21+ // Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
$12 General Admission // TICKETS
Nasalrod
Described by The Deli Magazine contributor Tracy Mamoun as “surprising, experimental, and fun like rock n’ roll should be,” Portland's Nasalrod is a collaborative vision. The intensity of drummer Spit Stix (a founding member of the seminal L.A. punk band FEAR) is a major driving force behind the spazz-rock and roll quartet. The band is currently performing its frenetic act in support of their upcoming split 12" record with Bay Area legends Victims Family.
Named after the bone in Screamin’ Jay’s nose, Nasalrod has found that originality and insanity can go hand in hand. Lead singer Chairman’s sneering, kooky yet soulful vocals soar over a sound that is simultaneously melodic, violent and convulsive. Spit Stix, guitarist Mustin Douch, and bassist Mandy Morgan provide a sonic backdrop that is the twisted and theatrical heart of Nasalrod. Their full-length album Building Machines is a fun and furious blast of genre-busting punk derangement, full of on-a-dime rhythm changes, heavy riffs and shape shifting melodies that capture the madness that the band is known for.
Armed with their notoriously frantic live show, Nasalrod has shared stages with various acts such as Mudhoney, Melt-Banana, Mike Watt, D.O.A., Big Business, The Avengers, Torche, and Fear.
“The genre police will never close the case on Nasalrod. You can’t call them punk because you’d be selling them short. They don’t play noise rock because their songs have structure, even a dance-ability at times. You could almost call them a pop band, but they’re way too heavy and aggressive. They’re a band of musical masterminds that can’t be caught.” – Aris Wales, The Portland Mercury
Tacos!
Seattle metal band Tacos! functioned for nearly a decade as a two-piece band whose sonic MO is driving, in your face, heaviness. Well-known for their boisterous live shows, played regularly all over town, members Lupe Flores (also of Wild Powwers) and Donovan Stewart were often approached after shows by friends and audience members asking to join the band as their third member.
Their answer was always the same: "Nah. We're good."
During Covid isolation, however, is when Hozoji Matheson-Margullis (of SeaTac heavyweights Helms Alee) asked to join. This time, the answer was a no-brainer: it was a logical, organic fit— They’d been good friends for many years, and their chemistry was already there.
When Hozoji joined Tacos!, the tectonic shift that followed was massive: fuller and heavier, yet maintaining sincerity and a thundering sound. The band members all share in the lyric writing and vocal duties, blending their voices in an evocative aural tapestry. “It's like Thin Lizzy, Heart, and the Melvins all together,” says Flores. Their new album "3", sees them grasping at - and seizing - big sounds, big meaning, and big feelings.
18+ // Doors 6:30pm, Show 8pm
TICKETS // $25 Adv., $30 Day of Show, $35 21+ Reserved Balcony
All tickets for the previously scheduled April 29, 2023 show will be honored at this new date.
Lotus is a five-piece instrumental band formed while members were in college and has evolved and grown over 20 plus years. They were early adopters of fusing electronic beats and sounds from dance music with jam music, but also draw on psych-rock, post-rock, disco, funk and jazz. Their dance-inducing, high energy shows have made them festival favorites.
The band cut its teeth on the road building up a loyal fanbase by word of mouth. They also have released a steady stream of studio albums that showcase the band's diverse musical tastes and production styles. In 2021 Lotus welcomed new lead guitarist Tim Palmieri to the group. Tim has been a pillar of the scene for two decades known for his virtuosic playing and melodic improvisation. He has brought a new energy to the stage and will was also featured on the band's most recent album Bloom & Recede (2022).
The first incarnation of Lotus came together for a music showcase in 1998 at Goshen College in Indiana. Albums such as their debut studio release, Nomad (2006) have become a touchstone for how to organically fuse elements of electronica with jam music. Over the last two decades, Lotus has toured actively throughout the US working their way up from dingy basement clubs to world-class venues such as Red Rocks. They've become festival favorites, playing everything from Bonnaroo, Camp Bisco and Outside Lands to Ultra Music Festival and Electric Forest, building a hyper-loyal following along the way. The band also hosts their own annual Summerdance Festival in Garrettsville, Ohio. A Lotus live show is an experience, a uniquely crafted and improvised set taking everyone, the crowd and band, on a journey.
Wildflowers & Weeds + Hello Cruel World present a Portland Music Month special, in partnership with XRAY & Music Portland.
