CELILO, SEAN FLINN AND THE ROYAL WE, CARCRASHLANDER
(Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta) Local laidback rockers Celilo started working on Buoy Bell way back in 2009, but the recording process took a devastating setback when drummer Kipp Crawford was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Now two years later the band has recovered the best they could and are prepared to share this wonderfully layered recording—with elements of spacious folk and dirt road Americana. EZRA ACE CARAEFF

WOODEN SHJIPS, THE NIGHT BEATS
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) My reaction to the droning, groaning psych from San Francisco band Wooden Shjips can run both hot and cold: I've been stirred by their immersive space beats, sucked into their lysergic whorls of guitar and organ, seen red-hot synesthetic flashes behind my eyelids as their fuzzed-out acid rock pulses through my skull. I've also been lightly, casually bored at one of their shows, jangling ice cubes in an empty glass instead of succumbing to their repetitive, somewhat wanky vortex. The Shjips' latest, West, finds them (very slightly) tightening up the sprawling grooves in favor of melody, a trick that worked splendidly for the Black Angels on their last record. Tonight's show is sponsored by Sailor Jerry Rum, not exactly a psychotropic substance, so you may want to do a little prep work before descending to the Doug Fir's underground bunker. Get in for free by RSVPing at tour.sailorjerrypresents.com. NED LANNAMANN

BRAILLE, ODD THOMAS, THEORY HAZIT, TXE, DAVE NOTTI, CALVIN VALENTINE, XPERIMENT, TROX
(Branx, 320 SE 2nd) Portland native Braille is already a seasoned hiphop veteran despite the fact that he has yet to celebrate his 30th birthday. Braille's latest solo album, Native Lungs, is his seventh and a welcome return to form. The wish list roster of producers, beat crafters, and record scratchers is reason alone to cop the album. Producer S1 (Kanye, Jay-Z, BeyoncÉ) lends a track and legendary DJ Rob Swift showcases his scratching abilities on another. Local up-and-coming producers Trox and Calvin Valentine are also featured, proving that Braille is still repping his hometown hard despite his international accolades. Lyrically and thematically the album is a masterful balance between playful and dead serious, broaching serious themes without ever taking itself too seriously. While Braille's Christian faith is one of those themes, it never comes across as preachy. Think "Jesus Walks," not DC Talk—thank God.
RYAN FEIGH

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Holocene gets dressed up as an empyrean dreamworld tonight for Redefine Magazine's Intuitive Navigation, a cross-disciplinary indulgence of film, music, dance, wearable sculpture, and art installation. Intended to facilitate a self-reflective state of meditation for the attendee, expect ritualistic performance art and hypnotic stimuli galore. The event will be soundtracked by some of the Northwest's most prismatic artists, who will perform in costume along with visual artists and dancers to enhance the immersive experience. Take special note of the evening's headliner, Portland's best bet for trance-induction: the soporifically zonked Golden Retriever.

LISTEN:

OREGON ROCKS: URAL THOMAS, THE KINGSMEN, PIERCED ARROWS, QUASI, DJ HWY 7
(Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park) Three years in the making, the Oregon Rocks musical history exhibit launches tonight with a concert that reflects the depth of the project itself. The varied lineup of Ural Thomas, the Kingsmen, Pierced Arrows, Quasi, and DJ Hwy 7 kick off the most far-reaching exploration of Oregon musical history ever. ALISON HALLETT Also, read our article on Oregon Rocks.

THE DECEMBERISTS, OKKERVIL RIVER, POINT JUNCTURE WA
(Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale) Two years. That's the word around the water cooler, at least. The Decemberists, riding high as kites upon the much-deserved success of their masterful The King Is Dead, are on the precipice of a hiatus that is rumored to stretch—Mayan Apocalypse pending—well into 2013. It'll be a lengthy respite, since never in their history have the Decemberists been as relevant—and just plain good—as they are right this very moment. Joining them for this two-night (temporary) farewell are the marvelous Okkervil River, who, despite overreaching on the unnecessarily dense I Am Very Far, are still one of the finest domestic bands of the past decade. Since I'm already making bold claims: Point Juncture, WA's Handsome Orders is the best record of 2011 that you have not heard. EZRA ACE CARAEFF

GRASS WIDOW, BLOOD BEACH, XDS, NATURE
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) The A-side of new single from Bay Area trio Grass Widow is called "Milo Minute" and it's one of those puzzling, intriguing songs that sounds both lush and jagged, both languid and peppy. All three members—guitarist Raven Mahon, bassist Hannah Lew, drummer Lillian Maring—play with speed and intricacy, resulting in a fresh tangle of sound that gets feet quickly tapping. But the sighing, layered vocals soothe rather than agitate, and the end result is a song so interesting that you'll need to listen to it about 10 times in a row before you're able to think about anything else. In the video for "Milo Minute," the trio plays for an audience of gorillas at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, no doubt atoning for all the terrible atrocities in Kevin James' Zookeeper, which also took place at Franklin Park. "Milo Minute" is the first in a batch of new singles from Grass Widow; an upcoming split with Portland band Nature—also playing tonight—is in the works. NED LANNAMANN

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Don't believe Google! Cyclotron is not just a death metal band from Germany. They're garage glam from Portland. And they're playing at East End tonight.

Featuring members of the Nice Boys and former Hunches singer Hart Gledhill, the group is sort of rag tag. As you see in the photo above, Gledhill is missing (Update: Whoops. That's not Cyclotron in the photo. My fault. All those damn glam haircuts look the same to me.) I get the feeling Cyclotron don't practice all that much. They've nothing recorded, or at least made none of it available online. The band pops up every so often, just a handfull of times each year. They strut, twisted and loud as Gledhill unleashes his cockeyed hobo clown on the confused, perhaps unsuspecting—but always rapt—audience.

TONIGHT: Cyclotron @ East End w/ Apache, Daddy Long Legs

NICK JAINA, DOVEKINS, RUN ON SENTENCE
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) You might know the music of Portland songwriter Nick Jaina, but you've never heard it quite like this before: On his new album The Beanstalks That Have Brought Us Here Are Dead, each song is voiced by a different female singer, including Laura Gibson, Jolie Holland, and Corrina Repp. The result is some of the finest work of Jaina's career. ALISON HALLETT

MATTRESS, RELIGIOUS GIRLS, THE CROW, JIZZ WISARD
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Lonely Souls, the new six-song cassette from Mattress, has been released in a limited edition of 100 by Field Hymns, and it's a fine, weird iteration of Rex Marshall's lounge-singing apocalyptic preacher. His deep baritone effortlessly sidles through both balmy Blade Runner synths and disquieting glitchwork quilts, with the result sounding like Suicide decided their sound was too commercial and they wanted to make something truly strange, with Johnny Cash on vocals to boot. For whatever claustrophobic unease Mattress on record invokes—and it's a substantial amount—Marshall remains a riveting performer in the live setting, weaving and bobbing over his seasick sounds with the confidence of a seasoned tour guide. It's tough not to feel drawn in. Tonight also marks the vinyl re-release of Mattress' 2006 debut Eldorado via Malt Duck Records. NED LANNAMANN

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