THURSDAY 10/20

THE WOOLEN MEN, LANTERN, WHITE FANG
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) When Lantern proclaimed to Vice magazine that they were the "best band in Philadelphia," they acknowledged that they have some stiff competition: bands like Purling Hiss, Bardo Pond, and Kurt Vile, just to name a few. Now, you probably shouldn't go around shooting off your mouth like that, but the band stuck to their guns. And you've gotta respect that, because thing is, they might just be worthy of that title right now. Lantern takes the dried-out, stompy flair of garage rock progenitors Link Wray and Hasil Adkins, then scummifies it with a smear of Iggy Pop's primordial machismo. It's everything that the new Philly scene isn't: gritty, fast, and cocksure as all hell. Catch them tonight with the "best bands in Portland": the Woolen Men and White Fang. CHRIS CANTINO

THE HOLD STEADY, MORNING TELEPORTATION
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) The Hold Steady's latest record, Heaven Is Whenever, was a pile of blah (with the exception of "The Weekenders," which I like despite the fact that it's about as interesting a rock song as anything Kings of Leon have done). That being said, I've cherished everything singer Craig Finn has touched since his days in Minnesota rock band Lifter Puller. Heaven Is Whenever falls short—way short—and the absence of Franz Nicolay's brilliant keyboard riffs is just the beginning of its problems. Still, the Springsteen-loving rock band has something to offer live. Their old stuff will make you party and dance, and watching Finn spazz around like the grown-up version of that kid in the documentary Spellbound who thinks he's a robot is ridiculously entertaining. MEGAN SELING

FRIDAY 10/21

BLOUSE, VICE DEVICE, HAUSU
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Blouse's eponymous debut full-length of bleak-chic dream pop is replete with more than enough aural aphrodisiacs to put you in the mood. Dark, lithe, and exploratory, with the lyrical content unfolding themes of dominance and transience in relationships as much as dream states and time travel, Blouse drags you down for a one-on-one you won't soon forget. Yet for all of the band's low-lit engagement, singer Charlie Hilton's contralto remains markedly detached and disciplined throughout, attributing a sophisticated curio to Blouse's exceedingly deliberate songcraft. With an aesthetic built upon highly developed personal styles and tastefulness, Blouse can claim their title as Portland's premier pop auteurs, but don't assume that they're perfectionists; in fact, one of the most appealing things about them is their rough edges. Abstruse lyricism, heavily automated MIDI patches, and the flagrant use of crash cymbals all contribute to Blouse's alluringly pretentious charms. So whatever you've got going on tonight, cancel it: Tonight's show is the closest thing to a record release for Blouse (out November 1 on Captured Tracks) us locals are gonna get. CC Also see My, What a Busy Week!

MONIKER, TERI UNTALAN, SAD HORSE
(Record Room, 8 NE Killingsworth) Portland's Sad Horse is the spazzy and fun two-piece featuring Elizabeth Venable and Geoff Soule (the latter of whom spent years in commercially minded East Bay band Fuck), and as far as duos go, they're right up there with local twosies the Bugs and Magic Johnson—that is to say, you're going to get short bursts of angular guitar and barked boy-girl vocals. Sad Horse released a 7-inch on Mississippi Records, and put out a cassette last year: 17 songs in 21 minutes that feature odd time signatures and even odder subject matter. These two even manage to sneak some hooks in there, which makes them damn-near lethal. MARK LORE

BLACKALICIOUS, FREESTYLE FELLOWSHIP, LYRICS BORN, DOODOO FUNK ALL STARS, MYG, SERGE SEVERE
(Refuge, 116 SE Yamhill) LA's Freestyle Fellowship—MCs Aceyalone, Myka 9, Self Jupiter, and P.E.A.C.E.—just released The Promise, their first full-length since 2001's Temptations. But their limited release, cassette-only 1991 debut, To Whom It May Concern, a lo-fi 50-minute ride through a jazz-sampling odyssey of free-association rhymes and heady lyrical content, remains their crowning achievement. During a time when LA rap was ruled by the gangster-ass likes of N.W.A, Freestyle Fellowship stuck out as innovators, influencing every "lyrical" rapper from Busta Rhymes to Bone Thugs and paving the way for the conscious/backpack rap genre. Gift of Gab, the verbally dense MC half of headliner Blackalicious, definitely belongs in this indebted group. MIKE RAMOS

SATURDAY 10/22

SHRED FEST: PALO VERDE, LOZEN, STAG BITTEN, TENDER FOREVER, REPORTER, FOREST PARK, REYNOSA, LIKE A VILLAIN, TOMBSTALKER, FUCKING LESBIAN BITCHES, CAT FANCY
(Troubadour Studio, 1020 SE Market) See My, What a Busy Week!

FRUIT BATS, THE PARSON RED HEADS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on Fruit Bats.