Laith & The Texas Birds
Laith is a Texas songbird. And songbirds don’t fly south for the winter, but they do fly low for the blues. Laith knows that to fly low is to feel high and to feel high is to get struck by lightning. And lightning is the heart of this record. Texas lightning.
On Laith’s debut record, ‘Lightning’, he carries us across state lines from LA to Arizona, Colorado to Espanola, Houston to New Orleans, Utah on to the Great Northwest, where he currently lays his head, dreaming of running these roads until the wheels don’t touch the ground. And his writing does just that. It burns along the asphalt until there’s none left. And that’s when Laith takes us beyond, on phantom track lines through the abstract geography of his mind. He flows seamlessly between railway signs and lost trains of thought. Like a true American surrealist.
‘Lightning’ was recorded in two pieces over about 6 months in Portland, Oregon. [sic] The result is a 12-track traveling companion for the wild-eyed western mystic drifting along the winding highway, pulling off for all the old haunts - love, money, and hysteria. It’s outsider country rooted in the Texas songwriting tradition; buzzing with the subtle hum of northwestern psychedelia. And with a voice that literally sounds like smokestacks and lightning, Laith takes the listener from bar room to bedroom and back again, cruising along the vibrant soundscapes of The Texas Birds. It’s a timeless sound laden with thundering pianos and padded with Rhodes and organ; dusty acoustic guitars and ghostly harmonies fade in and out of the ether; the spirited twang of the electric guitar and the raw wah thump of the clavinet squabble in the dark while the pedal steel takes to the sky; all held within the deep pocket of a dynamic rhythm section.
-Taylor Kingman
Silver Triplets of the Rio Hondo
The trio features the dreamy & toothsome embellishments of Haven Multz Matthews on skins and Christopher Cook wielding guitar leads that alternate between Bakersfield country & avant-noise in quick succession, & the samples dancing in and out of the periphery may leave an audience wondering how a sound at times so massive & strange can still feel somehow intimate.
(via Giant Rock Meeting Room)
Susannah Mars has been working as a performing artist since she was ten. She is a Resident Artist at Artists Repertory Theatre and is on the board at Portland Center Stage. Over the past thirty-five years, she’s appeared onstage worldwide. Locally, she’s played iconic roles like Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd, Mother in Ragtime, and Mama Rose in Gypsy. She’s performed her holiday show Mars On Life and played Diana in Next To Normal, among others. Most recently, she was Miss Trunchbull at Portland Playhouse and played Mistress Hibbins in Scarlet and Margaret in The Light in the Piazza. She was on NBC’s Grimm as Drew Wu’s psychiatrist, Dr. Richet. Ms. Mars is the proud recipient of six Portland Drama Critics awards. She’s also sung with The Oregon and Seattle Symphonies, among others. Lately, she finds herself in a lovely sound booth at home voicing audiobooks, audio-description, and commercials. Please find out more, including updates on her short documentary film about art and grief, Symphony of Grief, by subscribing to her newsletter at susannahmars.com
Jessica Wallenfels creates new work that is music and movement-driven with her company, Many Hats Collaboration. Recent works include Great Wide Open, Matter, and The Undertaking. Wallenfels also works as a freelance director/choreographer. Her work has been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Portland Playhouse, Artists Repertory Theatre, Broadway Rose, Oregon Children’s Theater and other venues. Wallenfels currently teaches at Portland State University and Clackamas Community College. She holds a BFA from California Institute of the Arts and an MFA in directing from the University of Portland.
Julia Francis is a Seattle-based sound healing practitioner, singer-songwriter and workshop facilitator. With her voice and crystal alchemy bowls, she offers sound baths, private vocal attunement sessions and retreats that create space for relaxation, inspiration and deep healing. A life-long disciple of the vocal arts, Julia draws on her Celtic heritage, as well as her intensive study with shamanic practitioners and sound healers across the globe to help others understand and perceive the power of the unseen sonic world that surrounds us. Discover her offerings at www.juliafrancis.com.
RESCHEDULED FROM 1/19/23!
DJ Klyph Productions brings a Portland Music Month special, in partnership with XRAY & Music Portland.
Pigeon John
is an underground MC with a genre-fusing style and positive lyrics. He is sometimes labeled a Christian rapper because of his hopeful messages and references to God, but with easily relatable subject matter and musical influences drawing from across the spectrum of rock and pop music, he aims to reach as wide an audience as possible. Active since the early 1990s, he made an impact on the hip-hop world as a member of the L.A. Symphony collective, as well as acclaimed solo efforts like 2003's Pigeon John Is Dating Your Sister. Subsequent albums like 2010's Dragon Slayer incorporated more live instrumentation and sung vocal hooks, and he received mainstream exposure as several of his songs were featured in advertisements, including the 2011 single "The Bomb" and 2019's "They Don't Make Em Like Me." He continued delivering uplifting vibes with 2020's Gotta Good Feelin', drawing influence from Motown, reggae, alternative rock, and dance music.
