ZOLA JESUS, DERADOORIAN, GOLDEN DONNA
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) Read our article on Zola Jesus.

THE KNOW'S 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY: BASTARD FEAST, USNEA, WRETCHED OF THE EARTH
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Has any band nailed the name-change thing quite like Bastard Feast? The Portland nasties' old handle—Elitist—was fine, but the new one (adopted in 2013) does a much better job of conveying these dudes' twisted, sickening sound. In July, Season of Mist released Bastard Feast's sophomore album, Osculum Infame, a genre-hopping horror-show that finds the band slathering brutal sludge and blackened death metal all over its hardcore/crust foundation, with vocalist Joshua Greene contributing howls and growls that sound like they've been shipped in straight from hell. The result is an album that's harrowingly heavy but never stalls out under the weight of all the filth. It's punk rock dragged through the mucky gutters of metal. Or it's extreme metal with a punk pulse. Whatever you call the music, it's worthy of a band with a name like Bastard Feast. They kick off 10 nights of excellent, diverse shows to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of one of Portland last remaining punk-minded strongholds, the Know. BEN SALMON

EJ'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY: THE JIMMIES, FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM, LUCKY THIRTEENS, THE WEAKLINGS, THE GODDAMN GENTLEMEN, SHANN MORTIMER
(Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E. Chávez) See My, What a Busy Week!

BARRA BROWN AND THE WISHERMEN, KULULU, TWO PLANETS
(Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta) Like the other members of his group the Wishermen, Barra Brown is young. Twenty-four years old to be exact. Yet the drummer/composer/bandleader has taken great pains to avoid the pitfalls and clichés of other youthful jazz musicians. On the Wishermen's latest recording, Epoch, you'll find no kitschy covers of pop and indie-rock songs, nor any of the puckish attitude that undermines otherwise great albums by still-blossoming talents. Instead, Brown and his bandmates (bassist Chris Friesen and guitarist Grant Sayler) exercise remarkable restraint and cool, leaning toward the placid vibes of the European jazz school while also enjoying the influence of modern electronic artists and hiphop production. It's one of the more stimulating and energizing jazz releases of this early part of the new year, qualities that should treble when these songs are presented live. ROBERT HAM

PIG DESTROYER, ATRIARCH
(White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE 8th) Pig Destroyer's Mass & Volume EP is an impressive work on its own. Taken in context, it's altogether mind-blowing. After the Virginia band finished recording its outstanding 2007 album Phantom Limb, Pig Destroyer spent an unexpected extra day in the studio laying down tracks that diverged significantly from its typically brutal, quick-hit, grindcore sound. In 2013, those tracks were sold digitally as a fundraiser for the family of Pat Egan, a longtime Relapse Records employee who passed away. And last year, Relapse released them as Mass & Volume. At only two songs and nearly 26 minutes long, the EP finds Pig Destroyer exploring its own ornery take on doom, which trades thudding riffs and spooky incantations for unnerving feedback drones and Scott Hull's demonic hate-snarl. So one of the world's great grindcore bands used bonus studio time to mess around and make a killer doom EP? Yup. All hail Pig Destroyer. BEN SALMON

THE COOL WHIPS, THE VERNER PANTONS, KINKED
(The Secret Society, 116 NE Russell) The Cool Whips don't just offer up retro sounds—their new album, Goodies, is a full-fledged, Farfisa-dipped immersion in nostalgia, from the Archies/Andy Kim-style bubblegum melodies to the decidedly childlike point-of-view in songs like "Tickle Me with a Featherduster" and "Pink Lemonade." In fact, "On the Seesaw" is, literally, a playground romp, including the telling lines, "I'm gonna make her mine as quickly as I can/But first I gotta grow up and turn into a man." Goodies evokes a bright, sunshiny day somewhere around the dawn of the 1970s, when youngsters were inheriting their older siblings' hand-me-down Monkees 45s as the big kids went off to smoke grass and listen to Sabbath. Tonight the Portland four-piece celebrates the release of the effervescent album, which was named "album of the week" by a Swedish internet radio show called Ice Cream Man Power Pop and More. And if there's anything the Swedes know, it's pop music. NED LANNAMANN

DAVID JACOBS-STRAIN, ARA LEE
(Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta) With his boyish good looks, his disheveled curly locks tucked inside a slightly worn mesh cap, and his languid, possibly stoned gaze, you might associate David Jacobs-Strain with the Jack Johnson/Jason Mraz/John Mayer club—and you would be pretty much correct. The thing to keep in mind, though, is that most of these earnest, young, white, singer/songwriter dudes can play and sing very well, and DJS is no exception. He is an accomplished guitar player, and has logged innumerable formative hours on the road, performing at the Newport Folk Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, Merlefest, Bumbershoot, and other venerated festivals. Though his last album, 2013's Geneseo, found him stepping outside his folk-blues background and attempting something more like Whiskeytown-era alt-country (he even enlisted Caitlin Cary for vocals and fiddle duties), DJS' strength remains the blues—albeit the kind of blues that is as equally pleasing to the over-50 white guy crowd as the under-30 frat dude crowd. SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY

THE REVERBERATIONS, LUBEC, GRAND COURIERS, LEVITY
(Sandy Hut, 1430 NE Sandy) Lubec's debut EP, Nothing Is Enough!, recorded back in 2011 just before the band relocated to Portland, remains a terrific, underrated release. It synthesized an undeniable acumen for classic pop songcraft with the dense wooziness of '90s shoegaze, a full three years before referencing the '90s was even remotely cool. The group finally released a proper LP, The Thrall, last September on cassette, and it fully delivers on the expectation a three-year wait between releases can engender. Kick-off "Almost Vince" truly sounds like a C86 classic misplaced in time and the coulda-sworn-it-was-Swedish "Sunburn" is just what the doctor ordered (for your seasonal affective disorder), in all of its luminous, Cardiganish glory. All in all, Lubec are among the city's elite loud-pop heavyweights, and it's nice to see their achievements finally garnering the recognition they've deserved for years. MORGAN TROPER