Holocene Calendar

WED JUN 19

Mattress TAPE RELEASE

Join us for a tape release celebration with our favorite weirdo preacher, the inimitable Mattress.

8:30pm | $5.00 day of show

Mattress is the name of a neon soapbox upon which one Mr. Rex Marshall has stood
since 2006. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, he moved to the greener pastures of
Portland, Oregon to begin sermonizing with a drum machine. Clearing his throat to sing, he coughed up scorpions. It seems that you can take the man out of the apocalyptic city, but you can't ... | more info Mattress is the name of a neon soapbox upon which one Mr. Rex Marshall has stood
since 2006. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, he moved to the greener pastures of
Portland, Oregon to begin sermonizing with a drum machine. Clearing his throat to sing, he coughed up scorpions. It seems that you can take the man out of the apocalyptic city, but you can't take the apocalyptic city out of the man. The desolation of the Nevada desert, its loneliness and whatever beauty we can carve out of its red rocks in our minds, were permanent influences on Marshall. Yet so too were the glitzy showmanship, dazzling lights, and overindulgent sleaze of the city.

The city's bipolarity plays out to put to grand effect in the music of Mattress, which is perhaps best categorized as Industrial Synth
Future-Gospel. Guitars are gleefully sent to the landll in favor of a Boss DR-55 drum machine. Thick industrial beats lay down a sludgy, syrupy backdrop for Marshall's riveting croon. Mattress is electronic music. Some might even venture to call it dance music. Yet that voice, that unmistakable lounge singer's howl which can seduce you, shame you, and inspire you with equal deftness, sends Marshall into an entirely different arena than most acts that might also be labeled "synth pop."

The howling banshee that is Birthday Party-era Nick Cave is an easy reach in terms of sound-a-likes, but the comparison is rather thin beyond a mutual intensity of demeanor. Something a bit closer might be the "crank prophet bestride America," as Greil Marcus wrote of Pere Ubu's Dave Thomas. Prophecy is essential to Marshall's project. He has seen decay, but continues to dream. His fantasies are robed in gold, even as he remains ever vigilant against the spiritually bankrupt who hurt and have hurt.

Alex Hungtai, aka soul singer Dirty Beaches, writes that Mattress was "a huge influence on the conception of early Dirty Beaches back in 2008 after I saw him perform at Cagibi in Montreal all alone on a stage, crooning. Armed with tape
machine back up tracks, pedals, and other machinery, he rocks the mic like a shadow dancer in the night. Incredible voice."
[less info]

THU JUN 20

NIGHT MOVES

Sex Life DJs

Cooky Parker

Plus special guest:
Beat Electric DJs (SF)

Modern Soul & Boogie dance party!

9pm | $3.00 day of show

NIGHT MOVES is a dance party celebrating rare club music from the 80s to the present. Each month at Holocene, resident djs Sex Life & Cooky Parker light up the dancefloor with a mix of boogie & modern soul while classic footage and experimental animation is screened throughout the venue. Come, raise your spirits with this timeless and ecstatic ... | more info

FRI JUN 21

APERITIVO HAPPY HOUR

DJ N-Secure

Please join us from 5-8pm for our weekly Aperitivo Happy Hour, which--in European style--features an impressive array of free appetizers straight from the Holocene kitchen (while they last). We'll also have great (and cheap!) Cava, and delightful Continental cocktails! DJ N-Secure will play an '80s and '90s - centric array of new age, smooth jazz and mellow electronica.

5pm | FREE!

FRI JUN 21

ROCKBOX

with DJs
Matt Nelkin

DJ Kez

DJ Renz

9pm | $3.00 day of show

Rockbox's resident DJs KEZ (360 Vinyl, THE FIX) and Matt Nelkin (Liquid Beat, KPSU) bring a masterfully blended mix of fun, dance oriented Hip-Hop and R&B with a dash of Dancehall, 80s, 90s, Disco, and House thrown in for good measure.

Every set and every ROCKBOX dance party is a custom experience with these cats digging into their seemingly ... | more info

SAT JUN 22

Dropping Gems, Abstract Earth Project, and Closer Music Festival present...

