WEDNESDAY 8/27

JACK WHITE, CURTIS HARDING
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) To say that Lazaretto, Jack White's second solo album, is the best thing he's done since the White Stripes will sound like high praise to those charmed by the busman's holiday twofer of the Raconteurs and Dead Weather, but lyrics don't get much worse than "I've got a rabbit, it likes to hop/I've got a girl and she likes to shop" (the Raconteurs' "Intimate Secretary"). I lost interest in the Stripes circa Icky Thump, a sketch of a record. Near as I could tell, they had, too. If White's debut, Blunderbuss, failed to burnish or destroy his rep, the follow-up reveals a reinvigorated musician. Sure, he's spent the past year badmouthing a few colleagues, but niceness doesn't always breed the best rock 'n' roll. KATHY FENNESSY

AVEY TARE'S SLASHER FLICKS, RALEIGH MONCRIEF
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) While Animal Collective's most recent record, 2012's Centipede Hz, captured the frenetic, spastic effervescence of their nature, the group has been taking things relatively easy since. They're no road dogs. They rarely tour, and when they do it's often at massive festivals. Mostly gone, then, are the days of seeing Animal Collective in a packed, sweaty, intimate club—which makes the appearance of Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks at Mississippi Studios all the more vital. With the wordier, more energized of Animal Collective's two vocalists joined by former Dirty Projector Angel Deradoorian on bass and Ponytail drummer Jeremy Hyman, Slasher Flicks are a bit of a throwback to Feels-era Animal Collective, particularly that album's "Flesh Canoe," when the group, then more analog than digital, banged and clattered and screamed with abandon. Slasher Flicks are more compact, structured, and aggressive. From this year's Enter the Slasher House, crank up "Blind Babe" and imagine how it'll play in a sweaty little rock club—loud and raw and sweetly unhinged. ANDREW R TONRY

THE EAGLES
(Moda Center, 1 Center Ct) Rock's most boring band took a couple of decades off and emerged as rock's biggest assholes. (Don't worry, they're still boring.) Lead asshole Don Henley has been litigious against artists like Frank Ocean and Okkervil River for altering his songs to make new work, apparently not paying attention to the past 25 years of pop music history. Someone get this man a copy of Paul's Boutique, stat. And co-lead asshole Glenn Frey, along with Henley, fired guitarist/non-asshole Don Felder after they tricked the longtime member into taking a lower percentage of Eagles profits. Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt, who are only assholes-by-association, are still kicking around, and original member Bernie Leadon has popped up on a few recent shows. I don't know if he's an asshole. At tonight's show you can sing along to schlock like "Best of My Love" and "Heartache Tonight" and be an asshole, too! NED LANNAMANN

THURSDAY 8/28

OREGON SYMPHONY WATERFRONT CONCERT
(Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 1020 SW Naito) See My, What a Busy Week!

STRAND OF OAKS, CHRISTOPHER DENNY
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Strand of Oaks.

SLINT, TROPICAL TRASH
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) After years of hanging in the double-wide, Chapel Hill's Southern Culture on the Skids signed to Geffen in 1995 and had one of their best-known hits with "Camel Walk." Two decades later, that chapter is nothing but a blip on the screen for this trio of weirdos, who keep cranking out Kentucky-fried rock that's both silly and satirical. Of course, their live shows are the real attraction. If you're close enough to the stage, look out for flying pieces of chicken. The greasy fun never stops with SCOTS, and there's plenty of lean musicality—from country to punk to surf—to offer sustenance. MARK LORE

GOLDEN HOUR, WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS, VOID BOYS, HALF SHADOW
(Laughing Horse Books, 12 NE 10th) Watercolor Paintings is the primary vehicle for singer/songwriter Rebecca Redman. Whether performing solo, with her brother Josh, or flanked by a full band, Redman's animated voice is consistently capable of bringing forth an avalanche of emotion and expression. The vocals are usually paired with some delicate acoustic instrumentation that incorporates guitar, ukulele, and harp. Take a listen to the song "Move Me" on Watercolor Paintings' 2013 album, When You Move, and try not to be instantly drawn into Redman's rich, enchanting world. Also performing tonight are Portland-based trio Golden Hour. The band has a self-titled release from earlier this year that manages to stay true to its name. With an image of the Cape Kiwanda dunes taken during the eponymous hour on the cover, the group matches visual splendor with four haunting, rhythm-driven tracks that pack a jovial spark. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

FRIDAY 8/29

THE BOTH, TELEKINESIS
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) Read our article on the Both.

NEGATIVLAND, DANIEL MENCHE, CASCADIAN KNIGHTS
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) Read our article on Negativland.

NINE INCH NAILS, SOUNDGARDEN, COLD CAVE
(Sleep Country Amphitheater, 17200 NE Delfel, Ridgefield, WA) A couple of true '90s giants are currently rumbling across the country. Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails flirt with nostalgia on this package deal, but I have to imagine they're pummeling audiences. As someone who's never been a big NIN fan, I saw them last year and it was a thrilling set, visually and audibly. I haven't see Soundgarden in 20 years, but they're bona fide live performers. What to expect: Kim Thayil will shred stoically. Ben Shepherd will scowl and hold it down with fill-in drummer Matt Chamberlain (no Matt Cameron, who's busy with Pearl Jam, which is a true bummer). And Chris Cornell, who's grown his hair back out, will strike Jesus Christ poses and try and make you forget he collaborated with Timbaland. Ah, fuck it... this is going to be a great show. ML Also see My, What a Busy Week!

