WEDNESDAY 6/17

PURITY RING, BRAIDS, BORN GOLD
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

COLLEEN, RAUELSSON, BRUMES, PETER BRODERICK, DJ VS. NATURE
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Read our article on Colleen.

THE PAUL COLLINS BEAT, THE CALAMITY CUBES, THE LIFEFORMS
(Dante's, 350 W Burnside) I can say this without much controversy: the Nerves are rock 'n' roll legends. Maybe it was their innovative power-pop melding of garage, psych, and punk (seriously, "Hanging on the Telephone" may be one of the catchiest songs of all time), or that their career as a group was so short-lived (1974-78), there was no way for the Nerves to taint their legacy. Post-breakup, drummer Paul Collins went on to continue the Nerves' unique brand of rattling, noisy-yet-clean guitar-driven pop with his band the Beat. Just as catchy, just as energetic, just as great—more The Godfather Part II than Grease 2. CAMERON CROWELL

7 SECONDS, THE BRIGGS, SUCCESS
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) Aside from frontman Kevin Seconds' ever-winding career as a solo acoustic performer—for which he's played numerous West Coast dates over the past decade—it is with a kind of reverence that the band he formed in 1980 is remembered. 7 Seconds, though, have never truly gone away. Many years passed since the Reno/Sacramento hardcore crew released Take it Back, Take it On, Take it Over!, but classic albums like The Crew and Walk Together, Rock Together have remained posi-hardcore staples that have vaulted the band into mythical realms. More recently, the band signed to Rise Records last year and released Leave a Light On. RYAN J. PRADO

DMA'S, HOLIDAY FRIENDS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) With the emo, grunge, and shoegaze revivals all humming along, it only makes sense that the next stop on our musical tour of '90s nostalgia would be Britpop. Here, then, is DMA's, a rising trio from Newtown, Australia, with a debut EP out, an American tour at hand, and a thirst for bigger things. Born out of a bedroom experiment among friends, DMA's sometimes buzz like American indie rock and sometimes jangle like early-'80s New Zealand, but the most distinctive thing about their sound is Tommy O'Dell's voice, a soaring, slightly grainy thing that resembles Liam Gallagher's, especially when he's belting out an elongated melody that sounds like it was plucked from your old, super-scuffed CD of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? DMA's have a handful of very catchy songs and a lot of potential... but they have got to ditch that apostrophe. BEN SALMON

THE TWO TENS, TURBULENT HEARTS, THE PUNCTUALS
(Analog Café, 720 SE Hawthorne) While most rock 'n' roll duos with a male guitar player and a female drummer invariably draw lazy comparisons to the White Stripes, Los Angeles's The Two Tens are committed wholeheartedly to power-punk, and have more in common with the Mr. T Experience and the Briefs. Frontman Adam Bones and drummer Rikki Styxx formed the band only a short time ago, but they've already released three EPs fervently espousing the philosophy of short, fast, and loud. With songs rarely passing the three-minute mark, the Two Tens summon the frantic, fuck-all energy of the Ramones, if the Ramones had smiled a lot more and sneered a lot less. If these two are as fun to watch live as they are to listen to, tonight will be the most dumb fun you've had since pogoing at your first all-ages show. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY

THURSDAY 6/18

MIMICKING BIRDS, US LIGHTS, DOGHEART
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) See My, What a Busy Week!

COLLEEN
(Beacon Sound, 3636 N Mississippi) Read our article on Colleen.

WORTHLESS EATERS, PAVEL CHEKOV, L.I.A.R., DEADWITCH
(Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway) See All-Ages Action!

PINS, CAT HOCH
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Manchester's music annals are jam-packed with all kinds of dudes, fey, yobbish, and otherwise, from the Hollies to Joy Division, from the Smiths to Oasis. But the four Mancunian women of Pins beat the lads at their own game, playing a jagged but resourcefully diverse combination of rock and pop that's passionate and beautifully raw. Their second album, Wild Nights, even boasts a couple of masterpieces: the deliriously catchy, Courtney Barnett-ish "Young Girls" and the devastatingly spare "Everyone Says." This is music that grows on you, full of sparkly melody and fuck-off attitude, a mixture that few bands get right. (One notable exception, Sleater-Kinney, invited Pins to open their UK tour.) NED LANNAMANN

SHITTY WEEKEND, PASS, TOIM
(The Know 2026 NE Alberta) Pass' self-titled cassette, released last summer, was one of the best under-discussed local releases of 2014; it unselfconsciously swaggers through six hazy, indelible songs that sound eerily redolent of Icky Mettle-era Archers of Loaf and all the Pixies songs that aren't boring. Vocalist Drake Elliot even gets real Black Francis-y on the anthemic "La Chute," which cheekily quotes "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in its intro riff, whether they realize it or not. Tonight's show is additionally the tour kickoff for goof punx Shitty Weekend, whose latest LP, last year's poignantly titled Shit Week, is one of the strangest, most enjoyable Portland punk records released in years. MORGAN TROPER

