XRAY.FM, McMenamins, StarChile, Pabst Blue Ribbon & WE 96.3 Present: MIC CHECK
Mic Check is a Hip Hop Showcase every last Thursday of the month at White Eagle, with Live performances, drink specials and good vibes!
THURSDAY JUNE 29TH:
Special Guests...
VINNIE DEWAYNE
ADDVERSE EFFECTS
THESE? BLACKS
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
Dooors @ 9pm, Show starts at 10pm...
21 and over, Tickets: $8 @ the Door
XRAY.FM’s Everyday Mixtapes presents:
Mic Capes Music // OCnotes // DoNormaal
A night of Northwest R&B + Hip Hop with up-and-comers OC Notes and DoNormaal of Seattle and Portland’s own Mic Capes. Thursday, June 29th at The Liquor Store. Live DJ sets upstairs by DJ Danyak and Shira and Jené of Everyday Mixtapes (Saturdays 2-3pm on XRAY.FM). A stacked line up of experimental hip hop, electronic, R&B, and everything in between.
$10 at the door | Show at 9pm
Mic Capes Music (https://miccapesmusic.bandcamp.com/) is a prolific hip hop artist from Portland, OR. Capes is known for having vivid story telling ability, raw lyricism, and thought provoking social commentary as key components of his music while at the same time making it all very palatable. He released his debut solo album "Rise & Grind" in 2012 and made a huge impact on the local hip hop scene. In September of 2016 he solidified his prowess as an upper tier artist dropping his critically acclaimed album "Concrete Dreams", which was voted the number one Hip Hop Album to come out of Portland, Oregon by Willamette Week as well as mention in The Oregonian for having one of the top 10 albums of 2016.
OCnotes (https://ocnotes.bandcamp.com/) was born in the Southwest & raised in the World. His music & art has been exhibited in museums, featured in movies & on television. He was nominated for a 2015 Stranger Genius Award in Seattle, Washington.
"His solo work and collaborations with Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, Erik Blood, & many many others have made him a favorite of the Emerald City’s most forward-listening.”
Along with an enormous self released catalog, OCnotes recently signed with Secret Angels Records, founded by Seven Davis Jr. in Los Angeles, & has numerous releases with Homeskillet Records founded by Silver Jackson.
DoNormaal (https://soundcloud.com/donormaal/) is a Californian vocalist and hip hop artist living in Seattle whose hypnotic 2015 debut LP, Jump or Die, was noted for its trance-like, down-tempo rhythms and slick, fluid poetry. She experiments in morbid, emotional, prayer. Her style is genre-bending with many different influences, but heavily rooted in Hip Hop & Rap. Most recently, DoNormaal has performed alongside Princess Nokia and Seattle’s Upstream Music Festival.
We're baaaaaaack! Last year's Sadie Hawkinz dance was such a blast that we're doing it again. Kissing booth and all.
Musical performances by:
Hustle and Drone
Kyle Craft
Helvetia
Dress fancy, ladiez ask a date, late night DJ dance party.
KYLE CRAFT
HELVETIA
From another info page:
Helvetia (pronounced “hel-vee-shuh") is the project of Jason Albertini, a previous member of UP Records band Duster and current bassist of Built To Spill. The band consists of former Duster bandmate Dove Amber, along with Zeke Howard, formerly of Love As Laughter (Glacial Pace, Sub Pop, UP Records), Samantha Stidham, and Jim Roth, also of Built To Spill. Having grown up in Basel, Switzerland, Albertini chose the name ‘Helvetia’ — the female personification of Switzerland — because of its lyrical and poetic sound. Between 2006 and 2011, Helvetia put out seven releases on The Static Cult Label, run by Duster’s Clay Parton, and toured with bands like Built To Spill and Meat Puppets. After running monitors and performing other roadie duties for Built To Spill for years, Albertini officially joined the band in 2012.