VURSATYL
is an MC and Singer/Songwriter who came to international attention as a member of the Portland, Oregon based Hip Hop group Lifesavas. With the group and as a solo artist, Vursatyl has toured extensively with De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Slum Village and Little Brother to name just a few. As well as collaborating and recording music with George Clinton, Smif-N-Wessun, Digable Planets’ lead MC Ishmael, Camp Lo, Dead Prez and most recently Run The Jewels. After honing his craft for over 25 years in the music business VURSATYL is a seasoned veteran in his own right.
Donte Thomas
is known for his pristine penmanship, charismatic voice and unique take on life growing up in his hometown Portland, Oregon. Born May 17th, 1994, Thomas spent years embracing the culture of Hip-Hop. While in high school, he released 3 projects under the name "Don" which gave him a name and made him a familiar face amongst his peers and the local music scene. He is also the CEO of the independent music organization Success That's Recognized At Youth (STRAY).
Soop Dread
Having amassed a prolific catalogue of underground music dating back to 2008, the term ‘Humbled into Obscurity’ captures Soop Dreads DIY/ punk rock approach to making music left for listeners to discover on their own. The earliest recordings scattered about the internet have the lo-fi production quality of early reggae yet the charisma of DOOM and Jay Electronica. Originally from South Central LA, Soop has spent the last decade in Portland Oregon. While nomadically wandering on psychedelics and binge reading science fiction, his early roots in Rastafarianism and Hiduism have manifested into a perspective unlike any rapper of his caliber. On top of being self taught multi-instrumentalist, it’s his tongue in cheek approach that will resonate with listeners the most.
(Rescheduled from January 15th due to snow & ice conditions)
In-Person Event: 12-4pm, XRAY On-Air Broadcast 12-2pm.
All Ages // Suggested donation of $5 or 5 cans of non-perishable food items
XRAY will continue our annual live broadcast from the event--more details to come!
World Arts Foundation’s presents the 39th annual tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This family-friendly event celebrates Oregon’s African-American community, on stage and through community-building in the event’s Victory Village marketplace. Here’s a link to a historical film documenting the program’s legacy.
This year’s program features:
Speakers Dr. James Mason (Care Oregon), George Hocker (Community Activist), and Lifetime Achievement awardee Ken Boddie (KOIN News)
Performances by the MLK All-Star Band directed by Charlie Brown III ft. Andy Stokes, Tahirah Memory, Danielle Barker, and Eli Hardy; KairosPDX Learning Academy
31 days. 28 venues. 100+ shows. Discover your next favorite.
LIVE ON AIR!
Commodore Theodore will be spinning a very special heavy soul-themed show (with minimal talking) of Head East on NYE from the normal show time of 10pm extended to past midnight to help you dance your way into the new year and provide the perfect jams for your NYE party!
21+ // Doors 7 PM, Show 8 PM
TICKETS $35
Fruition’s newest album, Broken at the Break of Day, may be hard to categorize, yet it feels complete because of their dedication to honesty as well as harmony. Influenced equally by acoustic music and rock ‘n’ roll, the Portland, Oregon-based band is composed of Jay Cobb Anderson (electric guitar, vocals), Kellen Asebroek (piano, acoustic guitar vocals), Jeff Leonard (bass), Mimi Naja (mandolin, electric guitar, vocals) and Tyler Thompson (drums). Their unmistakable vocal blend first revealed itself in 2008 when Anderson tagged along with Asebroek and Naja for an afternoon of busking in Portland. Since that time, they have opened shows for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, and at appeared at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest. Broken at the Break of Day follows the band’s exceptional 2019 album, Wild as the Night.
*Also with special guests the Rose City Horns on 12/31!
21+ // Doors 7 PM, Show 8 PM
TICKETS $35
Fruition’s newest album, Broken at the Break of Day, may be hard to categorize, yet it feels complete because of their dedication to honesty as well as harmony. Influenced equally by acoustic music and rock ‘n’ roll, the Portland, Oregon-based band is composed of Jay Cobb Anderson (electric guitar, vocals), Kellen Asebroek (piano, acoustic guitar vocals), Jeff Leonard (bass), Mimi Naja (mandolin, electric guitar, vocals) and Tyler Thompson (drums). Their unmistakable vocal blend first revealed itself in 2008 when Anderson tagged along with Asebroek and Naja for an afternoon of busking in Portland. Since that time, they have opened shows for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, and at appeared at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest. Broken at the Break of Day follows the band’s exceptional 2019 album, Wild as the Night.
