‘Criminal’, The Soft Moon's fourth studio album, is a confessional work. Through the stark lens of shame and guilt that has followed Luis Vasquez since a violent childhood growing up within the humming ambient sprawl of 80s Mojave Desert, here he documents the gut-wrenching sound of going to war with himself. Battling with his own sanity, self-hatred, insecurity, self-entitlement and grappling with the risk of these things transforming him into a person he despises, Vasquez has laid his feelings bare with this: his confession and most self-reflective work to date.
Tickets available at: https://www.ticketfly.com/event/1601829-sold-out-soft-moon-portland/
Some of Portland's finest dark synth artists join forces for an amazing evening with Austin-based artist Josh Mills aka Missions, signed to S U R V I V E's own Holodeck Records.
The fourth annual Out From the Shadows festival, featuring 24 post-punk and darkwave bands from around the US and Europe. Besides being a benefit for both XRAY.FM and the LBGTQ organization SMYRC (Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center), this year each night's festivities will be preceded by a mini-record show with vendors offering the finest in dark musics from a multitude of genres. In other words, OFTS 2018 is an utter dark music extravaganza. Accept no substitutes...Tickets here:
3-day pass: https://holdmyticket.com/event/307474
Day one: https://holdmyticket.com/event/307475
Day two: https://holdmyticket.com/event/307477
Day three: https://holdmyticket.com/event/307478
The music of Sama Dams steals from you most virtuously — it will rob your sense of time and leave you wondering how long you’ve been awash in sound, rhythm, and ether.
On their fourth release, “Say It” — released on Friendship Fever on April 6 — Lisa Adams emerges from the background to deliver commanding lead vocals in her clarion soprano alongside partner Sam and the highly textured drumming of Chris Hermsen.
Almost in answer to the muted ambivalence that marks movements from the band’s previous “Comfort in Doubt,” “Say It” features the trio striking boldly throughout, both musically and thematically. According to Sam, “It’s about being more honest about what we’re thinking and feeling.”
SAMA DAMS // https://samadams.bandcamp.com/
KELLI SCHAEFER // https://kellischaefer.bandcamp.com/
POOL BOYS
Loud guitars + pretty harmonies
https://www.facebook.com/poolboysband/
Genders
genderspdx.bandcamp.com
+
Honcho Poncho
honchoponcho.bandcamp.com
+
Plastic Cactus
plasticcactus.bandcamp.com
$7 / 21+
*photo by Todd Walberg
Hurry Up
https://www.facebook.com/getweirder/
+
Sad Horse
sadhorse.bandcamp.com/
+
Pumping Iron
+
Ghost Frog
ghostfrog.bandcamp.com/
$7 / 21+
MISS RAYON
missrayon.bandcamp.com/releases
+
ADHERE TO FORM
sinisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/departed
+
SWEEPING EXITS
sweepingexits.bandcamp.com/
$5 / 21+
An All Ages evening with Nevada-based musician Nicholas Rattigan, of Surf Curse, The Nicholas Project, Tele/Visions etc.
Current Joys is the enigmatic solo project of 25-year-old Henderson, Nevada-born songwriter Nicholas Rattigan. In addition to his minimal two-piece band with Jacob Rubeck, Surf Curse, Rattigan has been releasing a prolific catalog of heart-wrenching no wave ballads via Bandcamp under a handful of names (including The Nicholas Project and Tele/Visions), eventually choosing Current Joys as the permanent moniker, based on a song by folk-artist Liam the Younger of the same name. His newest release, A Different Age, documents the process of making art and the desire to create it sincerely in an era fraught with extreme irony, apathy, and nostalgia. Ripe with many of the emotions and conflicts that have influenced Rattigan’s songwriting in the past, A Different Age contains some of his most poetic lyrics and thoughtful arrangements to date.
Join us in celebrating four whole years on-air at XRAY.fm's Birthday Bash, featuring the voices of XRAY, comedians, bands, DJs, and birthday goody bags.
FEATURING:
Maarquii
Máscaras
The Bedrooms
MCs Kirsten Kuppenbender & Erin Jean O’Regan
XRAY DJ Sets from DJ Serious Moonlight & DJ Palm Dat, and more!
Event sells out every year so get your tickets now here.
MAARQUII
Máscaras, comprised of three Portland music scene veterans is what happens when an off-the-cuff jam session between friends really, really works. Even in its recorded form, “it’s a jam with themes that live and breathe,” the band says, “leaving room for the unexpected.” The trio plays heavy, propellant psychedelic music with surf-rock twang and mathy sensibilities. They call it “maximalist indigenous psych”. These are urgent, intense songs, but they’re also playful. It’s the sound of three homies making exactly the music they want to make, for no one else but themselves. It just so happens that people love it.
THE BEDROOMS
New romantic tunes for non romantic times.
