THURSDAY 3/18

GULLS, SUSTENTACULA, DEAU BIRD, SHIPWRECKER'S ELECTRIC BONGO BATTLE

(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Once upon a time, the beat was the most fundamental and organic element of music—thumped out by hand claps and foot stomps, then eventually tapped out on drums and gourds and shakers, but always driven by rhythmic human movement. Not anymore. Now beats can be made by any number of gadgets, both simple and complicated, and beats can be traded among musicians like baseball cards. Four of Portland's finest practitioners of electronic beatmaking share the stage at Holocene tonight, including the progressive, shapeshifting sound of Gulls, which incorporates both new and archaic technologies to make music that, stripped of its inventive beats, could be considered ambient and formless. With the motor of a dance beat propelling it, though, it becomes a plot-driven excursion into sonic fantasyland. NED LANNAMANN

GRAVITY: N-TYPE, NOAH D, RONIN, JOE NASTY

(Whiskey Bar, 31 NW 1st) N-Type (British producer/DJ Mark Newton) deals in the sort of heavy, menacing dubstep that, when you hear it, makes you feel about 20 times tougher than you actually are—which partially explains his popularity. He combines brute sonic strength with tense atmospheres that seep into your synapses rather than bludgeon your dome. N-Type's also skilled and connected enough to release mixes via the revered Rinse and Dubstep Allstars franchises. His taste is unfuckwithable. DAVE SEGAL 

FRIDAY 3/19

MISS MASSIVE SNOWFLAKE, PINK WIDOWER, SUSTENTACULA

(Backspace, 115 NW 5th) Miss Massive Snowflake, the skewed art-pop project of Shane de Leon (formerly of Rollerball), plays two shows today in honor of the release of the band's new album Songs about Music. First at Music Millennium, then in the evening at Backspace, de Leon & Co. will amble through Miss Massive Snowflake's most generous batch of songs to date. Songs like album opener "Good Morning" and others like "An American" have plainly transparent messages, filled with sunshiny good cheer. But Miss Massive Snowflake is at its best when things get a little cloudier, and the pop hooks are intertwined with a few musical curveballs. Fans of Ween and Quasi should find much to like in the darker corners of Songs about Music, while the brighter bits will appeal to just about everyone else. NL

FEDERALE, GO FEVER, THE HOLY CHILDREN

(Dante's, 1 SW 3rd) Aside from the shoddy special effects and dubious accents, one of the most beloved idiosyncrasies of spaghetti westerns—the low-budget films made by Italian filmmakers in the 1960s—would have to be the soundtracks. This fact did not go unnoticed by the clan of Portland musicians in Federale, including former members of Cocaine Unicorn and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who have set out to bring this particularly potent music to present-day audiences. Federale's instrumental scores—which include such diverse elements as eerie timpanis and searing Native American flutes—perfectly fit the mischief, betrayal, and revenge on the big screen. Now they just need more movies for their work to accompany. Get on it, folks. MARANDA BISH

MOSQUITO BANDITO, THE RIBCAGES

((The World Famous)Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick) When it comes to one-man bands, you either love them or you hate them, but if you've shied away before, Mosquito Bandito will make you reconsider. With a barebones onstage setup, John Larson bangs out one helluva of a sound, owing largely to an extra cymbal he smacks with the neck of his guitar and his snarling vocal howl as well. Most convincingly, for an artist who more or less makes a living by crisscrossing the country relentlessly, driving along a network of dives and clubs that host him each time he passes through town, Larson's traveling-showman bit suits him well. MB

SATURDAY 3/20

TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS, THE GOLDEN BEARS, HUNGRY GHOST

(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!, and Music.

KREATOR, KATAKLYSM, EVILE, LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH, LAZARUS A.D.

(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th) See Music.

ARCHEOLOGY, YARN OWL, THE OCEAN FLOOR, OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN, AUTOPILOT IS FOR LOVERS

(Backspace, 115 NW 5th) Be thankful Daniel Walker and Jason Davis of Archeology met at an archeological research site—and not at grandma's funeral, since that would be a terrible band name. They bonded over bouncy pop music and their similar strict upbringings within the church. Kicking off the Jesus sandals and going secular is not uncommon (see: David Bazan), and with Archeology's fine new LP Memorial, you get the feeling that this duo now spends their time on bended knee at the almighty church of pop. There is no shortage of harmonies here, as songs like "By the By" and "Hunter" won't overwhelm you with their barren structure, but come together naturally thanks to the duo's intertwined voices. Sorry Jesus, you lost. EZRA ACE CARAEFF Also see My, What a Busy Week!

