Photo by K.C. Stimson

Attention, musicians of Portland: Rollerball has been here longer than you. The prolific collective has been transgressing boundaries and stomping all over musical genres long before you ever dreamed of packing the Subaru and hitting the Oregon trail. And as willfully weird as you think your alt-freak-skronk-noise project is, Rollerball has already done it, with results that range from conventional songcraft to free-jazz pinwheeling to outer-wind motorik spacewalking. Ahura, their 14th record—that’s right, 14th—celebrates its release tonight, with confident explorations and a warped, enveloping production that makes you feel like you’re trapped inside the snare drum. “Cesena Sweat Pants” assembles a looping piano figure with wandering airpipe sax, while the tense, red-heat “Towel Boy Tent” features gargles and creepy babbling, sounding like something from a Dario Argento flick.

MP3:
Rollerball - Cesena Sweat Pants

NUDGE, EXTRA GOLDEN, COPACRESCENT, DJ ANJALI, THE INCREDIBLE KID, DJ E3
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) Extra Golden were born from a three-hour international jam session in Nairobi between native musicians Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Omari and American indie rockers Ian Eagleson—in Kenya to research a doctoral thesis on the country’s popular benga music—and Alex Minoff, both of the DC band Golden (Minoff also played in the Make-Up, Weird War, and Six Finger Satellite). The group released the results of that jam, Ok-Oyot System, shortly after Jagwasi’s death. The band recruited new members for live performances and to record follow-up album Hera Ma Nono but had difficulty getting the Kenyan musicians into the US (a difficulty that was ultimately resolved with an assist from Barack Obama, leading to perhaps the first non-embarrassing song bearing the presidential candidate’s name, Hera Ma Nono’s “Obama”). More than just a corrective to all the critical hand-wringing about Vampire Weekend’s alleged musical colonialism, Extra Golden are benga translated with little more interference than some English-language lyrics and the arrangement of visas. ERIC GRANDY

MP3:
Extra Golden - Obama

And the wait is now over.
Verbs, the splendid new record from experimental—and sometimes pop—outfit Au, is now officially out. The release party is set for tonight and will feature the usually restrained Au being back by a 20+ member vocal choir.

That’s a lot of people to fit on that Holocene stage, so it’s either going to look like a packed subway car (no groping!), or the singers will spillover into the crowd (again, no groping!). Can’t wait.

MP3:
Au - Summerheat

DYSRHYTHMIA, THE BETTER TO SEE YOU WITH, THE ABODOX
(Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) Chances are good that the three members of Dysrhythmia are better musicians than you, and they’ll spend the entirety of their set drilling that notion into your skull with their energized prog-metal instrumental compositions. For some folks, that kind of showmanship is completely satisfying. Others might find it engaging for about 45 seconds and then simply grating for the remainder of the performance. Nothing wrong with falling into either camp, but for those unfamiliar with the band, you can probably figure out where you stand, based on whether you prefer hyper-musicianship or subtlety. Fans of the latter: consider yourselves warned. BC

MP3:
Dysrhythmia - Seal/Breaker/Void

Photo: Shannon Corr

I know I said some mediocre things before about the live show from The Dodos. I think I may have been wrong, because every single person I’ve talked to who has seen them live is incapable of shutting up about how good they were. Maybe they had an off night. Maybe I did. Either way, I’m really hoping they’ll blow me away tonight, because their latest, Visiter, is one of my favorite records of the year.

I’m a little disappointed, though, because I was really hoping there would be a special guest appearance tonight by the nicest person in Portland, Laura Gibson, who contributed backing vocals to a few of the tracks on Visiter. She’s currently touring her way through Europe, which really sounds like no fun. No fun at all.

I’m a little hesitant to give this an “OMG! Go to this show!!”, just because I wasn’t blown away the first time I saw them, but Visiter really is that good, and as long as they play “Fools” (the above video), “Walking”, and “Jodi”, I can’t imagine this show being anything less than amazing.

The Dodos play Doug Fir tonight with Plants and Animals and The Ohsees.

RZA, STONE MECCA, ANIMAL FARM, THE HARD KNOX
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th) When Wu-Tang Clan dropped 8 Diagrams last year, there was a lot of grumbling from members that it was way “too weird,” and that it was is all the handiwork of RZA; in the ensuing tour, the Abbott was nowhere to be found, and not a single Diagrams song was performed. I don’t know what that’s all about—Diagrams was brilliant, the most true to form they’d sounded in years… See, Wu-Tang was always weird, and RZA always understood that. So if you wanna see the true, bugged-out soul of the Wu, here’s your chance to “keep it digi.” Bong-bong, baby! LARRY MIZELL JR.

