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WEDNESDAY, JULY 29
Sigh was one of the first bands to bring the extreme sound of Norwegian black metal to Japan. Thirty-seven years in, their music has grown stranger and more progressive, and the band has aged into an aesthetic that draws as much from badass ’70s heavy metal culture as gothic horror and Buddhist death rituals. Last February saw the reissue of one of their most pungent albums, 1997’s Hail Horror Hail; its breakneck rhythms and bizarre MIDI interludes make it something like a metal analog to those mid-’80s Rush albums when they started getting crazy with the synths. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $33.45. 21+.
TUESDAY, AUG. 4
Klaus Schulze was a central figure in the post-hippie, art-damaged German music ignominiously known as “krautrock,” enjoying stints in Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a long solo career in various shades of synth tones. Local musicians Christopher Read (aka FunSize Renegade) and Scott Gibbons are curating and performing at an event celebrating what would’ve been Schulze’s 79th birthday (he died in 2022), which also features a performance by Portland psych-rockers The Yannica Set and a DJ set from The Dead Electric. Swan Dive, 727 SE Grand Ave. 7 pm. $15 ($12 in advance). 21+.
TUESDAY, AUG. 4
Ani DiFranco has become a household name while remaining fiercely independent—she still releases all her own music on Righteous Babe, the label she founded at age 19, even after becoming one of the most visible faces in ’90s folk rock. She kicks off a great lineup of performers at the annual PDX Live series at Pioneer Courthouse Square, which features performances by the likes of art-metal weirdos Tomahawk, Northwest indie-rock gods Modest Mouse, rapper-turned-rock star Vince Staples, and The Hold Steady performing their classic album Boys & Girls in America. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th Ave. 5:30 pm. $64.46. All ages.
