the passing of Andrew Massett, who played drums in Two Moons, Clovver, Caregiver, and most recently Hemingway. Andrew was one of the best drummers I have ever been fortunate enough to witness, but he’ll be remembered most for his warmth and driving passion. Moving forward is always the hardest part—as time passes, we hope to find comfort and healing. But I find that turning to others who also feel the weight of this loss is a great source of support, love, and strength. Friday night, a collection of bands from his community—Party Apartment (featuring members of Caregiver), Lee Corey Oswald, Lubec, and Gardener—will gather to perform and celebrate the life of Andrew Massett. All proceeds from the event will directly benefit his family. DELANEY MOTTER

ZOLA JESUS, JOHN WIESE
(The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th) I interviewed Nika Roza Danilova in 2011 before her performance at Mississippi Studios, and was struck by how down-to-earth she was. All I knew of Zola Jesus—as she’s better known—prior to that was what I’d heard on her album Conatus, which is otherworldly, to say the least. She mentioned having stage fright, and talked about her songwriting: “My music is a little compulsive... I find release in the things I have to deal with.” That sentiment couldn’t hold truer on Zola Jesus’ new record, Okovi, which she wrote after escaping Seattle’s eternal grayness to return home to Wisconsin. The result is her rawest and most personal album yet, coming on the heels of 2014’s more accessible Taiga. Danilova deals with her depression and mortality through a shroud of strings and synths, showing growth and maturity without compromise. It’s easily Zola Jesus’ best work. MARK LORE


SATURDAY 10/21

LOSE YR MIND FEST: TWIN PEAKS, TACOCAT, PUBLIC EYE, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT, NIGHT HERON
(The North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook) Read our super pick on Lose Yr Mind Fest.

THE BLACK ANGELS, RON GALLO, DAYDREAM MACHINE
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) The Black Angels aren’t shy about the musical gods they worship. In fact, the Velvet Underground’s legendary tendrils squirm lovingly throughout the band’s namesake, songs, and logo. These psychedelic priests use the divine teachings of Lou Reed & Co. as a prism to funnel Texas swagger and Brit-gaze undertones into their nostalgic-yet-modern mind-melt. It’s sinister, reverb-drenched blues-pop that never strays too far from the almighty drone, a sound that floats lazily across the eardrum like a gritty Spiritualized or the 13th Floor Elevators the morning after the love-in. The Black Angels have been grinding tirelessly in the national psych scene for years, releasing beautifully packaged LPs to match sensory-shredding performances. CHRIS SUTTON

OCCASION VIBRATION: PARAMIDA, ETBONZ
(The Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont) Love on the Rocks label head Paramida makes her Portland debut with a three-hour set at the Liquor Store for Occasion Vibration—the hard-working party crew that’s brought you Lauer, Hunee, Prins Thomas, and Love on the Rocks alumni Massimiliano Pagliara. Self-described as “Berlin’s most-hated DJ,” Paramida’s colorful, Balearic-tinged sets bring a more expansive sound to the city’s often monotonous and austere techno scene. Spacey disco, uplifting house, and glimmering new wave are all part of her tapestry of sound, though she doesn’t shy away from excursions into the harder and darker moments Berlin is known for. Her label has released music by Mexico’s Zombies in Miami, Australia’s Fantastic Man, and Portland’s own prolific purveyor of cosmic voyages Etbonz, who joins her on tonight’s bill. DANIELA SERNA

EXTRADITION SERIES FALL CONCERT: MIKE GAMBLE, ANDRE ST. JAMES, EVAN SPACHT, CATHERINE LEE, & MORE
(Leaven Community Center, 5431 NE 20th) The fall edition of this quarterly concert series, which focuses on contemporary classical work of the 20th and 21st centuries, puts the performers in control of the music. The majority of the pieces that will be presented at this intimate showcase leave a lot of room for interpretation. Antoine Beuger’s Cantor Quartets, for example, directs the musicians—in this case, guitarist Mike Gamble, bassist Andre St. James, trombonist Evan Spacht, and clarinetist Lee Elderton—to play as many or as few segments of the 15-page score as they choose, in any order they choose. The same ensemble, with the addition of oboe player Catherine Lee, will take on Dana Reason’s recent composition Folded Subjects, which asks the players to literally fold their scores and play whatever the results are. Along with the other five pieces being performed, you’ll be privy to a one-of-a-kind evening of challenging sounds and masterful musicianship. ROBERT HAM


SUNDAY 10/22

NASALROD, BOINK, HONEY BUCKET
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our review of Nasalrod’s new record, Building Machines.


MONDAY 10/23

DEPECHE MODE Mon 10/23 Moda Center ANTON CORBIJN

DEPECHE MODE, WARPAINT
(Moda Center, 1 N Center Ct) Fourteen albums and almost four decades into their career, Depeche Mode sounds and feels as vital as they did on their 1981 debut, Speak & Spell. In fact, their latest record, Spirit, is as topical as ever: “We are not there yet, we have not evolved,” frontman Dave Gahan sings on the bleak “Going Backwards.” Depeche Mode made recent news after receiving and rebuking a ringing endorsement from alt-right fuckwit Richard Spencer, which the band condemned. But Depeche Mode doesn’t need any publicity—negative or otherwise—to sell records or fill arenas. Their cultish following always has and will be there, and in kind, Depeche Mode has released a body of work with nary a dud. This is their first tour since 2013, so expect lots of people... and lots of tears. ML

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, DARK CASTLE
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) For more than two decades, the pagan metal mothership Wolves in the Throne Room has been consistently piloted by brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver (with help from talented friends), and like Olympia-based peers Thrones and Growing, they’ve earned respect by testing the limits of heavy music, both philosophically and aurally. At face value, Wolves in the Throne Room are a black metal band, but that hallowed Norwegian ethos is merely a springboard for their explorations of power. Blistering jackhammer climaxes, pensive synth meditations, medieval folkisms, and angelic choral fugues flow throughout their newest offering, Thrice Woven, further exhibiting Wolves’ expertise in speed and orchestral depth on a stage of raw, spiritual fidelity. Once again, they’ve successfully planted the screaming machinations of modern electronics deep within the forest and harvested its brilliantly thorny fruit. CS


TUESDAY 10/24

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, BELLE GAME
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) It’s always astonishing that Canadian indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene manages to get back together every few years, but what’s more astonishing is how their myriad talents and voices come together to produce such consistently great music, with soaring sonic effects, comet-like melodies, and actual, real-life hope tucked into every bar. NED LANNAMANN

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, PILLORIAN
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) See Monday’s preview.