DJ Serious Moonlight & DJ Palm Dat
DJ Serious Moonlight is Holocene talent buyer / curator Gina Altamura. She hosts interdisciplinary arts programming, manages R&B and pop artists, and owns a cat named Žižek. DJ Palm Dat is local musician and photographer Akila Fields. He plays keys in Shy Girls, makes his own shoegazing R&B as Palm Dat, and shares his vision at akilafields.com. Every Saturday they host INTUITIVE NAVIGATION on XRAY.FM / 107.1 from 6-7pm, which focuses on new-R&B, UK Soul, and the latest in electronic pop. Feels-talk, moon-talk, and sultry jams.
Join XRAY as we ring in our fourth birthday with community, cupcakes, and conversation. XRAY in the Morning's Karol Collymore and Emily Gilliland will lead a panel discussion about radio’s role in democracy in 2018 featuring XRAY weekday morning mainstay Thom Hartmann. Tickets include cupcakes from Back to Eden Bakery (100% vegan and gluten-free) and a gift bag featuring goodies from Pike Road Wines,Secret Aardvark Trading Company, and other XRAY sponsors. We hope you’ll come out and show your support for community radio, and help us welcome Thom back home to Portland after many years away!
Want to stay for the Birthday Bash, immediately following the panel discussion at Mississippi Studios? Pay just $5 extra for entry to both events (regular price $15). (Info about the Birthday Bash can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/769441549915388/)
Tickets:
$30 Panel ($20 for XRAY members)
$35 Panel + Birthday Bash ($25 for XRAY members)
Advance tickets available here.
Thanks to sponsors Secret Aardvark Trading Company, Columbia Bank &Pike Road Wines for sponsoring this panel discussion!
Shop, listen to XRAY.FM DJs (Magic Beans and T-KRAY), and learn more about community radio at the same time! Did we mention that you can do all of this plus have a cocktail in your hand? It just keeps getting better.
XRAY.FM Presents - Pop Up: An Evening of Music & Shopping.
There will be vintage clothing, housewares, ceramics, art, accessories and 2 guys selling records. Shop and show your support both on and off the air. See you there! All ages welcome.
Omen Vintage https://www.omenvintage.com/
Shop Nu Nu https://inspicks.com/user/shop_nu_nu/324416824
Sami Gaston http://sami.design/
Mixed Needs https://mixedneeds.com/
Main & Grand https://www.mainandgrand.com/
Switchblade Sistas Vintage
Plus 2 guys selling records
On the occasion of Mark E. Smith's would-be 61st birthday, Mystic Crew Filth (a collective of XRAY.FM and Freeform Portland DJs) pay tribute to The Fall, spinning records from their 40-year career as well as side projects and bands who influenced their music.
Celebrating 10 years of live storytelling! Throwing back our price to 2008!! Only $10 for GA and $22 for VIP!! GET ON IT!
True never-been-told stories based on the theme TRANSPLANTS.
LAUREN WEEDMAN Star of two SOLD OUT Runs of People’s Republic of Portland at Portland Center Stage at The Armory, Doris from HBO’s LOOKING, JENNY BRUSO the amazing force behind UNLIKELY HIKERS, Check her and her 30k followers out on IG: @unlikelyhikers, CAITLIN WEIERHAUSER Voted WW’s Funniest Person 2017, Voted Portland’s Funniest Person 2017, Member of Lez Standup SHANNON BALCOM GRAVES 5-Time Back Fence PDX: RUSSIAN ROULETTE Winner, Co-Host of XRAY.FM’s Sex, Drugs and Basketball, CHRIS WILLIAMS Broke Gravy Improv, 3-Time Back Fence PDX RUSSIAN ROULETTE Winner and JEN FELDMAN & JONATHAN COHEN Kidney Donor/Donee telling in tandem. Jen is the Development Director for Congregation Beth Israel, Veteran of 40 Years of Marriage. Jonathan is a partner in Old Town’s Society Hotel, Founder of Solar Contracting Firm, Imagine Energy.
Hosted by B. FRAYN MASTERS with announcer JASON ROUSE
Music by DJ BOBBY D from XRAY
A portion of this show’s proceeds will go to Donate Life Northwest.
XRAY.FM PRESENTS: GOLD BRIX TAPE 01 RELEASE PARTY
Gold Brick Records will be releasing its first in a series of special mix tapes (on cassette tape) featuring rare /unreleased music from all 4 bands on this bill. We will also have tunes DJ'd from a reel to reel machine in between sets by the illustrious DJ Cat and Cone.
TICKET LINK: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1636336"
The bands:
Night Heron (ft. members of Radiation City, Aan, Reptaliens, et al) :
http://soundcloud.com/nightheronmusic
Wet Dream (ft. members of Grandparents, Moon By You, et al):
http://wetdreamcommittee.com/
S.E.C.R.E.T.S. (ft. members of Nurses):
https://soundcloud.com/supersecretsongs
Martha Stax (ft. members of Star Club, Rare Diagram, Ancient Elk, No Aloha)
Get your tickets here: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1636336
Doors at 8pm
Show at 9pm
21+
$8 advance / $10 day of show
XRAY FM, McMenamins, StarChile, & Pabst Blue Ribbon Presents: 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!
Make sure you hit www.miccheckpdx.com
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 22ND:
Special Guests...
