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FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Derrick Carter, Mercedes, Rose City Underground
[HOUSE RULES] In 1995, Derrick Carter and Luke Solomon released the house-music compilation Seasons on their newfound (and now definitively classic) Classic Music Company label. Starting at catalog number CMC100, the label counted backwards until it reached CMC00 in 2005 and then shuttered, as promised—for a couple of weeks, anyway. Making and breaking rules is just how Carter does business, whether it's his biweekly sets at Chicago's Smart Bar billed with virtual unknowns or his relentlessly springy and sexual Fabric 56, released in 2011. In true Carter fashion, the finale of that record abruptly shifts, not to a soothing ambient outro but to a wailing, hyperspeed jazz track. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $15 advance, $20 day of show. 21+.
The Quiet Music Festival
A little over a decade ago, Chris Johanson's ears turned against him. A visual artist and musician, the 46-year-old has long suffered from tinnitus. Until about 2003, it had been manageable. Shortly after moving to Portland from San Francisco, for reasons still unclear, it became unbearable. Eventually, that process of realignment led Johanson to a conclusion: If he couldn't go see loud bands anymore, he'd just ask those bands to turn down. Now in its fifth year, the Quiet Music Festival has seen dozens of artists—including Stephen Malkmus, Mark Eitzel and TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone—take on the challenge of dialing back the volume, with Sonny and the Sunsets' Sonny Smith, Rebecca Gates, Secret Drum Band and, in a return engagement, Malkmus and his Jicks, among the acts stepping up this year. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., Friday-Saturday, $10 per night, $16 for two-night pass in advance; $12 per night, $18 for two-night pass day of show. All ages.
Jacco Gardner, Calvin Love, Ozarks
[EURO PSYCH] When the fawning subsided after Dutch psych export Jacco Gardner's 2013 release, Cabinet of Curiosities, the 20-something put out Hypnophobia, an album just as intricately plotted and well-executed as its predecessor. It lacks a bit of the earlier album's grandeur, but it'd be hard to match tracks like "Help Me Out," a song ready-made for the Mod Era, all gentle but shot through with a few nervy surprises. Really, the greatest shock here is just getting used to the idea that Gardner racked up "Before the Dawn" and its strident, poppy climax so quickly after that impressive debut. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
[GRAY-HEADED STRANGER] The sheer length (new album Django & Jimmie is his sixth with Merle Haggard alone) and breadth (the title track name-checks yodeling country pioneer Jimmie Rodgers and gypsy-jazz stylist Django Reinhardt as signal influences) of Willie Nelson's discography seems all the more astonishing given how late in life it began in earnest. Only embarking upon the stretch of albums that made his legend at the tender age of 40, Nelson, an absurdly spry 82-year-old, wasted his 20s amid no-hope jobs across the country—including, notably, an extended stint as a Vancouver DJ while living with his wife and his mom near her work tending bar at Oregon's Goble Tavern—though it's hard to argue the wanderings did much harm to that priceless songbook. Mothers no longer let their babies grow up to take the cowboy career path, and the world's a poorer place. Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 669-8610. 6:30 pm. Sold out. All ages.
Piano! Push Play!
[PIANO PROFUSION] For the past couple years, Portland musician Megan McGeorge has devoted considerable effort to bringing pianos to Portland people and places that need them. From schools to community centers to street corners, McGeorge's Piano! Push Play! project puts the keys under the hands of kids, homeless Portlanders and anyone else who'd like to play them. During the summer, 10 pianos will be posted in various outdoor locations around town, including the Portland Art Museum. For this kickoff concert, featuring local bands, instrumentalists and opera singers, all ivories will be touched by various performers—including a new piece for five pianos composed and conducted by Portland State University composer Richie Greene. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-0973. 7 pm Friday, June 26. Free.
SATURDAY, JUNE 27
The We Shared Milk, And And And, the Tamed West
[IS THIS GOODBYE?] Three cheers for death rattles! That's a feeble attempt to make light of the fact that this is both a reunion and funeral for the We Shared Milk, whose tenure of scuzz, fuzz and lo-fi goodness is officially coming to an end. The band will be releasing its final record, a Banana Stand live album, as well, and after sharing drunken gigs and 10-inch records with Portland basement buds And And And, it's only fitting that the the two bands share the night's bill. Perhaps tissues are in order? Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
The Slow Poisoner
[BIZARRO ROCK] Andrew Goldfarb is a strange man. Based out of San Francisco, he has wrought his surrealist vision into a sort of outsider-rock theater closely aligned with the Bizarro fiction movement. Andrew writes as well, but tonight he will be performing with his one-man act as the Slow Poisoner. Musically, it's rock 'n' roll in its earliest and twangiest form—fans of Hasil Adkins and the Cramps should dig his caveman stomp. Onstage, there's a lot more to the show than music. Goldfarb paints his own props, which look like a mash-up of Pee Wee's Playhouse sets and Garbage Pail Kids cards. If They Might Be Giants on acid or Quintron and Miss Pussycat on a stack of Roald Dahl books sounds up your alley, this is one third-eye-opening free show not to miss. The Lovecraft, 421 SE Grand Ave. 9 pm. Free.