SWALLOWS, FORM AND FRACTURE,

DJ GAYCONDO

(Langano Lounge, 1435 SE Hawthorne) The new eight-song album from Portland duo Swallows, Between the Sea and Sky, was produced by the late Kipp Crawford, the drummer for Celilo who was tragically killed last year. Crawford also produced their 2007 EP Cloud Machines, and he always managed to find the sonic area where Em Brownlowe's guitar could tangle with Jon Miller's drums without either of them stepping on each other's toes. And Between the Sea and Sky is a surprisingly rich-sounding album, with the band's elastic Electrelane-like grooves shifting seamlessly into knottier riffing and prog-rock complexity. Indeed, the whole record plays like an extended suite, with mellower moments like "The Bay" offset by "Aurora," a choppy epic that's a little like Dinosaur Jr. playing klezmer. NL

SUNDAY 3/21

TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS, THE HIVE DWELLERS

(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week! and Music.

DEVENDRA BANHART AND THE GROGS, DOROTHY AND THE ORIGINALS

(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) A barefoot Devendra Banhart poses for an Italian fashion photographer while being interviewed: his eyeliner is thick, a burly beard froths from his chin, and five necklaces tangle over his bare chest—beads, lion's teeth, topaz crystals. A bindi dot is centered on his forehead, and he's wearing short-shorts. He intermittently strums old Lester Flatt bluegrass tunes on his acoustic guitar and fields questions. Is he still dating Natalie Portman? What's it like to be Man of La Mantra, Warner Brothers' voice of the freak folk, icon of the hip anti-hipster? Banhart closes his eyes, shyly dodges the questions, and speaks in a faux accent about how he was named after the Hindu god of rain and thunder. Then he makes up a poem about a paper airplane that turns into the sun. TRENT MOORMAN Also see My, What a Busy Week!

DEAD PEASANT, MOUNT VESUVIUS, THE PEOPLE'S MEAT, FANNO CREEK, BETTY AND THE BOY

(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th) Fanno Creek is a folk-rock trio from Forest Grove, and they're making some headway in what is really the best way for a new band to gain attention: by writing great songs. Quinn Mulligan and Evan Hailstone both strum guitars and sing straightforward harmonies while Dane Brist shakes a tambourine and contributes other percussion. Songs like "Green Back" have a classic garage rock bent, while "Oh I Don't Know" feels like the Cave Singers until a dramatic bridge sets the song on its ear. There are a couple full-band rock numbers, but the closer this band hews to their sparse, junk-folk, the Dutchess and the Duke-style arrangements and harmonies, the better their strong songwriting shines through. NL

HAUSCHKA, DUSTIN O'HALLORAN, HELIOS

(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) I could go on about the genius of director Sofia Coppola: the way her films (especially The Virgin Suicides) are so elaborately, purposefully, and chillingly superficial; how she uses silence and implication to do the heavy lifting; her acute, William Blake-like sense of the tragic gap between innocence and experience.... She's also a whiz at soundtracking, always adventurous and sometimes even masterful. Coppola used a few meditative pieces by German composer and piano man Dustin O'Halloran for her film Marie Antoinette—pieces with a classical bloodline but obviously written for contemporary ears. O'Halloran's compositions tend to be unobtrusive works that ask you to come to them to find their surprisingly subtle emotional depths. The Dusseldorf-based Hauschka, on the other hand, comes to get you with his melodic, electronica-influenced prepared-piano works. (It used to take the man two hours to rig up his instruments the way he wanted.) He's a playful interventionist, both experimental and fun. These two Germans will make a nice pair. BRENDAN KILEY