HANiF
ANDRE WAYMOND
LISA VAZQUEZ
Hosted by StarChile
Music by Trox
Dooors @ 9pm, Show starts at 10pm...
21 and over, Tickets: $8 @ the Door
Timony’s fearless approach to her craft resulted in her forging a new path for the much-discussed “woman in rock,” one where a woman could nod to her femininity without hewing to outdated ideas of womanhood, and one where someone could not just play guitar, but could play with ideas of how the instrument should be approached. Timony simultaneously deconstructs and rebuilds riffs, searching for resolution but also savoring the journey toward it; with Helium, she pushed her technique and explored unconventional compositional ideas in-depth. The chug of “Pat’s Trick” was of a piece with the brand of ‘90s rock given the “indie rock” blessing, but Timony’s swallowing-itself solo and laconic vocal elevated the track, making it a head-rush of damaged beauty.
Helium’s first single, 1993’s “The American Jean,” announced a band that was as influenced by prog’s exploratory impulses as it was by punk’s willingness to speak its peace, its thrum anchored by Shawn King Devlin’s crashing drums and Brian Dunton’s loping basslines. The work that followed—the “Hole In The Ground”/“Lucy” 7-inch, the high-concept EP Pirate Prude—furthered the vision of Timony, whose guitar playing and lyrics hummed with the desire to build something new out of the world’s various rubbles, to grow a flower out of the apocalypse.
In 1995 Helium released The Dirt Of Luck, a stunning collection that revealed how Timony’s songwriting prowess had grown. Its lyrics were filled with heady feminist imagery that matched the restlessness of Timony’s playing, while new bassist Ash Bowie (Polvo) gave added heft to the music’s low end; “Superball” is a broadside from a small-but-mighty being that could demolish any comers, while the late-hour drawl “Honeycomb” paints a picture of a witchy woman who’s “a roll of the dice.” “Baby’s Going Underground,” meanwhile, is the highest point on an album full of them, its thundering drums and bad-dream drones creating a song that could conceivably stretch on for eons.
With 1997’s The Magic City, Timony shifted her lyrical focus to more escapist-minded concepts, and the music lightened up a bit as well. The album, co-produced by Mitch Easter, adds sitars and harpsichords to the mix; its blend of fantastic imagery and lighter textures caused Rolling Stone to proclaim that Helium had “discovered a strange new world where progressive isn’t always synonymous with pompous.” “Leon’s Space Song” buries power-pop oohs underneath its churning guitars; “Aging Astronauts” pairs Timony’s ventures into her upper register with slide guitar and keyboard filigrees, giving its anxious lyrics extra bite.
Timony has struck new-millennium gold with her power trio Ex Hex, but that band’s taut tracks are enlivened by the curiosity and drive to explode expectations that characterize her work with Helium, whose body of work is crucial to understanding where indie rock has been—and where it can go.
ALLISON CRUTCHFIELD
For now, you catch Allison Crutchfield and her band the Fizz on the road this October with several west coast dates supporting The Julie Ruin.
Bill Frissell: A Portrait
Bill Frisell in attendance for Q+A with local film composer Mark Orton!
A character portrait of anti-archetype guitar hero, Bill Frisell, this nuanced film traces the ideas and processes that shaped Frisell’s music, and provides rare insight into the mind and personality of one of the significant musicians of recent decades. Full of live music, revealing stories, and intimate access to the normally reclusive Frisell, various collaborations are followed from development to fruition, including the last ever performance of the Paul Motian Trio with Frisell and Joe Lovano. Also featuring Bonnie Raitt, Hal Willner, Paul Simon, Nels Cline, Joey Baron, Jim Hall, Jason Moran, Mike Gibbs, John Zorn, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter and John Abercrombie.
The Sabertooth festival returns February 16-18 in celebration of all things Psychedelic and Stoner Rock! Find the full event schedule and ticket information at https://www.sabertoothpdx.com/
While psychedelic music covers a range of styles and genres, it is inspired by psychedelic culture and the attempt to replicate the mind altering experiences that started in mid-'60s folk rock and blues. As such, Sabertooth celebrates the historical role the Crystal Ballroom played through previous half-century of psychedelic music.
February 15 – March 1, 2018
Featuring a cavalcade of visiting artists and the Portland premiere of over 130 films, the Portland International Film Festival returns for its forty-first year. Join more than 40,000 filmgoers in attendance this year at Oregon’s largest annual film event, and learn why PIFF is the best time of the year for movie fans living and watching in the Portland Metro Area. Portland Art Museum members receive discounts on Festival tickets. Explore the Festival.
For a full listing of all screenings visit https://nwfilm.org/festivals/piff41/
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Join us in the upstairs bar at Doug Fir Lounge for 2 more nights ofXRAY.FM DJs!
DJs from 8pm 'til Midnight!
Late Night Happy Hour starts at 10pm!
Monday, February 13th, 8pm-Midnight
DJ KM Fizzy of Strange Babes
Punk, Garage, Modern Underground
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Drink specials every night to raise money for our favorite community supported music organization XRAY.FM!