Natasha Kmeto "Crisis" Album Release Party

Grown Folk (Icee Hot, Montreal)

Ben Tactic

Lincolnup

Avant-R&B vixen Natasha Kmeto gives us a stunning new album!

9pm | $5.00 advance
Tickets:

Brown Paper Tickets

"Kmeto is a beat maker who thinks like a songwriter...the Sacramento, Calif., native humanizes the low-rumbling bass, glitchy rhythms and moody, digitized textures of modern electronic music by cutting it with the emotional undercurrents of hip-hop and soul. It's an aesthetic that's allowed her to cross over in a city still a bit leery of music ... | more info

MON JUN 24

Valleys

Weeknight

We're truly impressed by the cinematic experimental pop of Montreal's Valleys.

8:30pm | $8.00 advance $8.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

From its inception, Valleys has been always changing. From the quiet and exploratory preliminary years to the stormy experimentation of recent works, the duo has always had one foot in the pop realm and the other in the dirt. Are You Going To Stand There And Talk Weird All Night? is the result of a year's worth of writing through unexpected loss ... | more info

WED JUN 26

AT THE HISTORIC OLD CHURCH....

Alela Diane ALBUM RELEASE SHOW

Holcombe Waller

We also recommend an evening at THE HISTORIC OLD CHURCH (1422 SW 11th Ave) celebrating the release of Alela Diane's new album, About Farewell.

7:30pm | $13.00 advance $15.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

"I heard somebody say that 'the brightest lights cast the biggest shadows,' so honey, I've got to let you go, I've got to let you go".

...So croons the elegant folkstress Alela Diane on the title number from her forthcoming record, About Farewell. Over the last year, Alela has finished recording and mixing this new album, to be self-released in the ... | more info

WED JUN 26

Still Pigeons (formerly Pigeons)

PWRHAUS

Swim Swam Swum

Join us for an evening of exuberant indie rock!

8:30pm | $5.00 day of show

"Not just another strummy folk-rock band, Pigeons' music grows like wild, sprawling weeds, touching different pockets of Americana with urgency and grace" - Portland Mercury

"Like all the best soul bands, PWRHAUS is sexy, gritty, and passionate, with tight songwriting and a singer with style. Also, the horn section has two smoking saxophones." - ... | more info

THU JUN 27

LAID OUT (Foreplay)

with resident DJs:
Gossip Cat

Misti Miller

Plus guests:
DJ L-Train

Orographic

Calling all queens and queers: LAID OUT is a new gay dance party held every last Thursday.

9pm | $3.00 day of show

Come drink, dance and get right with resident DJ Gossip Cat and his rotating monthly guests. Warm up jams at 9pm by MistiMiller -- begin with the menz and frenz at 10 pm. We'll keep the dance floor thumping -- you keep it bumping.

FRI JUN 28

APERITIVO HAPPY HOUR

DJ Scott Simmons

Please join us from 5-8pm for our weekly Aperitivo Happy Hour, which--in European style--features an impressive array of free appetizers straight from the Holocene kitchen (while they last). We'll also have great (and cheap!) Cava, and delightful Continental cocktails! We're pleased to have DJ Scott Simmons of Exiled Records playing rare garage and pop!

5pm | FREE!

FRI JUN 28

SNAP! '90s Dance Party

Dr. Adam

Colin Jones

Freaky Outty

9pm | $5.00 day of show

This DANCE PARTY is held down by resident DJs Doc Adam and Colin Jones, and hosted by Ms Coco B. The vision behind the party is to offer a slice of nostalgia that will bring booty-shaking, head-nodding and memories of all those awesome middle school dances. SNAP! is proud to have hosted some of the most talented DJs/Producers touring the world ... | more info

SAT JUN 29

ECSTASY

Live sets by:
Etbonz

GOODWIN

DJ sets by:
Miracles Club

Spencer D

ECSTASY is a party celebrating the future of club music.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

SUN JUN 30

YU presents...

Mykki Blanco

Beyondadoubt

Isaiah Allure Esquire

Nathan Detroit

Mykki Blanco debuts in Portland for the second in a series of benefit concerts for Yale Union, this one at neighboring Holocene.

