Gwythaints (album release!), Smokey Brights (EP release!), Laryssa Birdseye – 21+

This Venue is proud to participate in the 2023 2nd Annual Portland Music Month. This ticket includes a donation to MusicOregon’s Echo Fund, which provides creative project grants for local independent musicians. Your check-in at the show will also enter you in a sweepstakes to win prizes! When you’re a sheltered prairie kid, nothing is cooler than your best friend’s biker dad’s pagan girlfriend reading aloud to you from epic fantasy books based on Welsh mythology over extended camping trips under the stars on the rocky shores of Puget Sound. That’s where Adam Sweeney first heard about the Gwythaints—fearsome birds that served as the all-seeing eyes of the dark lord in Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. When he found his band emerging from the ashes of the pandemic with a new record and a cinematic alt rock sound, the name just fit. Leading into 2020 Sweeney’s old band The Breaking had been at the height of its powers. They were sharing stages with bands like Rubblebucket, The Sherlocks, Avi Buffalo, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Floater, Lemolo and The Stone Foxes. They had just made a record with a production team of Grammy award winners and nominees—including producer Patrick Tetrault (Laura Gibson, The Features) mix engineer Craig Alvin (Kacey Musgraves, Kathleen Edwards) and mastering engineer Pete Lyman (Weezer, Brandi Carlile)—that launched them into new sonic territory. But then Covid-19 happened, tours were canceled and their record never saw the light of day. That band has evolved. They are now Gwythaints! Wall-of-guitar alt-rock power meets cinematic pop production lyrically charged with poetic angst. Smokey Brights are releasing a raw and emotional collection of rock songs entitled Broken Too. The Broken Too EP is a collection of songs about feeling fractured in an increasingly fragmented world, as well as finding ways to reconstruct oneself and move forward. This short collection of songs encompasses Smokey Brights heaviest, most playful, and most introspective material to date. A limited run of ten inch vinyl records of Broken Too will be available at the show.

Crystal Quartez, Gemini Moon, Asa Nakagawa, Antemano – 21+

Masks encouraged by request of the artists.Crystal Quartez is a multimedia artist who’s work focuses on redirecting modern technology toward sacred relationality. They create “Restorative Noise” by organizing drones and rhythms of mechanical life, natural voices, and digital timbres into a texture rich electronic dance music. These complex sonic realms are windows into shared networks of reality, often separated by borders, time, and perception. Recently, their work has involved collecting live biodata from plants and static data from climate change, to translate these numbers and electrical impulses into sound.Gemini Moon is the solo project of multimedia artist Jen Tam. It is a reflection of the past, ancestral secrets and release, and time spent and lost in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Using digital elements, live loops and vocal sampling, Gemini Moon builds a nostalgic soundscape reminiscent of 90s r&b radio jams with a wash of noise. Asa Nakagawa is an intuitive player and self-taught experimental, ambient, electronic musician who began their practice in the early 2010s. Originally hailing from Los Angeles, Asa has lived in the Pacific Northwest and is currently based in Philly. They have used a variety of equipment over the years, but have a penchant for grooveboxes and FM synthesis. Under the moniker Polydactyl, they make more beat-driven and techno tracks. Aside from writing electronic music, they DJ, field record, and make visual art spanning disciplines. Asa released their debut EP “Hex on You” in April 2021, and they are currently writing and recording their first full length record. Antemano is Ruben Dario, a Puerto Rican musician and writer living in Portland, Oregon. His music can be called Industrial-Pop, or rather a mix of the Synth-Pop’s gloss with the Post-Industrial’s distorted and malleable edges. He’s been self-releasing tapes in small editions since 2018 under different aliases until deciding on the name Antemano on his 2019 EP, his first digital release. In 2020 he followed with another EP called Vertebra. And in 2021 he was published in the compilation Medicine for a Nightmare as a musician and as a writer. Said compilation got a featured article in The Wire’s November Issue of the same year. https://antemano.bandcamp.com/

