WEDNESDAY 1/15

PATTERSON HOOD, FERNANDO VICICONTE
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Since co-founding Drive-By Truckers more than 15 years ago, Patterson Hood has cranked out hundreds of songs and logged countless miles across the country. Hell, this will be his second of three solo performances at the Doug Fir this month alone. It seems Hood has taken a liking to our city, perhaps bolstered by the fact that he's struck up a kinship with local author/Richmond Fontaine frontman Willy Vlautin. In fact, the Truckers' new single "Pauline Hawkins" (which will appear on the band's forthcoming record English Oceans, due out in March) is named after a character in Vlautin's new book The Free, which comes out February 4. There's a good chance you'll hear that one, along with other classic Truckers beer-swillers, and choice material from Hood's equally raucous and introspective solo joints. There will be lots of tears and beers tonight. MARK LORE

LAZY MAGNET, NOISE NOMADS, DUNGEON BROADS, TETHER
(Habesha, 801 NE Broadway) If Jeremy Harris sticks to his word, this year will be the last for his Lazy Magnet moniker. In an interview last year with Impose, he said that he would mark Lazy Magnet's 20th anniversary by ending the project, which has amassed a mountain of tape, CD-R, and vinyl releases, with no part of it beholden to any particular genre. He's dabbled in electro-pop, ambient, folk, power electronics, and anything else that fits his fancy. Instead of continuing with Lazy Magnet, Harris says he plans to devote a different project to each of these disparate interests. The Habesha show, which also features a host of other touring noise acts, is presented by Experimental Portland, the music blog run by Mercury contributor Robert Ham. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN

RANDY BEMROSE, EDWARD BEAUDIN, NICOLE PERRY
(Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny) To those who haven't been here very long, the premise for tonight's show—a musical tribute to the year 2007, curated by cultural connoisseur and OPB contributor Arya Imig—may seem deeply esoteric. But this isn't sentimental twaddle, at least not entirely. In terms of Portland music, 2007 is a year that was immensely significant: The all-ages scene (of which Imig has long been an integral proponent) was bustling and inspired, generating incredible young bands at an unprecedented and subsequently unrivaled rate. Many of the era's bands have gone on to become our brightest stars, such as Starfucker and Typhoon. Tonight's bill features Randy Bemrose of Radiation City (who will presumably be playing songs from his indefinitely inactive power-pop band Junkface), ex-Southern Belle songstress Nicole Perry, and Edward Beaudin of the Bustling Townships and Zoogirl, whose impossibly literate, heartsick anthems will surely remind me of being 15 years old and thinking I was much sadder than I actually was. MORGAN TROPER

FORM THE HEAD: ETBONZ, LE STING, JT COLLINS, MINIGORILLE
(Black Book, 20 NW 3rd) Form the Head is a monthly event focusing on techno, deep house, and experimental music that features local DJs and live acts. The night is specially curated so that you can expect to see performers who present a fascinating and not often heard side of the genres. This month Le Sting (Jonas Rake and Jef Drawbaugh) will do a live improvised techno set utilizing the secret powers of drum machines, synthesizers, and sequencers to create a sleek atmosphere of auditory bliss. The spaced-out live parametric visuals of Minigorille (Lysandre Follet) are a perfect backdrop for this A/V midweek blast. CHRISTINA BROUSSARD

THURSDAY 1/16

EAR CANDY: WL, SOFT SHADOWS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) See My, What a Busy Week!

WOODEN SHJIPS, PLANKTON WAT
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Wooden Shjips.

CHAIN AND THE GANG, THE SHIVAS, THE HIVE DWELLERS
(Lola's Room, 1332 W Burnside) Ah, Ian Svenonius... former "Sassiest Boy in America," current music theorist (check out his philosophical quasi-self-help book Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group), and one of the all-time greatest frontmen in the underground punk scene. His singular path has taken him through the worlds of agitprop punk (Nation of Ulysses), gospel-inspired soul (the Make-Up), free-range psychedelia (David Candy), and funked-up pop (Weird War). Svenonius' current musical project, Chain and the Gang, manages to find the thread that connects all of the above styles. It's a weird, woolly sound that relies on minimalist grooves and proselytizing lyrics that deconstruct power, wealth, youth culture, and the current state of pop music. If that all sounds too heady for you, don't fret—just bring your dancing shoes and get lost in the beat. ROBERT HAM

FRIDAY 1/17

GENDERS, HOLIDAY FRIENDS, THE COMETTES
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) See My, What a Busy Week!

