THURS APRIL 26 & FRI APRIL 27
KPSU AMP FEST w/Little Wings, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Nsayi Matingou, Sávila, Lake, Briana Marela, Oh, Rose, Gillian Frances
Parkway North at PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway
Portland State University’s student-run radio station KPSU puts together some of the best all-ages bills in town, and their annual Amp Fest is no exception. The two-night festival is free to PSU students, and will see beloved K Records singer/songwriter Kyle Field (AKA Little Wings) play alongside local favorites like Black Belt Eagle Scout and Sávila, who’re expected to release their first album soon. But my top pick for Amp Fest is Olympia folksy rock band Oh, Rose; the last time I saw them play was at Holocene a few years back, and it felt like I’d walked in on some kind of pagan ritual, with frontwoman Olivia Rose’s guttural yowls and shrieks. CIARA DOLAN
SAT APRIL 28
Red Yarn
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie
With all the easy-to-swallow, sing-song joy that it provides, children’s music has long been the home for some of the most direct sociopolitical commentary. Spend some time contemplating the lyrics of “This Land Is Your Land” or spinning the 1972 classic Free to Be...You and Me if you don’t believe me. Into that subcategory comes the fifth album by Red Yarn, the bearded local known to his family as Andy Furgeson. Red Yarn’s Old Barn is a kind of country-pop concept album about one man’s quest to hold a barn dance, but the underlying message is one of inclusiveness and open doors—the kind of qualities that are sadly in short supply in our current political climate. Surrounding those ideas are the clap-happy ambling odes to critters and life on the farm that have made Furgeson’s many live performances such a joy to witness. ROBERT HAM
TUES MAY 1
Zola Jesus
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie
Last year, Zola Jesus (AKA Nika Roza Danilova) released her fifth album, Okovi, and she’s just dropped a collection of bonus tracks called Okovi: Additions. Both releases find the singer/songwriter sharpening the impact of her industrial goth-pop with operatic vocals, beats that sound like thundering helicopter rotors, eerie piano melodies, aqueous synth, and lyrics that grapple with death. Tracks like the monolithic “Vacant” (from Additions) hit especially hard, proving Danilova’s mastery of dark, powerful, hair-raising music. CD