Known for recording most of Helvetia’s albums himself on a 4-track (except for 2008’s The Acrobats, recorded at the Seattle-based studio of Built To Spill’s Jim Roth), Albertini’s songs are raw, experimental, and psych-tinged. 2012’s Nothing In Rambling, the band’s first release for Joyful Noise Recordings, featured some of their most focused and inspired tracks to date. Shortly after its release, Albertini started recording new material that was deemed lost after a computer meltdown, but was eventually recovered and released as A Dot Running For the Dust - The Lost Sessions in early 2015. It will be followed by Helvetia’s new album, Dromomania, due out October 2nd on Joyful Noise.
“Dromomania” evokes the simplicity of ‘70s Kinks, combined with a good dose of Captain Beefheart and the randomness of The Residents. Third-wave hardcore influences meld with elements of Neu-like trance rock; Meat Puppets and Elevator to Hell come together on tracks like “Bermuda” and “Radio Shower.” Dromomania is a condition of wandering with no notice of intent nor memory of getting to where you’re going — just when you think you can get comfortable, you’re transported to a different place with a different set of ideals. Dromomania is a vague sense of feeling and dreams a-plenty.
Meatbodies
Alice is a self critical epic. As somber as the fog, intoxicating as jasmine. A near fable of fear, sexuality, war, religion, technology, peace, philosophy, hedonism, sociology, evolution, and ecclesiasticism. Like a whisper on a vinyl record from1952. Alice is open with dilated pupils. Flushed with passion, under soft lit words. A dance hall in the jungle, interrupted by the thunderous disease of the contemporary man. Alice is no religion, but may be seen as one. Alice is no person, no god. Alice is an idea, a feeling, covered in pink lace. Alice is a message, a hidden commentary of modern day, bathed in fantasy, abounding in ecstasy, feeling colors. Feminine in nature, torrid fantastic emotion, unique and tangible. A stinging kiss on a crisp November night.
Meatbodies return ascending towards ground level bringing us ALICE. A “heavy-pop” concept, metal on molly. Chad Ubovich, Patrick Nolan, and Kevin Boog step out in new form, souring through diverse stories, tones, and characters. Dancing between quiet and loud, funk and doom. pop and noise. Their messages preached celestial and deafening, a sacred scripture for today’s world. A warbling rhodes piano, a liquifying electric guitar, a ghostly synthesizer skating across the sands of a 12 stringed acoustic. Meatbodies dig deep into the rich soils of earth to reveal the chaotic sensual vibrations underneath the fields we walk upon. Connecting our limbs, our mouths, our consciousness to the microcosms of the grime, all while being lit by black light. Captured wriggling and alive in San Francisco by Ubovich and Eric Bauer at The Bauer Mansion. ALICE is a step in the right direction, a new direction, a new way of thinking.
Watching the futures, watching the world burn.
ALICE MAKES YOU BLEED AND ALICE LICKS THE TONGUES ALICE IS THE KEY TO MAKE THE MAD-BOYS RUN.
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
AH GOD:
https://ahgod.bandcamp.com/
CLARKE AND THE HIMSELFS:
https://clarkeandthehimselfs.bandcamp.com/
THE BUGS:
https://thebugspdx.bandcamp.com/
Ali Muhareb's Mujahedeen has come pretty far over the past few years. What started out as a solo project has since brought in more members and completely revamped its sound. Muhareb's vision began as a reverb-heavy outburst of electronic noise, but has since transitioned into jazzier psych territory. It also experiments with post-hardcore that’s as emotive as Mewithoutyou, with much groovier rhythms than Jawbox.
If you've never heard Scout Niblett's music, based on the name you might assume that you were about to listen to something whimsical and twee. However, Niblett's spellbinding stature only belies the power of her electric witchcraft. To behold her music is to be engulfed inside a monolithic demonstration of aural dark matter where the sonic void is as loud and impactful as any distortion pedal, mystical poeticism, or thundering drum roll. In one of the more impressive performances I have ever seen, Niblett, performing with a guitar and drums stage set-up, breezily switched between instruments while conjuring unbeholden forces with each intensely riveting incantation. Songs that presented themselves as viscerally isolated cries or tender nothings submerged in grunge darkness became beacons of emotion that were so pure, further instrumentation would've only muddied the desired effectiveness like oceanic radar signals disturbing the clarion calls of migrating dolphins.