PWRHAUS, US LIGHTS, CORONATION, DJ ALWAYS READY
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) With a flair for the epic and an ear cupped toward the sentimentality of '50s rock 'n' soul, Portland's Pwrhaus have claimed their very own creative corner. At eight members strong, the sheer size of the band is imposing; their capacity for capturing moods within strong songwriting that utilizes chamber and baroque sensibilities is a bit of an anomaly for the bar/club set, but the band has steadily transcended their outsider status to bigger stages, including a fantastic set at last year's PDX Pop Now! The band's new self-titled record is a fantastic, dream-like undertaking, melding the velvety vocals of frontman/guitarist/pianist Tonality Star with a wall of foggy, mildly dark instrumentation. There probably isn't one bad song on the record, and in the live setting, the band's attention to the same intricacies it hones in the studio remains present. That translates to good, good things. RYAN J. PRADO

D.R.I., WORLD OF LIES, VULTURES IN THE SKY, ROADKILL CARNIVORE, WARKRANK
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez) There was a time when punk and metal didn't coexist peacefully. Sure, you had your Motörheads that everyone could agree on, but for the most part, thrash and hardcore developed not just independent of each other, but at odds with one another. Somewhere down the line, the punks started messing around with metal riffs and getting heavier. Then, Houston's D.R.I. released Crossover in 1987, which gave the sound a label: crossover thrash. It's still as good a Rosetta Stone for the genre as has ever been released, and the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles are still grinding it out well into their third decade. MWS

M.A.R.C., DRAMADY, NEEDLES AND PIZZA
(The Foggy Notion, 3416 N Lombard) Dramady and Needles and Pizza are both duos able to create music that sounds much larger than the sum of its parts. The rock songs on Needles and Pizza's debut cassette release Soft Opening are built on the drumming and synth loops of Carl Sherman (AKA Pizza) into the bass riffs of Elena Kettwig (that's Needles). Combined, the two create swirling, in-your-face grooves while tackling vocal duties together. Their lyrical subjects range from a tribute to dog-turned-basketball star Air Bud, to the trials and tribulations of concealing a NuvaRing from a guy named Frank. Amanda Mason Wiles and Zacery Quintin Stanley of Dramady ensure the fun doesn't end there. With Stanley behind both drums and keyboard, and Wiles adding bass lines and saxophone, they craft sprawling pop songs on their recent album Answer Only to the Sea. The duo's ability to recreate these full recordings in a live setting demands to be seen. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

SATURDAY 1/18

PHIL ANSELMO AND THE ILLEGALS, AUTHOR AND PUNISHER, HYMNS, PROVEN
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez) Read our Q&A with Phil Anselmo.

CLOUD CONTROL, BODY PARTS, BRAINSTORM
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Cloud Control moved from Australia to the UK to make their second album, and ol' Blighty certainly agreed with them. Dream Cave is a delirious, sparkling bauble of melody, with just-about-perfect pop songs stitched neatly together: the walking-a-knife's-edge infatuation of "Promises," the skipping-stone bounce of "Scar," the subterranean slow-dance of the closing title track. The quartet stopped by Mississippi Studios last August right around Dream Cave's release, and gave their terrific new songs a live treatment that was appropriately thrilling. The opportunity to see 'em again in what's become one of the band's favorite venues should not be missed. NED LANNAMANN

LA LUZ, THE GHOST EASE, HOODED HAGS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) On the last leg of La Luz's recent tour opening for Of Montreal, the band got into a terrible accident on their way home to Seattle. The collision destroyed La Luz's merch and a ton of gear, but luckily none of the musicians suffered major injuries. Over the past year, the female four-piece has made Portland a kind of second home, having played everywhere from MusicfestNW to a Sunday session at Rontoms. Tonight they bring their badass surf-rock sounds to the release party for issue #4 of She Shreds, a Portland-based magazine dedicated to women guitarists and bassists. As tradition has it, the night will highlight some majorly talented women musicians, and will kick your butt in a good way. While you're there, pick up the latest copy of She Shreds. RACHEL MILBAUER

CLUB TROPICANA: IBQT, NATURAL MAGIC, KRYCEK, KITCHEN DJ, BREAK MODE
(The Knock Back, 2315 NE Alberta) Existing somewhere between variety show, indie rave, and R&B slow-jam dance party, Club Tropicana is pulling out all the stops for its debut. The first night of this new party series is hosted by Chanticleer Tru of Magic Mouth and features some of Portland's favorite DJs, with party portrait artist Michael Horowitz in the mix—plus, it's headlined by self-proclaimed boy band IBQT, a force that can turn the hardest hearts into believers of love. If anyone can pull off such an assortment, it's Club Tropicana's hosts, the Bed of Roses crew. The members of the equally new record label/collective have firm roots in the Portland club and house party scene and affiliations with the world-renowned Dropping Gems crew. In short: They know how to throw a party and tonight could be one for the history books. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON

