Johanna Warren, Maitland
Portland folksinger/songwriter Johanna Warren is celebrating the release of her meditative new album Gemini II (the sequel to 2016’s Gemini I) and kicking off her “Plant Medicine Tour” with this intimate show and herb market at the Old Church. The twin records were inspired by the tarot cards “The Lovers” and “The Devil,” and were released via Warren’s own label, Spirit House Records. CIARA DOLAN
7 pm, The Old Church, $10
NXT LVL Marketplace
A festival for fashion, food, art, music, celebrating Black culture and the African diaspora with Diona Jackson’s finely curated marketplace containing a presence from Letra Chueca, Illtopia Studios, Brown Girl Rise, Switchblade Sistas, Q+M, and many more; Akadi, Platano Rising, and Po’Shines are helping supply the eats; and at 5pm, live music from Brown Calculus, Maarquii, and the Last Artful, Dodgr will help underscore the good times going on.
3:30 pm, Kaul Auditorium, free, all ages
Zeke, Bomb Squad, The Sadists
If you want to know how long hard rock juggernaut Zeke has been tearing new ones and crushing skulls, consider this: The band got together in Seattle and played its first show way back when Kurt Cobain was still alive. A quarter-century later, Zeke has built both an extensive recorded catalog of burly, warp-speed thrash-punk and a reputation as one of the fastest, hardest live bands ever to take the stage. Next month, the group will crank up the volume again when it releases Hellbender, its first full-length album in more than 14 years. There are three songs available at Zeke’s Bandcamp, and they’re a combustible collision of the Ramones’ speed and the Melvins’ heaviness. Put it this way: If people compare your band to Motörhead just about every time they have to compare your band to another band, you’re doing something right. Zeke’s been doing something right for a long time. BEN SALMON
9 pm, Dante’s, $12
Pat Keen, Numbskull, Teton
Pat Keen is apparently most comfortable when the music he’s playing is entirely uncomfortable. The Minnesotan has logged time as a touring member of Guerilla Toss, an unbound group that views post-punk dance music as a challenge to overcome, and is currently one-quarter of Wei Zhongle, a project that mixes and matches genres and tones with abandon. Keen’s solo work, as heard most recently on his latest full-length Albatross, is a lot more contained that either of those outfits, but is still enjoys a carefree stroll on the paths that run between folk, art pop, and something like jazz. There are elements of these songs that connect with those genre descriptions but don’t feel tethered to their history or structures. Like Jad Fair of Half Japanese or Oregon’s own Michael Hurley, he dances his own steps and asks us to come up with our own in response. ROBERT HAM
8 pm, Mothership Music, $5
Boyz N the Hood
After Boyz n the Hood blew up, its director John Singleton went on to direct a bunch of stuff: Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious. And Boyz’ young cast—which included Ice Cube, Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Nia Long—went on to be part of a whopping number of notable projects. In some ways, watching these actors in a movie that’s 27 years old feels like opening up a time capsule (behold the soundtrack, which features everyone from 2 Live Crew to Tony! Toni! Toné!); in other ways, Boyz n the Hood remains as timely as it was in the ’90s. ERIK HENRIKSEN
7:30 pm & 9 pm, Fifth Avenue Cinema
Gaytheist, Cougar, Fruit of the Legion of Loom, DJ Just Dave
If the music of Gaytheist were a vehicle, it would be a semi, late on its delivery, blazing down I-5, the speed limit only a laughable suggestion as the trucker begins to have Tron-like hallucinations from 38 hours of no sleep and caffeine-pill cocktails. With only three members, Gaytheist leaves you wondering how they create such a heavy, intricate layering of sound.
9 pm, Tonic Lounge, $10
Frangela
The uniquely hilarious stand-up duo returns to Curious Comedy to record a new live album for Kill Rock Stars.
7:30 pm & 9:30 pm, Curious Comedy Theater, $12-15
Sean Rowe, Anna Tivel
Portland singer/songwriter Anna Tivel’s 2017 record Small Believer is a quiet and sparse affair, even by folk standards. Its songs consist merely of vocals, gently strummed guitars, and the occasional light percussion, but there’s a forcefulness in this approach, owing largely to the sheer strength of her voice and songwriting. Like her predecessors Nick Drake and Loudon Wainwright III, Tivel is a master of evocation; each of Small Believer’s 11 tracks conjures a unique set of emotions. Opener “Illinois”—which is surely the most beautiful song with the state in its title since Tom Waits’ “Johnsburg, Illinois”—provides the backdrop for a late-night drive along an unpeopled, single-lane highway in the middle of the country, and “Alleyway” and “Riverside Hotel” are heartbreaking vignettes that showcase Tivel’s lyrics. It’s a healthy reminder that you don’t need to be loud to be powerful.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $15-18
The Builders & the Butchers, Federale, Autopilot Is For Lovers
When a band—especially a Portland band—is silent for longer than a year, people assume they’ve either sold their guitars and pursued more lucrative careers or moved to LA. Nearly a decade has passed since Autopilots Is for Lovers’ last album, To the Wolves, so you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d hung up their hats for good. But the Balkan-indie-folk duo of multi-instrumentalists Adrienne Hatkin and Paul Seely is at last set to release its long-awaited follow-up, Not Now Apocalypse, in May, and tonight they’re celebrating the release of the album’s first single, “Boll Weevil.” Centering on Hatkin’s accordion and her haunting, tremolo voice, “Boll Weevil” also incorporates strings, keys, drums, and other instruments to make for a much fuller, bolder, and more richly orchestrated effort than anything they’ve done before. Longtime Autopilot fans will be amply rewarded for the long wait, while first-time listeners might soon discover their new favorite local band. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY
9 pm, Mississippi Studios, $17-20
Lubec, Curse League, Big Science, Helens, Brave Hands
Through unpredictably reactive drumming from Matt Dressen; Eddie Charlton’s geometric, calculated guitar riffs; and Caroline Jackson’s fuzzed-out classical piano, Lubec creates carbonated shoegaze, too fizzy and frenetic to be dreamy but too distorted to feel like reality.
8 pm, The Big Legrowlski, $5
Arctic Flowers, The Pathogens, Body Mask
Honing in the dissonant goth-punk of Joy Division and mixing it with the dirty-jangle rock ‘n’ roll of bands like X and the Wipers, Arctic Flowers are veterans of the Portland punk scene that are anything but burnt out.
9 pm, (The World Famous) Kenton Club, $5
Speechless
The Siren Theater’s improvised PowerPoint presentation show Speechless is back, with the best kind of organized chaos: a delightful lineup of funny Portlanders making up lectures on the spot—”TED Talk, startup pitch, even a self-help seminar” are all fair game—to accompany surprise slides and placate a team of judges. Next slide! MEGAN BURBANK
8 pm, Siren Theater, $10
Don’t forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!