THE DREAM SYNDICATE, THE MINUS 5, EYELIDS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Reunion tours attract a strange amount of derision. It's as if making music that's been culturally relevant—if not also influential—for 30 years is something to be embarrassed about. Of course, nostalgia's part of the equation, but these kinds of tours give us the chance to see acts we thought we'd never see live. Case in point: The Dream Syndicate. Steve Wynn takes a break from his Baseball Project duties for a short run of dates beginning tonight with his original band, one of the cornerstones of SoCal's vaunted but short-lived Paisley Underground. The Dream Syndicate reconvened just two years ago (minus some original members) for their first shows since 1988, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut The Days of Wine and Roses. This go-round it's the same for the follow-up, 1984's The Medicine Show, long characterized as Crazy Horse to the debut's Velvet Underground. Fellow long-timers the Minus 5 and Eyelids join them on a bill that destroys the notion that rock 'n' roll is just a young man's game. JEREMY PETERSEN

NAOMI PUNK, BROKEN WATER
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) It's no secret that Olympia, Washington, has managed to hold true to its DIY roots as a nurturing home to a wide range of up-and-coming bands. The number of worthwhile acts pouring out of Olympia is astounding, and tonight two of the city's best make their way to Portland for a Friday night double feature. If you were a fan of Naomi Punk's grunge-channeling album The Feeling a couple of years back, you've probably already spent some quality time with the band's recently released follow-up, Television Man. Everything that the trio did well last time is dialed in this time around, making Television Man one of the better Pacific Northwest rock records to come down the pipeline this year. Fellow Olympia-based trio Broken Water make this show unmissable. Arrive early for their tumultuous set of quiet-loud noise rock that's always overflowing with raw and vital feeling. CT

JESSICA HERNANDEZ AND THE DELTAS, CHARTS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) As the music industry is still mostly filled with dudes, I'm always excited to see a frontwoman this good. And with a voice that resembles the dark warbles of Amy Winehouse and Sallie Ford, Jessica Hernandez paves her own genre with her own style. The Deltas are all trained jazz musicians, and it shows in their moseying, syncopated rhythms and frequent use of horns and accordions. Though their songs are seemingly simple—often comprising only a few chords—the group layers surprisingly catchy and palatable tunes around the soulful angst of Hernandez's voice. Their new album, Secret Evil, bounces from delta blues to angry rock-pop, all while keeping you on the edge of your seat. ROSE FINN

COLD WASTE, WOW AND FLUTTER, OTIS
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Florida noise punks Cold Waste keep it simple: two band members, four songs, one drum machine. They make good use of these on their—you guessed it—Four Song Demo, a swirling bit o' melodic noise. James Hernandez's guitar work is the true force here, wiry and loose, with minor chords and single-note bends chasing each other over the course of each song's three-minute running time. Of course, a real drummer would send this two-piece into the stratosphere. In the meantime, they're otherworldly but earthbound. ML

SATURDAY 8/30

THE CITY NIGHTCLUB REUNION: DJ ALEX, BILL HICKS
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) Read our article on the City Nightclub reunion.

BRAND NEW, JOYCE MANOR, BRONCHO
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) Read about Joyce Manor in All-Ages Action!

JEFFREY MARTIN, HIP HATCHET, VIKESH KAPOOR
(Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta) The literate, forlorn folk of Portland-based songwriter Jeffrey Martin is given room to shine on his wonderful new album, Dogs in the Daylight. Subdued arrangements of fiddle, piano, and occasional drums back up Martin's honey-smoke voice and guitar—an acoustic that has a crack down the face; it was his first guitar and apparently it's the only one he plays. The record is overstuffed with 15 songs, making it a pretty big bite to tear off all at once. But with almost no exception, every song on Dogs in the Daylight is careful and clear, with a tune that creeps beneath your skin and a lyric that makes it shiver. It's tough to pinpoint exactly what it is that sets certain singer/songwriters apart from other singer/songwriters, other than the thoroughness with which their songs turn your guts inside out. And by that measure, Martin is way ahead of the pack. NL

CREEPOID
(Alhambra Theatre, 4811 SE Hawthorne) What's in the water in Philadelphia these days? Besides Rocky's trunk sweat and cheesesteak drippings, I mean. Something over there is helping to grow excellent psychedelic rock bands like the War on Drugs, Nothing, Purling Hiss, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Spacin', and so on. And now here comes Creepoid, a quartet of sullen-looking youngsters whose self-titled debut album merges the reverberant shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive with a crunchier alt-rock swirl that sounds like the Warlocks casting a spell on Silversun Pickups. Glaze it all with the syrupy incantations of guitarist Sean Miller and bassist Anna Troxell, and you've got a pretty heady brew for folks who love to get lost in six-stringed fuzz. BEN SALMON