THE BLAKES, THE BROKEN WEST
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Following a hasty name change (they were originally the Brokedown) and a high-profile Merge Records debut, the Broken West established themselves as the latest purveyors of the sunny California sound, with pleasing pop kernels like “Down in the Valley” and “Hale Sunrise” drawing from classic rock’s past while staking out a tiny claim of new territory. Their second album, Now or Heaven, comes out on Merge in September, and I haven’t heard a note of it. So, I shall make a completely unfair and groundless judgment based solely on its song titles and the band’s most recent press photo, in which they are wearing coats and neckties: It will NOT be a prog-concept opus. It will NOT contain experimental forays into electronica. Lil Wayne will NOT make a guest appearance. Instead, it’ll be much like their first record, maybe slicker, more accessible, less gritty, less spontaneous, generally unsurprising, intermittently great, and wholly tuneful. NL

MP3:
Broken West - Down in the Valley

Like boozing? Yeah, me too. So it’s probably safe to say that you also enjoy Steve Buscemi’s masterful/depressing-as-fuck movie Trees Lounge. Drinking, ice cream trucks, a teenage Chloë Sevigny, and more drinking—need I say more? Anyway, the film’s soundtrack featured a breezy number from Hayden, who used lines from the movie to construct the song:

You have a pretty name
Pretty like your name
Lets play a drinking game
And If I win I get to take you home
and if you win you go home with me

I have a feeling that he, to this day, still regrets wearing that godawful cowboy hat.

But the Canadian singer-songwriter—who, in the wake of Beck’s quick success on Geffen, was primed to be a major label darling (it never happened)—is primarily known for his delicate folk songs that center around his deep drawl and introspective songwriting. I’ve always been a fan of the simple setup of “Home by Saturday,” with the all-too-honest line of:

Last night in New York City
I met a girl almost as pretty
And if I had one more whiskey
Everything would have all just slipped away

His latest, In Field & Town, is more restrained folk from an artist who seems very content in his role as a performer. Here’s hoping tonight’s show at the Aladdin lives up to a few of his stellar past Portland shows.

Welcome the sexxxy Panther duo back to the USofA tonight, as they rock Backspace (along with Copy and DJ Hostile Tapeover). The dudes just returned from a tour of Japan (the above photo is proof of that), and after the show they will make the audience sit Indian style on the floor in a semicircle as they regale everyone with tales about all the crazy shit you can get from vending machines. God, I love Japan.

MP3:
Panther - Diamonds, Violence (E*Rock Remix)

MON MARIE, THE CROSSWALKS, THE RAINY STATES
(Towne Lounge, 714 SW 20th Pl) Mon Marie migrated from Michigan to Washington, bringing with them swooning, melodramatic love songs whose wussiness is undermined by the off-kilter elements in their symphonic lo-fi production. Fuzz bass, mysterious whispery vocals, and generous dollops of echo make their swinging-for-the-fences emo melodicism sound invitingly weird rather than embarrassingly cheesy. Let’s hope they continue to write tunes that would make Brian Wilson jealous, and let’s hope they never see the inside of a real studio. Meanwhile, unlike Mon Marie, the Crosswalks could probably never make the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack even if they tried; instead they play simple, upbeat pop ’n’ roll that greets you with a big smile, slaps you on the back, and hands you a beer fresh out of the cooler. NED LANNAMANN

MP3:
Mon Marie - Transient Night

SANTOTZIN, KRAZY KRACE, QWEL, DIRTY DIGITAL, SLEEP, DJ ATM, DJ SPARK

(Berbati’s Pan, 10 SW 3rd) Oh shit. Qwel’s coming to town? Seemingly buried in the middle of this bill, this backpacker-approved emcee is primarily known for not being known, an overlooked sensation whose excellence comes in both his rapid-fire flow and his ability to cram so many lyrical gems in the frame of a single song. While his hyper flow has the pace to veer slightly towards the territory of fellow Chicagoan Twista, Qwel utilizes plenty of restraint in reeling in the tempo and focusing on content and delivery. “Saved,” from 2006’s Freezerburner, is a perfect example of that, a delicate beat capped by some sprawling guitar and the emcee’s passionate—if not emotive—flow. He’s just dropped a new album alongside Kip Killagain entitled The New Wine, and while I have yet to come across a copy, if the past is any indication, I expect greatness. EAC

MP3:
Qwel - New Wine Promo Mix (featuring Kip Killagain)

I talked with Frightened Rabbit guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Scott Hutchison over the phone in preparation for the article that appears in this week’s paper. Despite my calling him at an inconvenient time, he was friendly and informative and provided all his answers in a charming Scottish brogue. This was not weird at all, because he is indeed Scottish. Here’s the rest of my interview with Scott.