THE DOMESTICS, THE RUGS, LADYWOLF
(Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington) Tender Loving Empire has built a reputation as Portland's response to the twee-punk of Olympia's K Records, doubling the twee and replacing the punk with a home-crafts section in between record racks. TLE has risen quicker than rent to be among the city's most visible record labels. Having been named the runner-ups in Portland's Best New Band, The Domestics are set to re-release their self-titled debut LP on the label this summer. Rather than kitschy folk songs, this group delivers somber '90s-indie and Americana rock ballads about struggles with depression, identity, and addiction. The re-released album's teaser single, "American Drag," is beautifully composed, with a sweet guitar solo that falls somewhere between Isaac Brock and Bruce Springsteen. Look out for an accompanying live recording from their recent show at the Banana Stand. CC

FRIDAY 6/19

NICKELBACK, LIFEHOUSE
(Amphitheater Northwest, 17200 NE Delfel, Ridgefield, WA) You know what? I don't think Nickelback are the worst band alive. Out of pop culture's crop of monobrow-furrowing, fist-clenching, guttural-Vedder-aping hard-rock bands, Nickelback are just pretty mediocre. Aggressively mediocre, yes, and shamefully indignant about critical feedback (you should YouTube Chad Kroeger yelling "we don't suck" to a European festival audience). I guess the sad truth is that Nickelback even fuck up at being bad. They're not openly hateful and disgusting like Limp Bizkit, they write songs at least a half-notch less terrible than Puddle of Mudd (that hell is crowded), and they're less embarrassing than Adam Duritz. They suck so much at sucking that seeing their name on the Amphitheater Northwest billboard prompts a weird but true nostalgia, a yearning for the pain of the past. Like middle school or a bad breakup, it's truly shitty, but there's something comforting about that kind of shitty. MAC POGUE

WHAT THE FESTIVAL
(Wolf Run Ranch, 78889 Dufur Valley, Dufur) Although What the Festival is in its fourth year, the weekend-long event celebrating EDM, hip-hop, and all manner of beat- and bass-heavy tunes still manages to escape the attention of the masses already buckling under the weight of a summer packed with events. What folks are missing out on is a well-curated weekend that avoids the chaos of like-minded events by residing in a lush, forested spot about two hours from the city. Toplining this year's bill are Seattle electropop duo Odesza and the blowsy grime-funk of Big Gigantic, but, as ever, keep an eye aimed at the acts in smaller font on the poster. I recommend the pixelated pop of Ellie Herring, Sabota's wowed-out, twitchy beats, the joyous house music conjured by Canada's Sam Demoe, and the pure disco bliss of LA growler Bianca Di Cesare. ROBERT HAM

HIGH-FUNCTIONING FLESH, SOFT METALS, ASSS, WILLIAM HART
(Beacon Sound, 3636 N Mississippi) Diehard industrial fans will gravitate toward High-Functioning Flesh (Susan Subtract and Gregory Vand), an electropunk duo from Los Angeles in the vein of Ministry and Sisters of Mercy. They let the goth vibes rain down with distorted, hard-beating instrumentation and angst-ridden voices that tell a story of truth amid a cultural coma. Several of High-Functioning Flesh's releases use punk-rock experimentation to provide a new take on the dark electronic subgenres of the past. Soft Metals are also on the bill, broadening the night's intensity with a shimmery hue of iridescent electronica kissed by bewitching synth lines and haunting vocals. CHRISTINA BROUSSARD

THE RUGS, THE HUGS, THE FOURTH WALL
(White Eagle, 836 N Russell) Chico's the Rugs play easy-breezy tunes that wouldn't offend even the most easily offended. They rep the Beatles, '60s folk, and lots of things in between that make it difficult to pin the band down. What are immediately clear are the Rugs' harmonies, which cut through like a beam of light on the pillow in the morning. The Rugs know their way around a pop hook, so be prepared to have an earworm or seven thrown your way. Same with Portland's the Hugs, who've been bashing out catchy, '60s-influenced pop for years, and get better and tighter with every release. The real question, though, is who arranged to have the Rugs and the Hugs on the same bill? Because that's doing it right. MARK LORE

