WEDNESDAY 7/27

SYNDICATE, KAPITAL, STEEL CHAINS, MR. WRONG
(Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway) Mr. Wrong sort of came out of nowhere—the Portland duo has appeared on what seems like a bill every week since the April release of their Distraction Demo. It’s a collection of seven crunchy lo-fi punk songs equally reminiscent of ’80s Los Angeles cow-punk bands like the Gun Club and Seattle three-piece Childbirth. Mr. Wrong’s songs range from self-deprecating humor about being distracted and jobless (“Distraction”) to odes to tarot cards and candles (“Witchy”), along with a great cover of ’70s organ-punk band the Delinquents’ track “Do You Have a Job for a Girl Like Me.” CAMERON CROWELL

THE HUGS, SPACE SHARK, ELLIS PINK
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) When I was a high schooler, the Hugs were the local band scenesters loved to shit on—probably because the group was so perfectly poised for mainstream success (and if there’s anything Portland’s cultural arbiters hate, it’s an artist aspiring to be meaningfully successful). They were young, talented, had a reasonable national following, and had secured opening slots for big groups like the Walkmen and the Dandy Warhols—huge feats for such a young band, whose members were still in high school. Shortly thereafter, the group was scooped up by esteemed British label 1965 Records, and had reportedly entered the studio with White Stripes producer Liam Watson—but then everything seemed to fall apart. The 1965 debut never materialized, and the band was essentially reduced to a solo vehicle for singer/songwriter Danny Delegato. Feelings of Life, the latest LP released under the Hugs tag, is a bizarre and indelible marriage of Revolver-era psychedelia and radio-friendly, Prius ad-pop. It doesn’t do a lot for their cred, but hopefully earns them the recognition they’ve long deserved. MORGAN TROPER

THURSDAY 7/28

BJ THE CHICAGO KID, ELHAE
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) Read our story on BJ the Chicago Kid

DIG A PONY’S FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY: THE GHOST EASE, CAT HOCH, LITHICS, STRANGE BABES DJs
(Dig a Pony, 736 SE Grand) Has it really only been five years? Ever since the former Greek diner (and a pharmacy long before that) on the corner of SE Grand and Morrison was converted into the venerable watering hole it is today, it’s difficult to remember a time without Dig a Pony. Love ’em or love to hate ’em, there’s no denying their influence on Portland nightlife. To celebrate half a decade, they’re throwing an anniversary party with live music entirely from female-fronted rock bands. The Ghost Ease, Cat Hoch, and Lithics will provide fuzz-out rock, with DJ sets by the inimitable Strange Babes. Expect cake, bubbly, and drink specials, in addition to the fashionable hedonism you can always count on from Dig a Pony. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY

FRIDAY 7/29

BLESST CHEST, HOT VICTORY, PLANKTON WAT
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our story on Blesst Chest.

MARISA ANDERSON, MOUTH PAINTER
(Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark) Read our review of Marisa Anderson’s Into the Light.

COOL AMERICAN, BROKEN BEAK, ROBOT BOY, ALIEN BOY
(Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton) Read our review of Cool American’s Better Luck Next Year.

PORTLAND PSYCH FEST: PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SYNDICATE, THE YOUNG ELDERS, JACKSON BOONE, & MORE
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) For its second year of existence, the Portland Psych Fest will deliver a heaping helping of tasty nuggets this weekend at the Star Theater. There’s Spindrift, the veteran LA band that’s been making strummy country-psych for imaginary (and real) spaghetti westerns since Ennio Morricone was in his 60s. There’s Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, the super-fuzzed power trio fronted by Chicago underground/psychedelic legend Steve Kraków, AKA Plastic Crimewave himself. And from the Bay Area comes the Asteroid #4, a killer quintet with a knack for sturdy jams that jangle and simmer and soar off into space. They might be the best of the bunch, and that’s saying something! BEN SALMON