8:30pm | $15.00 advance $20.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

Mykki Blanco, who the Village Voice calls a "Gender Ninja," will perform from debut release "Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss". Says Blanco, "Cosmic Angel is my way of welcoming the world into my reality, the weirdos, the freaks, alternative black american culture. Sexuality figures in last, we're talking street life, night life and under the... | more info

WED JUL 3

Onuinu

Wampire

Magic Fades

DJ Zack

A co-headlining extravaganza with two fast-rising, seriously fun local pop acts. FIRST 25 ADVANCE TICKETS SOLD ARE JUST $5!

8:30pm | $8.00 advance $10.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

Each song on Onuinu's debut full-length Mirror Gazer is teeming with raw wood grains over which to run your fingers and exposed rafters through which to follow countless reverberations. It is a sprawling, mixed-use space where ambient electronica, hip-hop and house music convene to talk in circles about the universe, and frankly, for Onuinu aka ... | more info

FRI JUL 5

FRESH. is an innovative electronic dance party. This month's edition is a label takeover night by the budding LA-based dance label BODY HIGH.

9pm | $10.00 advance
Tickets:

Brown Paper Tickets

Samo Sound Boy is a Los Angeles based producer and DJ whose powerful live sets and original productions have brought him to the forefront of today's forward-minded club scene. Having earned his chops DJing at Fugees 99, a Nigerian-owned dancehall in the south end of Buenos Aires, Samo compounded influences picked up there with a love of crunk, club... | more info

SAT JUL 6

Holocene presents...

Bass is our biz, and our biz be boomin'!

9pm | $5.00 day of show

World domination, butts, drank, money, records, but mostly butts. From its humble beginnings in 2002 as a small birthday party for a few friends, Booty Bassment has grown to one of California's best rap-based dance clubs. Veteran DJs Dimitri Dickinson and Ryan Poulsen have turned this night into a success with monthly installments in San Diego, San... | more info

TUE JUL 9

InFARMation (and Beer!)

ALL AGES WELCOME! Since January 2009, Friends of Family Farmers has hosted InFARMation (and Beer!) each month in Portland. This is an opportunity to bring the issues that Oregon family farmers face onto the radar of urban consumers, and the community in general. The topic changes each month, but always focuses on the larger picture of the connection between food and farms in our state. When eaters connect with farmers, it makes our food web stronger, and real changes in our local food system are possible. InFARMation (and Beer!) is always free and open to the public, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 5:30-8:30pm.

5:30pm | FREE!

WED JUL 10

Morning Ritual

Pegasus Dream

A local line-up of psych pop splendor!

8:30pm |

Morning Ritual is the musical project of Portland musician, Ben Darwish. The group features Darwish on keyboards, William Seiji Marsh on guitar, Russ Kleiner on drums, and everyone on vocals. Their unique sound is marked with high falsetto, inventive melodies, hybrid sounds, and pulsing vocal harmonies over tight-knit piano-driven grooves. ... | more info

THU JUL 11

I'VE GOT A HOLE IN MY SOUL

DJ Beyondadoubt

I'VE GOT A HOLE IN MY SOUL is Portland's original Soul and RnB dance party.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

The stomping, storming sounds of American roots music are laid down at 45rpm, all night until the sweaty end. Six years strong, this truly legendary dancefloor institution has moved to Holocene and takes place every second Thursday. Our space is decorated with love and care just for the occasion, with an eye for that sharp, sexy mod style. We ... | more info

FRI JUL 12

ECSTASY

Jacques Renault (Let's Play House, DFA, On the Prowl)

Magic Touch (100% Silk)

Miracles Club

Spencer D

ECSTASY is a dance party celebrating the future of club music.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

Producer and DJ, Jacques Renault, was a post-punk Washington D.C. native who moved to Chicago in 1997 to continue his studies of viola, but in turn got a serious education in dance music. Tapping into the well established Drum n' Bass scene, he held a residency at Smart Bar and became a buyer at the legendary Gramaphone Records. This broad, raw ... | more info

