SUPER PICK

BLACK MILK, BROWN CALCULUS
(Wed 6/20 at Jack London Revue 529 SW 4th) Black Milk has been killing the game for more than a decade. Known for his innovative approach, the Detroit-born rapper/producer’s new record Fever is his seventh studio album since his 2005 debut, Sound of the City. During his rise, he’s collaborated with and been cosigned by living legends like Royce Da 5’9 and the Roots’ Black Thought. Lead single “Laugh Now Cry Later” is just one example of how Fever feels like scrolling through an infinite news feed. The song’s lyrics provide spot-on commentary about the ways in which the news cycle and social media impact the mental state of young people of color and their relationships. The characters in the music video burn sage, fill their home with plants, drink tea, light candles—hopeful gestures of supposed self-care. Yet they spend the bulk of their time interacting with their phone screens, video games, or absorbing TV instead of each other. An image of a Black man’s tears and eerily bright eyes at the end of the video ends up feeling simultaneously terrifying and relatable. But Fever also delivers sonically: Electronic soul production is layered with heavy guitar riffs on tracks like “True Lies” and “DiVE,” while “Could It Be” and “Will Remain” feature smooth, danceable production. Perhaps my favorite song on the album is closing track “You Like to Risk It All / Things Will Never Be,” with its beautiful keys, synth, and euphoric vocal effects. Black Milk’s Fever never sounds abrasive or explosive—with topical lyrics and fleshed-out melodies, it’s an example of his continuously inventive spirit. Now on his “Fever Tour,” Black Milk is bringing along the Nat Turner live band from 2016’s The Rebellion Sessions and having Portland’s cosmic-soul outfit Brown Calculus open the show. JENNI MOORE

WEDNESDAY 6/20

BLACK MILK, BROWN CALCULUS
(Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th) Read our Black Milk super pick.

JOAN SHELLEY, MARISA ANDERSON
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our story on Marisa Anderson.

SHE|DIVINE: FRITZWA, SCOOTY, RAQUEL DIVAR
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Having just launched in March, Girl Fest’s seasonal showcase She | Divine is off to a strong start. This month’s summer edition spotlights three stellar (and seriously underrated) hip-hop and R&B artists. Hosted by Sarah G of WE 96.3, New York-bred singer/rapper/DJ Fritzwa headlines, while super-dope vocalist Scooty and emcee Raquel Divar beef up the bill. Come behold these talented and beautiful women artists in the Doug Fir’s ultra-comfortable basement. JM

OLDEN YOLK, MEGA BOG
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Some people work their whole lives to try to get one psychedelic folk-pop band successfully off the ground, but Shane Butler has two. One is the underrated Boston outfit Quilt, which has three excellent albums to its name and seems to get better as it goes along. But while Quilt is (seemingly) on a break, Butler has teamed up with Caity Shaffer to turn Olden Yolk—an old side project—into more of a real band. That means tour dates (this is the group’s first time out West) and a self-titled album, released in February on the Trouble in Mind record label. Olden Yolk is one of 2018’s best records so far, a mellow (but not momentum-less) mix of strummy folk, overcast indie-pop, memorable melodies, and subtle motorik grooves. Along for the ride on this West Coast tour: Seattle-rooted, genre-blind sonic adventurers Mega Bog. BEN SALMON

THURSDAY 6/21

SERPENTWITHFEET, KATIE GATELY
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison)The last time Serpentwithfeet (AKA Josiah Wise) played Portland was to open for Perfume Genius last year, and his performance nearly brought me to tears. Wise’s brand-new debut Soil is full of gorgeous, monolithic songs that draw from orchestral pop, experimental R&B, and an aching tenderness that’ll play jump rope with your heartstrings. CIARA DOLAN

FLOATING ROOM, HELVETIA
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Tonight, Floating Room celebrates the release of False Baptism, the follow-up to their excellent 2016 debut Sunless. The album finds the Portland noise-pop outfit, headed up by Maya Stoner, operating at the height of their powers, so take home a copy of the record after the show, and let the immense layers of whirring noise and piercing emotion wash over you long after the ringing in your ears subsides. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

DOOKIE JAM!: TONY OZIER AND THE DOO DOO FUNK ALL-STARS
(Dante’s, 350 W Burnside) In 2009, Tony Ozier’s Dookie Jam surfaced in downtown Portland, and what began as a weekly bivouac for local funksters gradually expanded to become an industry night for rappers, producers, and jazz musicians. While Ozier clearly hails from the P-funk camp, having worked with Bootsy Collins, it’s the varied mélange of players that defines the party. Known unassumingly as the Doo Doo Funk All-Stars, the collective onstage features a revolving door of musician supporters making their way up from the audience to rock the crowd at a moment’s notice. Luminaries Rasheed Jamal, Reva DeVito, Liv Warfield, and Tope have all graced this stage. And while Dookie Jam has scaled back as a bimonthly event, collaborative releases (such as Ozier and Jamal’s 2017 track “Wake Up”) serve as a testament to the night’s impact beyond Dante’s. Tonight marks nine years of Dookie. Come get a whiff. BOBBY SMITH