Frightened Rabbit play TONIGHT at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9 pm, $10

NED: So you recorded The Midnight Organ Fight in Bridgeport, Connecticut?

SCOTT: Yeah, yeah, we did.

That’s actually not far from where I grew up; I’m very familiar with Bridgeport. I’m at the other end of the country now, but…um… WHY did you decide to record there?

Bridgeport is where the producer is based. His name is Peter Katis. He’s like a good friend of the label manager, of Fat Cat in the US. Also, he’s like got a great studio up there. He has worked with Interpol and the National up there. So it was the choice of producer rather than town. He lives there because it’s cheap to live there and we went there because of him. There’s absolutely nothing to do in Bridgeport, Connecticut so it’s a great place to get some work done.

I can’t imagine there’s much to do other than record an album.

Yeah. It was a pretty concerted effort. No distractions.

Right, and I gather it was recorded really quickly—two weeks. Was it written really quickly, also?

Yeah, a large portion of it was kind of written over the space of three weeks or so. I just kind of holed myself up in the studio and demoed it out. Some of ’em are a little older, but most of them are written at a certain time, about a certain time, so it’s all been kind of done in blocks so as to hopefully gain a kind of consistency about the whole thing.

Another week, another Mercury music section to read while you curse Japan for having the world’s greatest vending machines.

Au goes pop. Well, sort of. It’s experimental pop music and it is quite excellent. Way better than that experimental funk-metal record I made that no one bought.
MP3:
Au - rr vs. d

Journey to the land of Blue Giant. And unlike a certain other colored giant, this supergroup (with members of Viva Voce, Golden Bears, and Swords Project) doesn’t care if you eat your damn veggies or not.
MP3:
Blue Giant - Blue Sunshine

You like your Scots depressed? Hey, who doesn’t? Well then Frightened Rabbits are for you. Besides, if you had to eat haggis all day and listen to the Bay City Rollers every S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night, you’d be bummed too.
MP3:
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms

Be Your Own Pet will cure all your neurotic ways. So that means you can now sell me all your unused medication. Oh, do you have any Demerol? I love those.
MP3:
Be Your Own Pet - Becky

If I had a dollar for every time in the past few months that I’ve used the words “new”, “Frightened Rabbit”, and “fucking incredible” in the same sentence, I’d be moderately wealthy by now.

Seriously. This is no exaggeration. The Midnight Organ Fight, the new one from Frightened Rabbit, is so amazingly good that it is somewhat scary. The song posted above, “Heads Roll Off”, is probably the weakest thing on the record, and it still slays.

Reference points are a little hard to nail down, but the band sounds somewhere between The Twilight Sad, The National, and U2. The songs are epic anthems, mid-tempo barn burners that perfectly blend pop with damaged, heart-on-sleeve lyrics. They never get sappy though, which is harder than it sounds since they throw out lines like “I’m armed with the past and a will and a brick/I might not want you back, but I want to kill him.” Singer Scott Hutchison scrawls his way through the tracks with his thick Scottish accent and confessional lyrics, while his brother, Grant Hutchison, holds the entire thing together with some of the finest drumming in recent memory.

Really, I cannot say enough good things about this band. The Midnight Organ Fight is on my shortlist for record of the year, without a doubt, and chances are if you ask me for a music recommendation, this is what you’ll get.

Do not miss this show. Period.

Yesterday, an unfortunate message appeared on the MySpace blog of Charleston, SC band The Explorers Club:

As it so happens, misfortune has struck The Explorers Club. Just outside of Forsyth Montana (which is in the middle of nowhere) our big green monster of a van came head to head with a 250 pound deer… We are now stranded in Forsyth, waiting to hear from the mechanic tomorrow on what the damage is going to be. Needless to say this puts us in quite a hole. We’re not going to be able to make the Seattle or Portland shows, but will do our best to catch back up in San Francisco if we can get repaired in time… A Paypal Donate button has been added to our page as well… Love you all, we’ll hopefully be back on the road soon!

Well, as fate would have it, good luck intervened and the Explorers Club have bounced back! (I wish I could report the same for the deer.) I just spoke with multi-instrumentalist Dave Ellis on the phone, who told me: “It was the damnedest thing. These mechanics in Forsyth, Montana were able to get us a new radiator, so we’re back on the road. We’re at the Doug Fir right now. We missed the Seattle show, but we are GO for tonight.”

MP3:
The Explorers Club - Do You Love Me?