Scout Niblett
Emma Louise Niblett, better known by the stage name Scout Niblett, is an English singer and songwriter. Her music is frequently minimal in style, many of her songs consisting merely of vocals accompanied by either drums or guitar, which she mostly plays herself. She is known for her intimate live shows.
Sam Coomes
Alongside bandmate Janet Weiss, Sam Coomes has released nine albums with his band Quasi over the last two decades and toured all over the world. Concurrently, Sam Coomes has played and recorded with the likes of Built to Spill, Elliott Smith and Jandek, worked as a producer and scored numerous soundtracks for underground films and art installations. In short, he is not a newcomer to the scene.
!!! (CHK CHK CHK)
"Each album we've made has gotten closer and closer to our live set and this, we're proud to say, is the closest we've come yet. We were heavily influenced by current dance music -- Nina Kraviz, Moodymann, Paranoid London, Rrose and Delroy Edwards were frequently referenced -- and philosophically by the early '90s house records we love on labels like Trax and Dancemania and by artists like Romanthony and Green Velvet. Those records sound great because they're fairly raw attempts to use the technology of the time to ape the New York and Philly disco records that those producers loved. We figured, if those old house records sound like they do because the artists manipulated disco samples with MPCs, why couldn't we just sample ourselves and manipulate the tracks with Ableton Live? The more raw it came out the better it felt, not only because that's what excited us about those old records, but because it felt more punk, which always feels good."
MASTER BEDROOM
HEAR THE IMMORTAL MOUNTAIN CLASSICS, MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, NANTUCKET SLEIGHRIDE, NEVER IN MY LIFE, DON’T LOOK AROUNDAND MANY OTHERS PERFORMED LIVE BY THE BAND’S DRUMMER, WHO CO-WROTE MANY OF THESE HITS. CORKY WILL ALSO SHARE ANECDOTES FROM THE ROAD. IN HONOUR OF HIS LONG TIME COLLBORATOR, JACK BRUCE, THE SET WILL FURTHER INCLUDE SONGS FROM CREAM AND WEST, BRUCE AND LAING. CORKY IS JOINED ON STAGE BY JOE VENTI (USA) ON BASS AND CHRIS SHUTTERS (USA) ON GUITAR.
“... a storyteller of the highest calibre...”
“... ‘Mississippi Queen’ was, of course, a highlight, but seldom have I seen a drummer dominate a set with such panache, and such deft use of the high hat and cowbell. There’s just not enough in rock these days. A true ‘giant of rock’.”
http://getreadytorock.me.uk/blog/2017/01/gig-review-giants-of-rock-butlins-minehead-27-30-january-2017/
CORKY LAING (CAN) is a drummer, songwriter, singer, producer and a raconteur. He is best known as the drummer of the legendary bands Mountain(1969-) and West, Bruce & Laing (1973-75). Mountain toured and recorded on and off until 2010.
In the late 70s Corky released his solo album “Making it on the Streets” that is often cited as an overlooked pioneer of AOR. In the early eighties Corky recorded with an indie band called the Mix and at the end of 1990s he got together with Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Eric Schenkman(Spin Doctors) to form the band Cork.
In the 90s Corky worked for several years as the vice president, A&R, of Polygram Records, Canada. During that time he produced bands like Men Without Hats and Bootsauce. He also had his own radio show, Under the Rock, in Canada, has published an anecdotal road-stories book, Stick it! and has his one-man show, The Best Seat in the House, a humorous autobiographical production that combines storytelling and music.
During the past couple of years Corky has been busy with Playing God: The Rock Opera – a critically acclaimed collaboration with two Finnish philosophers. In 2014 he was awarded the Bonzo Bash Legend Award(following Bill Ward, Carmine Appice and Peter Criss). Corky performs frequently and from 2015 onwards he has been touring across Europe and the US with CORKY LAING plays MOUNTAIN.
