Wednesday January 9top

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Concern, Parenthetical Girls

I don't know if it's a sign of the quality and depth of Owen Ashworth's songwriting or of my own maturation that Casiotone for the Painfully Alone songs only grow in raw emotional power as the years pass. Maybe both. Ashworth's latest record, Etiquette, has moments of absolute brilliance as he—in fewer words than in this paragraph—conveys exactly what defeat, loneliness and loss feel like, all with a catchy drum beat. His recent Graceland EP features a slower, grinding version of the titular song, with Ashworth muttering the lyrics, making even Paul Simon's delivery seem insincere by comparison. JIM SANDBERG. 8 pm. Artistery, 4315 SE Division St., 803-5942. $6. All ages. Map

Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags, Michael Dean Damron & Thee Loyal Bastards, Rachel Taylor Brown

[ALL KINDSA ROOTS ROCK] Though tonight's lineup spans different realms of American roots music, there's some real salt-of-the-earth tunes to be had here, however varied. Opener Rachel Taylor Brown (known also for wailing and ivory-ticklin' along with Chris Robley's Fear of Heights) offers macabre tunes from a more gothic (in a creepy, traditional, not black-eyeliner-’n’-white-facepaint kind of way), piano-laced standpoint, while Damron, a storied onetime bar-band troubadour, serves up raspy-voiced, twang-tinged cry-in-your-whiskey fare. Add Southern rock-leaning Scotland Barr (who channels a bit of Mike Ness’ country side) and company to the mix, and you've got yourself a real classic night of honest-to-God drinkin' music. AMY MCCULLOUGH. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. Free. 21+. Map

Thursday January 10top

Egyptian Lover, Sad Music for Happy Humans, Who Cares

[ELECTRO FUNK ESSENTIAL] This is for real: The pioneer of electro-rap, the Egyptian Lover, returns to Portland after his mind-blowing appearance at Holocene last year. The Tonic Lounge is an odd venue for Lover, to be sure, but freakazoids and robot rockers will take what they can get when it comes to this living legend. The Lover was there in the early ’80s when the electro sounds of Kraftwerk were fused with L.A.'s burgeoning rap scene: Ice-T was wearing leather and spikes, and Egypt was the place to be. JIM SANDBERG. 9:30 pm. , 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. Cover. 21+. Map

Leigh Marble, Jared Mees & the Grown Children, Stuart Valentine

[SINGER-SONGWRITERS EXTRAORDINAIRE] Stuart Valentine's contribution to last year's Pop Tomorrow compilation—a bouncing, Elvis Costello-ish number called "I Heard You Twice the First Time"—is as instantly likable a pop song as I've heard in ages. Though some of the tunes on the Portland songwriter's Summer's Winter Day (which also contains "I Heard You Twice") take themselves a little more seriously, sacrificing some of the lighthearted wit that's so charming on the aforementioned track, the bar-band organ, bright guitar and pop hooks remain even when they're bogged down with touches of sappiness. As for Mees and Marble, well, both of their latest releases were included in my "Best Local Albums of 2007" list—not much more to say than that! AMY MCCULLOUGH. 9:30 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. 21+. Map

The Section Quartet, Pseudosix

[HIP STRINGS] For a group that's played with Maroon 5 and enlisted Linda Perry to produce its latest album, Fuzzbox, the self-proclaimed loudest string quartet on earth maintains surprising hipster cred—Coachella, sigh. But there's something undeniably hypnotic about the Section Quartet's covers of every indie luminary from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Bowie. The group's version of "The Man Who Sold the World" doesn't exactly outstrip (clear inspiration) Nirvana's, and its fixation upon exact replication sorta numbs. But the group's best moments highlight the original composition's subtleties (eerily familiar melodies resembling classic soundtracks that never were) with an impeccable taste absent from its choice of collaborators—unless, of course, we've overlooked Rick Springfield's Christmas album. JAY HORTON. 9 pm. Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. $5. 21+. Map

The Rev. Payton's Big Damn Band, Jason Webley

[GYPSY PUNK] There's a Jason Webley lyric that goes, "A gang of maniacs with knives are playing blackjack with their lives/ To kill the time until the giant rats attack." He's also got a song where he has everyone spin in circles to simulate being really, really drunk. Webley's songs vary from the sort of dark material you get from PDX locals like the Builders and the Butchers and Nick Jaina to the childishly gleeful—"Eleven Saints" could be a kids' song, if it wasn't for that opening line, "And if my cat looks scared/ It's because he knows he won't be going to Heaven." BRANDON SEIFERT. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $10. 21+. Map