As you can hear above, the Explorers Club make sunny, vocal-harmony-drenched pop songs that sound very much like another band… whose name I can’t place right now… you know, one of the quintessential American bands of the ’60s… the Surf Kids? or something? The Sand Lads? At any rate, thankfully it takes more than a deer to the radiator to keep the Explorers Club down, but after mechanics’ expenses and hotel rooms, they could still use any extra cash. They’ve set up a Paypal donate button on their MySpace page, so if you’re feeling generous, you can click to help them out. OR you can go to the show tonight and buy lots of merch!

The Explorers Club open for Lightspeed Champion and Flowers Forever tonight at the Doug Fir; 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $12

BY ANY OTHER NAME—Dev Hynes (AKA Lightspeed Champion) is the logical heir to Elvis Costello. His brand of songwriting crosses genres, but is suffused with a ’50s doo-wop flair and brutally honest lyrics. Onstage, he is funny, scattered, and maybe not altogether sane. Call it indie-folk or folk-pop or whatever; his music is above all, beautiful. PAC w/Flowers Forever, the Explorers Club; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $11-12

Creeped out by puppets? Yeah, me too. I mean, with the exception of Statler & Waldorf and my favorite Christian farm animal, all puppets should be burned. Or shot. Perhaps both.

But despite my puppet bigotry, Lightspeed Champion loads his video for “Galaxy Of The Lost” with various colorful muppet-looking things that cause mischief and most likely consume the tiny kitten which appeared in the beginning of the clip.

No one is safe from the menace of puppetry.

Some kids ruin the curve for everyone. These know-it-alls do their homework every night, ace every test, and ask the teacher for mandatory extra credit. And sometimes these pointy-headed goobers take it upon themselves to start a band, write hooky catchy songs, and make the lyrics as literary and hifalutin as possible.

Take, for example, LA chamber pop ensemble Princeton. (Their name alone should clue you in.) Their new EP is named Bloomsbury, which is not just a random word they chose, or a dead end street where they used to smoke pot, nor is it the name of the bass player’s beloved family dog. No, according to the band’s MySpace page:

Each composition on the EP is lyrically focused upon a member of the influential Bloomsbury intellectual collective that existed in London during the early 20th century. Lyrical portraits of Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes are each presented in a different musical framework with lush orchestral arrangements that draw from a collage of influences — Serge Gainsbourg’s Gainsbourg Percussions, The Kinks’ Something Else, Jorge Ben’s Forca Bruta and Jean Claude Vannier’s L’enfant La Mouche Et Les Allumettes to name a few.

Ummm…. okay. I don’t understand most of the words in that paragraph. Less talky more songy.

MP3:
Princeton - Ms. Bentwich

Ah, that’s better. So, yeah, the band’s got some serious conceits with their music. But when it sounds as fine as this, it doesn’t really matter.

Princeton plays tonight with Cereal and Psaltier at the Know; 2026 NE Alberta, 8 pm, free

THESE NEW PURITANS, DAT’R, MEHO PLAZA
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside)

Alienation and paranoia run rife through the back alleys of the minds of These New Puritans, a half-electro, all-edges group from the UK. You might even call them punk’s answer to grime. It’s a futuristic deconstructionism, covered in dirt, dust, razor wire, and broken glass, to be left forever all alone. Emphasizing rhythm over melody, singer Jack Barnett chants cryptic apocalyptics that may or may not hold savage encoded secrets. Where does one thing end and another begin? Occasionally the band leaps into the clouds, sustaining a note or a melody, and when they do, the contrast is beautiful. The group’s live show reportedly matches the sound, and Barnett is supposedly confrontational and wild. And if being tossed into this disparate fury sounds frightening, it should—but remember: Catharsis is necessary. ART

Now here’s a little bonus for y’all: a behind the scenes look at editing. Here’s how I really finished the peice:

“And if being tossed into this disparate fury sounds frightening, it should. But remember: Catharsis is necessary. And goddamn—if you think you don’t need any, well… you’re sicker than we thought. “

Yup.

Listen to These New Puritans: Numerology

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE, SASSPARILLA JUG BAND
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) With the oceanside township of Santa Cruz, CA, serving as their center of operations, the Devil Makes Three have shimmied a strut the nation over, conjuring vivid revelations of porch-front hoedowns with mason jar swigs and a soundtrack of blustery bluegrass punk. Frontman Pete Bernhard’s nostalgic croon and choppy acoustic guitar strums lay the groundwork for upright bassist Lucia Turino’s groove-riddled low-end and Cooper McBean’s tenor banjo and fiery guitar interplay, forging an evocative blast of 1940s folk and 1990s retro-punk revivalism. But don’t let the bizarre designations deter you—this is one of the most engaging live shows you’ll see this side of the dusty saloons from the Old West. Hip-swaying and copious amounts of alcoholic imbibing are prerequisite (especially when they rip into “Old Number Seven”), as is the relinquishing of your reticence at the door. RJP

MP3:
Devil Makes Three - Old Number Seven

SNAKE CHARMERS—Slink along to the vintage garage nuggets unearthed by the Detroit Cobras, perhaps the world’s best cover band. It’s rock ’n’ soul shaking, with full-throttle octane that could only come from the Motor City.

