AUDACITY, TOGETHER PANGEA, WHITE NIGHT
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Three of Southern California’s funnest, loudest bands make their way up the coast for a delightful night of quick tempos, excessive distortion, and powdered-sugar punk rock. Audacity turn catchy pop melodies into beer-soaked bedlam, while Together Pangea’s Badillac includes charred-edge punk jams alongside more introspective stuff, and White Night shakes up the sounds of classic garage and punk rock. NED LANNAMANN
HEAVY SUNSETS, ROD, LADYWOLF, STUDENETS
(SMART Collective, 6923 SE Foster) Rod’s debut EP, Where I Had Gone, is the first release on local music impresario/aficionado Arya Imig’s new label, Sound Judgment Records. Stylistically, there’s not a whole lot that distinguishes Rod from Tommy Celt’s previous band, Profcal—but unlike Celt’s earlier work, these songs don’t merely rely on the strength of their hooks. There’s a pretty staggering degree of perspective and introspection that makes Where I Had Gone a sort of slow burn, even if its essence is readily digestible. Like the best rock ‘n’ roll, it teeters on that line separating past and future, while inadvertently defining the present. MORGAN TROPER See All-Ages Action!
THE APPLESEED CAST, ADJY, COASTER
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The Appleseed Cast’s entire discography has been one long, ongoing pendulum swing between impassioned, guitar-chuggy emo and introspective, guitar-chimey post-rock, often in close proximity to one another. The band’s most recent album, 2013’s Illumination Ritual, was a comeback of sorts after a half-dozen years of inactivity, and it’s a gorgeous amalgam of slow-build guitar swirl, jittery rhythms, and founder Chris Crisci’s soaring melodies. All that said, it has been 15 years since The Appleseed Cast released what lots of longtime fans believe is their finest album—2000’s Mare Vitalis—and a 15-year anniversary seems like as good a reason as any for the Lawrence, Kansas, band to hit the road and play its songs. So that’s what they’re doing, and they’re doing it in Portland tonight. If you like guitar-based rock and aren’t familiar with Mare Vitalis, you oughta check it out. BEN SALMON
BOOM BOOM KID, DARK/LIGHT, MICROAGRESSIONS, TRIVIAL PURSUIT
(Anarres Infoshop, 7101 N Lombard) Argentina’s Boom Boom Kid seems less like a unified band than an avatar for Carlos Damián Rodríguez to project his kaleidoscopic musical fixations onto. The project, first conceived in the early ’00s, mixes Lookout Records-style pop-punk, bizarre synth-driven jam passages, and a shockingly faithful recreation of nearly forgotten Maryland band the Hated. Rodríguez’s melodic sensibility has garnered a cult following in the US, and the band has opened for the likes of the Hard Ons, Coke Bust, and Limp Wrist back in Argentina. Fans of skewed pop and the Guided by Voices school of everything-but-the-kitchen sink songwriting won’t want to miss this show. MAC POGUE
THE DECEMBERISTS, CALEXICO
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) It’s been a while since Joey Burns and John Convertino—the core duo of Tucson, Arizona’s Calexico—touched upon the spaghetti-western, Tex-Mex territory of their first few albums. Instead, hell bent on expanding their worldly palettes, Calexico has softened the sharper edges of their Southwestern roots, especially on their latest album, Edge of the Sun. It was recorded in Mexico City, and includes several collaborations that cover a wide swath of sound, with contributors including Neko Case, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Nick Urata (Devotchka), Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, Amparo Sanchez, and multi-instrumentalists from the Greek band Takim. The result is a cathartic, sleek listen, furthering Calexico’s already impressive résumé of material. Those attending either of their two Edgefield sets opening for the Decemberists are definitely going to be in for something special—watching Calexico outside in the hot sun is an ideal summertime goal. RYAN J. PRADO
DISPIRIT, LYCUS, KNELT ROTE
(Panic Room, 3100 NE Sandy) Lycus’ 2011 demo was a revelation. Here was a funeral doom band from the Bay Area that seemed to appear out of thin air, fully formed and armed with a three-song set of melancholic metal that was too crushing to be depressive, but too agile for most doom bands. Turns out, the band had actually started some three years prior to that, but instability and a temporary hiatus kept them from gaining traction. Their full-length LP, Tempest, came two years later, which traded some of the more funereal qualities from the demo for a bigger death/doom approach, and the result was one of the best albums to come out of 2013. Lycus’ follow-up is due this fall on Relapse Records. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN
THE DELINES, CAMERADO
(The Secret Society, 116 NE Russell) The Delines released Colfax a little over a year ago, but it seems like a lifetime. The Portland-based band came together last year, as something of a side project or supergroup, but Colfax sounded like the work of a band that had been playing together for years. With members of Richmond Fontaine, the Damnations, the Decemberists, and the Minus 5, the Delines were already seasoned pros by the time they came together and recorded their debut. Willy Vlautin—the band’s songwriter and guitarist, and an award-winning author (arguably one of the Pacific Northwest’s best living authors)—found his foil with singer Amy Boone, who provides a perfect voice for Vlautin’s drifters, loners, and other put-upon characters. The band has reportedly been playing new songs live, so here’s hoping a new album is in the works. (And perhaps a new Richmond Fontaine album sometime soon, eh, Willy?) SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY