
In 2011, for a story on Group Doueh, I ended ended up interviewing Sublime Frequencies co-founder and part-time Portland resident Hisham Mayet. Enamored as I was with Doueh, I came away even more interested in Mayet.
He's got one of the coolest jobs ever: Approximately six months each year, Mayet travels the globe particularly Africa, on the hunt for great bands to share with the rest of the world. Since the early '00s Mayet has been integral to the international success of many, including Omar Souleyman, Bombino, and Group Inerane. In musical terms, when it comes to opening ears, Mayet is one of the most influential Portlanders ever.
But Mayet is more than a guy running a label. He's a modern-day Alan Lomax, trekking to far-out locales, focused on field recordings moreso than pushing artists into studios. A lot of that archival work includes video as well. Indeed, Mayet's been shooting since the beginning.
Which brings us to the this weekend's offering: a screening of Mayet's latest film, Vodoun Gods on the Slave Coast. A brief overview:
Hisham Mayet’s exploration of West African possession ceremonies continues in Benin. Benin is the cradle and birthplace of Voodoo. Formally known as the Slave Coast as, most of the slave industry was exported from its shores. Voodoo worship is integral to the every day lives of the people of Benin. This film, shot in 2010 during the country’s rich Vodoun celebrations, is an impressionistic lens on the myriad ceremonies that this rich and diverse culture has to offer. Showcasing intimate observations of a variety of Voodoo ceremonies: The cult of Sakpata (god of Pestilence and healing), Egoun dramas shrouded in magisterial costumes and the Secret Police of the Zangbeto night watchmen, among other highlights.
After Vodoun, Mayet will screen The Divine River, which boasts a "new and final cut." Also, he'll take questions. All together, the program is expected to run about two hours.
It all takes place as part of the XRAY Fest on Sunday, June 9, at the Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy) at 7 pm. Tickets are $8 and you can get them here.
Headliners don't get better than Menomena, and it's great to see Kishi Bashi on the bill (we're unabashed Bashi supporters). Wulapalooza isn't Kishi Bashi's only area appearance this weekend. He's also DJing at Holocene's weekly Aperativo happy hour this Friday (5-9 pm; Kishi Bashi will probably start spinning around 7). He'll be playing "fun dance jams" (the best kind of dance jams!) and, as with every Aperativo, there will be free appetizers while they last.

To illustrate why vinyl is so great—apart from the obvious reasons—I would now like to show you what came inside my 1981 Prince album Controversy:

I’ve made a super unofficial Big Ass Boombox mix, featuring the bands I’m looking forward to seeing this year (with the bands' permission!), so make yourself a protein shake, peruse my mix, and start training for a weekend of marathon show-going.
Visit the Big Ass Boombox site for more information on venues, the 40 bands, and the many authors participating. Tracklist (and set times) after the jump!
While we gave brief mention to Friday's Typhoon/Laura Gibson/Lost Lander show at the Crystal Ballroom in this week's paper, I don't think I really got a chance to emphasize that this triple bill is just about perfection. Three of my absolute favorite local bands, all in one place. It doesn't get any better.
They've all been on tour together for the past couple weeks—called the "Basin and Range" tour—and the folks at Lost Lander have put together this awesome tour video for us. To quote them: "In a word: Epyx."
Lost Lander - 8 Bit "Basin and Range" Tour Diary from Handwoven Industries on Vimeo.
Lost Lander opens for Typhoon and Laura Gibson (and acts as Gibson's backing band) on Friday night, November 23 at the Crystal Ballroom. Make sure you've digested all that turkey and pie, because this is a downright perfect bill, Portland style.

In honor of that Star Bar neon sign turning two years old, and it still being the merry month of September, here is my favorite Big Star song, and possibly my favorite song in the world. I know it's not from #1 Record—that's the one with the classic neon sign on the cover—but goddamn, it's a good one.
If you can get down there, Bunk's got a lot going on to make it worth your while: Music, beer, food, more. From the Facebook invite:
Come help celebrate Bunk Bar's 2 year Anniversary of not being sober. We're celebrating all afternoon and evening by blocking off SE Taylor St and having a block party with EAT SKULL, ONUINU and SUN ANGLE! We'll be partying with all of our friends and neighbors! We've got Water Avenue Coffee! We've got Boke Bowl! Bunk Truck will be there! DOUBLE MOUNTAIN's bringing a BEER TRUCK!It starts at 2 pm and goes 'til 9, right outside Bunk Bar at SE Water and Taylor. I can't think of a better reason to party in the middle of the street.
SPECIAL STREET PARTY! FOOD SPECIALS! DRINK SPECIALS! SPECIAL SPECIALS! FREE ROCK AND ROLL!
The first truly hot weekend of the year boasts one of the highlights of the summer: the third annual East End block party, where the long haired and black-clad faithful gather to bake under the sun, quenching themselves with beer. As tradition has come to dictate, the two-day lineup of bands is heavy on punk and metal, including sets from Redd Kross, Danava, Quintron, Lord Dying, Witch Mountain, Thrones, Nucular Aminals, and Sons of Huns. Come for the music and beer, and stay for the novelty of doing this in the parking lot instead of the basement.

[Editor's note: 22? Boo friggin' hoo.]
So, ladies and gents, I give you Portsquatch, a full week of various shows on various sides of the river. You might say that's a smaller list than Sasquatch. Well, yeah, BUT with Portsquatch you are awarded the luxury of showering, fully stocked bars, cigarettes that DON'T cost $9 a pack, the ability to actually see the artist, not ruining your expensive Free People outfit or losing your Ray-Bans, and oh, YOU'RE IN THE CITY.
Take a look at our specially prepared Portsquatch lineup after the jump!