Indie Record Store Night feat. Green Noise Records: DJ Ken Dirtnap, The Soda Pop Kids, The Girls

[PUNK] East End has barely been open a month, and already Portland's newest venue is making its name as a punk hangout. Case in point: Local label Dirtnap Records—which has released albums by acts like the Exploding Hearts, the Epoxies and Nice Boys—and record store-label hybrid Green Noise Records are teaming up for a monthly night at the former location of Noir and the Rabbit Hole. And like any good punk community, it's already getting incestuous: MC5-inspired glam rockers the Soda Pop Kids will perform at Green Noise Records Nite, which is no coincidence, since the Kids' bass player Tony Mengis is part-owner of East End. And since Ken Dirtnap, proprietor of the eponymous record label is DJ'ing between bands, you can bet his pet projects will be on display as well. PAIGE RICHMOND. 9 pm. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. $5. 21+. Map

Lupe Fiasco

[HIP-HOP] Lupe Fiasco may have made his name alongside Kanye, but he laid his career's foundation in the mixtape game, where he balanced his boyishly smooth Chicago verses over pilfered beats and samples and got the whole world listening. Accordingly, Fiasco is a uniquely Internet-age star who often seems as awestruck by his own celebrity as any of his fans, but that's just another facet of the unguarded directness we've come to love about the guy. Even as his fame expands, Lupe is able to keep an open lyrical dialogue with the mainstream and underground simultaneously—as demonstrated on latest album The Cool's "Dumb It Down," on which he raps, "They told me I should dumb down, cousin/ But I flatly refuse, I ain't dumb down nothin'" over a beat normally reserved for bars about bitches and champagne. It's unfortunate The Cool was buried by the blogosphere's year-end madness, because it's a fine portrait of an independent-minded artist balancing the needs of his heart with those of his pocketbook, and one of the smartest hip-hop releases of 2007 to boot. CASEY JARMAN. 8 pm. Roseland, 8 NW 6th Ave., 219-9929 (Grill), 224-2038 (Theater). $20. All ages. Map

This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Drunken Boat, Vena Cava, P.O.P., Destroy Nate Allen

[FOLK PUNK] Though it hails from what I can only assume are the shithole swamps of Florida, there is no band more "Portland" than This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb. Songs about fighting racism, sexism and bicycle discrimination are staples of punk, but no one tackles such subjects with the irreverence and back-porch party aesthetic (its sound floats somewhere between Woodie Guthrie and Operation Ivy) that TBIAPB has perfected in its decade-plus stint of basement tours and DIY recordings. Though the band goes largely unheralded outside of its hardcore punk following (I doubt it's ever had a proper publicist), one can trace a clear lineage from TBIAPB to fellow Floridian folk punks Against Me! (a band now touring NBA arenas nationwide with the Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World). CASEY JARMAN. 7:30 pm. Satyricon, 125 NW 6th Ave., 227-0999. $6. All ages. Map

The Fix: Rev Shines, Ohmega Watts, DJs Kez, Dundiggy

Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. All ages. Map

Friday January 11top

Dirt Jake Replicas, Quandry, Rustmine, Rishloo

[GOTHY PROG] A little bit goth, a little bit prog rock and a lot dark, Portland outfit Dirt Jake Replicas is just the thing for Tool fans who want some good female vocal action but think Evanescence sucks balls. Complementing the band's all-over-the-place bass and metal-sophisticate guitars, vocalists Dakota Max and Ashley Beard sing in and around each other, expertly coupling her sweet, clear tone with his uncannily Maynard James Keenan-like croon-growl. It's all very spooky and borderline Hot Topic, but—even though fans of Evanescence would actually probably dig it—Dirt Jake Replicas is far more artful (and listenable) in its metal-meets-operatic chick vocalist craft. AMY MCCULLOUGH. 9:30 pm. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. 21+. Map