OZOMATLI
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) Since forming in 1995, eclectic LA six-piece Ozomatli has become known as the Dioses del Baile (Gods of Dance). Their music pulls from modern and classic Latin, hip-hop, urban, and other world music, and they’re highly lauded for their political activism. They’re also great live—anyone who started college at the University of Oregon in 2006 will probably remember the outdoor concert/dance party they put on in the quad. The band’s last album was 2014’s A Place in the Sun, but they’re ramping up to release another sometime this year. Fun fact: Ozomatli appears in an episode of Sex and the City—the one where the girls are out dancing at a salsa club and Carrie ends up being late to her “Single and Fabulous” photo shoot the next morning, and looking like a hot mess. That could be you! JENNI MOORE

RAKTA, DIDI, THE STOPS, THE LONELY
(Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway) Rakta gets their name from a Hindi word meaning red, blood, passion, and power—apt descriptors of the band’s sepulchral sound. The four women from São Paulo, Brazil, are on tour supporting their recent EP, III, on Iron Lung Records. Rakta’s spectral, cavernous punk is drenched in reverb and swirling organs, drawing from the goth end of the anarcho/peace punk spectrum (with hints of Xmal Deutschland and Rubella Ballet), hypnotic death rock, and psychedelic garage rock. With an inventiveness that keeps them from sounding derivative or retro, Rakta’s freeform experimentalism sets them apart from the recent wave of post-punk/darkwave bands. DANIELA SERNA

SATURDAY 7/30

RIGSKETBALL MUSIC FEST 2016: MAGIC SWORD, MIC CAPES, AAN, & MORE
(SE Taylor & Water) If you don’t know what Rigsketball is, perhaps an explanation is in order. Thirty-two teams, mostly made up of local bands, vie for dominance in an ad hoc basketball tournament—only instead of playing on a regulation court, the hoop is attached to the back of a tour van. But this year the Rigsketball tourney will feature two separate vans each sporting its own hoop. Today is the grand finals, and fittingly, it’s much more than a game—it’s a free, all-ages, daylong mini-music fest with performances from Magic Sword, Mic Capes, Aan, Chugger, the Lower 48, Ah God, Fog Father, and Laura Palmer’s Death Parade! Plus they’re attempting to set a Guinness world record for the largest-ever game of horse (you’re invited to play!), and there’s a rumor that Mayor-Elect Ted Wheeler might stop by, along with lots more surprises. Rigsketball is the brainchild of mayoral candidate/rocker-about-town Bim Ditson, and it’s become a delightful collision of sports and music that in its own way defines what makes Portland so wonderfully weird. NED LANNAMANN

PORTLAND PSYCH FEST: THE ASTEROID #4, SPINDRIFT, & MORE
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) See Friday’s preview.

WEEZER, PANIC! AT THE DISCO, ANDREW McMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) With 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright in the End and yet another self-titled album earlier this year (this one, their fourth Weezer, is white), it seems like Weezer is finally out of the woods. Or, at the very least, they’re comfortable with their spot in the contemporary pop-rock landscape, offering up noisy, melodic tunes that are as comfortable and exciting as a jumbo package of tube socks. The White Album has some nice enough moments—like the Beach Boys shuffle of “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” and a would-be theme song for The O.C. that kicks off the album called “California Kids”—but it still feels like Weezer is making up for lost ground, trying to right the wrongs of garbage like “Beverly Hills” and that album with the dude from Lost on the cover. Maybe the lesson here is that it’s time to stop expecting more from Weezer; this is their eighth at-bat since Pinkerton, and rather than reach for the pennant, they seem more than content to go home with another participation ribbon. NED LANNAMANN

SUNDAY 7/31

HUSTLE AND DRONE, ASTRO TAN, EARTH WORLD
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the age-old question: “If your life were spent fighting ghosts, ghouls, and creepy crawlies, Scooby-Doo style, what would you want the soundtrack to be?” I have an answer, and that answer is Hustle and Drone. Their dark electro-pop is giving the genre a good name, with songs that are percussive, creepy, and catchy without ever feeling cheap. After taking a break from live performances to write their follow-up to 2014’s Holyland, it seems like there’s a strong possibility that this show might feature new material. I’ll let that be your mystery to solve. JENNA FLETCHER