Each week, Al's Den hosts a different musician doing a weeklong residency, and at the end of every week—that's Saturday, calendar buffs—they have a little interview segment with the artist as well. This week, Jason Lytle's been performing on the Al's Den stage each night, and tomorrow night the Mercury's own Rebecca Wilson will be the one putting him in the hot seat! So be sure to check it out. It's free, and it's Jason Lytle of Grandaddy. Oh, and free apps and beer tasters! (Further info here.)
w/Buzzyshyface; Al's Den, 303 SW 12th, Sat May 5, 7 pm, free
In this week's print edition I interviewed and wrote about Willis Earl Beal, who hopes his art will take precedence over his backstory. I caught Beal earlier this week in Los Angeles and believe, based on his stunning performance, that it won't take long.
Indeed, Beal's voice is a striking instrument. His stage presence is equally magnetic.
The show began with a recitation of a Bukowski poem. Beal then sat and strummed, arched and crooned, skronked and shouted, purred and emoted. Just phenomenal. And again—the sloppily sketched demos available on his debut, Acousmatic Sorcery bear little resemblance to the force of nature that is Beal in person.
As the first notes of his voiced opened up, swelling to grip and envelop the entire room, I felt the hair on the back of my neck raise.
Do not miss him, Sunday at Holocene.
A little taste of Beal's closer, sung a capella to the audience clap:
Lots more photos after the jump.
One more video before the weekend...
This week's issue includes my interview with Damien Jurado about his new record, Maraqopa. If you've heard it, you know it's great. If you haven't heard it, it's time to remedy that. Jurado told me about a dream he had that directly inspired the album, and if you think that means Maraqopa's all about unicorns and stage fright and weird sex stuff (i.e. the things people normally dream about), you're wrong. Maraqopa is actually a desolate sort of western, taking place either at the gates of Eden or at the mouth of Hell. The thing that makes Maraqopa so great is that Jurado knows that those two places aren't really so different after all—it really depends more on where your mind is at.
Damien Jurado plays Sunday night, April 22, at Holocene; he'll be playing with a full band, and it will be stony and kickass. Here's a video shot by Into the Woods which they recently posted as part of their "B-Sides" series—it's their series of outtakes, of sorts, where something went wrong during the shoot. In this case, Into the Woods did a shoot with Jurado at the Burgerville in Woodland, Washington, which went perfectly well, but then all of the footage was stolen out of the car of one of the cameramen. Luckily, the audio survived, and there is some grainy video of the shoot that was taken on an iPad. Into the Woods combined these elements with security-camera footage of the robber breaking into the cameraman's car outside of Rontoms. All put together, it makes a certain kind of dream-sense when you see it, much like Maraqopa. At the very least, the track sounds great; it's a song called "We Are What We Dream," a terrific tune that for whatever reason didn't make it onto Maraqopa.
You can read the full account of the shoot by Mercury contributor Matt Stangel over at Into the Woods' site. They have Episode 2 of their B-Sides series posted, too: It's the late, lamented Joggers* running through a ramshackle cover of Television's "Marquee Moon," which sort of falls apart and comes back together and falls apart again. And don't miss Jurado on Sunday—he's the real deal, a songwriter and performer of the very upper echelon, one who grazes the truth with each guitar strum.
* But not too lamented; after all, no more Joggers means we now get the very awesome Street Nights.
An email from Andrew R Tonry, who's down in California and wrote about Alabama Shakes this week:
dude, i hope you're going to alabama shakes.i had to go to the show in solana beach, about an hour and a half south, near san diego because the troubadour was well sold-out and i was on the publicist's "guest waiting list," which i figured was a nice way of saying "no."
the trip was worth it. even down there the place, bigger than the troubadour, was fucking packed. and damn, they were hotter than i expected—keep in mind i knew they would be good. but they're polished good, not punk rock good.
feel like they're so bound to get huge that there's almost no ceiling. could be adele big. brittany has a ridiculously incredible voice. with it, she could be the next aretha franklin.
could also be co-opted and scrubbed for massive mall rock, corporate franchises, the house of blues and applebees 40-somethings whose other CD's include josh groban. but i think, based on my conversation with brittany, that they're purer than that. here's hoping.
either way, you'll never see 'em in a venue that size again.
You've probably noticed that we don't post about a lot of zydeco music here. In fact, scarcely a day goes by where someone doesn't say, "Hey! What about all that zydeco music you never post about on End Hits, huh?" It has been a decided oversight. But I've been an appreciator ever since becoming mildly obsessed with New Orleans music as a teenager (which is what happens when you grow up in an area that has no musical heritage of its own to speak of). I've found zydeco to be rowdy, raw dance music that, apart from its Cajun musical cousin, stands more or less alone in the American music spectrum. There's accordion. There's washboard. There are songs sung in Creole. And there's always a party. It is the opposite of the kind of music that was played in my hometown.
On that note, here's a video clip of Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, who are playing at Duff's Garage on Sunday. And it's a barnburner. Ledet and the Playboys play a particularly rockin' brand of zydeco, with a lot of muscle in the bottom end and surf guitar licks from the guitar. Other than Queen Ida, there historically aren't a ton of female zydeco singers, and Louisiana's Ledet has me wondering why. This show looks like it'll be a lot of fun—an ideal way to keep warm on Sunday night.
Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys at Duff's Garage, 1635 SE 7th, Sun Jan 29, 8 pm, $10
The folks over at East End have been keeping this word of mouth, but tonight they debut Peghead, a new guitar-building and repair shop selling "almost exclusively locally made gear" in the belly of the club/bar—it's what the former Omnibus has evolved into. Tonight at 9 they're throwing a grand opening party with YOB, Lord Dying, and Wizard Rifle. In addition, tomorrow they're hosting a guitar and gear swap/sale at 4; both excellent opportunities to say hello to your friendly new neighborhood subterranean guitar shop.