EX EYE
EX EYE features Colin Stetson - Bass and Alto Saxophones (Arcade Fire, Bon Iver), Greg Fox - Drums (Guardian Alien, Z's, Liturgy), Shahzad Ismaily - Bass, Synth (Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs 3), and Toby Summerfield - Guitar (Crush Kill Destroy, Never Enough Hope).
1939 Ensemble
1939 ENSEMBLE ARE AN INSTRUMENTAL TRIO FROM PORTLAND, OR. WITH AN UNUSUAL LINE-UP: DRUMS, VIBRAPHONE & NOISE. DRAWING INFLUENCES FROM KRAUTROCK, JAZZ & NO WAVE, 1939 ENSEMBLE MOVES BETWEEN OMINOUS DISSONANCE NOISE TO SHARP BOMBASTIC BEATS. THE DUO FEATURES JOSE MEDELES DAVID CONIGLIO & JOSH THOMAS.
HOLY MOLE!
wow, so much LOVE for HOMIEFEST, you guys! we're throwing this killer benefit show with HF vets that have played in the past & what a show this is going to be! thank you ALL for your amazing support & love.
Wooden Indian Burial Ground. 11pm
Y La Bamba 10pm
Tender Age 9:20pm
The WILD BODY 8:30pm
+++ DJ PAPI FIMBRES // $7, 8PM
Portland musical heavy hitters are coming together to pay tribute to the Queen of Country and one of country music’s most iconic songwriters - Dolly Parton!
It's time again for Siren Nations’s annual Dolly Parton Hoot Night at the Alberta Rose Theatre! This show always proves to be a fun night of local musicians singing their hearts out for the love of Ms. Parton - who is arguably the best female country singer in history.
Emcee: JoAnn Schinderle
Featured musicians are:
Mama Coal
Gerle Haggard Band
Hey Loretta!
Jenny Sizzler
Kara Harris
Marilee Hord
Nikole Potulsky
The Cabin Project
Weezy Ford
Katie Rose and Marty Charles
Lenore.
Siren Nation’s mission is to inspire and empower women of all ages to create their own art and to highlight the many achievements of women in the arts.
Siren Nation promotes and showcases the original work of women artists by creating year round performance, exhibition and educational opportunities.
Proceeds from this event benefit the 2017 Siren Nation Festival.
Minors OK when accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Portland's Fur Coats float on today's wave of psychedelia from a soul-pop perspective. Their 2015 EP, Desperate, is a slow, backbeat-driven saunter through surf-lounge burners.
(Sandy) Alex G
"It has the potential to be one of the defining American indie records" -The Quietus
Though only 21 years of age, and recently a student at Philadelphia's Temple University, DSU is Alex G's fifth album. "I have been making music for as long as I can remember. My older brother is a talented musician and, as a kid, I would take after him by playing the keyboard. I always preferred writing my own music to learning other people's work," says Alex, which may go some way to explaining the volume of original material that exists. All recorded at home, almost exclusively solo, and, until recently, all self-released and available only via Bandcamp; the volume of his work online - combined with its vitality - has helped build a fervent cult fan base, resulting in two sell out US-only pressings of DSU via the esteemed Brooklyn bedroom label Orchid Tapes.
Wise beyond his years, Alex's lyrics draw upon personal experiences whilst conveying something universal as if touching upon topics with a world-weary authority: the frustration that comes with dealing with reprobate friends, self-centred drug-use and the stinging loneliness of an unreciprocated affection all feature prominently. Like classic alternative artists Neil Young and Alex Chilton, Alex's songs are refreshingly robust and rapturous, with enough lo-fi grit to ground them in a sparse, impressionistic space.
