WEDNESDAY 12/10

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN, HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our article on A Winged Victory for the Sullen.

WEEZER
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) See All-Ages Action!, and read our article on Weezer.

SPOON, FUTURE ISLANDS, A GIANT DOG
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) Britt Daniel took a little detour a couple of years ago with Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner to form the sleek Divine Fits. This year he returned with Spoon to release They Want My Soul, the band's first record since 2010's Transference. It's more of a classic-sounding Spoon record than the demo patchwork of its predecessor, although the songs vary from the breezier "Do You" to slow-burning groove of "Inside Out." There's nothing flashy about the new Spoon record—it's just good. And live, it'll be just as workmanlike, hopefully with a few added thrills. MARK LORE Also see My, What a Busy Week!

A GIANT DOG, LOVE COP, THE DANDELYONS, AH GOD
(Dante's, 350 W Burnside) A Giant Dog sound like they know how to have a good time. The Austin rockers aren't doing anything fancy—stacking pop and punk and garage into triple-decker cheeseburgers of sound—but their giddy, booze-soaked delivery sounds like a riot (the good kind). 2013's Bone boasts some glammy gaspipe sax and other soul accoutrements to fuel the fire, but the group's red-hot stoking poker remains firmly in the command of co-lead singers Sabrina Ellis-Gibbs and Andrew Cashen. A Giant Dog is also opening the sold-out Spoon/Future Islands show over at the Crystal tonight, so by the time they take the Dante's stage—likely sometime after midnight—they'll be fully primed with a thick layer of sweat and possibly other fluids. It's going to be a big, loud, messy good time. Don't wear your nicest things. NED LANNAMANN

COLLEGE, DOUBLEPLUSGOOD, E*ROCK
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) You'll likely know David Grellier's synthpop project College if not by name, then by the glistening sound of "A Real Hero," his collaboration with Canadian duo Electric Youth that can be heard over the closing credits for the 2011 film Drive. The French producer has maintained that neon-tinted glow throughout his work, but it feels brightest on his latest release, Save the Day. Anchored by the title track, a Giorgio Moroder-like, heavily sequenced gem featuring Brooklyn vocalist Nola Wren, the four-song EP could be an alternate soundtrack to the more atmospheric moments in American Gigolo or some coked-up club scenes in Miami Vice. ROBERT HAM

DREAM POLICE, MERCURY LIVING, NEW ZOOS
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Not the ultimate Cheap Trick tribute experience their name may imply—though surely that band exists—Brooklyn's Dream Police (police! police!) is the musical side outlet for the Men's Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi. What's perhaps most amazing about that statement is the fact that anyone in the tireless, ever-prolific Men needs a side project. As elastic as the Men have determined their sound to be over the course of five releases, Dream Police manages to skirt those edges, largely with the help of a drum machine. Hypnotized, their proper full-length debut on Sacred Bones, registers as a concise set of what are at times expansive songs. From the Suicide- and Jesus and Mary Chain-fueled blues-stomp of the title-track opener to "Let It Be" (not a Beatles cover, but an Autobahn instrumental) to paranoid album standout "Pouring Rain," the record suggests a live show worth venturing to see despite Portland's own pouring rain. JEREMY PETERSEN

THURSDAY 12/11

EAR CANDY: PHONE CALL, PURSE CANDY, FRINGE CLASS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) See My, What a Busy Week!

TV ON THE RADIO, NATASHA KMETO
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!, and read our article on TV on the Radio.

HOT RIZE, CAHALEN MORRISON AND ELI WEST
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) The past, present, and future of forward-thinking acoustic music will converge tonight at the Aladdin, where Seattle duo Cahalen Morrison and Eli West open for legendary progressive bluegrass band Hot Rize. Let's start with the latter: Formed in the late 1970s, Hot Rize had a tight command of the genre's traditions—clean, fast picking, plus high-lonesome harmonies—but bassist Nick Forster played an electric instrument, which gave the band a more contemporary sound. After the release of 1990's Take It Home, Hot Rize disbanded at the height of their powers and pursued solo careers. Now, they're touring behind their first new album in nearly 25 years, the elegant, efficient When I'm Free. On Thursday, they'll follow Morrison and West, who imbue their old-time sound with a modern feel and magnificent sense of melody. Their live set is positively sublime. This is a can't-miss bill for bluegrass fiends. BEN SALMON

