THE MUFFS, SUMMER CANNIBALS, THE SUICIDE NOTES
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on the Muffs.
SECRET DRUM BAND, DANA VALATKA, PAPER/UPPER/CUTS, BEN STOLLER
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) See My, What a Busy Week!
X, THE BLASTERS
(Star Theater, 13 NW 6th) Though typically regarded as the acme of early American punk, X’s Los Angeles is so much more than that. Vocalist Exene Cervenka’s hyper-literate prose and musical flexibility—as indebted to classic rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelia as it is to late-’70s LA hardcore—established X as, if nothing else, the boldest and most distinct act of the era. (See: the sultry, organ-laden “Nausea,” Nuggets-on-78-RPM cut “Sugarlight,” and the menacing cover of “Soul Kitchen,” a cheeky nod to producer Ray Manzarek that happens to be a million times better than the Doors’ version.) More than three decades after its release, Los Angeles remains one of the most vital and enduring rock records ever committed to wax (and X’s follow-up, Wild Gift, sure ain’t bad, either). MORGAN TROPER
GAYTHEIST, POLST
(Star Bar, 639 SE Morrison) See My, What a Busy Week!
JASON WEBLEY, CHICKEN JOHN RINALDI, LED TO SEA, ELIZA RICKMAN, SHENANDOAH DAVIS, LONESOME LEASH
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) In the mid ’90s, former GG Allin guitarist and Burning Man co-founder Chicken John Rinaldi found a scrapbook at the bottom of a Bay Area dumpster, documenting the tragic life of a woman from Everett, Washington, named Margaret Rucker, who was born in 1907 and died from an overdose of sleeping pills in 1959. Last year Rinaldi broke out the slideshow he’d made from the discovered scrapbook to show to accordion troubadour and Everett native Jason Webley. Webley become transfixed by the photos, newspaper clippings, and Rucker’s dark poetry, and decided to call together a group of his favorite musicians to write songs about her life and join him in a performance based on her. The album based on the project, Margaret, comes out this week, and the show goes on the road. When playing in Everett, the performers led the audience to the pyramid-shaped mausoleum Rucker was buried in. While this obviously can’t happen here, you can reasonably expect something grand from tonight. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON
EPHEMEROS, WORM OUROBOROS, DISPOSSESSED, NOESIS
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) Never accuse Ephemeros of being unwilling to take the time to do things right. Evidence of the Portland-based funeral doom quintet’s patience can be found all over All Hail Corrosion, the band’s 2013 debut album, which stretches three songs across 40 minutes of death, doom, and drone metal that’s as sophisticated as it is slow and sludgy. The despair is deep and dark and palpable on this one, friends. All Hail Corrosion was released by Seventh Rule two summers ago, and since then, Ephemeros and partner-in-vinyl Parasitic Records have been exercising a different kind of patience, soldiering through not one but two botched LP pressings. Finally, both parties have a vinyl edition that they’re happy with, and they’re celebrating tonight with a release show that also features Oakland dark-metal weirdos Worm Ouroboros and newish local heavies Dispossessed (featuring members of Bastard Feast and Raw Nerves), plus Noesis’ first-ever show. BEN SALMON