Silvertongue, Spooky Boys (single release!), The Departures- 21+

DoublePlusGood, Colin Jenkins, Soft Cheese – 21+

This Venue is proud to participate in the 2023 2nd Annual Portland Music Month. This ticket includes a donation to MusicOregon’s Echo Fund, which provides creative project grants for local independent musicians. Your check-in at the show will also enter you in a sweepstakes to win prizes! DoublePlusGood is the long-running romantic pop project of Portlander Erik Carlson. Often known for his shimmering layers of production, Carlson has created a sound that beautifully combines melancholy crooner with dreampop textures. Backed by a four-peice band, audiences are transported to a 1960s era romance film where the protagonist can’t get enough jukebox slow jams. Since its birth over a decade ago, DoublePlusGood has released mutiple albums and EPs, been featured on several local compliation albums, and has been trusted support for acts like Ariel Pink, Wild Ones, and Typhoon. Carlson also single-handedly ran an independant record label, SoHiTek, that has been home to Hosannas, Fanno Creek, Pocketknife, and more.Colin Jenkins is a purveyor of crystalline, funky future-pop. Backed by well-regarded local talent, Colin Jenkins blends together 70’s soul and 90’s R&B under a bed of modern production. Soft Cheese churns out tunes that have been described as shoegazey, grungey, dreamy and all around delightful. Since forming in Portland, OR in 2019, this quattro formaggi has been making music to eat pizza and cry to. Over the pandemic, the group self-recorded and released two EPs, “Blue Sausage Fruit” and “Tarp,” as well as putting out their self-titled LP that they had recorded with Cam Spies at Trash Treasury Studios just before the quarantine.Post-lockdown, Soft Cheese has made their way back to the show stage opening for acts like Wolf Parade, Oberhofer and Summer Cannibals, and also headlining shows at Mississippi Studios and the 2022 PDX Pop Now! Festival. Recently, the foursome made their way to an ocean forest retreat to record new material in the hopes of releasing their second LP in the near future!

Sons Of (Sam Prekop & John McEntire), Jeremiah Chiu – 21+

Sam Prekop and John McEntire are two artists, who together and as individuals, have expanded the definition of rock. Each is acclaimed for their singular musical voice and for their sonic innovations. Beyond their work together in The Sea and Cake, Prekop has garnered acclaim for his solo releases in ensemble or on modular synthesis, as well as for his visual art and photography. McEntire is one of the most celebrated engineers, composers, and drummers in forward-thinking music. With nearly three decades of experience working together, this is their first full-length collaboration as a duo. It was something they both have wanted to do for a long while, and a natural fit for two artists drawn to incorporating electronic music into rock and jazz contexts. Sons Of finds two master craftsmen working at the nexus of pristine production and skillful improvisation, forging compelling narrative arcs into glistening metropolises of infinite pulse. Sons Of is as sonically curious as it is inviting. The elaborate array of synthesizer modules, samplers, trigger pads and effects which the duo implement all serve as potent tools in unearthing unique textures and untapped worlds of possibility. Over the album’s four pieces Prekop and McEntire apply their intrinsic understanding of pop architectures to create dynamic movements. Their sound is one of transformative fluidity, each passing beat marking a sense of familiarity while the surrounding atmospheres are in constant flux. A steady pace to the tracks allows space for new sounds to breathe and evolve. Ever-shifting tonalities and magnetic grooves propel the music with persistent momentum without feeling hurried. Throughout the album, the duo exudes a spontaneous ease, unafraid to settle into a particular cadence or veer into entirely new directions on a dime.Jeremiah Chiu is a Los Angeles-via-Chicago artist and musician with Chicago’s venerable International Anthem Recording Co., whom released his duo record with Marta Sofia Honer, Recordings from the Åland Islands, in March 2022. In Chicago, Chiu was an active member of the notoriously inter-connected improvisational and experimental music scenesthere. Chiu’s musical CV to that point included work with Icy Demons and Chandeliers, as well as visual / graphic design work as Some All None. In Los Angeles, he is an electronic music composer and sound-artist, where he performs and composes solo as well as with variety of collaborators.

The Moss: Winter Tour – All Ages – w/ future.exboyfriend – presented by Mammoth NW & Mike Thrasher

In a musical landscape with fewer boundaries than ever before, THE MOSS’s exuberant brand of alternative rock spans genres, eras, and even oceans. The Utah-via-Hawaii group was born on the shores of Oahu in 2015, as teenage buddies Tyke James (vocals/guitar) and Addison Sharp (guitar) picked up a gig serenading diners at local taco trucks in between surf sessions. Naturally, their songs took shape in the spirit of the island, imbued with the joyfulness and breeziness of reggae culture yet cut with the introspection and communal spirit of mainland indie acts like Pinegrove and Cage the Elephant. By 2018, the duo had grown, enlisting Willie Fowler on drums and Addison’s brother Brierton on bass, and traded in beaches for the Great Salt Lake. They hit the stage at spots like local cornerstone Kilby Court, live-testing their modern-indie-meets-’60s-blues with a wide-eyed exuberance that translated effortlessly into their 2019 self-released debut, Bryology. Colored by the sound of Stratocasters jamming through reverb-cranked Fender amps, all backed by bouncy rhythms, Bryology marked a big step for the still-young quartet – but, true to The Moss’s nature, was still hard-coded with a DIY ethos. “We basically had no budget,” James remembers fondly. “We bought some nice mics and an interface and I ended up learning how to mix while we were recording.” The follow-up, 2021’s Kentucky Derby, brought a more aspirational, blue-sky tilt to the foundation they’d laid on Bryology, expanding the group’s sonic arsenal while keeping the relatable lyrical style and sun-soaked sentiment at the forefront. “I’m really proud of how we’ve evolved as a band over time,” Addison Sharp says. “It feels like we’ve taken every different influence and mashed them all together to create something that feels really special.” “Bryology seemed like a collection of separate songs we put together to make an album, whereas Kentucky Derby is a similar thought and story coming together to collectively make a more cohesive album,” adds Brierton Sharp says, noting the album’s tracks are sneakily arranged in pairs of two that seamlessly flow into one another. “Each song could be listened to on its own, or you could listen to them all and get a broader sense of our intention.” No matter how listeners choose to interact with The Moss’s music, the band just hopes they feel something. It’s that kinetic relationship between band and audience that makes their live performances – including a pitch-perfect recent set for Audiotree – so compelling. “No matter what we do, we want to make sure the songs are fun to play live,” says Fowler. “We pride ourselves on being a band people want to see live.” “There’s something special that happens when you get an immediate reaction to a song,” says James. “Whether it’s during a live show or even just a songwriting session, if there’s a reaction from people in the room, you know you’re on the right track.” XXWith support from future.exboyfriend!