LEFT COAST COUNTRY, THE MOONSHINE, RENEGADE STRINGBAND
(Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta) Following the release of his 2012 album Are's and Els, Michael the Blind—the performing name of gifted Portland songwriter Michael Gerard Levasseur—formed a rootsy plucker of a band, taking his name off the bill in the process. Levasseur and his four fellow pickers call themselves the Moonshine, and there's a bit more than your typical huggy, hand-holding folk tucked away in their autoharp and banjo strums. Songs like "Never Know" and "Flood," from the Moonshine's brand-new album And Now..., play closer to gospel than Lumineers-y fashion folk, dealing with themes of mortality and finding hope in the darkness—and the band's massed chorales don't hurt a whit. The Moonshine play a record release show tonight with two of Portland's most venerable stringbands. NL

BASTARD FEAST, COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN, ROLLING THROUGH THE UNIVERSE
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) The last time Cold Blue Mountain came through Portland, the five-piece band squeezed into a tiny alcove directly next to the small bar at the Old Town dive Tube, and proceeded to decimate the eardrums of the entirety of the space. It's something of a calling card for the Chico doom-metal ensemble, rendering their audience deaf and blinking in a kind of sublime stupor. The band's self-titled debut was released last year on vinyl via Gogmagogical Records, and received favorable attention for its lava-low riffage and apocalyptic howls. Those guttural bellows belong to Brandon Squyres, whose turn on this season of The Amazing Race (often with a Cold Blue Mountain T-shirt on) courted even more attention for the band. They stop through town on their 10-day West Coast tour, the first since Squyres' premature dismissal from the show. RJP

SUNDAY 1/19

THE HARMONY MOTEL, THOUSAND ARROWS, DAVID RICARDO, RACHEL BROACH
(Corkscrew, 1665 SE Bybee) The Harmony Motel isn't really a live band, but who knows? Maybe that will change after tonight. It's the songwriting/recording project of Stanton Hall, bassist for the Zags; instead of that band's bubblegummy power-pop, the Harmony Motel operates within a cadre of careful, calculated baroque-pop suites. Not to say that it's no fun: The new Harmony Motel single, "Straight to My Head"/"Dead Bird," is a succulent, addictive double whammy, bringing to mind songwriters like Andy Partridge, Paddy McAloon, and David and Peter Brewis. It's available on Bandcamp for free (and if you download it, you get five bonus demos in your zip file). Tonight Hall enlists the other members of the Zags—each a songwriter in her or his own right, including Pete Schreiner of Magnolia Electric Co., performing as Thousand Arrows—to join him in playing solo sets for the single's release. NL

MONDAY 1/20

CROOKS ON TAPE, XDS
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Read our article on Crooks on Tape.

THE ABIGAILS, THE LONESOME BILLIES, JENNY DON'T AND THE SPURS
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Tons of young shitkickers set their sights on the outlaw-country sound of the '70s­—that raw, funky take on down-home tunes popularized by folks like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings—but few have come as close to the core spirit as the Abigails. The LA-based outfit's approach is a little more ramshackle and occasionally out of tune, something that their influences wouldn't have allowed (in the studio, at least). But there's something about the way Warren Thomas & Co. sing about the blurry lines between the whiskey- and weed-fueled good times and bad times that make the Abigails feel like the natural heirs to the country-rock throne. RH

TUESDAY 1/21

COLIN MELOY, JOHN RODERICK
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

DISAPPEARS, SUN ANGLE
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Disappears.

SUPERHUMANOIDS, JAMES SUPERCAVE, HANDS IN
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The music of Superhumanoids is pretty. Period. It's plush and polished and airy, a carefully constructed amalgam of dream pop, electronic rhythms, and the kind of lightweight R&B currently en vogue across the indie/internet-sphere. The Los Angeles trio's debut album, 2013's Exhibitionists, is quite listenable, which is a good thing, except that I just streamed it for an hour or so and I can't hum a single tune I heard. Which is not so good. You see, there is a fine line between precious and forgettable, and Superhumanoids flirt with the wrong side of it too often. One exception is a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs" on the band's Soundcloud page that turns the original inside-out, stripping it of its industrial thrash and replacing Reznor's rage with synth-soul cooing. It works beautifully. BEN SALMON