NORTH WEST HESH FEST: DEAD MOON, FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., THE LAST DANCERS, DRC3 (Dante's, 350 W Burnside) You could say Jonathon Galyon first dreamed up North West Hesh Fest as a teenager growing in Tennessee attending rock shows—from sweaty punk affairs to lit-up arena performances. "Almost every band is connected to some part of my past," he says. "I never imagined I'd be doing this." Galyon's Southern drawl is still thick, but his connection to the Pacific Northwest is not so distant. He moved to Portland from Kingston in 1999 and lived here until 2003 (he also did a short stint in 2007)—years during which he worked at Dante's and went to plenty of rock shows. It seemed only a matter of time before Galyon would do something in Portland. In addition to bands like Pentagram and Acid King, North West Hesh Fest—his first production here—includes plenty of local heavies and rock 'n' rollers, including Sons of Huns, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. and Dead Moon. "To me Fred Cole is up there with Johnny Cash," says Galyon. "He's a great American songwriter who did everything from scratch." MARK LORE Read our rundown of North West Hesh Fest and see My, What a Busy Week!
PSYCHOMAGIC, HEY LOVER, GLOBELAMP (Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton) Tonight's award for hardest working band in Portland goes to Psychomagic. On top of opening both of Thee Oh Sees' shows at the Doug Fir earlier tonight, Portland's most prominent acid-pop, quasi-cult group are re-releasing their 2013 self-titled debut album (originally a tape-only release by Lolipop Records) on vinyl through local label Hovercraft Records. Psychomagic's scuzzy lo-fi garage-punk is music for a party at a dark place you aren't sure is rented by a band member or a squat, but the only thing that matters is the police haven't shown up yet, the walls are sweating, and you have a tallboy in hand to cool you off. Joining Psychomagic on the bill is Olympia-based Lolipop labelmate Globelamp, whose witchy-folk hymns are like campfire nursery rhymes for the dead sung at a graveyard. Globelamp's second LP, The Orange Glow, is coming out in October. CAMERON CROWELL
DOWAGER, HELENS, RADLER, LOSER BOYFRIEND (SMART Collective, 6923 SE Foster) Up until recently, Ben Relampagos was a vital member of Our First Brains, writing at least a third of the songs that appear on the band's debut full-length (which—full disclosure—I released on cassette this spring through my label, Good Cheer Records). Following a slightly hurried exit from the group he helped form, Relampagos started his new project, Dowager, with coveted Portland drummer du jour Ben Scott. With Dowager, Relampagos shifts his focus from throaty pop-punk, honing a more aggressive and technical sensibility reminiscent of classic scream-derived "skram." Scott performs double duty tonight, drumming for both Dowager and Helens, whose latest EP, Teeth, is a terrific if too-short collection of smoky, emotional, and thoughtfully orchestrated indie rock. MORGAN TROPER See All-Ages Action!
ROCKY VOTOLATO, DAVE HAUSE, CHRIS FARREN (Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) For more than 15 years, Rocky Votolato been writing and recording acoustic, delicate, and beautifully sad music. His catalog—nearly 10 albums deep—is filled with sparse, confessional songs that address his struggles with depression and anxiety. But after his seventh album, 2012's Television of Saints, Votolato found himself facing such severe self-doubt he considered quitting music altogether. In 2014, he pulled himself together and cranked out more than 30 new songs, 11 of which made it onto Hospital Handshakes, his eighth studio album. Produced by former Death Cab for Cutie member Chris Walla, Hospital Handshakes is the most dynamic and upbeat (musically, at least) album he's put out since his time with Waxwing in the '90s. But his lyrics find him continuing to wrestle with old and ongoing challenges. "It's time to white-knuckle this shit," he sings on "White-Knuckles." "Make friends with these demons and just get on with it/Nothing's changed and never will." SANTI ELIJAH HOLLEY
RUBY ROSE, JAMIE MEUSHAW, EVAN ALEXANDER (Roseland, 8 NW 6th) At the tender age of 29, Australian dynamo Ruby Rose has had a lifetime of careers: model, Maybelline spokesperson, producer, actress, and MTV VJ. Through her role on this season of Orange Is the New Black, she has also become somewhat of an androgynous sex icon in the US; even Dan Savage admitted that he'd "totally do her" if her face were placed on a man's body. Now Rose is also a DJ, with a sound hovering somewhere underneath the trans-electro-house umbrella—fast, pulsing, and beat-drop-friendly. Though I would probably only listen to her music under the blanket of two very strong hits of MDMA, her natural performance ability, strong charisma, and the wild dance-ability of her music will make for a memorable DJ set. ROSE FINN
Senior Editor Ned Lannamann writes about pop culture, music, film, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, politics, Portland, and other things.
