Get on your summer time jams, Portland, because this week culture editor Suzette Smith is subbing in—to give our regular Hear in Portland columnist Jenni Moore a well-deserved birthday break. Let's vibe on some local music world happenings, and they are abundant. This week: The 20th anniversary of a cherished music venue, a list of upcoming millennial dad rock concerts, and a music video premiere from best friend band / experimental composition project Methods Body.

MUST SEE:

Upcoming local show(s) featuring local artist(s).

Holocene 20th Anniversary

Shoutout to more than one birthday girl! Our favorite dance-club-meets-artsy-music-venue Holocene turns 20 in June, and its planning a series of parties to celebrate. On June 7, things kick off classical, with a special piano-focused show: Singer-songwriter Alela Diane headlines, supported by local instrument experimenters Luke Wyland and John Niekrasz. Minimalist composer Ann Annie opens the evening, accompanied by a chamber orchestra?! These people are not fooling around. The next night, June 8, Holocene serves up a hybrid dance event—with DJs from the band Shy Girls and Genevieve D (of LA dance party fame)—and a live set reunion of disco-fun-makers Ancient Heat. On June 9, yet another party unfolds in the club's front lounge. The combined power of techno icon Kevin Saunderson and his son Dantiez, as Inner City, looks like the main draw, but don't discount the love for Kim Ann Foxman or Leeonn and Ben Tactic of Spend the Night. 

MUST LISTEN: 

New release(s) from a Portland-relevant artist. 

"Snares" Methods Body

Speaking of Luke Wyland and John Niekrasz, the best friend band / experimental composition project Methods Body has another full length LP called Plural Not Possessive—to be released by Beacon Sound on June 16. Methods Body gave the Mercury a chance to premiere its latest video "Snares," which was entirely filmed, directed, and edited by the band. Shot almost entirely in Portland, the video for "Snares" stitches together visuals from over 17 different shows. "We wanted to catch unexpected, surprising, mysterious angles," Niekrasz told the Mercury. "Some are from the performers' point of view onstage. Some are backstage moments. Sometimes we're just dancing while staring at the venues' mesmerizing lights on the ceiling." The twinkling progression of "Snares" is hypnotic, but deeply composed—moving in jazzy, scratchy cycles. It's meditative (and probably good to do drugs to), but you'd be surprised that a few of their fans also manage to dance to it. Wyland and Niekrasz are both incredible performers and improvisors, so you'll want to catch the album release—a bill that also boasts Brown Calculus and DJ Papi Fimbres. (Lollipop Shoppe, 736 SE Grand Ave, Thurs June 15, 8:30 pm, $15, tickets here, 21+)

ADDED TO THE QUEUE: 

Some upcoming music buzz to put on your radar.

Millennial Dad Rock Summer

It's been "a hot one" in the Pacific Northwest, and you know what that means: My conspiracy theories about Sir Robert Thomas' magical weather-controlling powers are finally confirmed, and Matchbox Twenty is about to roll through, on May 19. They're not touching Seattle or Portland with a 20-mile pole, but fans will want to make the sojourn to RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater in Ridgefield, WA. Like millennial dad rock heralds, Matchbox Twenty kick off what—my inbox is increasingly making me aware—will be a summer of bands that were popular in the '00s. They got millennials through exams or ear wormed us into reluctant fondness at that sweltering minimum wage summer job.  If that date is too soon, fans of humorous Canadian crooners Barenaked Ladies can see the lyrically chatty group that probably now has a million dollars (and many Craft dinners) play Troutdale's McMenamins Edgefield on June 17. A little further out and to the south, Blues Traveller will treat Eugene's Cuthbert Amphitheater to some harmonica honks on July 22. 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes are arguably Millennial dad-rap—I'm not trying to make enemies, just stating facts—so while that show is at Summer's end, on Sept 6, you may want to consider getting back up to Ridgefield, to hear 50 remind you where you can find him ("You can find me in the RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater" has a certain ring to it).