DELTRON 3030, KID KOALA, TOPE
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) Catching a glimpse of Deltron 3030 is rare, and for the lion’s share of the last decade it would have been like spotting a cryptid. The futuristic alt-hiphop supergroup—Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator, and Kid Koala—blew minds in 2000 with their self-titled debut: an avant-garde rap record that catapulted listeners into the boots of a soldier in the year 3030. It wasn’t just the concept that broke ground, but the wealth of minds that went into that record dropped any well-versed hiphop head’s jaw: Prince Paul, Damon Albarn, Mr. Lif, among others. Rumors of a sequel began surfacing around 2004, but their sophomore album didn’t become official until nine years after that. Now, more than a year after Event 2‘s release, it still feels like a far-fetched pipe dream to see Deltron 3030 in the flesh. But they are real and they are here. MATTHEW B. SCHONFELD
JD McPHERSON, THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) JD McPherson’s music looks backwards to a simpler time, but his retro style manages to be fresh and innovative. Hailing from suburban Oklahoma, McPherson creates a sound somewhere between 1954 and 2014. Though his rockabilly sound is familiar, it’s hard not to be intrigued, or at the very least, start bobbing your head when you hear the first pulse of his clean guitar lines juxtaposed against the grit of his angsty voice. Minneapolis’ Cactus Blossoms are based around brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, and their lonesome, authentic country sound is bolstered by the brothers’ exceptional Everly-style harmonies.
ROSE FINN
AND AND AND, PHONE CALL
(Parkway North at PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway) See All-Ages Action!
SIREN NATION
(Various locations) See My, What a Busy Week!
DVS1
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) A self-described beat and rhythm addict, DVS1 (Zak Khutoretsky) has been DJing, producing, and promoting dance-music events long enough to know the meaning of it. Known for flawless DJ sets full of endlessly awesome selections and hailed by dancers and listeners across the globe as something more than another passing trend, he’s one of the most highly sought-after American DJs, performing abroad more often than in the US. DVS1’s latest releases on his own imprint, Hush (not to be confused with Portland’s Hush Records), give a fresh take on the old standby house and techno—with a hypnotic pull that calls the listener into a meditation on subtle variations of rhythm. It’s refreshing to catch a selector who pushes the envelope toward diverse variations on excellence. CHRISTINA BROUSSARD
YEAR OF NO LIGHT, TAKE OVER AND DESTROY, EIGHT BELLS, BARROWLANDS
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) Ausserwelt, the 2010 album from French heavies Year of No Light, is an epic piece of music in a time when that word has been stretched beyond recognition. It’s the kind of record that’ll knock Earth off its axis if you turn it up too loud. It’s a titanic slab of slo-mo doom metal with post-rock melodic ambition, and it’s a hell of a thing to try to follow up. But Year of No Light was up to the task last year, releasing not only Vampyr, a moody soundtrack to a 1932 horror film, but also Tocsin, which finds the band back at its primary job: building some of the most dynamic doom on the planet and demolishing everything in sight. They’re joined by Arizona black ‘n’ rollers Take Over and Destroy, Portland prog-metal vets Eight Bells, and local dark-folk-metal band Barrowlands, who will be celebrating the physical release of their new album, Thane. BEN SALMON