A LIVE holiday performance!
20 December 2023
Season 11, Episode 12L
Every year since 2013, Re-Imagined Radio has offered "A Radio Christmas Carol." It's become an annual community tradition, bringing joy and festivities to the seasonal holidays. This year, our 10th Anniversary, we are pleased to welcome the Willamette Radio Workshop, directed by Sam A. Mowry, and The Holly Jolly Singers, for a live performance of "A Radio Christmas Carol," in Vancouver's historic Kiggins Theatre. Yes, the holiday magic returns! Broadcast and live stream by KXRW.FM (Vancouver, WA) and KXRY.FM (XRAY.FM, Portland, OR).
All Ages until 8pm, 21+ after 8pm
Join XRAY DJs, staff and friends for a Holiday Happy Hour at Dream House on Beech Street!
Featuring a live DJ set from the Wayward Girls Soul Club (The 'IN' Crowd, Saturdays 2-3pm) from 6-9pm followed by Dream House's regularly scheduled programming with DJ Kyle Reese (VCR TV, Fridays 12-1am) from 9pm-1am.
Join us for an afternoon of music and collaboration on December 10th featuring amazing performances from youth artists showing off their musical craft from seven nonprofit organizations!
MVM has opened up the doors to their annual holiday event at their new music center at SE 89th/Stark to highlight the work of youth served by several organizations and Give!Guide partners amplifying young voices across our community.
Get to know the organizations at their tables throughout the space while enjoying dynamic performances from young artists pouring their passion into music. Your presence at this event supports the collective effort to empower and uplift young voices throughout our community.
Synth Library Portland will be tabling for hands-on synth fun before, during, and after the showcase performances for all ages and skill levels to play with modular synthesizers and other electronic music equipment.
Event Info on MVM website
https://myvoicemusic.org/events/2023youthmusicshowcase
Facebook Event
https://www.facebook.com/events/1418921845355128
All Ages // FREE
Complimentary wine and light fare will be served for the event. Please note: Studios are not ADA accessible and require going down a flight of stairs.
Come check out the wonderful community of artists we're apart of and see the XRAY studios firsthand! If you didn't know, we're housed in a community of creative studios that doubles as an art gallery of their creations, with magnificent creations from floor to ceiling through the entire area.
Our studios will be open for this annual tradition alongside the dozens of artists we call neighbors including sculptors, painters, multimedia artists, singers and musicians, screenprinters, and many more we share the space with.
All Ages // $20 Advance, $25 Day-Of // TICKETS
Doors 6:30pm, Show 7:30pm
The Old Church invites you to be part of a series that celebrates intentional healing through sound, and creative visuals, and presence of mind. Each concert in the series is carefully booked to coincide with either the Full or New Moon.
This sound bath celebrates the Full Frost Moon on November 26th, 2023.
Ora Cogan is a recording artist based on Vancouver Island. She is known for her singular voice and cinematic compositions. Cogan has released seven albums to date while collaborating with a multitude of artists and touring extensively. She has performed at numerous festivals throughout Europe & North America while sharing the stage with the likes of Grouper & Mazzy Star. Her latest EP, Dyed, was released October 21, 2022 and her new full length record will be out in 2023.
“Ora Cogan draws from a wide web of influence, but – truly – she sounds like no other.” CLASH Magazine
“Spent many nights listening to this captivating music.” - Hope Sandoval, Mazzy Star
Cogan can be strikingly sparse and overwhelmingly composed in the same sublime breath. She summons orchestral waves of violins and rolling psychedelic guitars, propelled forward by a voice that sweeps audiences away under a tsunami of blissful sonic complexity. - Sled Island Festival
Multi-instrumentalist Ora Cogan makes gorgeous experimental folk compositions laced with hints of psychedelia, chamber pop, and rock. - She Shreds
While her lyrics focus on corporate greed and environmental degradation, her transcendent arrangements provide relief and hope. - Bandcamp
Ora’s music is effortlessly extravagant. This is not music made for passive listening, rather, it is something that needs to be experienced. Discorder Magazine
“Cogan’s drawl evokes the tone of Karen Dalton and the technique of John Martyn.” - The Wire
Tispur is a chamber-folk project fronted by Samwise Carlson from Boise, ID, now located in Portland, OR. Known for their intricate guitar-work, dream-like vocals, and ornate lyricism that excite evocative imagery of imaginary worlds; Samwise creates gently hypnotic, moving performances akin to the spirits of Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan, and Joanna Newsom.
