Live! Tonight! Not Sold-Out!

Want to see some live music tonight? Here are your best options, curated by the Willamette Week music staff.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28

S (Jenn Ghetto)

[BEDROOM CONFESSIONS] Band of Horses and Grand Archives weren't the only byproducts owing to the unexpected disintegration of slowcore heroes Carissa's Wierd. Founding member Jenn Ghetto went on to release a spell of homespun, melodic recordings under the moniker S after the band split in 2003, retaining her affinity for near-whispered vocals and cascading arpeggios throughout four records of plainspoken anguish. Cool Choices, though more polished given its ace production, still revels in that numbed fatigue. It aches with hushed, broken sentiments against desolate electric guitar and piano, and while Ghetto's stark honesty can be jarring at times, it's certainly no facade. BRANDON WIDDER. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave. 9:30 pm. $10. 21+.

Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Mike Watt, Toby Dammit

[PUNKABILLY] With a voice like the butt of a cigarette and a truly terrifying face, Tav Falco never exactly had stardom in his future. Despite the nominal successes of his late '70s Memphis contemporary (and sometimes bandmate) Alex Chilton, and the slight popularity of the Cramps—a band that one leave out when discussing the sound of Falco's Panther Burns—he remains one of those American Southern artists whose gothic sensibilities and crude, blown-out guitar are more popular in hellholes like Paris and Barcelona than they are here at home. Here's a bonus, though: Mike Watt, of the Minutemen and lately the Stooges, is playing with and opening for Falco on this latest tour, in support of the new Panther Burns record, Command Performance. BRACE BELDEN. Dante's, 350 West Burnside. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

Emily Wells, Lorna Dune

[MUSICAL CHAMELEON] There isn't much Emily Wells can't do. She's a singer, arranger, producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist who somehow finds time to run her own label (Thesis & Instinct), on which her next LP will be released. Raised in Texas and based in New York, Wells assembles experimental collages comprised of violin, cello, synth and sample pads. There are subtle hints of classical training in her music, made lively thanks to vivacious loops and ambient background sounds. These days, the technology exists to make it easy for one person to present herself as a one-woman band, but Wells does so with deftness and hard-earned skill. MARK STOCK. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $14. 21+.

Sloan Martin

[INDIE DANCE] As the primary singer-songwriter behind Beach Fire, Portlander Sloan Martin blends elements of classic rock, experimentalism, psychedelia and piano pop. With a singing voice falling somewhere between Sting and Michael McDonald, Martin will have you shimmying (albeit carefully) in your seat, wine in hand. HILARY SAUNDERS. Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St. 7 pm. Free. 21+.

Chicago Afrobeat Project

[BEAT REDEFINED] Chicago's a town that's endlessly assimilating a raft of sounds into something new and vibrant. For the Chicago Afrobeat Project, a troupe counting more than a dozen players, the last decade has served as a testing ground as the band's sought to expound on Fela-styled grooves. "Slippery People," off the band's Nyash UP! album, turns in expected rhythms, but also works in a bit of slide guitar and enough chatting to make it seem like an unknown Funkadelic track. And while Afrobeat's form is still rather restrictive, the group has figured out how to personalize—and Midwesternize—the sound enough to offer something uniquely danceable. DAVE CANTOR. Goodfoot Pub & Lounge, 2845 SE Stark St. 10 pm. $10. 21+.

Mr. Twin Sister, Timothy the DJ

[DREAM DISCO] New York's Mr. Twin Sister is a hard band to crack. Its analogues are easy enough to identify: Cocteau Twins and Stereolab and Nellee Hooper productions, maybe Talk Talk and Roxy Music circa Avalon. But on the band's self-titled 2014 debut, those inspirations congeal into something totally original—smooth and coolly detached, as primed for the loft party as the after-hours chill room, as transfixing for the same reasons that make it hard to pin down. Perhaps the post-show set from affiliate Timothy the DJ will help illuminate some of the crew's mystery, but I wouldn't bet on it. MATTHEW SINGER. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 8:30 pm. $14. 21+.

Riff Raff, MiMosa, I$$A

[JODY HIGHROLLER] "Bird on a Wire," Riff Raff's 2012 collaboration with Harry Fraud and Action Bronson, is one of the absolute best rap songs of this decade. Falling somewhere between a Southern strip-club jam and West Coast cloud-rap, Riff Raff's ultra-stylized aesthetic has unfortunately gotten in the way of his abstract club anthems, and the poor showing of 2014's Neon Icon did little to help. His live show, though, should be an excellent, high-energy blast. Bring friends. WALKER MACMURDO. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $23. All ages.

Yonatan Gat, Mujahedeen, Savila

[PLANETARY PUNK] There's a breakout performance every SXSW, and this year the media seems to think it was Yonatan Gat. The one-time guitarist for highly volatile garage band Monotonix now fronts a new trio based in New York by way of Tel Aviv and Brazil. Gat's worldly upbringing is evident in his sound, blending punk aggression with surf-rock, Brazilian jazz, psych-rock and traditional Middle Eastern music. His new record, Director, recorded live over a three-day span, is an intriguing quilt of many genres that most lack the courage to combine. MARK STOCK. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St. 473-8729. 8 pm. $9. 21+.

Heartless Bastards, Slothrust

[REFINED ROCK 'N' ROLL] Erika Wennerstrom knows how to command a room—and a record. She's been the unmistakable powerhouse behind Heartless Bastards for more than a decade, balancing urgency with constraint into the Cincinnati group whenever it needed it most. To that end, she remains at the center of the group's sonic expanse on its fifth LP, the recently-released Restless Ones. It's a pristine record, where traces of classic Americana trickle into what was once a lo-fi wheelhouse. Combative electric guitars and introspective lyricism pepper a record that, at times, can't choose between arena-ready rock and aching honky-tonk. BRANDON WIDDER. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St. 9 pm. $20. All ages.

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