RVIVR, LAVENDER MIRROR, COCKEYE
(Branx, 320 SE 2nd) Rvivr make blissful pop-punk anthems that give the illusion of intricate spontaneity. While each song has certainly been crafted with care, the Olympia group makes them sound uninhibited, like they just came up with these arrangements on the spot. Their last album, 2013's The Beauty Between, is a perfect example. It's a work so tight and interwoven that it borders on pop-punk concept album, but it sounds raw enough to make you believe it was recorded at a basement show. Rvivr's general celebratory tone lends a perfectly deceptive background to lyrics that often deal with getting through the dark times in life, or that advocate for social change. Fresh off a tour with political punk bands Propagandhi and War on Women, Rvivr brings their road-seasoned tunes to Branx with locals Lavender Mirror getting the party started. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON

MISSION OF BURMA, THE WOOLEN MEN, CHRIS BROKAW
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) As someone who's had this week's Slint reunion circled on my calendar for quite some time, I would never take issue with a well-deserved victory-lap reunion tour. And it's actually some of these "new lease on life" reunions that have come to fruition over the last decade that get me most excited. While Dinosaur Jr. and Wire both re-emerged to deserved critical acclaim in recent years, it might be Mission of Burma that have had the most stunning resurgence. I wasn't born when the Boston post-punk quartet released Vs. before calling it quits back in 1983, and I was in college when I first came across the band by way of their 2004 comeback album, ONoffON. That staggering gap would mean little without something new to show for it, and the off-kilter aggression transmitted by Mission of Burma since their return has taken them to new heights. CT

BIKE THIEF, THE WEATHER MACHINE
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Stuck in a Dream, the debut album from Portland band Bike Thief, is so full of strings and choirs and swirling hush/roar arrangements, you'll think you've been transported all the way back to the late '00s. That was chamber folk's heyday, of course, but it wouldn't be fair to suggest that Bike Thief are aping the past. Rather, the 10 ambitious tracks on Stuck in a Dream aim for high-seas drama of the most grandiose type, and if that requires oboes and French horns and a ghostly choir that sounds plucked straight from Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas in I," then so be it. It's tough not to admire the group's sense of scope, and there are more than a few moments of remarkable, terrifying beauty, particularly in the 10-minute title track that closes the album. NL

SUNDAY 8/31

YUNA, SHELBY EARL
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

PANIC! AT THE DISCO, WALK THE MOON, YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) Within the canon of mid-'00s mainstream emo, Panic! at the Disco are a pretty unique specimen. While the group's first record, 2005's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out—which features the interminably irritating lead single "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"—is indistinguishable from every other shitty, histrionic pop-punk record from the era, the 2008 follow-up Pretty. Odd. is an unabashed, kitchen-sink homage to '60s pop that sort of sounds like a Smiley Smile for scene kids. It's a bold, occasionally great record that has endured pretty well, all things considered, and certainly remains a high watermark for the group, which, in 2009, splintered into two distinct bands as a result of Pretty. Odd.'s mixed reception. Guitarist, songwriter and behind-the-scenes musical architect Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker quit and formed Nuggets-y band the Young Veins, while lead vocalist Brendan Urie and drummer Spencer Smith, in addition to a rotating cast of hired guns, continue to tour and record under the Panic! at the Disco name. MORGAN TROPER

NEW MOVE, MINDEN, HEATWARMER
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Though they're a couple of years into their existence, locals New Move have recently been gaining a bit more traction, thanks in large part to their standout cut on this year's PDX Pop Now! comp, "Don't Wanna Lose." If you've managed to catch the band live, you know that that near perfect, vintage-leaning pop number is a nice distillation of what they do—a little T. Rex, a bit of Bowie, and a helluva lot of groove. Throw in an obligatory Morphine mention thanks to the rare (and welcome!) presence of a baritone sax, and New Move is simply irresistible—and they've even managed to steer clear of Robert Palmer territory. What we haven't had much of yet is New Move on record, but that changes a little with the release of a new single, "The City Life," and its companion video at tonight's back-to-school themed party. JP

MONDAY 9/1

TOGETHER PANGEA, KINS, GUACAMOLE, WRISTWATCH
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

ZOE MUTH AND THE LOST CITY HIGH ROLLERS, THE EARNEST LOVERS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Zoe Muth is originally from Seattle, where she lived when she released her first three albums. But now she's based in Austin, which means Muth essentially traded in her status as one of the Pacific Northwest's best country artists for being another fish in a very crowded pond. Even considering the strength of Austin's twangy scene, however, Muth has the skills to rise above. Her new album, World of Strangers, is one of 2014's finest in the world of folk, country, and Americana, thanks in part to a killer band (including high-profile guests Brad Rice, Bruce Robison, and Dixie Chick Martie McGuire) but mostly due to Muth's songs, which are bright and beautiful even when they're somber, and her warm, worn blanket of a voice. The album is graceful and charming, and no matter where she lives, Muth will never be just another fish. BS

TUESDAY 9/2

RED BULL SOUND SELECT: BIG FREEDIA, ILLMACULATE, TXE, DJ NATURE
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) See My, What a Busy Week!