MODEST MOUSE, BRAND NEW
(Moda Center, 1 N Center Court) Good News for People Who Love Bad News was the first CD I ever bought, after bringing my crumpled-up collection of ones and fives I’d saved inside my coconut-carved monkey bank to Tower Records. It was 2005 and “Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty” were probably played twice an hour on the local alt-rock station, yet my dad still let me play it the whole drive home. That CD led me to The Moon & Antarctica, The Lonesome Crowded West, and This Is a Long Drive...—a well of songs from an era where Isaac Brock could not write a bad song, whether they were sinister stories of self-destructive modern cowboys stuck in a 19th century mindset, or existential reflections made while night swimming. Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green’s signature chaotic bursts of energy balanced with soft, pretty jams were perhaps the peak of maximalist guitar-pop. CC

INGEBRIGT HÅKER FLATEN
(S1 Gallery, 4148 NE Hancock) Norwegian artist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten exhibits the kind of flexibility that all great musicians should aspire to. As a bassist in the Thing and various other jazz projects, he enjoys scraping and plucking out scattered free jazz expressions with the same spirit he gives to beautifully rendered ballads and post-bop swing. In recent years Flaten’s interests have also extended to the wide world of modular synths, where he has experimented with challenging and melodious squiggles and drones. He arrives in town this week to perform improvised sets on both instruments, while also giving a lecture and a Q&A about his art and the art of freeform music. ROBERT HAM

MONDAY 8/1

ERIK ANARCHY, REGULO JUNIOR, THE DESOLATE, NEEDLE SPIDERS, LE PETIT MORTE, DWIGHT DICKINSON
(Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash) Erik Anarchy is arguably Portland’s busiest performer that not very many people know about. A local underground icon in the making, Anarchy sometimes plays upward of five shows a month—occasionally with a band, but most often as a solo act, accompanied only by a dimed-out electric guitar. The punk eccentric’s only official recording is the pithily titled 2012 release Stupid Things, Evil Things and Lies, a ’77-style punk record that’s equal parts unprincipled and poignant (see “God Hates Fred Phelps,” “I Wanna Piss on the White House,” and all-time Erik Anarchy classic “Fuck the OLCC”). MT

BLACK MILK AND NAT TURNER, BLOSSOM, MAZE KOROMA
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Black Milk’s sixth studio album, If There’s a Hell Below, was one of the most slept-on hip-hop masterpieces of 2014. As a lyricist, producer, and protégé of fellow Detroiter J Dilla, Black Milk’s compositions combine the beats of Slum Village with the fusion of ’70s-era Miles Davis, harkening back to the much-missed “Soulquarians” era. For his latest project, The Rebellion Sessions, Black Milk enlisted frequent collaborators and live backing band Nat Turner, and recorded 10 all-instrumental tracks of stripped-down grooves. The songs—if they can accurately be called songs—have a loose, improvisational feel, as though they’re only snippets of much longer jams. With Black Milk assuming the role of conductor to the three-piece band, The Rebellion Sessions is not necessarily hip-hop (though you could rhyme over the tracks if you wanted to), but jazz-fusion and acid-funk, as conceived by one of its most visionary living practitioners. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY

TUESDAY 8/2

METZ, TANGO ALPHA TANGO, THE GHOST EASE
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Toronto noise-punks METZ play sludgy post-hardcore that’ll ooze out of your pores and stay under your fingernails long after they’re done. Live, the three-piece unflinchingly drenches you with sonic gasoline and then forces you to endure a pyrotechnics show. It’s both overwhelming and abrasive—but don’t worry, you’ll love every second of it. CIARA DOLAN

ALUNAGEORGE, KARI FAUX, REJIE SNOW
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) AlunaGeorge brings a chill R&B vibe to their electro-pop, which also tends to incorporate hip-hop elements. The UK duo is the vibrant singer/songwriter Aluna Francis and George Reid, who provides production and instrumentation. In 2013 they broke the Top 40 with a cool collaboration with Disclosure called “White Noise.” A year ago they signed with Interscope Records, under which they’ll release their second studio album, I Remember, in September. For now though, you can enjoy the duo’s soulful songs like their radio-ready lead single “I’m in Control” featuring Popcaan, “My Blood” featuring ZHU, and the album’s emotional title track, which was co-produced by Flume. Earlier this month they dropped yet another fantastically danceable track, “Mean What I Mean,” featuring rappers Leikeli47 and Dreezy. JM