Shows of the Week: Friends of Noise Showcases Young Artists With Icebreaker

What to see and hear this week.

Friends of Noise (Courtesy of Friends of Noise)
By Daniel Bromfield

Thursday, Jan. 2

Friends of Noise has spent years working to establish an all-ages music venue in Portland, and the dream is closer than ever to reality, with plans to open an alcohol-free community space called the Off Beat next year in the Kenton neighborhood. In the meantime, the local nonprofit is throwing Icebreaker, a benefit party featuring a host of young bands and singer-songwriters from the Portland area plus tunes from DJ Ruskii. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 6:30 pm. $10. All ages.

Friday, Jan. 3

Portland is a great place for gothic music, and an upcoming show at the Six should serve as an intro to the darker corners of the city’s scene. Patoja is a rising local darkwave fave whose songs switch between English and Spanish—not that you’d notice beneath the thick patina of reverb on the vocals—while the relatively new Doomed Romantics play “19th century death rock.” Opening is Has/Will, an alt-rock band founded in Eugene that’s been kicking around for a while in several incarnations. The Midnight Society, 3341 SE Belmont St. 8:30 pm. $10. 21+.

Saturday, Jan. 4

Zookraught are evangelists for the power of dance punk—a term that might conjure images of emaciated New Yorkers twitching through songs about being bored with the scene, but which in this Seattle three-piece’s hands means something fun, funky and inclusive (just wait until you hear them howl about the “Waterparks of America” on the closing track to this year’s Vida Violet). If you haven’t been lucky enough to see one of their lipstick-smeared live performances, catch them at Lollipop Shoppe this Saturday. Lollipop Shoppe, 736 SE Grand Ave. 8:30 pm. $10. 21+.


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