CELILO, THE MALDIVES, DRUNKEN PRAYER, ED AND THE RED REDS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The story of local band Celilo is one marked by tragedy: A drunken driver killed drummer Kipp Crawford on his bicycle on the way home from a gig two years ago. But if the shadow of Crawford's ghost hangs over the band's backstory, it doesn't permeate Celilo's recent, remarkable Buoy Bell album with unbearable sadness. Rather, the record is a life-affirming collection of songs that flirt with folk, rock, and country, with effervescent jangle and warm humor. Crawford can be heard on Buoy Bell's "Axis," but the rest of the record is filled with the easygoing but sturdy songwriting of frontman Sloan Martin, whose sandpaper voice carries both memory and loss without ever succumbing to regret. The album is a fine tribute to Crawford, but just as importantly, it's the kind of record that will strike a chord in those who don't know its history. NED LANNAMANN

BAYSIDE, SAVES THE DAY, I AM THE AVALANCHE, TRANSIT
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th) Somewhere in between their essential, self-lacerating emo masterpiece Stay What You Are and the much less macabre follow-up In Reverie, Saves the Day's Chris Conley really mellowed out—he exchanged the snottiness and sneer so pervasive on Stay What You Are and the albums preceding it for a crystal-clear voice and a knack for crafting buoyant, gorgeous melodies. It's a little incongruous, then, that Saves the Day is sharing a bill with "mainstreamo" bands like Bayside and Transit in this day and age, considering their latest release, Daybreak, is pure pop to the core (and "core" isn't a suffix in this instance). But there's still no doubt that they'll whip out "Freakish" at some point in the night, and everyone—not just the birds—is sure to sing along. MORGAN TROPER

SUNDAY 10/23

MALE BONDING, SONS OF HUNS
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) In another era, Male Bonding's "Tame the Sun"—the opening track on Endless Now—would be a dappled, flaring, gently rippling psychedelic jam, something like Traffic's "Paper Sun" or the Velvet Underground's "Who Loves the Sun," to name two other tunes with the word "sun" in the title. The back cover of Endless Now, Male Bonding's second full-length, bears this out, with the London trio (a four-piece in the live setting) posed in a field of flowers, a detailed cloudscape overhead. In yet another era, the instantaneously catchy tunes on Endless Now would fit seamlessly into the '80s Paisley Underground, with rose-tinted melodies and lilting harmonies surfing atop a thick backdrop of processed guitars. But in the era that we're in now, Male Bonding becomes something so much more: A fiercely energetic pop band with brisk, punky drumbeats and overdriven guitars, with a catalog of songs that are full of heart and pep—a sound that's timeless but also fully of the moment. NL

VANDERVELDE, THE FLING
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Vandervelde (formerly David Vandervelde) comes from Chicago and makes rootsy music that's not too rootsy (i.e., boring). Early on he summoned the rock 'n' roll spirits of Bolan and Bowie before easing into less ragged Buckingham and (Jay) Bennett, the latter of whom he worked with in 2006. This sometimes one-man band (Vandervelde played everything on his 2007 debut The Moonstation House Band) is a classic-rock encyclopedia. But he doesn't simply ape his idols. The guy writes some great tunes that range from urgent rock 'n' roll ("Fuckin' Around") to lofty and grandiose ("Moonlight Instrumental"). Vandervelde's schizo nod to rock's druggy heyday will make his live performance all the more intriguing. ML

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS, XAMBUCA
(Mt. Tabor Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne) Pioneering German artist Hans-Joachim Roedelius is best known as the co-founder of Krautrock forefathers Cluster and Harmonia, but don't think he stopped there. The visionary force behind the early ambient and electronic movements not only collaborated with some of your favorite artists (Bowie, Eno, and Neu!, for starters), but he also released a whopping 40 solo records. And he's still going. Roedelius might be 76 years old, but his gorgeous kosmische has only gotten better with age. The old man isn't showing any signs of slowing down, either. When Cluster broke up for the third time last year, and original member Conrad Schnitzler passed away, what do you think Roedelius did? Call it a day? No—instead, he mustered together a trilogy of new releases and set off to tour the states with multimedia collective Xambuca. Just make sure you catch this show. You never know, it might be your last chance to see a living legend. CC

MONDAY 10/24

ROGER DALTREY PERFORMS TOMMY
(Rose Garden's Theater of the Clouds, 1 Center Ct) See My, What a Busy Week!