Day of the Baer
[BEER] In honor of its anniversary, Baerlic Brewing Co. will pour more than 30 beers rotated across 22 taps—seasonal, barrel-aged, infused, forever, whatever—from a Belgian golden strong aged in a fresh pinot noir barrel to a Doug E Fresh Douglas fir aged IPA. Tickets at eventbrite.com. Baerlic Brewing, 2235 SE 11th Ave. Noon-8 pm. $20 for glass and 10 drink tickets. 21+.
Naked Bike Ride
Portland's World Naked Bike Ride is Saturday. Thousands of adults will strip down to nothing to proudly ride stark naked through the streets of Portland. Whether an onlooker or participant, celebrate Portland's love of cycling and freedom to be as weird as we want to be. Colonel Summers Park, Southeast 17th Avenue and Taylor Street, at 8 pm; ride starts at 9 pm. Free (donations requested). See pdxwnbr.org for more details.
Trawling
Yoonhee Choi's collection of bread tags and obsolete drafting supplies are transformed to evoke maps and circuitry in quiet and thoughtful work at Blackfish. Choi's background in architecture and city planning is present not just in the materials but her detailed approach to line and its deconstruction. Using bread tags pinned to the wall as points, Choi draws on a scale we can't quite step far enough back to see how the lines coalesce into shapes, while at the same time we can't ever seem to get close enough to see the details of her line tape collages. Blackfish Gallery, 420 NW 9th Ave., 234-2634. 11 am-5 pm.
SUNDAY, JUNE 28
Elvis Depressedly, Mitski, Eskimeaux, the Sweater I Gave You
[BEDROOM POP] Eskimeaux is the stage name of Gabrielle Smith, the Brooklyn musician who has been crafting bedroom sounds since 2007. Newest effort O.K. is surprisingly boisterous for a solo creation, fleshed out live with the help of a full band. Smith's satin vocals capture the spotlight, backed by echoing beats and ambient synths. While tidal and soothing, Eskimeaux's sound is more contemplative than sleepy and gently uplifting. North Carolina's Elvis Depressedly, the indie-rock outfit captained by Coma Cinema's Mat Cothran, caps the evening. Analog Cafe, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 432-8079. 6 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. All ages.
Blade Runner Ball: Swahili, Talkative, House of Aquarius, Noah Bernstein Group, DJ Ingmar
[RUN THE BLADES] Eighties dystopian fantasies are so hot in 2015. We're still a few years off from seeing how Blade Runner 2 matches up to Fury Road, but Holocene is getting ahead of the game, partnering with the Hollywood Theatre to create an entire immersive night based around Ridley Scott's classic original. Presentations include a dance performance from House of Aquarius, projections from Four Eels and a two-act play adapted from the film featuring live music from local psych-pop outfit Talkative and space-disco cosmonauts Swahili. Naturally, costumes are encouraged. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8:30 pm. $10. 21+.
LOON
Wonderheads, a Portland physical-theater company headed by husband-and-wife duo Kate and Andrew Phoenix, brings the silent story of a old man who falls in love with the moon. The winner of three 2013 Critics Choice awards at the Orlando Fringe Festival, including Best Show, LOON mixes puppetry, mime, soundscape and oversized masks to create a living cartoon that raises themes of loneliness and love with an air of playfulness. The show is part of CoHo's five-weekend summer festival of innovative, small-cast performances. CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 7:30 pm. $15.
The Moondoggies, Evening Bell
[ROADHOUSE ROOTS] The Moondoggies have never been full of surprises, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Seattle folkies have issued three solid albums of New Age Americana over the past seven years, each showcasing a sublime ability to weave haunting, harmony-laden melodies with ramshackle rock tunes that typically push the six-minute mark. Adiós I'm a Ghost, the band's latest LP, does the same while examining the cycle of death and rebirth. Singer Kevin Murphy is the album's emotional linchpin, questioning his pride and the universe with a slight drawl akin to Jim James circa early My Morning Jacket. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. 8 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
The Family Crest
[ORCHESTRAL POP] Consider the Family Crest as Typhoon's brother-in-arms, only with seven core players instead of a revolving cast of 12 or so. Still, more than 80 individuals are credited on the San Francisco ensemble's thunderous full-length, Beneath the Brine, which contains arrangements as complex as they are joyous. Under the leadership of frontman Liam McCormick, trombones drown beneath the weight of jazzy percussion and McCormick's operatic delivery, on songs that alternate between swinging and darkly romantic, only to resurface later in expansive pieces that recall the sprawling work of the band's aforementioned labelmates. Sometimes bigger is better. Missippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $12. 21+.
WWeek 2015