Sonically, his palette fluctuates from the rolling rhythms of album opener 'After Ur Gone' to the distorted atmospherics of 'Hollow'; a shift that makes more sense when you realise Alex counts Silver Jews, Aphex Twin, Lucinda Williams and Boards of Canada amongst his diverse musical reference points. Everything is tied together by the ever present winding open spaces of his languid acoustic strums and the meandering melodies of that classic indie aesthetic. Lyrically each track on DSU - from the more intricate narrative of addictive highlight 'Harvey' to the overtly questioning elements of album closer 'Boy' - reveals just enough to embolden the listener to explore beneath its surface - making what they will of Alex's introspective musings.
Much like his closest musical forebear, Elliot Smith, Alex's music offers a complimentary sense of cathartic comfort in its moodiness. DSU is evidence of Alex G's pliable sound – one which has whole crowds singing his own words back to him with voracious intent. In the US the album has already been ecstatically received, earning Alex the accolade of "the Internet's Secret Best Songwriter" from The Fader while Rolling Stone named him "a bright new talent".
Though Alex seems to gel with other musicians - "The Philadelphia scene has a few bands that I really like. Orchid Tapes is cool. Everyone in the scene is very supportive"- in many ways, he is even an outsider in a scene of outsiders; determined to succeed on his own artistic terms. As the furore for him grows internationally, the clearest and "the most magical thing about Alex G is that everyone who comes into contact with him seems to fall in love" -The 405.
Japanese Breakfast
A side project from her work as front woman of Philadelphia indie punk band Little Big League, Michelle Zauner released a tape in June 2013 under the solo moniker Japanese Breakfast. The tape was titled June and boasted thirty tracks written and recorded every day of the month. A stark deviation from Little Big League's guitar- based indie rock, it showcased Zauner's dark lyrics, unique vocals and inherent knack for pop melody.
Two bedroom pop cassettes later, Japanese Breakfast returns with its first full- fledged LP and vinyl release, Psychopomp. The album explores Zauner's experimental interests and hosts a wide range of sound: jarring anime samples, minimalist ballads, rhythms and synths reminiscent of Tango in the Night-era Fleetwood Mac paired with the moody intimacy of Mount Eerie. After the foundation of the album was built, Zauner enlisted Ned Eisenberg to coproduce and embellish the record. Eisenberg helped with the mixing and production of the album. Psychopomp revisits and revamps lo-fi tracks and adds chilling new songs to fall in love with.
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams & Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 8th Join us for a free show with Minden / Super Secret Guests @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 15th Join us for a free show with Surfs Drugs / Ah Gods @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 22nd Join us for a free show with Vinyl Williams / Wet Dream @ 8pm. 21 +
Thursday, June 29th Join us for a free show with Riley Geare Trio / Sama Dams Experimental Set @ 8pm. 21 +
Join us in celebrating the launch of Volume 7 with our 73rd issue of ELEVEN!
Live performances by: Minden // Daughter Talk // Coati
Prizes and stuff!
— MINDEN
minden.bandcamp.com/
There's a subtle sexuality that penetrates Minden's saccharine indie pop. Erotic themes of bondage and role playing juxtapose with frontman Casey Burge's lighter subjects, such as searching for authenticity while selecting the right soda pop — it's all enough to leave one wiping his brow and licking her lips.
On the Portland quintet's new album Sweet, Simple Things, Burge and his band — Lia Gist (vocals), James Taylor (guitar), Evan Houston (bass), Ryan Johnson (drums), Dan Talmadge (keys) and Papi Fimbres (percussion) — hone an evocative collection of smooth and danceable tunes, indulging in confectionary hooks laid over funky grooves. The nine song LP is delicious in its oddity, befitting feel good moments from West Coast summers to Parisian night clubs.
There are elements of indie-pop's modern legacy favorites, evoking Phoenix, Peter, Bjorn & John and Miike Snow, or contemporaries such as Unknown Mortal Orchestra or Ariel Pink, but Minden widely pull influence from far less expected artists: Azymuth on the album's rhythms and genre-crossing, Dâm-Funk and his modern funk boogie, and classic soul-funk heroes like Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Bill Withers whose vibes carry on throughout. But at the core, the songwriting is still pure, pop-rock bliss with its inescapable influences running from the Beatles to Prefab Sprout.