Floater, Apex Theory, In Lunar Blue

[POST-GRUNGE] Whether you're down with Floater's hard rock-meets-prog-meets-stoner rock steez or not, one thing's for sure: Floater fans are effin' crazy, and fanaticism has to count for something. Perhaps it's frontman-bassist Rob Wynia's versatile croon or the band's knack for alt-rock hooks circa the mid-’90s, or even the longhaired metalhead, overly pierced hippie, butt-rock-anthem-crooning Camaro driver vibe Floater channels—a vibe that's way more Oregonian than many of us realize (or wanna admit). Regardless, people freakin' love this band, and you probably know by now whether you're one of those people or not. AMY MCCULLOUGH. 9 pm. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. $15 advance, $18 day of show. All ages. Map

Napalm Beach, Old Growth, Dirty Lowdowns

[LEGENDARY] As with so many innovators, more folks know Napalm Beach by reputation than by the band's tunes. A starstruck Nirvana was one of many acts to open for and rather overshadow Portland's godfathers of grunge, even as original Wipers drummer Sam Henry, guitarist Chris Newman, and a few dozen bassists spread the legend over 25 years of enlightened garage mayhem. Henry spent the last of those propelling local indie chanteuse Morgan Grace, while Newman joined longest-lasting Beach bassist Dave Dillinger's band, Divining Rods. They've collected themselves for one last dance. And it's not like we're getting a Nirvana reunion. JAY HORTON. 9:30 pm. Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. $8. 21+. Map

The Mother Hips, Weinland

[COLLEGE ROCK] Dave Matthews Band be damned: The Mother Hips are the definition of college rock. Formed in 1990 while all four members were still undergrads at California State University at Chico (a notorious party school), the band has played what they call "California soul" for the better part of two decades. The music feels like Phish—jammy and lacking polish—with a bit of the Beach Boys—harmonized and oddly cheerful—thrown in. It's innocuous music: Like DMB, the Mother Hips are easy to listen to and equally easy to ignore. Which means local lyrical folk outfit Weinland (the band formerly known as John Weinland) will steal the show as the opening act. PAIGE RICHMOND. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+. Map

Jazztronica, David Friesen

[JAZZTRONICA] I'm more than a little skeptical of groups with names like Jazztronica. If you're not going to name your group with a certain level of creativity, why should I trust that anything good will come of the music itself? Trumpeter Derek Sims' group, though, which plays weekly at Jimmy Mak's, is treading in some interesting territory despite the obvious moniker, with spaced-out beats in the foreground and roaming, film noir horn cutting like a ribbon across the background. Nice to see Jimmy Mak's trying out something new, and should be fun to follow Sims—an established name in Portland's jazz scene—to wherever this project might take him. But we've gotta do something about that name. CASEY JARMAN. 8 pm (minors welcome until 9:30 pm). Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542. $10. 21+. Map

Third Angle: River of Life

[ART-FOLK] See preview. 7:30 pm. Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-7755. $30 ($25 senior/student). All ages. Map

Neon: DJs BJ, Pocketrock-It, Patricia Furpurse & Tre Slim

[DANCE DANCE] After getting lost one day in outer Southeast Portland, my friend and I found ourselves at a gigantic Goodwill where they weigh your purchases and charge you by the pound. It was enough for us to abandon our intended destination. Now Neon has given us an excuse to go back! After we're done raiding the bins for the best in DayGlo, we can hit the dance floor to all the best in current electronic music—from electro to house—and so can you! NILINA MASON-CAMPBELL. 10 pm. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. $3. 21+. Map

Ohioan & Native Kin, Alan Singley, Church

[REVOLUTION ROCK] See profile. 8 pm. Also Sunday, Jan. 13, at Valentine's. The Modern Age, 1825 SW Broadway., . Cover. All ages. Map

Lewi Longmire, Sassparilla

[ROOTS ROCK] What's new with Lew? Portland's favorite rootsy guitar slinger and his cohorts Bill Rudolph (bass) and Ned Folkerth (drums) have been working on a new album at the studio of ubiquitous six-string wielder Chet Lyster (who, by the way, is lately a favorite well beyond Portland; he was tapped last fall to join Lucinda Williams' road band and has toured in recent years with the Eels). New tracks are due to debut soon on Longmire's MySpace page. Meanwhile, he stays busy as ever, having backed up the likes of Fernando, Jim Boyer and Bingo last month alone. But it's his growth from sideman to frontman that continues to impress. JEFF ROSENBERG. 9:30 pm. White Eagle, 836 N Russell St., 282-6810. $6. 21+. Map

