THURSDAY 11/24

Eat that turkey, pilgrim.

FRIDAY 11/25

YOUR RIVAL, DEATH SONGS, AND AND AND
(Slim's, 8635 N Lombard) See My, What a Busy Week!

RUSSIAN CIRCLES, HELMS ALEE, DEAFHEAVEN
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See our article on Russian Circles.

NIGHTCAPS
(Tony Starlight's, 3728 NE Sandy) In the late '90s, the lounge/swing revival led to more than a few regrettable things: Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Grown men wearing bowling shirts in public. Vince Vaughn. But before the shit hit the fan, a few bands commanded an appealing blend of old-time cocktail music with more modern, aggressive sounds. Seattle's Nightcaps released a single on Sub Pop and a couple solid albums, 1997's Split and 2000's Get On, before calling it a day. The quintet recently reunited for a Seattle show and are now repeating the trick for Portland, hometown of singer Theresa Hannam and drummer Dan Cunneen. Nightcaps have also just released a new compilation, In the Live Room, which rounds up their singles, plus a 2001 live session for KEXP. NED LANNAMANN

ANIMAL EYES, SLOW TRUCKS, PONY VILLAGE
(The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie) There are two surprising things about Animal Eyes, neither of which relate to their music: All four of them are from a tiny town in Alaska and they are, like, 20. Those long winter nights must be conducive to practicing, because these guys have come a long way in a short time and not just geographically: On November 9, they released Found in the Forest, their first album, and one of sunny, good-time folk rock steeped in a hodgepodge of youthful enthusiasm. The album is easy to like, but it isn't exactly a grower—something a little like the more recent Dr. Dog albums, with accordion riffs and Irish drinking songs thrown in for good measure. Their exuberant personalities will come in handy for this show, when they follow two straight-up rock bands, Slow Trucks and Pony Village. REBECCA WILSON

SATURDAY 11/26

THE NEXT WALTZ
(Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta) For those of you who have watched Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz and wished you could've been there, eating turkey in the Winterland Ballroom and seeing Neil Young's globby coke boogers before they were edited out in post-production, fear not. Local music journalist Jeff Rosenberg has decided to wrangle together many Portland musicians and recreate it 35 years (and one day) later—like a Civil War reenactment, but with way more indie cred. Conjuring the Band's eponymous last show are Al James (as Bob Dylan), the Parson Red Heads (as the Staple Singers), Holcombe Waller (singing Neil Young's "Helpless"), plus roughly 30 others, and a number of groups acting as the Band (including Lewi Longmire and the Crackers, a name kicked around for the Band in their preliminary stages). This show benefits the Jeremy Wilson Foundation—which provides health care for musicians—and the Oregon Food Bank; non-perishable food donations are encouraged. RAQUEL NASSER

ANCIENT HEAT, ATOLE, DJ FLIGHTRISK
(East End, 203 SE Grand) The party starts here: Nine-piece disco band Ancient Heat is everything you'll ever need from a bubbling, grooving, vaguely cultish party posse. They've got a horn section, two female lead singers, porntastic guitar, glossy electric piano, vocoder'ed synths, and a hi-hat slashing its way through all that funk with relentless 16th notes. Their recorded debut, the Oh... You Bad 12-inch single, sees its release at tonight's show, and it's a solid party platter with a fine B-side and two remixes for good measure. But Ancient Heat's real strength comes from their mesmerizing live show, in which the mighty army of musicians dons all-white, slightly outlandish matching getups, looking like a cross between ABBA and the Children of God—which, actually, is the perfect way to describe their far-out disco. NL

WALE, BLACK COBAIN, LOGICS, LUCK-ONE
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) Wale's latest release, Ambition, is a head-scratching collection of ringtone-ready R&B jams, shiny Kid Cudi-meets-Wiz Khalifa club cuts, and Escalade-ready South Beach bangers. It seems that by signing to Maybach Music Group, the label helmed by Rick Ross, Wale has made a concerted effort to move units first and foremost. The man's got to eat, so it's difficult to fault him for trying to reach a broader audience, although that doesn't make the juxtaposition of the two artistic selves any less surreal for fans of his past work. Hopefully this serves as an introduction to those unfamiliar with the DC native's back catalog, particularly the superbly inventive and intellectually challenging go-go mixtapes that put him on the map in the first place. RYAN FEIGH