SAT JUL 13

Tropitaal: Desi-Latino Soundclash Dance Party

Dj Anjali & The Incredible Kid

DJ Indian Summer

DJ Michael Bruce

Tropitaal is a Desi-Latino Soundclash! A new dance party bringing you the hottest club sounds from India and Latin America, scorching the dance floor in a battle to the dance.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

Take the sultry vibe of the Latin American Tropics, combine with the rhythm of India ("Taal") and you get Tropitaal, Holocene's newest dance night - a Desi/Latino Soundclash where the hottest club sounds from India and Latin America go head to head in an all-night dance-off of epic proportions. Resident DJs Anjali & The Incredible... | more info

WED JUL 17

PDneXt

with resident DJs:
Graintable

Plumblyne

Danny Corn

Natasha Kmeto

PDneXt is an idea, a sound, a community of people who are exploring the possibilities of what is "next" in electronic music.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

THU JUL 18

LAID OUT

featuring resident DJs:
Gossip Cat

DJ Pocket Rock-It

Misti Miller

Calling all queens and queers: LAID OUT is a gay dance party held every last Thursday.

9pm | $3.00 day of show

Roll calling: fags, qweens, queers, gay boiz, gay grrlz, gay peoplez, baby dykes, dudebabes, twinks, bears, otters and wolves (oh, MAN), models, self-identified sexy people, homos (no homo), fiercers, partiers, and anybody who wants to get sweaty on a dance floor!

FRI JUL 19

ROCKBOX

with resident DJs
Matt Nelkin

DJ Kez

ROCKBOX is a dance party. Pure and Simple. Rockbox residents DJ KEZ (360 Vinyl, THE FIX) and Matt Nelkin (Liquid Beat, KPSU), play a masterfully blended mix of fun, dance oriented Hip-Hop and R&B with a dash of Dancehall, 80s, 90s, Disco, and House thrown in for good measure.

9pm | $3.00 day of show

Every set and every ROCKBOX dance party is a custom experience with these cats digging into their seemingly bottomless crates to pull out the beats that make you want to sweat out the work week. More than just another gig for these talented djs, ROCKBOX dance party represents their long held vision of merging the classics alongside the progressive ... | more info

SAT JUL 20

GAYCATION

Mr. Charming

Gaycation is a monthly queer dance party. Currently in its 6th year of fierceness, Gaycation showcases local & international queer performers and strives to create a super hot, inclusive, homo dance party.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

WED JUL 24

THE RIGSKETBALL SHOW & TOURNAMENT FINALS

Live performances by:
The Woolen Men

Wooden Indian Burial Ground

Minden

The 2013 Rigsketball tournament finals will take place outside of Holocene on 10th Ave, with a huge FREE music fest to follow inside!

6pm | FREE!

Rigsketball is the Portland band basketball tournament, it's played on a regulation height hoop, which is bolted to the top of a guys' van. Each summer, Rigsketball curates this bracket style tournament between 32 local bands. The games take place in locations across the city. Rigsketball also puts on a show, (always free!) and of course, releases ... | more info

THU JUL 25

SURFRIDER SUMMER SOIREE

Renegade Stringband

Heart and the Sea film screening

The Portland Chapter of SURFRIDER is hosting the Oregon Summer Soiree at Holocene!

The fundraiser will include an Art Show, Silent Auction, Heart and the Sea film screening, raffle, music by the Renegade Stringband, and much more! Proceeds will benefit the Portland Chapter of Surfrider's 'Clean Water Campaign'. Special thanks to Dick's Sporting Goods and all of our other sponsors!

6pm - Art Show / Silent Auction open - over 25 ... | more info

FRI JUL 26

Holocene and Coco B present...

SNAP! '90s Dance Party

with resident DJs:
Dr. Adam

Colin Jones

Freaky Outty

9pm | $5.00 day of show

SNAP! Is a monthly party that happens every last Friday of the month at Holocene in Portland, Oregon. This DANCE PARTY is held down by resident DJs Doc Adam and Colin Jones, and hosted by Ms Coco B. The vision behind the party is to offer a slice of nostalgia that will bring booty-shaking, head-nodding and memories of all those awesome middle ... | more info

SAT JUL 27

NIGHT MOVES

Sex Life DJs

DJ Cooky Parker

Ohmega Watts

Modern Soul & Boogie Dance Party!