Saturday January 12top

Tranquilazer, Tempo No Tempo, Swim Swam Swum

[POST-PUNK] Tranquilazer and Swim Swam Swum are both full of quick, scampering disco drumming and fuzzy guitar, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Where Swim Swam Swum is all, "Whoa, the Promise Ring rules!," Tranquilazer is a little more like, "Yeah, but we dig Sonic Youth." Berkeley's Tempo No Tempo is bringing Wire records to the party, insisting on keeping things nicer and tidier than that of either raw local band. Still, you probably haven't partied like this since 1998. CASEY JARMAN. 9:30 pm. , 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. Cover. 21+. Map

Gabriel Teodros, Sleep, Bambu, DJ Phatrick

[SOUL HOP] Seattle rapper Gabriel Teodros is far more than just that. With tracks chock fulla totally danceable beats, soulful female backing vocals (think locals Hungry Mob or Barry Hampton's Triple Grip) and undeniable hooks (be they vox-, keyboard-, vinyl- or sax-produced), Teodros is readily available to fans of pop, world, R&B and just about anything in between—which is not to sell his smooth rhymes short. To be perfectly honest, I don't know much about hip-hop, but I know this: Teodros makes good music, genre (and politically conscious, intelligent and lightning-fast tongue lashings) notwithstanding. AMY MCCULLOUGH. 10 pm. Berbati's Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. Cover. 21+. Map

The Head Cat, Blackout Radio, The Stood-Ups

[LEMMY!] Loose-stitched rockabilly covers of favored ’50s tunes are among the more despicable elements of dad bands, and while much of the Head Cat's 2006 debut, Fool's Paradise, sounds like a self-recorded album sold from the back of VFW halls, what if the lightly decomposing vet hawking discs turned out to be Lemmy? Wouldn't you buy, like, all of them? The Motörhead icon's whimsy should be depressing, I guess—unconscionably sloppy and enervated instrumentation from the Stray Cats' Slim Jim Phantom and (Rockats, 13 Cats...band name coming into focus) Danny B. Harvey—and it's a bit late in the day for hard rock's most infamous growl to ape Gene Vincent. But Lemmy's earned our benefit of the doubt. Uneasily awaiting the lounge project. JAY HORTON. 9 pm. Dante's, 1 SW 3rd Ave., 226-6630. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21+. Map

The Minus 5, Casey Neill & the Norway Rats, Oh Darling

[ROCK] Scott McCaughey may no longer be Young, but he's still one Fresh Fellow, and he's easily squeezed into Portland's busy scene since moving here from Seattle a couple years back. McCaughey (pronounced "McCoy") made his name leading the Young Fresh Fellows, but made his bones as a longtime hired gun for R.E.M. These days, he makes noise mainly with The Minus 5, with assistance from R.E.M. guitar genius Peter Buck. Casey Neill plays with McCaughey in PDX all-star Pogues tribute band KMRIA; perhaps tonight, in Neill's scratchy, impassioned wail, Buck will hear echoes of his own band's noted singer. JEFF ROSENBERG. 9 pm. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. $10. 21+. Map

Nic Fury

[YEEEAH!] Self-described as one who "stays in the mix like a Lil John song," Fury is a man of many angles. Head of L.A.-based 20 Kliks Records, he has a lengthy list of collaborators to fill out his hefty brand of hip-hop. Expect some unexpected freestyling, plenty of mic-passing, and a whole load of head-bobbing. MARK STOCK. East Chinatown Lounge, 322 NW Everett St., 226-1659. Cover. 21+. Map

Leadface, Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, DJs Bliss, Michael & D-Lyte

[BOOM] In a town blessed with its fair share of bands on the march—from the circuslike craziness of MarchFourth to the Carnival flair of the Lions of Batucada—the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers hits with primal thunder and laser precision. With an army of dozens of drummers, the group delivers complex and explosive polyrhythmic drum arrangements—a pulsing sound that kicks you in the chest from blocks away. It’s impossible to stand still through a performance. LRSD’s medieval fury is followed by dark prog rockers Leadface, releasing their new album, Life, Poverty and the Pursuit of Heaviness. AP KRYZA. 8 pm. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. $10. All ages. Map

Atlas: DJs Anjali, E3, & the Incredible Kid

[U.K.-ASIAN DANCE] Want to go to London, but the rise of the pound keeps you down? When you dance to DJ Anjali, you find yourself very close to London's Brick Lane. Alight with pretty young things and plastered with bill postings of all the best parties, Brick Lane is also lined with curry houses as it's smack dab in the middle of the Bangladeshi community. Storefronts are lined with posters of the latest Bollywood movies, and the accompanying music rings out into the street. Mix that with the Bhangra and garage genres that flow out of London's East End and you not only have the sound of the street, but DJ Anjali's set. NILINA MASON-CAMPBELL. 9 pm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. $5. 21+. Map

