Thursday, November 19, 2009

BUSY WEEKEND IN PORTLAND

FRIDAY NIGHT
AMADAN, THE BEAUTIFUL TRAIN WRECKS, SASSPARILLA
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) In honor of a decade of falling from grace with God—and having superior dental work to Shane MacGowan—Amadan are throwing a bit of a party. Ten years is a long time to stay in a band and avoid the inevitable pull of adulthood, so like all shows from these Irish punks, expect copious amounts of whiskey and sin, like a gloriously drunken Peter Pan syndrome. Leaning heavy on the tempo and vocal delivery of westernized pop-punk, Amadan's sound is hardly authentic—unless Fat Wreck Chords has a Dublin branch we don't know about—but still utterly sincere. Never has the sound of cirrhosis sounded so good. EAC

Friday night!
PRIZE COUNTRY, RAT EYES, LOOM
(Satyricon, 125 NW 6th) Judging by the crowd at the Crystal for a reunited Jesus Lizard, there clearly is a market for smart '90s nostalgia (a glorious time when words like "Killdozer" and "Unsane" made sense), which is good news for the boys of Prize Country. ...With Love might be an album with a cuddly title, but as singer Aaron Blanchard ferociously screeches "You're my girl, my girl tonight" (from "Regular Nights"), you get the feeling that's more a threat than an invitation to future romance. Schooled on the Albini sound and attitude, ...With Love stomps along mercilessly, a volume-swelling mass of pounding drums, rolling bass, and hissing guitars for days. If this is the sound of love, I'd be curious to hear what Prize Country's idea of hate sounds like. EAC


SATURDAY NIGHT
DON OF DIVISION STREET, CELILO,THE VERY FOUNDATION, THE MALDIVES
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) There will be two sides to the Portland music scene on display this evening. The first, and easily the most important, will be a gathering to remember Celilo drummer Kipp Crawford—hit by drunk drivers in the early morning hours of November 4—that will take place at Mississippi Station (3943 N Mississippi) at 6 pm. Following that, next door at Mississippi Studios there will be music. Lots of Portland music. In addition to a set from Crawford's bandmates in Celilo, the Very Foundation will perform material from their Portland-centric This Restless Enterprise recording. Chances are if you're a local musician, your mark is felt on the collaborative flair of This Restless Enterprise, which ranges from shuffling, contempletive indie numbers to the strut of "Runaway to Tokyo," which shares both sound and inspiration with Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up." EAC

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