9pm | $3.00 day of show

NIGHT MOVES is a modern soul party celebrating rare club music from the 80s and beyond. Residents Cooky Parker & Sex Life spin a wet mix of boogie, post-disco and modern funk jams while slicing video cuts of experimental boogie moments. Come, raise your spirits with this timeless and ecstatic music.

Wet your whistle by checking out our boogie blog ... | more info

WED JUL 31

ELEVEN MAG X HOLOCENE

aan

Sun Angle

Yours

We've teamed up with Eleven Magazine to present a quarterly showcase of our favorite emerging talents!

8:30pm | $6.00 advance $8.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

Aan is a fearless experimental pop band from Portland, Oregon mixing heavily textured guitars with rich vocal harmonies. The band has been active since 2007 self-releasing several CDs and garnering a reputation throughout the Northwest as a progressive force in the independent scene.

The band beckons a bevy of comparisons but their sound cannot be ... | more info

THU AUG 1

FRESH.

Julio Bashmore

Samo Soundboy

FRESH is an innovative electronic dance party.

9pm | $12.00 advance
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

It might seem counterintuitive for a producer to detach themselves from one of the planet's most thriving music scenes, but in the case of Julio Bashmore, that's exactly what he did growing up in bass music hotbed, Bristol. You see, Julio's first love is house music. And operating just on the peripheries of the city's scene has allowed him to ... | more info

FRI AUG 2

50: A Possible History of Dance Music, 1963 - 2013

Cooky Parker

Nathan Detroit

Freaky Outy

A dance party spanning 50 years of summer jams, 1963 - 2013.

9pm | $5.00 day of show

SAT AUG 3

Bass is our biz, and our biz be boomin'!

9pm | $5.00 day of show

World domination, butts, drank, money, records, but mostly butts. From its humble beginnings in 2002 as a small birthday party for a few friends, Booty Bassment has grown to one of California's best rap-based dance clubs. Veteran DJs Dimitri Dickinson and Ryan Poulsen have turned this night into a success with monthly installments in San Diego, San... | more info

TUE AUG 13

InFARMation (and Beer!)

ALL-AGES! Since January 2009, Friends of Family Farmers has hosted InFARMation (and Beer!) each month in Portland. This is an opportunity to bring the issues that Oregon family farmers face onto the radar of urban consumers, and the community in general. The topic changes each month, but always focuses on the larger picture of the connection between food and farms in our state. When eaters connect with farmers, it makes our food web stronger, and real changes in our local food system are possible. InFARMation (and Beer!) is always free and open to the public, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 5:30-8:30pm.

5:30pm | FREE!

WED AUG 14

Body Parts

Animal Eyes

Sama Dams

LA's Body Parts headline this marvelous and dynamic bill of experimental pop.

8:30pm | $3.00 day of show

Body Parts / Rest While you Sleep from Body Parts on Vimeo.

... | more info

TUE SEP 24

Jackson Scott

We're pleased to present the strange and wonderful garage rock of Asheville, NC's Jackson Scott, signed to Fat Possum.

8:30pm | $10.00 advance $10.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

Jackson Scott has developed out of a weird audacity; bending spoons with apocalyptic melodies, sugared with solipsistic textures. How did the world conceive this young cosmonaut? A college dropout with a 4-track and a one-track mind. A listener and a conceiver. His voice, whether pitched up or androgynous, speaks of a still life. But painting is ... | more info

SUN SEP 29

Phaeleh

Since his debut release in 2008, Phaeleh (pronounced "Fella") aka Matt Preston has developed an inimitable style of cinematic electronic music.

8:30pm | $12.00 advance $14.00 day of show
Tickets:

Stranger Tickets

Phaeleh's genre-busting output morphs between the shifting tempos and timbres of dubstep, garage, electronica and house music.

Phaeleh's last two long play releases on Afterglo: 'Fallen Light' and 'The Cold In You' have cemented his position as one of the most exciting new producers to emerge from the fertile soil of the UK Bass scene. As a Bristol ... | more info