THE THESIS: LOAD B, NATURALLY GROWN MISFITS, MIKEY FOUNTAINE
(Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington) Tonight is the inaugural night of the Thesis, a monthly collaboration between radio station KPSU and Northwest hiphop culture blog We Out Here. The event brings the two media groups together to share resources, creating a live event that showcases local hiphop artists who often get overlooked despite their talent. Load B (emcees Milc and Brill) are on the cusp of releasing their latest, Escape from Snortlandia, giving fans hope for a possible preview of new material. Naturally Grown Misfits, the duo of Daelonz and Chance, share a caustic irreverence with Load B, but create their own lane with a decidedly more psychedelic take. Arrive early for Mikey Fountaine, a lyricist and producer whose long-awaited debut, Blak Sushi, will prove that he's one of the most criminally slept-on artists in town. RYAN FEIGH

FRIDAY 12/12

XRAY.FM HOLIDAY DANCE PARTY: VINNIE DEWAYNE, MODERN KIN, XRAY DJs
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) See My, What a Busy Week!

NO BODY, Y.W. MYRKA, ROD
(Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock) See All-Ages Action!

TUNE-YARDS, CIBO MATTO
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) As the grunge era was winding down, NYC duo Cibo Matto released Viva! La Woman in 1996, a blast of fresh air that blew away the cobwebs with surrealistic songs about carrots and cake. Back with a new album, Hotel Valentine, after a 15-year hiatus, they've flirted with novelty, but they haven't succumbed to it. Tune-Yards frontwoman Merrill Garbus is just as likely to combine incongruous ingredients, like Haitian drumming and Casio squiggles. Sometimes it works ("Water Fountain"), sometimes it doesn't, but she excels at keeping listeners off-balance, which may be why this year's Nikki Nack hasn't generated as much hype as Whokill, which topped the Village Voice's 2011 Pazz and Jop poll. And that's too bad, because it's a better record. KATHY FENNESSY Also see My, What a Busy Week!

SUPERSUCKERS, I CAN LICK ANY SONOFABITCH IN THE HOUSE, THE DEAD VOLTS
(Dante's, 350 W Burnside) Tucson, Arizona, rock 'n' roll juggernauts Supersuckers have endured some fairly debilitating lineup changes in the past few years, prompting an unavoidable hiatus during the first part of this decade. In the meantime, charismatic, rabble-rousing frontman Eddie Spaghetti toured as a solo act, at one point performing a set at the tiny Devils Point strip club in Portland to a packed house. But the band's put their shit back together, plugged the leaky holes, and emerged the mightier, particularly if their 2014 LP Get the Hell is any indication. This isn't exactly the same band whose catalog prompted collaborations with Steve Earle once upon a time, but it's nothing if not a lesson in riff-rioting rock decadence and Spaghetti's smart pop sensibilities. RYAN J. PRADO

EXODUS, SPAZZTIC BLURR, SEASON OF SUFFERING, CEMETERY LUST, SARCALOGOS
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez) Exodus helped lay down the blueprints for thrash with their debut, Bonded by Blood, a record that would have cemented the Bay Area band's legacy no matter what. But they've been plugging away off and on for the past 35 years with varying degrees of success. Bandleader and guitarist Gary Holt spends much of his time these days filling in with Slayer, replacing the late Jeff Hanneman, but he's managed to piece together some of the most inspired Exodus tracks since Bonded on this year's Blood In, Blood Out. The riffs are big and beefy, and ex-Testament vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza returns to the fold with his madman delivery. There's even a guest solo by former guitarist Kirk Hammett, who jumped ship in '83 to join Metallica and play a bunch of solos you're probably more familiar with. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN

HILLSTOMP, THE GOOD LUCK THRIFT STORE OUTFIT, JEFFREY MARTIN
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) After more than a decade together, Hillstomp has changed very little. Guitarist Henry Hill Kammerer and drummer John Johnson have remained a two-piece, kept Portland as their home, and mostly stayed true to the gutbucket, hill country, punk blues they first began playing over 10 years ago. With any other group, this would be a criticism or a dismissal of the band as a one-trick pony, but Hillstomp has managed to remain not only relevant, but exciting, thanks to their always electrifying live performances. As their smoke- and sweat-drenched songs are more commonly associated with Southern juke joints, dive bars, and chicken-wire honkytonks, tonight is a rare opportunity to see Hillstomp on the (relatively) big stage. Get there early to catch songwriter Jeffrey Martin, who quietly released one of this year's best local albums, Dogs In the Daylight. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY

MØTRIK, TERWILLIGER CURVES, THE HARVEY GIRLS
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Portland four-piece Møtrik leave little to the imagination with their name, and the Portland krautrock unit drives straight down the autobahn with their excellent self-titled release. The band—made up of members of Wow and Flutter, Rio Grands, and Dweller at the Threshold—deliver the right mix of Can and Neu! as well as the psychedelic prog of King Crimson. Synth and bass drive the instrumentals (along with their namesake drumbeats), while the guitars fill the open spaces. The tonal journeys of "Autolok" and "Wolf" will keep your travel time steady and long, but getting there is half the fun. ML

IDAHO JOE WINDSLOW, BARONIC WALL, STAR CHILD, DJ BIZANGO-LEAKS
(Mothership Music, 3611 NE MLK) Idaho Joe Windslow is one of the most guileless-sounding musicians around these days, a quality that puts him in good company with fellow outsider artists like Daniel Johnston. Using instruments of his own creation—like the gongtar, a cello fitted with a gong resonator—and drum machines he apparently picked up in India and the Middle East, Windslow creates hypnotic, lo-fi, mantra-like pseudo-pop tunes that, as he puts it on his SoundCloud page, are about his "struggles with depression [and] anxiety and how they relate to the artist's mind." On records like Secret Fleas in the Dwarf Palace, his LP on local imprint Psychic Sounds, that translates to swirling, warbling self-recriminations and strange confessional tunes sung with a lilt eerily similar to David Thomas of Pere Ubu. RH

HAERTS, MIKKY EKKO
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) The self-titled debut album from New York City's Haerts is confounding, in that it's highly listenable, but plainly unspectacular. This is sleek, bloodless synth-pop with a mild R&B influence and a heavy '80s vibe. It soars, melodically: Synthesizers form an appealingly melancholy foundation for vocalist Nini Fabi's catchy melodies and chilly delivery. But it's easy to imagine Haerts as a facade, with an outward gleam that obscures a fallow interior. This is a group with all of the tangible attributes of a good pop band, but bereft of the emotional honesty that radiates from better acts of Haerts' ilk: Imagine Passion Pit without Michael Angelakos' naked insecurity, or Chvrches if Lauren Mayberry dialed back her thinly veiled rage. Haerts won't repel you—far from it—but it won't grab you and refuse to let go, either. There's great potential here, but Haerts just needs to offer more of itself in its music. BS

SATURDAY 12/13

LORD DYING, USNEA, COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN
(White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE 8th) Read our article on Usnea.

SALLIE FORD, OLD LIGHT
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) The new Old Light album isn't out yet, but you can get it at the Sallie Ford show tonight at the Wonder (which Old Light are opening). The Portland acid-psych-rock-metal-folk-whatever band made a small run of CD-Rs for the new Ice Pharoah, and you should either grab one tonight or stream it on Old Light's Bandcamp, because Ice Pharoah is a distillation of all the weird, wild, woolly things that the Portland band has been up to over the past couple of years. Cherry-picked from five—count 'em, five—cassettes that Old Light released in 2013, Ice Pharoah features either reworked or cleaned-up highlights from that prolific period. And tonight is a chance to get a glimpse of Old Light's newest incarnation as a keys-bass-drums power trio. When guitarist Garth Klippert busted his finger a few months back, he put down the ax and started playing a fuzzed-out Yamaha CP-30 electric piano instead—and hasn't looked back. NL

LANDLINES, THE WHINES, BOBBY PERU, PASS
(High Water Mark, 6800 NE MLK) Last year, Landlines released their fantastic Loserly EP and I became immediately stuck on the local trio's laidback rocking vibe. The first song on the EP, the insanely catchy lo-fi pop gem "New Kids (the Conversation)," was floating in my head for ages, and seeing the band break it out live at a recent show brought on a warm nostalgia-rush that usually takes years to develop. The group's latest release, Log Out, Tune Up, Drop Dead, is the perfect follow-up. Production is a bit cleaner, having been partly tracked at Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studio, but the lo-fi charm remains fully intact. "On the Grid (Our Love Is)" is yet another opener with an undeniable charm that makes it difficult to move past. Quit hitting the repeat button and you'll be rewarded, as the record is stacked with tuneful slacker-rock moments waiting to sink in their hooks. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

VOLT DIVERS
(The Lovecraft, 421 SE Grand) Volt Divers is a monthly event dedicated to showcasing improvisation and experimentation using hardware synthesizers. The night gives the growing underground community of modular synthesizer enthusiasts a place to showcase their work and collaborate as they explore the limitless possibilities of sound design and live visuals. This month artists include members of several Portland bands—Peter Holmstrom of the Dandy Warhols and Andrea K of Vice Device to name a couple—who will be making wild experiments with weird machines to create a most otherworldly form of electronic music. Video artists also create a backdrop of sound-reactive video-projection mapping It’s an early performance so be sure to get there on time! CHRISTINA BROUSSARD

