WILLIS EARL BEAL, TWO SHEDS, YEAH GREAT FINE
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) See My, What a Busy Week!


THE GENIUS OF BRAHMS: NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG, YEKWON SUNWOO, ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT, OPUS ONE
(Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock) Johannes Brahms does not hold the keys to my heart the way other composers do, and yet I am recommending this all-Brahms extravaganza without reservation for one simple reason: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. An indefatigable fiddler with decades of stage cred under her (no doubt bedazzled) belt, Salerno-Sonnenberg is a rare performer instantly able to captivate whatever audience is in front of her with whatever music happens to be on the program. For this gig on the beautiful Reed College campus (which repeats Tuesday night at PSU), she tackles a Sonata for Piano and Violin that Brahms wrote in 1886 while on vaykay in the Swiss mountainside, which might explain the radiantly buoyant mood sustained throughout. The classical taplist also features the powerhouse Piano Quartet No. 2 and a super-fly collection of Hungarian dances performed by four hands on one piano. With this evening's concert, the folks at Chamber Music Northwest kick off their impressive month-long festival, so a brilliant opportunity to elevate several of your summer nights is officially under way. BRIAN HORAY


THE STRANGE LAND, BLOOD SISTER, LOVE COP, MISTER TANG
(Angelo's, 4620 SE Hawthorne) With a dazzling, shape-shifting sound capable of appealing to a wide range of audiences, Brooklyn's Night Manager were one of the freshest lo-fi garage-rock acts to emerge from a sea of countless sound-alikes back in 2010. When the band dropped their fantastic self-titled EP in 2012, they announced that it would also be their swansong, opting to disband and move on to future endeavors. Tonight you can get an intimate glimpse of one such project in Blood Sister, the San Francisco-based solo project of former Night Manager guitarist Ezana Edwards. Blood Sister conjures up some loud and loose noise-pop that shimmers as it haunts. Backed by a stacked touring band featuring members of Ganglians, the Mallard, and Warm Soda, Edwards takes his latest act on the road for a stretch of shows that will tickle the insides of ears up and down the West Coast. CHIPP TERWILLIGER