JOEY BADA$$, DENZEL CURRY
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) As far as debut albums go, few in the hip-hop world have been ballyhooed as much as Joey Bada$$'s. His foundations will sound familiar to early '90s street-hop fiends, with heavy, smoothed-out jams that sound as gritty as the New York thoroughfares that inspired them. A host of musicians helped hone B4.DA.$$ into a high water mark for the current generation of rhyme-spitters, including J. Dilla, the Roots, Soul Rebels, and more. The DJ Premier-produced "Paper Trail$" is an update to Wu-Tang's "C.R.E.A.M.," expounding upon the rigors of economic disparity with a new, post-recession focus. Whether Bada$$'s youthful vigor or his obvious talent leads the way, he's already positioned himself to be at the forefront of real hip-hop's new renaissance. RJP

KOWLOON WALLED CITY, BURIALS, HUMOURS
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Kowloon Walled City's suffocating, claustrophobic sludge rock sounds like it needs the pressure of an iron lung just to keep from falling apart (and like Iron Lung, they fall apart quite beautifully). The Bay Area foursome met on Craigslist and instantly clicked, making dark noise-metal on the Jesu side of Converge. Their newest record, Container Ships, slows down the hermetic horror of their sound to a grinding churn, playing the space between the notes as much as the notes themselves. See Kowloon Walled City cave in the Know's stark walls with blackened psych freaks Burials and Eolian Empire post-rockers Humours. MP

SATURDAY 6/20

ED SHEERAN, RIXTON
(Moda Center, 1 Center Ct) See My, What a Busy Week!

MEWITHOUTYOU, FOXING, LITHUANIA
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez) Fuzz-rock outfit and real-life road warriors Lithuania, fresh off a tour with Hop Along that brought them by the Doug Fir mere weeks ago, return to town alongside the devastatingly confessional emo-rockers Foxing and post-hardcore vets MewithoutYou. Spearheaded by songwriters Eric Slick and Dominic Angelella, Lithuania may take their name from the homeland of former Trail Blazer Arvydas Sabonis, but they actually hail from the fertile Philadelphia rock scene, where the two have been playing off-and-on as a duo since 2005. With Slick busy drumming in Dr. Dog, and Angelella fronting the excellent band DRGN King, the pair have been riding with Lithuania in the backseat for the better part of the last decade. They recently expanded to a four-piece and have honed their distorted take on '90s grunge and pop, and are finally ready to step into the spotlight with the release of their debut full-length, Hardcore Friends. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

DON AND THE QUIXOTES, DAD WORKS HARD, DRC3
(Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick) I wouldn't have expected to enjoy the fusion of disco and scuzz-rock as much as I enjoy Dad Works Hard's debut album, The Saturday Nite Movie. But there's something to this unlikely combo meal that brings to mind shag-carpeted vans, bowling-alley chicken fingers, primitive video games, and really bad weed—in other words, an eternal adolescence stranded in late-'70s middle America. With crank-addled porn-flick grooves, numbnuts guitar riffs, and inappropriate falsetto, the Portland trio have cast themselves as custodians of an eight-track collection that doesn't discriminate between KISS, the Bee Gees, Scorpions, or Donna Summer. All Dad Works Hard cares about is making you move—and having a hell of a lot of fun. Mission accomplished. NL

CHRIS SUTTON, GLOBELAMP, BREAK UP FLOWERS
(Foggy Notion, 3416 N Lombard) Globelamp, the music project of Olympia's Elizabeth le Fey, is equal parts campfire ritual and punk-house basement show. It has the ability to appeal to fans of lo-fi tape music, '60s British folk revival, and '90s dream pop. Globelamp's Star Dust sounds like Moe Tucker's Life in Exile After Abdication raised on Stevie Nicks and Galaxie 500. Over a haunted jangle, le Fey croons, chants, and whispers through a curtain of reverb. Tonight le Fey shares the bill with Portland's excellent Break Up Flowers and a solo set from Chris Sutton of a great many bands, but among them Hornet Leg. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON

THE VERBTONES, THE SELLWOODS, THE REVERBERATIONS, DJ HONEST JOHN
(Twilight Café and Bar, 1420 SE Powell) The Midnight Callers were a great band that always seemed to have a hard time finding an audience. Not unlike the similarly great Blue Skies for Black Hearts, they belonged to the throng of local pop bands too punk for the indie kids but too precious for the punks. Shortly after releasing a tragically underrated LP, the Callers broke up and lead singer/principal songwriter Dave Berkham became a founding member of the Cry (as well as bassist for Blue Skies). Berkahm was relegated to the George Harrison role in the Cry, but there was always an earnestness and authentic sense of desperation that distinguished his contributions from the rest of the band's (see: "Forget It" which sounds like the Friends theme song but good). Thankfully, Berkham's songwriting is front and center in his new vehicle, the Reverberations, whose excellent single "The Way I Want You" sounds like Allan Clarke fronting Velvet Crush. Also, one of their Bandcamp tags is fucking "beatlesque"; that should be enough to sell anyone who appreciates good pop music. MT