Okay, I guess I don’t really think the Detroit Cobras are the world’s greatest cover band (who should that title go to? The new No Age cover band that includes an actual member of No Age?), but they really jump-started the whole retro garage revival at the turn of the century and are still going strong. They also have some great, sleazy album covers, as you will see in the collected gallery posted after the jump. Enjoy!

w/Les Sans Culottes; Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $14

DAX RIGGS, JOHN BARRETT’S BASS DRUM OF DEATH, ADRIAN H & THE WOUNDS
(Roseland Grill, 8 NW 6th) Louisiana’s Dax Riggs has been a rock star in waiting for years. His resonant, crooning vocals and death-obsessed lyrics are compelling and unmistakable, but he’s gone through bands quicker than some people change their underwear. First there was the NOLA sludge-metal band Acid Bath; next the drugged-out, ’70s-glam-inspired Agents of Oblivion; and then Deadboy & the Elephantmen. Perhaps wisely, Riggs has finally gone solo, issuing We Sing of Only Blood or Love last year on Fat Possum. His most “pop” album yet, We Sing blends the soaring melancholy of the earlier Deadboy lineup with the bluesy rock of later Deadboy, and somehow it works. And man, this guy can still sing. WILL YORK

MP3:
Dax Riggs - Didn’t Know Yet What I’d Know When I Was Bleedin’

THE NEIL HAMBURGER COUNTRY WINNERS REVUE
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) There are three standard reactions to a Neil Hamburger performance: laugh with him, laugh at him, or sit there totally confused and possibly upset. Regardless of which describes your take of the comedian—who once single-handedly cleared out the Meow Meow while emceeing a show—he skirts the funny/not funny line with the same flair of Tony Clifton, complete with his hokey punchline, “But, that’s my life!” Now Hamburger has branched out with Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners, an album of wacky country songs sung in his deadpan warbling voice. His backing band features members of the Tubes and the Rentals, and if even his musical endeavors feel like a hipster version of Ray Stevens, there is never an excuse to miss Hamburger when he takes the stage. EAC

MP3:
Neil Hamburger - Please Ask That Clown To Stop Crying

JEREMY ENIGK, DAMIEN JURADO, BRYAN FREE
(Dante’s, 1 SW 3rd) The seminal touchstones of Jeremy Enigk’s career have been pontificated upon enough by the popular media to fill volumes of post-punk tomes. However, the relevance of his larger umbrella of output allows for Enigk’s regular citing as a major musical entity since Sunny Day Real Estate’s demise. After the initial hiatus of SDRE, Enigk’s release of Return of the Frog Queen reminded longtime listeners that it was his fearlessness to embrace a wide-ranging cadre of rhythmic influences and ethereal spirituality that made his past projects so unique. The subsequent solo releases of World Waits and The Missing Link only furthered the allure of Enigk’s brash sentimentalities in a scene that could have swept him under the proverbial rug, had it the broom to follow through. His live shows are unmitigated inspiration, and he’s showing absolutely zero signs of slowing down. Score one for all of us. RYAN J. PRADO

MP3:
Jeremy Enigk - City Tonight

ORCHESTRA BAOBAB
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) There is a connective tissue that bonds people of African descent across bodies of water, but it’s one fashioned by work and wounds, not genetics. So when Africa is heard in the Americas, as in the resurrected ’70s Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab, it’s because someone carried, preserved, and reworked a tradition in a new space. Baobab’s mostly middle-aged members continue to generate the culturally, harmonically and rhythmically dense hip-rockers that once charmed off-duty Senegalese government officials at Dakar’s Baobab Club and heavily influenced the world music scene since their mid-’80s sabbatical. Although most recognized for their Cuban strains, the manifold cultures of Senegal pulse powerfully in the band’s well-worn repertoire. JALYLAH BURRELL

MP3:
Orchestra Baobab - Ledi Ndieme M’Bodj

Listen up, kids! And, yes, I do mean kids. Not only is tonight the PDX Pop Now! CD release party at Holocene, but the event is all ages! Thanks to the OLCC’s recently reformed minor postings rule, the ‘Cene will be open to everyone. It’s true, I even saw the floor plan. It was exciting.

Yeah, I get excited about floorplans, what’s it to you?

Anyway, the show’s $10 cover includes a copy of the new PDX Pop Now! CD compilation, before you can buy it in stores, plus the all-local lineup (YACHT, Fist Fite, Southern Belle, White Fang, DJ Manny Lennox) is guaranteed to be pretty stellar as well. See you there.

