Skip to main content
Thursday, Feb. 26
Combine two guitars, bass pedal steel, saxophone and one huge bass drum and you’ve got Abronia, a Portland experimental band with deep roots in the city’s improv scene but a vision that looks to the east toward the desert on their dynamic new album, Map of Dawn. Opening are the relatively new band Community Gardens and a legendary Portland improv combo whose moniker is unprintable in this newspaper, but which combines the name of a famous first lady and one of Samuel L. Jackson’s favorite expressions. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 7:30 pm. $16.04. 21+.
Friday, Feb. 27
Both members of Snow Strippers turn 30 this year, and they’re perfectly positioned to speak for cuspers who remember how good Skrillex and Major Lazer sounded when they were teenagers but are still plugged into the more fried corners of the internet (their music is released by hyper-online rap label Surf Gang in collaboration with Diplo’s Mad Decent EDM factory). They’ve been lumped in with “indie sleaze,” but the “indie” part is more a matter of circumstance than style; this is what pop sounds like in a weirder, better 2011. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 7 pm. $109. All ages.
Tuesday–Wednesday, March 3–4
Rock reached an evolutionary peak twice before back-to-basics movements came along and screwed it all up—first around 1974 with prog and jazz fusion, then in the late ’90s with post-rock. Chicago’s Tortoise has been happily carrying on as if the Strokes never happened, continuing to put out vanguard music while bringing in talent from their city’s equally restless jazz scene. Their new album, Touch, is their most tectonic listen yet, and they’re celebrating it with two shows at Aladdin with Bay Area art-pop artist Spacemoth. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. 8 pm. $43.73. All ages.