RABBITS, LORD DYING, BEARDO
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) [Editor's note: According to their Facebook page, Lord Dying is not playing this show after all.] There are a lot of bands trying to out-sludge and out-doom one another. Lord Dying takes it back to those thrashy '80s—a balls-out attack with loads of galloping rhythms and double-kicks that bridge that magical gap between '70s punk and NWOBHM. Plus, they have a killer name. Featuring former members of Black Elk and Portals, Lord Dying made quite an impression last year when they opened for Red Fang. Their five-song demo captures the precision, power, and rawness of their live performances, and proves once and for all that a little metal up your ass is not such a bad thing. MARK LORE

SUNDAY 11/27

PORTLAND DRUM FAIR
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) See My, What a Busy Week!

INTO THE WOODS QUARTERLY: HOSANNAS, SUN ANGLE, LOG ACROSS THE WASHER, SUPPORT FORCE
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) It's funny about word associations. Before last year, if confronted with the term "hosanna" (which, believe me, didn't happen often), I would be overcome by queasy memories of itchy tights and the Catholic school chants I had to recite while wearing them. Then this band came along and forever rescued my brain from such unsettling connotations. It took a while for me to get over their name, but I'm happy I did, because Hosannas are exhilarating, even when they are at their most familiar sounding: You never know what's coming next. Just when they start to seem spacey and psychedelic, you think, "I could seriously get down to this." And then the next song has gorgeous harmonies and sounds like it was recorded at the O.K. Corral. An extra dose of weirdness for this show: The world premiere of Hosannas' "ape cave adventure video" with Into the Woods. RW

MONDAY 11/28

GIRL IN A COMA, FENCES, THE BLACK BOX REVELATION
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Girl in a Coma features three badass women from San Antonio with a clear and present Morrissey fixation, producing Smiths-influenced jangle pop so convincing that the Great Moz tapped them to open his 2007 tour. Fences features three guys from Seattle led by one Christopher Mansfield, producing strummy, punchy, old-fashioned indie rock that has thus far escaped the notice of Morrissey. Tonight, both bands light up the stage at the Doug Fir. DAVID SCHMADER

FAKE HOSPITAL, MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS, WHITE GOURD, TENSES
(Ella Street Social Club, 714 SW 20th Pl) Occult magick, sequential art, books on tape, and cut-up literature—Fake Hospital, the mixed-media experiment of Portlander Grant Corum, is at the intersection of all these and more. Evoking images of ancient ceremony, spectral phenomena, and early dungeon-crawling RPGs, Fake Hospital Book I was designed as a "reality hacking" operation in which Corum attempts "to forge spirits within experimental arts and performance." Essentially a story told through music, projection, and narrated dream states, Corum bewitches the senses and guides the listener through an adventure unlike any other. CHRIS CANTINO

TUESDAY 11/29

PTERODACTYL, PICTORIALS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) See our article on Pterodactyl.

THE DEEP DARK WOODS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See our article on the Deep Dark Woods.

DIAMOND CATALOG, REGRESSION, DRAINOLITH, TONING
(Ella Street Social Club, 714 SW 20th Pl) While better known as guitarist for Canadian noise-punk band AIDS Wolf, Alexander Moskos has spent the last decade as an active and pivotal part of the Montreal electronic music scene. Under his moniker Drainolith, he creates textural electronic noise and drone with a wide range of tools, from guitars and synthesizers to consumer electronics. Moskos returns to Portland on his second US tour of 2011 with a new 7-inch, entitled "You Paid for It b/w Deepwater No Cars," out on Psychic Handshake. With an LP coming out on Spectrum Spools in the next few months, expect to be hearing a lot from Moskos in the near future. He is accompanied by Regression, Nate Young of Wolf Eyes' solo project. ARIAN JALALI

WEDNESDAY 11/30

THEE OH SEES, TOTAL CONTROL, GRAVE BABIES (EARLY SHOW)
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See our article on Thee Oh Sees.