The Academic: Sitting Pretty Tour – w/ Chipped Nail Polish – All Ages- presented by Double Tee

With their self-released debut album, ‘Tales From The Backseat’, The Academic announced themselves with an unlikely bang. Buoyant guitar hooks and earworm melodies coalesced with Craig Fitzgerald’s lyrics about teenage romance and tribulations in rural Ireland to place the band firmly amongst many ones-to-watch lists. Released in 2018, it hit number one in the Irish Albums Chart but had enough of a global reach that over the next few years, the band toured the UK, Europe and North America. In fact, the four friends from the small village just outside of Mullingar in Ireland have been on an upwards trajectory since they decided to learn Kings Of Leon covers to play in their local pub in 2013, all in their early teens at the time. A debut EP of guitar-driven originals followed in 2015 alongside one of the fastest ever sold-out shows at the iconic Vicar Street venue in nearby Dublin. Since then, they’ve released two more EPs (2020’s ‘Acting My Age’ and 2021’s ‘Community Spirit’) and supported the likes of The Rolling Stones, Twenty One Pilots and The Killers. Fans have got lyrics tattooed and their songs have been used to soundtrack weddings. New album ‘Sitting Pretty’ packs an energetic punch. With the band having not played a live show for almost two years due to COVID, by the time they went into the studio with former Kaiser Chief Nick Hodgson, their excitement was at an all-time high. Inspired by the likes of The Kinks, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The Beach Boys and The Velvet Underground, The Academic were drawn to music that “feels genuine and without pretense,” for this album, which makes perfect sense really. “If this band is any one thing, it’s 100% genuine,” says Stephen. “This record is us wearing our hearts-on-the-sleeve and following our instincts.” The band hopes ‘Sitting Pretty’ “connects on a visceral level with people who are grappling with their sense of self-worth, their identity and not knowing where they belong in the world. It is a struggle to know where you fit or what’s around the corner and it feels like that’s only getting harder,” explains Stephen. “I think a good chunk of young people feel lost or confused. Hopefully there’s comfort to be found in knowing other people feel the same way.” As an Irish guitar band, The Academic have forged their own path. “We started this band from a young age and we’ve always trusted our gut and the music we make. That’s not going to change now,” he explains. Afterall, if you’re following someone else, you’ll always going to be in their shadow. “It just highlights our confidence,” continues Stephen. “We are always willing to change, we are willing to evolve but we also know exactly who we are. with local support from Chipped Nail Polish!

Club Blush: An Ethereal & Euphoric Dance Night – 21+

Club Blush is an ethereal and euphoric dance night. A tribute to the hits from ODESZA, Rufus Du Sol, Flume Disclosure, Kaskade, Hayden James, Jamie xx, Bob Moses, Lane 8, Bonobo, Fred Again…, MGMT, Zhu, Duke Dumont, Empire of the Sun, Flight Facilities, Gorgon City, Purity Ring, Nora En Pure, Snakehips, Kaytranada… etc. FREE BEFORE 10PM WITH RSVP – SUBJECT TO VENUE CAPACITY (EARLY ARRIVAL RECOMMENDED)FOR PRIORITY ENTRY UNTIL 11PM, PURCHASE AN ADVANCE TICKET FOR $10$15 AT THE DOOR AFTER 10PM