Alexis Mahler explores her softness through the dark and earthy colors of the cello, a somber strum comforted by delicate lyrics and playful melodies. Her debut EP, Low Moon, innocently reaches for the most tender and heartful listener, while following intricate, moving layers of cello, violin, and distant vocal harmonies that seem to fall exactly where they should.
21+ | Orchestra $55.50, PDX Jazz Members $50.50 | TICKETS
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
One of the most lyrical and intimate voices of contemporary jazz piano, Brad Mehldau has forged a unique path, which embodies the essence of jazz exploration, classical romanticism and pop allure. From critical acclaim as a bandleader to major international exposure in collaborations with Pat Metheny, Renee Fleming, and Joshua Redman, Mehldau continues to garner numerous awards and admiration from both jazz purists and music enthusiasts alike. His forays into melding musical idioms, in both trio (with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums) and solo settings, has seen brilliant re-workings of songs by contemporary songwriters like The Beatles, Cole Porter, Radiohead, Paul Simon, Gershwin and Nick Drake; alongside the ever evolving breath of his own significant catalogue of original compositions. With his self-proclaimed affection for popular music and classical training, “Mehldau is the most influential jazz pianist of the last 20 years” (The New York Times).
Bundy’s unique career has brought him across the world, with concerts in 28 countries and counting-from high-tech performance halls in South Korea and Italy, to remote villages in Zimbabwe and Guatemala. He has independently sold over 150,000 albums on his record label, Honest Ninja Music. His video clips circulate virally at astonishing speed, with over 45million YouTube views to date.
Jimmy Leslie at Guitar Player Magazine blogs “It was easy to see why Bundy plays bigger venues on each tour. In his hands, the acoustic guitar is an imagination station, and there was no telling where he is going take the audience at any given turn. Thrilling stuff.”Audiocast Magazine from Austin, TX agrees: "Bundy's live show is without a doubt an event that needs to be witnessed rather than told about. With such a jaw-dropping performance, Bundy's live concert is a slap in the face that would leave a palm print on the memory of everyone in the audience.
All Ages // $20 Advance, $25 Day-Of // TICKETS
Doors 7pm, Show 7pm
Legendary Irish folk singer Karan Casey has released 11albums to date. She has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Japan, singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility in a career spanning over 25 years. Karan is joined by Niamh Dunne on fiddle and vocals, and guitarist and accordionist Sean Óg Graham (both of the
Irish folk band Beoga). The evocative trio have toured together for several years and this show premieres new material developed and recorded since the start of the pandemic as well as favourites from Karan’s back repertoire. The songs draw inspiration from a wide range of sources from the personal to the historical and political, touching on themes of family, loss, love, the empowerment of women and Irish revolutionary struggle.
Lindsay Clark finds balance between traditional and english folk, country, and her own version of experimental folk that seems to come from within. Exquisite and pitch perfect, her music speaks of quiet revelation, with a background of (usually her own) multi-tracked vocal arrangements. With influences ranging from the Beach Boys, Elizabeth Cotton, Joni Mitchell, Appalachian folk, her classical upbringing, and her father's record collection, she blends many worlds into a uniquely warm sound. She has carved out a vibrant place as an artist with a penchant for poetry, rich harmony, and a style of self-taught fingerpicking influenced by Nick Drake, John Fahey, and others.
DOORS 6:30 — SHOW 7:30
Listen to our on-air chat with BACKFENCE PDX about this very event! (Begins at the 30 min mark)
BACKFENCE PDX: ROULETTE, hosted by Frayn Masters and Mindy Nettifee, is a high-risk high-stakes night of storytelling. With the spin of a giant gameshow wheel of prompts, storytellers get just 5-minutes to conjure a true story based on the fickle fate of where the wheel stops.
MUSIC by XRAY's own DJ JOHN B. JONES (Hello Cruel World, Thu 3-4pm)
STORYTELLERS:
- KATIE NGUYEN
- CANDACE MOLATORE
- NARIKO OTT
- RENEE JENKINSON
- LEATHER STORRS
For ADA/Arts for all tix email: info@backfencepdx.com