HAVANIA WHAAL, GOLDEN HOUR, DJ TURVEY
(Habesha, 801 NE Broadway) If Havania Whaal have it their way, you won't even see them at their show on Saturday. To celebrate the release of their compelling and haunting new album 13 A.D., the garage-pop band is staging their concert like pure performance art. Or, as drummer/vocalist Noelle Magia describes: "Like being inside a Michel Gondry video." There will be a small troupe of actors on hand wearing oversized papier-mâché masks to play out the story of the record, which tells the tale of the band's 2014 East Coast tour as viewed through the allegorical lens of The Wizard of Oz. As for Havania Whaal, they'll be behind a curtain, churning through all 10 of 13 A.D.'s blown-out songs of lost hours and self-doubt. RH

SUNDAY 6/21

ALGIERS, MÁSCARAS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Algiers.

CHICAGO
(Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon) See All-Ages Action!

DEATH GRIPS
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) Read our article on Death Grips.

RED YARN
(The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th) In the vein of fellow Portlanders Laura Veirs and Cat Doorman, Red Yarn makes music that both you and your kids will not just tolerate, but actively love. This isn't a lesser-evil concession to adult ears, either (let's stop pretending, moms and dads—Raffi sucks). Deep Woods Revival, the newly released second album from Red Yarn, is full of music I'd happily put on without a tyke in sight. And I have. Red Yarn is the alter ego of gifted songwriter Andy Furgeson, who's also played in the terrific Portland folk-rock bands Scrimshander and Bark Hide and Horn. With Deep Woods Revival, Furgeson puts on the interpreter's hat for a collection of traditional folk songs that your kids likely already know the words too, and gives them a rock 'n' roll kick. In my day, I remember listening to scratched-up copies of In Harmony and Smurfing Sing Song. With Red Yarn, you can do better for your kids. NL

MONDAY 6/22

WILLIS EARL BEAL, TWO SHEDS, YEAH GREAT FINE
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) See My, What a Busy Week!

THE GENIUS OF BRAHMS: NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG, YEKWON SUNWOO, ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT, OPUS ONE
(Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock) Johannes Brahms does not hold the keys to my heart the way other composers do, and yet I am recommending this all-Brahms extravaganza without reservation for one simple reason: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. An indefatigable fiddler with decades of stage cred under her (no doubt bedazzled) belt, Salerno-Sonnenberg is a rare performer instantly able to captivate whatever audience is in front of her with whatever music happens to be on the program. For this gig on the beautiful Reed College campus (which repeats Tuesday night at PSU), she tackles a Sonata for Piano and Violin that Brahms wrote in 1886 while on vaykay in the Swiss mountainside, which might explain the radiantly buoyant mood sustained throughout. The classical taplist also features the powerhouse Piano Quartet No. 2 and a super-fly collection of Hungarian dances performed by four hands on one piano. With this evening's concert, the folks at Chamber Music Northwest kick off their impressive month-long festival, so a brilliant opportunity to elevate several of your summer nights is officially under way. BRIAN HORAY

THE STRANGE LAND, BLOOD SISTER, LOVE COP, MISTER TANG
(Angelo's, 4620 SE Hawthorne) With a dazzling, shape-shifting sound capable of appealing to a wide range of audiences, Brooklyn's Night Manager were one of the freshest lo-fi garage-rock acts to emerge from a sea of countless sound-alikes back in 2010. When the band dropped their fantastic self-titled EP in 2012, they announced that it would also be their swansong, opting to disband and move on to future endeavors. Tonight you can get an intimate glimpse of one such project in Blood Sister, the San Francisco-based solo project of former Night Manager guitarist Ezana Edwards. Blood Sister conjures up some loud and loose noise-pop that shimmers as it haunts. Backed by a stacked touring band featuring members of Ganglians, the Mallard, and Warm Soda, Edwards takes his latest act on the road for a stretch of shows that will tickle the insides of ears up and down the West Coast. CT

TUESDAY 6/23

THE GENIUS OF BRAHMS
(PSU Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park) See Monday's preview.

MONO, HOLLY HUNT
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) As listeners, we rarely get to witness a band reach a stylistic fork in its musical road. Usually, those moments—those processes, those artistic shifts—happen away from the public eye between albums and tours. Details and decisions are left to the imagination, built around whatever the band chooses to share publicly when it's time to hype the work. But when Japanese post-rock veterans Mono released two distinct albums last fall, it seemed to provide a clear peek at their own fork. The Last Dawn continues the band's decade-plus arc of packing post-rock songs with epic crescendos and orchestral embellishments; the results are beautiful, if not exactly cutting-edge. Rays of Darkness, however, finds Mono ditching the strings, cranking up the distortion, and adding black-metal howls to the mix. Rays is darker and noisier and more interesting than its companion—here's hoping Mono follows that path going forward, at least for a while. BS