Spend the Night and Holocene Present: DJ BORING, Laura Lynn, Carly Barton- 21+

Watching DJ BORING in action is the antithesis of his mundane pseudonym; vibrant, energising, fun and full of passion, Tristan Hallis puts his all into every set. Over the last few years he has ascended rapidly thanks to his dazzling displays, impeccable selection and high quality productions. The Australian selector takes great pride in his digging capabilities, constantly searching for lesser-known gems from years gone by, and pairing them up with more recent cuts that are equally exceptional.Since he arrived with ‘Winona’ in 2016, DJ BORING has continued to push forward and demonstrate his abilities on stage, in the clubs, at festivals and behind-the-scenes in the studio. He has an innate ability to blend seemingly disparate styles. His debut on BBC Radio 1’s legendary Essential Mix and an amazing Boiler Room appearance at Lost Sundays exemplify this DJ style, but tune in to any of his streams, recorded sets or, better still, see him in person and you’re bound to be left buzzing by his sheer dynamism.In the studio, the producer has honed in on a contemporary sound that pays homage to the roots of dance music. His productions are birthed in hardware and imbued with Hallis’ energetic personality — a human touch which can often be lacking in many productions today. This trait shines through in his new live show where hardware and controllers become a natural extension of his creative self, a conduit through which he presents a fresh take on his music.DJ BORING epitomises the dance floor roots of club culture; positive energy, liberating and unifying selections and unbridled fun and self-expression, combined with respect for the music and a genuine desire to share his unwavering passion. Despite his impressive list of achievements it’s clear BORING is only just getting started, with his live show being finalised alongside plans for an album project in the not-too-distant future, the stage is set for the next phase of this soaring artist’s remarkable career…

MIKE: Ipari Park Tour – All Ages – presented by Sean Healy – w/ 454, Anysia Kym

MIKE is a quintessential old soul. The 24-year-old artist’s wisdom is evident in both his calm delivery and measured questioning, even if he doesn’t always understand the depth of his words until they’re written. “All of these random ideas come to my head, but always end up making sense after it’s done,” the NY-based rapper-producer says about his method. Known for introspective, subtly profound rhymes that explore grief, family, and identity, and melt over muffled, soul-seasoned samples, MIKE’s signature sound returns matured and healthy on his eighth album Beware of the Monkey.“Through the city I can’t do too much looking up,” MIKE raps on “nuthin i can do is wrng”, the first single from his forthcoming self-produced record. The line is emblematic of what the album as a whole signifies for MIKE. As his career—spanning numerous critically celebrated albums and tours with artists like Blood Orange, Earl Sweatshirt, and Freddie Gibbs—flourishes, his inner world demands nurturing. In a noisy metropolis, it can be hard to see beyond what’s right in front you, to find stillness. “So much shit is happening on surface level, it’s hard to have some idea of external shit outside of that,” MIKE says. In a way, Beware of the Monkey is MIKE’s coming-of-age album. The beloved rapper has come a long way from making waves in underground hip-hop circles with the [sLUms] collective—a group of young rappers Adé Hakim, Darryl Johnson, King Carter, Jazz Jodi, and DJ Mason formed in New York in 2015. In 2017 MIKE released his mixtape May God Bless Your Hustle, capturing a singular moment in a city where the only constant is change. It received a Best New Music review from Pitchfork as MIKE started to gain international attention outside of New York City. At the end of 2018 MIKE released his album War In My Pen independently, and followed it up in mid 2019 with Tears of Joy, his second album to be selected for Pitchfork’s Best New Music. He released his most recent album, Weight of the World, in 2020. Nearly entirely self-produced, and only containing features from Jadasea and Earl Sweatshirt, it is one of MIKE’s most introspective and sonically diverse releases. Disco! followed Weight of the World, and saw MIKE combine his new style of production with his top tier songwriting and delivery.As producer dj blackpower, MIKE has armed himself with a tapestry of ancestral sound built upon repurposed material, from soulful cuts to archival motifs. The ethos of dj blackpower shows up throughout episodes of IFE Radio, an ecosystem of black sound (Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, Yesterday’s New Quintet) he hosts, featuring guest conversations and sets from artists like duendita and Frank Dorrey.“You don’t have to ask to be a leader. You have to do things and if the spot is open and needed, it will be there for you,” MIKE says about using his platform to build community. Young World II, a day-long festival he organized over the summer at Bed Stuy’s Herbert Von King Park (Junglepussy, Slick Rick, TisaKorean, Maasaai, and more), epitomized his impact. Beware of the Monkey affirms the wide-smiled rapper as he chooses to find the sublime in order to “get out of his own way.” Following the longest gap MIKE has taken since recent projects, the new record displays the intuitive musician’s eclipse into a new cycle. Beware of the Monkey finds the most confident and determined MIKE to date, as he shifts from an adolescent poet to a masterful interdisciplinary artist.With support from 454 and Anysia Kym!

Genre: Concerts