PALMA VIOLETS, PUBLIC ACCESS TV (Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) If there's anything the British music press loves more than all-out hype (generally administered in the act of prematurely bestowing proclamations like The Next Beatles! upon naïve but well-intentioned new bands), it is the subsequent de-hyping of said bands come next album (if not next week). For every Arctic Monkeys, there seem to be 50 Vines, the build-up executed only for the take-down. London quartet Palma Violets began on this path, their first single "Best of Friends" and 2013 debut 180 leading the hometown press to herald them as the Great New Hope roughly five minutes after a chance meeting at the Reading Festival led to their formation. It's to Palma Violets' credit, then, that their new follow-up, Danger in the Club, arrives with a swagger, avoiding the ol' sophomore slump with a shambling, often anthemic set rife with the kind of call-and-response energy their live shows have become known for. Expectations? They're still tossed around—the New Clash, Second Coming of the Libertines, and the like. It's almost enough that a band of 21-year-olds cares to draw from acts like that in the first place, let alone do it so well. JEREMY PETERSEN
AND AND AND, COUCHES, MÁSCARAS (The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Tonight's show at the Know features two of the city's best bands, And And And and Máscaras, so that's cool in and of itself. But joining those two is Couches, a San Francisco trio that's turning heads with its relentless tour schedule and a classic indie-rock sound. The band's most recent release, the Slackin' Since the 80s EP—released last year on 20 Sided Records—pairs the bent jangle and amiable crunch of Pavement with airy, elongated melodies that remind me of the late, great Athens, Georgia band the Glands. Pavement and the Glands? That, friends, is splitting one seriously fine hair. Anyway, the point is: '90s-inspired, guitar-driven indie rock is back, and Couches do it well. Don't use their set tonight as a smoke break in between seeing your buddies' bands. BEN SALMON
Senior Editor Ned Lannamann writes about pop culture, music, film, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, politics, Portland, and other things.
