SABERTOOTH MICRO FEST: KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS, THE MINDERS, THE SHIVAS
(Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside) On the second night of the Crystal Ballroom's three-day Sabertooth Micro Fest, Philadelphia-based songwriter Kurt Vile drops by for a one-off tour date that should provide the perfect opportunity for him to unveil material off the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his 2013 release, Wakin on a Pretty Daze. As that album's title might suggest, Vile's spacious and breezy guitar-rock should provide the perfect comedown from stoner-metal giants Sleep, who play on Friday. Flanked by his backing band the Violators, Vile has the ability to effortlessly glide through hazy and meditative earworms, some of which extend the 10-minute mark, giving them ample time to burrow in deep. CHIPP TERWILLIGER Also see My, What a Busy Week!, and All-Ages Action!
LOGIC
(Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell) Logic, a rapper from Maryland, seems like the embodiment of hiphop's near future. He is 25 years old with four mixtapes and a full-length album, Under Pressure, on his résumé. He's signed to the big, powerful Def Jam record label, but remains independently minded; you can hear it in his interviews. He's as sharp as a tack, with rhymes that bounce around from braggadocio to pop-culture references to sobering talk about his difficult childhood. And the guy can rap. At times, Logic sounds like J. Cole. More often, he sounds like Kendrick Lamar. When he wants to, he can close-enough carry a tune à la Drake. And he picks sturdy, soulful beats. Bottom line: Logic's relatively new on the rap scene, but he's got his act together and is on the verge of big things. BEN SALMON
AAN, HELVETIA, CABANA
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) It's been slightly over a year since off-kilter rock quartet Aan released their fantastic debut album, Amor Ad Nauseum. If you haven't familiarized yourself with the band's frenetic yet sharpened live show, you owe it to yourself to come out tonight. Established fans should also take note, as Aan have a fresh new lineup for 2015, and they plan to showcase new material from their forthcoming LP. If that's not incentive enough, tonight they share the stage with another outstanding Portland-based shape-shifting rock outfit, the criminally underappreciated Helvetia. With seven albums under their belt, Helvetia have quietly honed their stripped-down take on experimental rock. The band's last album, 2012's Nothing in Rambling, draws the listener in with warm organ tones and kaleidoscopic guitar effects. Helvetia craft psychedelic comfort food of the highest order, and joining them for their strange but familiar journey is a trip well worth taking. CT
CARMINA BURANA: OREGON SYMPHONY, PORTLAND SYMPHONIC CHOIR, PACIFIC YOUTH CHOIR
(Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway) The Oregon Symphony rarely augment their vocal performances with translations projected above the stage, but this will certainly not keep me away when they play Carmina Burana Saturday through Monday. Composed in 1937 by one-hit wonder Carl Orff, the staggering cantata features deliciously bawdy 13th-century lyrics set to a dramatic score requiring a beefed-up orchestra, two pianos, three opera singers, a symphonic choir, and a children's chorus. The assembled musical force blows away listeners from the get-go, launching into an über-famous and gloriously bombastic ode to Fortune's fickle dealings. Orff's supremely fun work celebrates a litany of sensual pleasures like binge drinking and deflowering young maidens, but the impassioned aria for solo tenor—who assumes the juicy role of a recently killed, currently roasted swan—intrudes midway to remind us how Fortune can snatch away every joy in an instant. Seize your fleeting chance to hear 246 brilliant musicians dismiss virtue and extol vice. BRIAN HORAY
THE DICKIES, RENDERED USELESS, SYMPTOMS, ETHER CIRCUS, RACHAEL MILES
(Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy) As part of Los Angeles' first wave of punk-rock outfits, the Dickies levitated like slacker phoenixes throughout the Southern California valley, stomping out a decidedly UK-influenced brand of snooty, snotty punk. The Dickies' secret was in their tongue-in-cheek performances and their devotion to the melodic quotient of punk's energy. Led by vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips' exaggerated stage presence and humorous repartee, the Dickies pretty much pioneered the earliest aggressive efforts of what became known as pop-punk. The band's had a hell of a lot of lineup changes over the last five decades, and hasn't released a studio album since 2001's All This and Puppet Stew. Instead, the band continues to tour, prompting frenetic bouts of nostalgia and one-way time travel to the classic punk era. Pick up a copy of The Incredible Shrinking Dickies in preparation and live, man. RYAN J. PRADO