FRIDAY 6/22

GOOD IN THE HOOD FESTIVAL: HOWARD HEWITT, DJ PRYCE MIYAGI
(King School Park, NE 6th & Humboldt) This weekend’s Good in the Hood Festival will include a parade, food, a marketplace, activities for kids, and music courtesy of R&B artist Howard Hewitt (who you might remember as the lead singer of Shalamar) along with other blues, pop, jazz, and hip-hop performers. Last year, organizers received an anonymous letter with racist threats, but that didn’t stop the festival from happening—in fact, its 25th anniversary was a defiantly joyous party. The organization’s president Shawn Penney rode through the parade in a white Cadillac, and many attendees wore “I Am Shawn Penney” shirts in solidarity. Good in the Hood challenges violence, racism, and displacement by creating a safe, positive, and free activity for all Portlanders to enjoy, and that’s definitely worth celebrating. ISABEL LYNDON

JOHN VALUE
(Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick) John Value’s restive playing on Little Star’s wonderful 2016 debut, Being Close, betrayed a drummer uncommonly attuned to the emotional dips and swells of a three-minute pop song. He sounded busy back there, like he was trying to find paths to feeling that his bandmates hadn’t discovered yet. It’s not surprising, then, that Value is a skilled songwriter in his own right. The multi-instrumentalist’s new album, The Altar, is a crystalline collection of somber pop that is gloriously out of step with the sounds and poses of 2018. Big Star’s “Thirteen” hovers above the record as a guiding light, and like fellow Chilton-Bell acolyte Elliott Smith, Value can stretch a single syllable into something holy and wrenching. The Altar isn’t all gray dolor, though—the best song on the album is “The Long Sleep,” a galloping thrill reminiscent of Dire Straits at their peak. And if “Dire Straits at their peak” doesn’t strike you as a ringing endorsement, you might need to give Dire Straits another listen. CHRIS STAMM

SATURDAY 6/23

GOOD IN THE HOOD FESTIVAL: HOWARD HEWITT, DJ PRYCE MIYAGI
(King School Park, NE 6th & Humboldt) See Friday’s preview.

KARIMA WALKER, SUN JUNE, R. ARIEL, PAT MOON
(Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 NE Killingsworth) I’m generally wary of four-band bills (who’s got the leg strength?), but tonight’s lineup at Turn! Turn! Turn! is worth the quad fatigue: It includes Arizona-based experimental folksinger Karima Walker, whose 2017 debut full-length Hands in Our Names is sparse and breathtaking; Texan “regret pop” band Sun June, who just dropped their daydreamy debut LP Years earlier this month; R. Ariel, another Arizona-based musician/artist who specializes in electronic trip-hop; and Portland’s own Pat Moon, whose eerily beautiful new album Romantic Era sounds like Kate Bush collaborating with John Maus (especially on standout track “Medieval Spells”). CD

QUIET SLANG, ABI REIMOLD
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) In hindsight, it’s easy to see that Beach Slang was at least half hype band. The group’s debut LP, The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us, is a decent rock record that sounds like the Replacements without the irony (which means it actually just sounds like a loud John Mellencamp). The follow-up, 2016’s A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings, is also decent, if a little repetitious. Both records contain the type of Springsteen-esque aphorisms (“Too young to die/Too late to die young”) that appeal to music writers and other pretentious people who allegedly value authenticity. The group’s new LP, Everything Matters But No One Is Listening (technically released under the pseudonym Quiet Slang), features “chamber-pop” reinterpretations of songs on those first two records, and it doesn’t really work—without the scruffy production and frenzied performances, there’s little to differentiate lead singer James Alex from every other songwriter who sentimentalizes squandered innocence. An album like this is self-indulgent as it is, but it feels especially contrived coming from a band that supposedly places messy, first-draft verve above all else. MORGAN TROPER

LARRY B
(Yale Union, 800 SE 10th) Larry B had already made a name for himself in London’s music and fashion scenes as a photographer and DJ. But last year, he took a step into a new realm with the release of 5 Sad Songs, a short digital EP that finds him slipping on the surprisingly comfortable vibe of a confessional singer/songwriter playing in the waters of future R&B. The raw bedroom recordings are spectacular, like stripping some of James Blake’s productions down to the studs. Larry uses those bare structures to explore his broken heart and bruised spirit, adorning them with his rich, unfettered vocals. According to the note that accompanies the Bandcamp release of these tunes, his intentions were both a little selfish and a little altruistic, calling it “more self help-y if anything. Helpful to me, hopefully helpful to you too.” Mission accomplished, Larry B. ROBERT HAM

SUNDAY 6/24

GOOD IN THE HOOD FESTIVAL: HOWARD HEWITT, DJ PRYCE MIYAGI
(King School Park, NE 6th & Humboldt) See Friday’s preview.