MONDAY 3/22

METRIC, CODEINE VELVET CLUB, NICO VEGA

(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) See My, What a Busy Week

TIM BARRY, MICHAEL DEAN DAMRON, ALEXANDER HUDJOHN

(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th) As the burly voiced bruiser behind the microphone for Avail, Tim Barry hardly seems the sort to ditch aggression in exchange for an acoustic guitar and a songbook full of his soft feelings. While the old punk guard has adapted to a newfound interest in acoustic Americana (fewer jumps off the drum riser are easier on the shins), Barry is one of the few whose transition feels authentic. A tried-and-true Southerner with a whiskey rasp for a voice, Barry is a better fit on a porch, acoustic guitar in hand, than he ever was presiding over a circle pit on the 4am Friday tour. Hearing the hulking-voiced singer lead a cross-legged assembly of second graders in a rambunctious sing-along of "This Land Is Your Land" (on Barry's Live at Munford Elementary EP) can defrost even the coldest of hearts. EAC

TUESDAY 3/23

GRAILS, TU FAWNING

(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Whether they knew it or not, Tu Fawning caught a lot of swooners in the act when they named their band. Why yes, I am fawning over your music this morning, and yes I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of your debut full-length, Hearts on Hold, even more than I am anticipating the coffeemaker's culminating hiss. While the band's sound took root with the innovative songwriting styles of Corrina Repp and the experimental instrumentation and sampling of Joe Haege, they've built up their musical landscape with multi-instrumentalists Toussaint Perrault and Liza Rietz. Go to moment 1:39 on one of their newer tracks, "Multiply a House," wherein all four vocal harmonies coalesce into a perfect resounding note set over an eerie brass backdrop, and catch a glimpse of what you're in for this Tuesday night. RAQUEL NASSER Also see My, What a Busy Week

CAPTAIN AHAB, REPETITIONS, ASSS

(The Artistery, 4315 SE Division) North Portland's ASSS was born out of the demise of the local experimental punk band Syrup. In the fallout ASSS ditched everything but the rhythm section and took to only performing as a duo. That's not to say there aren't a few surprises thrown in the mix: the chanting vocals and a bizarre drum-synthesizer that seems tie the whole post-punk package together quite nicely. You might ask yourself, "How can you have a band with only drums?" Answer: Stop asking stupid questions. Somehow ASSS make it work, and it's as inspiring to listen to as it is hypnotizing to watch. Having seen the ASSS duo a few times now, I can safely say each performance is better than the last. MATTEY HUNTER

WEDNESDAY 3/24

XIU XIU, TUNE-YARDS, PEARLY GATE MUSIC, OPERATIVE

(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Pearly Gate Music is the province of one Zach Tillman, formerly of Siberian, currently of Final Spins, younger brother of J. Tillman. His amber-tinted American music has more than a sly hint of the Brothers Wilson, with pink suns setting over surfer girls on California beaches, but the Seattleite brings a northern, old-growth chill to his baroque garage pop. His nascent recordings are all uniformly fantastic—and a full-length on Barsuk is due out on May 18—but a live take of "If I Was a River" on a limited-edition tour EP is absolutely staggering, a slow, sparse waltz that feels like a long, slow climb up a mountain, with the subsequent euphoria of reaching the peak. Tillman is definitely one to watch out for—Pearly Gate Music's debut promises to be one of the best records of the year. NL See also My, What a Busy Week, and Music.

PAPAGAIYO, GREG GINN AND THE TAYLOR TEXAS CORRUGATORS, HOW TO BUILD A FIRE

(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) A few months back, former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart said some less than kind remarks to me about his former label boss at SST, Greg Ginn. In lieu of piling on a label with a dubious past for poor bookkeeping that nearly trumps its stellar run as the finest punk label this country might have ever seen, we will focus on Greg Ginn and the Texas Corrugators. Um, on second thought, Hart might have nicer things to say about SST than I do about Ginn's directionless attempt at bluesy instrumental psychedelia. If you are coming tonight with four Black Flag bars etched into your skin hoping to hear something inspiring from Ginn, you will be extremely disappointed. EAC

OKKERVIL RIVER, TYPHOON

(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) Clearly someone in Lynchburg, Tennessee, has good taste in music. While the fine sounds of Okkervil River don't quite fit the mold of an act that would be shilling for the black-label whiskey merchants at Jack Daniel's (tonight's show is invitation only), I for one will never speak out against an appearance from one of this generation's finest living songwriters, Will Sheff. While Sheff is at his best penning wondrously vivid rock songs underneath the Okkervil banner, he and his fellow bandmates are currently writing a second act for Roky Erickson, acting as the backup band for the iconic/troubled musician on True Love Cast out All Evil (his first new recording of original material in 14 years) and touring alongside Erickson as well. If anyone here deserves a drink, it's them. EAC