Carcrashlander (CD Release), Graves, Lake; Midnight Serenaders (7 pm)

[NOISY PIANO-FOLK] See music feature. 10 pm. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. $7 advance, $8 day of show. 21+. Map

Sholi, The Dead Science, Valediction

[EXPERIMENTAL POP] The Dead Science put out its first release, in the form of its Galactose EP, under the name the Sweet Science before receiving a cease-and-desist notice from a band who had already laid claim to the name. The name change hasn't set them off course. As the Dead Science winds down to Portland via I-5 from its home base of Seattle, the trio brings with it airy vocals, delicate strings and jazzy drums for tunes both ethereal and sinister. NILINA MASON-CAMPBELL. 9 pm. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. $7. 21+. Map

Hexlove, Everybody, The Iditarod, Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!

[PSYCH MATH] Drummer Zac Nelson's Hexlove is a noisy, swarming beast that at times sounds akin to a silverware drawer pulled out too far. Occasional psychedelic vocals provide the needed respite from the chopped-up mayhem of Nelson's compositions. But it's Lost Lamp Records labelmate Everybody that's the highlight of this twice-offered lineup. Rhythmic and cyclical, Everybody takes an excited math-rock band's interpretation of Steve Reich and loops it, making dense, intricate and melodic music that just doesn't blink. JIM SANDBERG. 7 pm. Also Monday, Jan. 14, at Valentine's. Sugar Gallery, 420 SW Washington St., Suite 500., . Cover. All ages. Map

Sunday January 13top

A Fifth of Funk, Vollwrath Eleven, Slaphog

[BASEMENT FUNK] A Fifth of Funk is something of a rarity: a three-piece garage funk band that manages to sound full despite residing in a genre in which bands take on orchestral numbers. Heavily distorted guitar chords and funky bass lines make it difficult, despite the trio’s descriptive name, to pigeonhole the band as pure funk. Vocalist Chris Guerin’s gritty vocals bring an element of classic rock, while the chord-heavy riffs add in a punkish feel, all supported by Tony Bader’s solid backbone bass playing. AP KRYZA. 9:30 pm. Also Monday, Jan. 14, at Mt. Tabor Legacy. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $5. 21+. Map

Ohioan & Native Kin, Davis Hooker, Bob Jones

[REVOLUTION ROCK] See profile. 9 pm. Also Friday, Jan. 11, at the Modern Age. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. Free. 21+. Map

Monday January 14top

Alex Arrowsmith, Lonesome Radio Heart, Mayhaw Hoons, The Morals

[RIDICULOUS POP] Local songwriter Alex Arrowsmith certainly isn't light on corniness—not to mention They Might Be Giants emulation—on Missing Briefcase, the album he celebrates the release of tonight. But regardless of his sometimes overly in-your-face quirk, Arrowsmith is funny and charming and awkward in the same sort of way a weird childhood friend is. But awkward or no (Mayhaw Hoons, the crazy-haired bass-playin' guy from the Shaky Hands, raps on one track, for crissakes), Arrowsmith is darn catchy on tunes like "The Zaps"—which, according to his one-sheet's "useless trivia" section, is about Zoloft withdrawal—and "High Speed Chase," which tries to legitimize his creation of a Wikipedia entry for local news anchor Jeff Gianola. Missing Briefcase walks a fine line between good-ridiculous and bad-ridiculous (and, oh, what a fine line it is), but Arrowsmith sometimes hints of Ben Folds or Fountains of Wayne—employing a smart sense of humor and lots of key-heavy pop hooks, which certainly isn't a bad place to start. AMY MCCULLOUGH. 8 pm. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $5. All ages. Map

A Fifth of Funk

[BASEMENT FUNK] See Sunday listing. 8 pm. Also Sunday, Jan. 13, at Ash Street Saloon. Mount Tabor Legacy, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 232-0450. Free. 21+. Map

Hexlove, Everybody, The Iditarod, Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!

[PSYCH MATH] See Saturday listing. 9 pm. Also Saturday, Jan. 12, at Sugar Gallery. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. Donation. 21+. Map