FOGHORN DUO, HUCK NOTARI
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Caleb Klauder and Stephen “Sammy” Lind have branched off old-time bluegrass ensemble Foghorn Stringband to record the Lonesome Song album on their own. Appropriately enough, they call themselves Foghorn Duo, and if you’ve ever spent a moment with Foghorn Stringband’s authentic folksy revival, you’re going to like the duo just as much. It’s timeless music, played with guitar and fiddle, with occasional mandolin and banjo, and it’ll shake loose some long-dormant part of your ancestral soul to get you thinking about traveling railway lines, or courting fair young maidens, or minding how you’re going to feed your trusty horse, let alone yourself. The songs are mostly standards, with the occasional original seamlessly thrown in, but it’s no time warp—Foghorn Duo’s pickin’ and singin’ anchors you perfectly in this precise moment of being alive. This is the second-to-last show ever in the original Mississippi Studios before they rip it down to rebuild a venue three times bigger and better. NL

MP3:
Foghorn Duo - My Horses Ain’t Hungry

ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL, PORTUGAL. THE MAN, TRACTOR OPERATOR
(Berbati’s Pan, 10 SW 3rd) Led by novelist Chris Eaton, Rock Plaza Central is a Toronto ensemble whose albums feel less like linear narratives than hallucinatory meditations on a theme. 2006’s Are We Not Horses served as the junction of rapturous vocals, buoyant horns, and crashing guitars. Listen closely enough, though, and surreal lyrical perspectives on religion, technology, and relationships become apparent. On previous albums, the group’s wide-ranging sensibilities have been applied to more directly personal narratives, creating detailed and harrowing portraits and landscapes. Eaton’s voice is equally capable at channeling desperation and a heartbreaking strain of loneliness, and the unpredictability of the group as a whole makes their live show, at its best, gripping. TC

Hey, you in the back, stop fucking yawning! What does that say about your band? “We’re so boring that I can’t even refrain from yawning during our… YAWWWNNNNNN. Oh sorry, where was I?”

MP3:
Rock Plaza Central - My Children, Be Joyful

Remember when My Bloody Valentine was dead, and a Kevin Shields influence was novel? The Warlocks sounded good last year with Heavy Deavy Skull Lover, but this was before an MBV reunion was certain. “The Valley of Death” and “Moving Mountains” evoked Loveless by breaking apart peaks of hardened love-song syrup with overdriven, psychedelic rattle. Now that we can hear Loveless live (if we want to spring for airfare), the allure of the Warlocks is beginning to fade. Luckily, “So Paranoid” and “Slip Beneath” are more Brian Jonestown Massacre than MBV—janglier than your average MBV mindmelt, but no less transcendent. MIKE MEYER

I always thought the Warlocks did “drug rock” better than anyone else, and I loved the Warlocks’ first self-titled EP from 2000 (especially “Song for Nico”), thinking it was their high-water mark until I heard “It’s Just Like Surgery” from 2005’s Surgery. Sounding like a ’60s three-chord cherry-pop A-side amped up far beyond Jesus & Mary Chain levels of fuzz happy bliss-out, it’s the kind of song that I would play as loud as humanly possible. The YouTube clip above, coming out of tiny computer speakers, probably isn’t going to cut it. So to get the whole idea, you’re going to want to go to the live show tonight. There are also a ton of songs posted on their website, so if you want some Warlock fixin’, head over there.

The Warlocks open for the Black Angels tonight at the Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $12

(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) I sort of hate it when kids get it right at such an early age. I think of how little I did at 19 and then realize that Annuals’ frontman Adam Baker, at the same age, was busying completing Be He Me, their excellent Ace Fu debut. That record is a beast of riotous fun, sounding like Sufjan Stevens alongside Broken Social Scene, which is why it’s no surprise they quickly became critical darlings in no time at all. Their live show is a thing of legend, chockfull of youthful exuberance and a six-piece band that constantly switches instruments. Yep, the kids are indeed all right, and I’m pretty jealous.

The first 1:40 of this video for “Brother” paints Annuals as just another precious indie band. Don’t buy it. Wait for the second half where the band performs live-ish, nearly bursting at the seams, spazzing out and rocking hard. Jesus these kids bring it, and Holocene is surely going to feel their ruckus tonight.

Wait, what’s that? You, like members of this band are or just recently were, aren’t of a legal drinking age? Don’t fret. The band plays an all ages set at Music Millennium on E Burnside for free at 6:30pm. Everybody wins!

Along with the free aforementioned Music Millennium show, Annuals play Holocene tonight with A Weather and Musee Mecanique.