— DAUGHTER TALK
daughtertalk.bandcamp.com/
Daughter Talk is the solo project of writer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Overstreet out of Portland, Oregon.
— COATI
bandofcoatis.bandcamp.com/
Come support the next generation of farmers & the preservation of Oregon's farmland by joining us for this ROOFTOP benefit party! The Road Sodas will keep our ears engaged with their lively folk, bluegrass, & old-time music. TenderBAR will be pouring seasonal cocktails, beer, & wine, and Hot Lips Pizza will be joining us on Ecotrust's lovely rooftop terrace to provide nourishment. We'll have some delectable raffle prizes and maybe even a silent auction package or two! Join us as we celebrate summer and our community of beginning and mentor farmers! All drink & raffle proceeds will go directly to support the work of Rogue Farm Corps. $5 suggested donation, no one turned away.
WHITE REAPER
The bold statement from Louisville’s White Reaper is not only the title of their new album, but also the band’s credo.
“Because we are the best,” says guitarist/vocalist Tony Esposito. “Just like Muhammad Ali was the greatest, you gotta say it out loud for people to believe it."
And with that mentality the band hit the studio with close friend and producer Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Young Widows) and made a good ol' fashioned in-your-face rock ’n’ roll record.
“We didn’t make this record or start this band because we wanted to come across in a single, certain way," says Esposito. “We just make records that we'd want to hear. We started doing this because it's fun as hell, just as much now as it was when we were 14."
Boasting textured melodies, layered guitars and more seasoned lyrics, The World’s Best American Band finds the quartet busting out of the basement sound established on their previous full length (2015’s White Reaper Does It Again) and setting their sights on the arena.
Garnished with glimpses of the golden age of rock and roll, TWBAB is loaded with guitars that scream and gigantic drums in lockstep rhythm, each song packing its own massive, but none the less unique, punch. Lead single “Judy French” struts like a runway model raised on Heavy Metal Parking Lot, while midway point “The Stack” pairs a classic rock shimmy with a flair for glam.
The Kentucky boys eagerly await hitting the road in 2017. Armed with a record that celebrates rock in all of its glory, they are poised to satisfy crowds whether they are packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the "standing room only" pit or kicking back in the cheap seats.
“Come to the show, have a drink, have fun,” laughs Esposito. “But be nice to everybody, cause you're gonna get real close."
RON GALLO
I straddle the fence between two mindsets –
1. The world is completely fucked and, 2. The universe is inside you. I have probably spent too much time being pissed off and upset with humanity; how far we’ve let ourselves go. Just another
millennial guy with large hair trying in earnest to take on the weight of the world; taking passionate and hypercritical walks down city blocks, somehow totally aware and above the illusion, overflowing
with informed negativity to destroy the illusion and only feeding it.
Besides a couple of years of emotional and mental turmoil, loss, confusion, breakdown and internal growth what did all of that ever
get me? Well, it gave me this record called “HEAVY META” and it is the first few findings from my guerilla treasure hunt for bullshit, both outside and within. Ethos meets pathos. There is nothing about reading this bio that will achieve its only goal - to further
acquaint you with the music. I suggest you put the phone down, come to a show and make up your own mind. You work hard, or don’t work at all; but the search for purpose and meaning is real and the need to relate, release and rage is just as visceral. And though I can’t control what you think, maybe, JUST MAYBE, I can
spark some emotion that might unite us in tacit understanding through the language of music – where the words “fuck yeah” say everything. Just the existence of a biography in someway makes it seem like my life is more interesting than your life - far from the truth. I am more interested in YOU, and how we connect that to the WE; that is the reason why I put this stuff out there.
These songs - whether they’re about the time I saw a mother’s cigarette ash falling onto her child’s head in a stroller, or the wars we start within ourselves or, the domestication of punks - they immortalize images and moments in this singular existence that seem to hold a more universal truth than what is taken at face
value. And for all this I have nothing but gratitude for the process that lead me to create this album - the 4,929,647 album of all time.