MONDAY 6/25

SNAIL MAIL, BONNY DOON
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) “I never wanted to make a lo-fi record,” Lindsey Jordan recently quipped about Lush, her debut LP under the Snail Mail moniker. The 19-year-old hails from suburban Baltimore, where she began taking classical guitar lessons at age five. Lush is quite lush-sounding, in more ways than one—just as much as you can hear every note of Jordan’s guitar, you can feel every emotion and catch of the throat. She shines on tracks like “Pristine” and “Heat Wave,” where her crooning voice and evocative guitar playing manages to capture the intensity, vulnerability, and doubt that comes with adolescence in under five minutes. Opening tonight’s show: Detroit’s laconic, lo-fi country band Bonny Doon. ANNA KAPLAN

OPUS ONE QUARTET
(Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock) A portion of chamber music’s magic resides in the ability of a handful of performers to produce a complex world of sound—an achievement usually magnified when contemporary compositions are on the program. If you need proof, look no further than this evening’s concert featuring Opus One Quartet bringing to life a 2011 piece (written specifically for them) by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. Fuego de ángel lives up to its title, presenting an often-fiery landscape of sonic challenges couched within intricate rhythms and mysterious emotions. Tonight’s setlist also includes the restrained beauty of a violin and piano sonata by Mozart, as well as a flat-out gorgeous, late 19th-century work for strings and 88 keys by Gabriel Fauré, whose slow movement will likely break the hearts of more than a few unsuspecting listeners. BRIAN HORAY

CANYON OF THE SKULL, GIANT OF THE MOUNTAIN, MANE OF THE CUR, ERIN JANE LAROUE
(The Lombard Pub, 3416 N Lombard) In a no-holds-barred cage match pitting bands carrying the “[Blank] of the [Blank]” moniker against each other, tonight’s heavy metal showcase at the Lombard Pub is certain to be an ear-piercing exposition. Austin, Texas crew Canyon of the Skull parlays the kind of slow-burn heaviness that writhes and sustains in all the right ways on 2017’s one-song, 37-minute-long LP The Desert Winter. Representing Portland are underground overlords Mane of the Cur, whose recent sophomore album Retreat of the Glaciers manages a classic metal patina, led by the soaring voice of Melynda Amann. The album’s title track unfolds slowly and purposefully, replete with woodwinds, sinister guitar riffs, and pummeling rhythmic interplay, taking on several variations of loud rock posturing throughout its eight-minute runtime. Throw in Dallas progressive-metal rowdies Giant of the Mountain and Portlander Erin Jane Laroue, and this could be one of the most metal Mondays of your life. RYAN J. PRADO

TUESDAY 6/26

OPUS ONE QUARTET
(Lincoln Performance Hall at PSU, 1620 SW Park) See Monday’s preview.

PEACH KELLI POP, PLASTIC CACTUS, NICK NORMAL
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Equally inspired by legendary punk band Redd Kross and the Hello Kitty universe, the music of Peach Kelli Pop sounds like a knockout sugar-rush. Led by frontwoman Allie Hanlon, the Los Angeles-based, Ottawa-born group has already put out two releases this year: the stripped-down EP Which Witch and the excellent LP Gentle Leader, which contains what’s potentially the sweetest ode to a pit bull ever written (“King Size”). CD Also read our story on Peach Kelli Pop.

ROBERT PLANT AND THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS, LUCINDA WILLIAMS
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) Whether you consider Robert Plant a living legend or a lion-maned relic of a bygone era, you can’t knock his stamina. The dude’s almost 70 and he’s still putting out records, most recently 2017’s Carry Fire. It’s not great, but it’s not necessarily bad, either—the fire promised by the title is more of a smoldering ember. The album contains twangy, ambling rock ’n’ roll that nods to Plant’s mythic past life fronting Led Zeppelin (the opening track is titled “The May Queen”), with some light social commentary to keep things rooted in 2018 (see the psychedelic “Carving Up the World Again… A Wall and Not a Fence”). If you were one of the nimble Portlanders who snagged tickets to his sold-out show at Edgefield where he’ll be backed by the Sensational Space Shifters, for the love of all that is good and holy, get there early for Lucinda Williams. She is the reigning queen of the bridge between country and rock, the smoky-voiced musical descendent of Bobbie Gentry, and the real reason to drag your butt to Troutdale on a Tuesday night. CD

SPECTRAL VOICE, MORTIFERUM, SUPERSTITION, FETID
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) The Denver metal scene just keeps on giving. The quantity and quality of heavy bands coming out of the Mile-High City these days is impressive, whether you dig doom, thrash, death, black, traditional metal, or anything in between. Take Spectral Voice, an absolutely filthy death metal band that dabbles in doom and comes out sounding like a grime-caked wall in a shadowy corner of a horrifying torture pit. These dudes—some of whom are also in the excellent band Blood Incantation—released one of the darkest, gnarliest albums of 2017, Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, via the absolutely essential Denver-based label Dark Descent Records. Tonight, they’ll turn Tonic Lounge into a cauldron of ceaseless growls and howls. Good times! BS