Sunday 9/20 Listings

7 Pm

Morning Teleportation
[PSYCHEDELIC ROCK] Never content to keep a ball rolling for more than 30 seconds, Portland psychedelic quintet Morning Teleportation verges on sensory overload with a series of calculated bitch-slaps directly to the cerebellum. Electropop, rock, chants, New Wave, bluegrass and everything else under the musical spectrum emerges from the group, sometimes all at once. The odd part is how well the seemingly incongruent pieces all stick together, creating a tarred-and-feathered musical monster with a heart of gold. AP KRYZA. CRYSTAL BALLROOM.

8 Pm

Mimicking Birds
[PSYINGER-PSYONGWRITER] Nate Lacy's Mimicking Birds is a fascinating project. Lacy spews thoughtful and often psychedelic lyricism—challenging the listener's perception of the physical world and his or her own inner space—over spiraling finger-picked guitar figures and organic strums. "Trippy" is an operative word alongside "sweet" and "smart," though under the direction of Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock, Lacy's pop sensibility has grown more pronounced as well. We can't wait to see where this goes. CASEY JARMAN. CRYSTAL BALLROOM.

9 Pm

Love as Laughter
[HOLY ROCK 'N' ROLLER] Sam Jayne, the brain behind Love as Laughter, has mellowed with age. Though he began his band as a garage-rock outlet for scratchy vocals and fierce riffs, it has evolved into a gentle (often acoustic) project, as the songs on last year's Holy can attest. A friend of Isaac Brock's who has recently signed to the Modest Mouse frontman's label (Glacial Pace), Jayne is now, like most of his new labelmates, embracing his most intimate and mature impulses. REBECCA RABER. CRYSTAL BALLROOM.

10 Pm

Modest Mouse
[COY CRITTERS] Now that the almost-too-good-to-be-true alliance with Johnny Marr has passed, what's next for Modest Mouse? The long-established Northwest indie-rock outfit's new release, No One's First and You're Next, hedges the answer by offering just a few recently recorded tracks amid a clutch of rarities from the past few years. But the lovely, grotesque animated video for "King Rat"—directed by the late Heath Ledger—promises that the group will remain both in the public eye and on the artistic vanguard. JEFF ROSENBERG. CRYSTAL BALLROOM.

WWeek 2015