ALL GIRL SUMMER FUN BAND, CRAYONSMITH, BOAT
(Exit Only, 1121 N Loring) I like bands, and I like summer and fun. Also, I like girls. So All Girl Summer Fun Band is going to work out just fine for me. They haven’t played much since 2005, but they’re back! Ari Douangpanya is absent this time around—she’s a mom now—but the other three (Jen Sbragia from the Softies, Kim Baxter from Cherry Ice Cream Smile, and Kathy Foster from the Thermals) are still making contagious, feel-good candy pop. A new record is on the way, too! Oh, and let me add that I also like boats, or namely, BOAT, the Seattle trio who could just as well easily call themselves All Boy Summer Fun Band—they’re hilarious, they rock, and last time I saw them they had a giant stuffed white tiger onstage with them. I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you how that makes the music better. NL

MP3:
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker

Alright. I’ve got a few things to say about Ezra’s post re: the nature of Bloggers. First, we do not all pay taxes. I haven’t filed in about the last three years. This haunts me. I will probably not receive a kicker check to spend on imported goods. FUCK! Also, some mothers get the internet. Mine does. Sometimes I picture her reading what I’ve written here and cringe, like I’m sure she did after reading that bit about the taxes.

But that’s neither here nor there, I suppose. So let’s get to the immediate, as there will always be more time for me to put off paying my taxes.

To the point: TONIGHT. HUNCHES. EAST END. Here are the basics:

(East End, 203 SE Grand) Tonight I’m putting you all on double awesome excitement (the opposite of double secret probation). Why? Well, first off it’s Eat Skull’s record release party. The noisy, major-scale-whomping, two-chord pounding, fuzz-punk, Technicolor chunk-blowers shall celebrate the release of their first full-length for Siltbreeze records. It’s called Sick to Death and the vinyl is limited, so if that’s your bag, you’d better climb in. Second reason: the Hunches. Since the soon-to-be legendary Portland band performs once every four months, and since the end is in sight, well, that should be all you need to know. But just for the official record, here’s the latest: The Hunches’ upcoming and final album is finished. It should be out in September. A departure in many ways, it’s fucking incredible. There’ll be a release party, a West Coast tour, and that’s it. ANDREW R TONRY

Also, Cary Clarke’s column in the paper this week focuses on Eat Skull’s new album.

I have to say though, it’s the Hunches that are really making the salivary glands gush. They’ve been practicing their butts off lately, and appear to be energized. Re-vitalized, if you will—after all it’s been quite a while since their last show.

I asked the band if I could give a preview of the new album via releasing a song on End Hits and they said ‘no’. So we’ll just have to wait on that one. I’ll keep trying, and maybe as we get closer to the September release date it’ll happen. For now though, you’ll just have to take my word for it—the new album is fucking awesome. New studio, new sound, just phenomenal. It’s going to make them so many new fans who might have been turned off by the scuzzy earlier recordings that when the band finally quits it’s going to seem criminal. But these are the things that must be done—unlike paying your taxes.

CICADA OMEGA, SASSPARILLA, BARK HIDE & HORN
(Dante’s, 1 SW 3rd) If our town was one of juke joints and wooden shacks with stages protected by chicken wire, then Cicada Omega would be the house band of highest demand. The local rapscallions make with the bluesy low-fi country that has all the urgency of a call to battle, but still clutches enough subtlety to make their latest, These Bones, a delightful journey into some junkyard soul. While their rockabilly roots do show, Bones is best during tracks like “I Smell Smoke” and campfire shout-along “This Time,” where the volume is low and vocalist Reverend B.D. Winfield’s voice warbles like a ghostly recording broadcast through a dusty Victrola. EAC

MP3:
Cicada Omega - I Smell Smoke

BLACK ELK, DIESTO, ROANOKE
(Ground Kontrol, 511 NW Couch) It’s fitting that the release party for Diesto’s stellar Isle of Marauder will take place surrounded by a ring of video games. The local quartet’s sprawling metal is ripe for the escapism that Ground Kontrol’s quarter-hungry bounty has to offer, right down to the cover of Marauder, which depicts some sort of winged pterodactyl with feathered wings and skeleton talons primed to fuck some shit up. The music follows suit with an endless array of thick metal guitar riffs that drown everything else out in a hazy sludge of noise, the lone exception being the desperate screech of vocalist Chris Dunn, who sounds as one might when reaching one’s bloody fate in the clutched grasp of a prehistoric bird of prey. EAC