MARIA TAYLOR, BIG HARP, DEAD FINGERS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney are undoubtedly overachievers. In a brief three-year period, they've managed to juggle falling in love, planning a wedding, the birth of not one, but two human children, and forming a band with the subsequent release of an excellent debut record, White Hat, on a reputable label (Omaha's Saddle Creek, home to Stefanie's old band, the Good Life). The Los Angeles-based duo—performing under the alias Big Harp—runs the gamut of classic folk and country, combined with elements of soul, producing an all-encompassing species of Americana ushered by Chris Senseney's ambling and bluesy croon. How they find time to tour is another question entirely, but the band will be gracing Portland with its presence, presumably with their kids tucked in with the gear; don't tell the OLCC. RAQUEL NASSER

TYLER RAMSEY, MBILLY
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) Guitarist Tyler Ramsey had already embarked on a solo career when he was asked to join Band of Horses in 2007. That arena-rock paycheck notwithstanding, Ramsey's solo stuff—particularly his just-released album on Fat Possum, The Valley Wind—is positively lovely, filled with sonorous reverb, gentle finger-picking guitars, lullaby-like melodies, and Ramsey's crisp, honest voice. The Valley Wind is full of all the gracious subtlety that Band of Horses can't afford to use, and Ramsey has tapped into a particularly elemental form of American music, all slow drifting clouds and endless horizons. The Valley Wind hints at the promise that Band of Horses showed on their debut—which, I realize, Ramsey wasn't a part of—but it also lives in that same realm of clarion tone and mountainous emotion shared by Damien Jurado, a masterful troubadour to whom I don't compare anyone lightly. NL

TUESDAY 10/25

THE WAR ON DRUGS, PURLING HISS, CARTER TANTON
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) See My, What a Busy Week!, and read our article on The War On Drugs.

THE FELICE BROTHERS, GILL LANDRY
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Read our article on the Felice Brothers.

HELLO ELECTRIC, SONS OF HUNS, STEAMING SATELLITES, TURBO PERFECTO
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Hot on the heels of their terrific first album, Skychief—if you haven't heard it yet, get on it—Hello Electric have followed it up with the four-song Dead Champion EP. It's a startling, alternately beautiful and unsettling collection that showcases the local band's phenomenal, limber, rhythmically driven dark rock. Incessant clicks, whispered vocals, and soothing synthesizer pulses share space with full-clatter drum crashes, electronic squeals, and angry yells. Hello Electric celebrates the release of Dead Champion with a totally free show that features three other great bands. In other words, you don't have an excuse to be unaware of the fearsome, rad sounds of Hello Electric any longer. NL

MILAGRES, LOOKBOOK, XDS
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Milagres' recent second album, Glowing Mouth, is a truly spacious release. It's the sort of record that can whitewash any room it occupies and fill it with that extra breath of pure oxygen needed to fully clear one's head. This is likely a result of its conception; lead singer Kyle Wilson was desperate to escape the occasionally harrowing onset of claustrophobia in New York City and washed up in sprawling British Columbia, strapped to a bed with a back injury and faced with the mutinying inner workings of his brain. The track "Lost in the Dark" exemplifies these feelings beautifully, as it toes an effervescent calypso beat upon which Wilson's voice—bathed in an ethereal resonance—is supported as he repeatedly sings, "Lost in the dark/Feeling the way," and trails far off into a dark, yet restorative abyss. RN

A HAPPY DEATH, THE LOCKOUTS, OUTER SPACE HEATERS
(Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash) A Happy Death's new 7-inch is filled with swirling psychedelic rock, in which guitar, bass, drums, and organ conjure up a rich and slightly terrifying canvas of sound. There's freak-out stomp, shambling story-songs, and wickedly lysergic vocals hollered from beneath a bath of echo. The four-piece, originally from Long Island but now based in Portland, isn't afraid to take some sharp left turns, and the result is Anglophile psychedelic rock with a twist of vital, rusty-knife American blues. They're providing a happy, vicious counterpoint to the status quo of the Portland psychedelic scene that's been languishing in the wake of the Dandy Warhols for the past decade. Instead of coyly mumbling beneath endless piles of overdubbed guitars, A Happy Death isn't afraid to draw blood. NL

WEDNESDAY 10/26

THE BI-MARKS, TIT PIG, DOOM PATROL, DJ KEN DIRTNAP
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) See My, What a Busy Week!

LINDSAY CLARK, EZZA ROSE, DUOVER
(Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta) Originally hailing from the tiny gold rush town of Nevada City, California—a place that has now cultivated infamy for its preternatural musical talent—Lindsay Clark has made a tidy home in Portland for the past few years. Since arriving, she has warmed the walls of venues the town over with her meditative folk songs, rooted in the ever-shifting beauty of nature and emotions. Clark recently finished her second release, Home of the Brave, with Sean Ogilvie (Musée Mécanique/Laura Gibson), and in its clean sparsity, it quickly becomes an autumn morning staple—a soundtrack for watching chimney smoke cut through the crisp air. "Prayers Upon the Mountain" winds through seven peaceful minutes of finger-picking, with Clark's placid voice layered in impeccable harmonies, and as she falls on the last line—"I am a palette of hope and hoping/I don't know how to not be hopeful"—the Circadian rhythms don't seem so listless after all. RN