KMRIA
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) KMRIA stands for "Kiss My Royal Irish Arse" (as James Joyce once said), and you get one guess as to which Irish band this group of local all-stars is dedicating to covering. (U2? Back o' the line, gobdaw!) Every now and then, when they feel like it, members of the Decemberists, Eels, the My Oh Mys, the Minus 5, and more get together to run through some classic Pogues numbers—with serious chops and superior dentistry—and while they've often done it around St. Patrick's Day, it actually makes just as much sense for them to do a Christmas show, too. The Pogues' 1987 duet with Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York," is—gay slur aside—one of the better modern Christmas songs, meaning that you won't want to stick knitting needles in your ears the 19,000,000th time you hear that familiar refrain: "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay'/And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day." NL

CRITTERS BUGGIN, MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) As they proved at the recent Hypnotikon Psych Fest, Master Musicians of Bukkake thrive on surprise and change. For that show, the Seattle ensemble of sonic explorers formed a semicircle, and every member—except for vocalist Brad Mowen, who did an interpretative dance and chanted—strapped on an electric guitar and generated an overwhelmingly oppressive drone that bulldozed you into an existential quagmire. It was glorious. Not sure what they have planned for tonight, but experience tells me that it will elevate you out of consensus reality's current shitshow. Critters Buggin emerge out of a long dormancy—their last album, the wonderfully eclectic Stampede, came out in 2004—to reheat their freaky yet disciplined funk, fusion, twisted exotica, and off-kilter worldbeat offerings. These imaginative, deft musicians rarely play out anymore, so step lively. DAVE SEGAL

WILSON PHILLIPS
(Spirit Mountain Casino, 27100 Salmon River Hwy, Grande Ronde) "Some day somebody's gonna make you want to turn around and say goodbye. Until then, baby, are you going to let them hold you down and make you cry? Don't you know, don't you know things can change, things'll go your way, if you hoooooold on for one more day." Congratulations! You are old.

SUNDAY 12/14

THE WOOLEN MEN, LITHICS, GRANDHORSE
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Tonight's bill at the newly redesigned Mississippi Studios makes for a bittersweet showcase of a few of Portland's finest live acts. The Woolen Men play a release show for their brand new Live from the Banana Stand album. It's the scrappy, Kiwi-rock-worshiping trio's second Banana Stand release, which is fitting, because there aren't many live acts in town more deserving of the extra attention. Portland pop-rockers Grandhorse open the show in what will sadly mark the band's final appearance. There is no shortage of equestrian-based euphemisms for an event like this, but given the strength of the group's only release, 2013's Portraiturefolio, this should be seen as a worthy last ride into the sunset for the quartet. I've gushed about that album before, and my love for the nine tracks of melodic, sprawling, guitar-fueled nourishment remains true today. If you've snoozed on the band up until now, here's your final wake-up call. CT

MONDAY 12/15

SIMONE DINNERSTEIN
(PSU Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park) These winter months are prime time for catching classical concerts, but the plethora of choices can be overwhelming. So here's a hot holiday tip: Unless you are a seven-year-old girl, I'd advise against any nutcrackin' dances, and while you're at it, please avoid the seasonal onslaught of overblown Messiah productions. For my money, the show to catch in December is an intimate affair involving one amazing woman playing one brilliant instrument. Tonight Simone Dinnerstein wraps up her stay in Rip City as part of Portland Piano International with a perfectly eclectic program for solo piano that includes choice compositions from Bach and Schubert, along with a refreshing pair of 21st-century gems penned by Nico Muhly and the always fascinating George Crumb. In his excellently titled Eine Kleine Mitternacht Musik, Mr. Crumb riffs on the classic jazz tune "'Round Midnight" and requires the musician to dig into the strung guts of an amplified piano for some utterly cosmic sonority. My old-school sensibilities, however, are most stoked to hear Franz Schubert's first four Impromptus from 1827—a genius collection of melodic virtuosity influenced by the impeccable precision of Mozart and the fiery romance of Beethoven. BRIAN HORAY

TUESDAY 12/16

JESSICA HERNANDEZ AND THE DELTAS, RIO GRANDS, FUR COATS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

SAVES THE DAY, SAY ANYTHING, REGGIE AND THE FULL EFFECT
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) See All-Ages Action!