MP3:
Diesto - Marauder

DERBY, CROSSTIDE, CLIMBER
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) Portland power pop trio Derby celebrates the release of its second album, Posters Fade, with an all-local, all-pop, pseudo-all-star bill at the Wonder. It’s a big event, and a big deal for a band that’s been slogging away for some time, developing strong songs and serious chops. And yeah, if ever a band were ready to leap into the mainstream, it’s Derby. A few short years ago, one would say their shiny pop rock is radio-friendly, but with radio having completely disappeared up its own ass, it’s nowadays more accurate to say Derby is ready for soundtrack placement on your favorite ABC hour-long drama. This shouldn’t change the fact that Posters Fade offers genuine pop pleasures, in the manner of Sloan or the Monkees, and that their live show is crisp, powerful, and rockin’. NED LANNAMANN

MP3:
Derby - All Or Nothing

Photo: Alexis Achten

New kids on the local music block (also know as NKOTLMB to savvy tweens), Sabertooth have announced that they have signed to the local Arena Rock label (Talkdemonic, Swords Project) .

Clearly influenced by those trendsetters at Fred Meyer, the September release of their debut recording, Old Days and the Island, will be absolutely loaded with vinyl. In one package there will be a 12” LP, plus a bonus 10” (that’s 22” if you are keeping track at home), and—since they dedicated to giving you as much media as possible—a CD as well. Wow, that is a lot of music. Why not just cram a cassingle in there as well? Anyway, here is an exclusive song from the record, or the 10”, or the CD:

MP3:
Sabertooth - Another Chance

The band just might be debuting tracks from that upcoming release tonight as they perform at the “Amigos” benefit at Holocene. Funds from the show are headed to The Affected and La Isla Foundation, two great organizations dedicated to stopping mean ‘ole agrichemical companies from poisoning indigent farm workers in Central America.

Sabertooth perform at Holocene tonight, alongside Reporter, Point Juncture, WA, Tractor Operator, and Hutch & Kathy. $5-10 sliding scale.

Photo: Tom Oliver

This just in in: Trumans Water will be making a surprise stop in Portland—their first PDX show in over two years—tonight at Slabtown. Best of all their performance is the recession-proof price of FREE! The band is fresh from a European tour, so they can gather us all around and regale us with tales about how weak the American dollar is when compared to the Euro. The horror!

No, seriously, 10pm at Slabtown. Be there.

Blame last week’s press night wine-cooler binge, but we totally spaced on coverage for Wicked Wednesdays’ 10th Anniversary party. It’s tonight, at the Greek, and features DJ Wicked behind the decks (as always), plus live performances from Sleep, Mic Crenshaw, Onry Ozzborn, and tons more. The full flier and lineup is after the jump, and we promise in the future that we will lay off the Bartles & Jaymes. Maybe.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad screens tonight at the Someday Lounge. It’s a documentary about Iraqi band Acrassicauda and their struggle to play heavy metal music in the clusterfuck that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Check out Marjorie Skinner’s review here. The film is followed by a screening of a film about noise band Tunnel Canary from Vancouver, BC, whose long-awaited 2-LP debut is available from Rundownsun Records.

Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th, 8 pm, FREE

Matador Records’ newest playthings, Jaguar Love, consist of Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato formerly of Blood Brothers, and J Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves. It’s the Northwest version of Crosby, Stills & Nash! Except that instead of acoustic ballads about free love, they play frenzied shrieking indie rock songs about hurt feelings and trouble.

There were things I liked about both Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves, as well as a few things I didn’t like about either band. Fortunately, it seems those elements didn’t make it into the Jaguar Love mix, and I find their songs to be adventurous, catchy, listenable and unique. Dig it. There’s a tune down below, and if that whets your palate, go on over to their MySpace page to check out some more tunes. They’re all good.

MP3:
Jaguar Love - Bats Over the Pacific Ocean

And why am I telling you all this? Because! For those of you who ain’t throwin’ down for Kanye, Jaguar Love is playing this very night in Portland. Fans of Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves will definitely want to check it out, and fans of neither may very well want to check it out too.

w/Nazca Lines; Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th, 9 pm, $12, all ages

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, FOOT FOOT, CONCERN
(The Artistery, 4315 SE Division) At first glance, tourmates Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Foot Foot might seem oddly matched; the former leans towards pop songwriting laced with programmed beats and moody synthesizer tones, while the latter seem descended from a long Californian line of offbeat rock bands tapping into a strong and sprawling country influence. What unites them is less sonic than presentational: the hushed intimacy heard in the delivery of both Casiotone’s Owen Ashworth and Foot Foot’s Robin Brown. While their preferred methods of musical execution may differ, the songs of each play out like quiet, minutely observed sketches of a series of disparate lives. TC

I believe every single word that leaves Owen Ashworth’s mouth, yet the camera lies. There is no way that is his car. I refuse to believe it.

MP3:
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Bobby Malone Moves Home