High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Dec. 15

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Skinny Puppy Courtesy of Metropolis Records

It’s always wise to prepare for unexpected guests during the holidays. This week, we’ve got company coming from California; the Muffs, X, and the Blasters constitute a posse of perennial punk-inspired favorites from down L.A. way. From the frozen north come Canadian industrial provocateurs Skinny Puppy, who will share grim visions of Christmas nightmares yet to come, while hometown gallants Satin Chaps and Psychomagic make us glad we stayed home this year.

Skinny Puppy

Dec 17 @ 8pm

Is the future shaping up all nice and pretty? Not according to Canadian industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy, whose most recent album ‘Weapon’ is crawling with enough insidious techno paranoia and dystopian visions to make a Philip K. Dick fan say, “I told you so.” Cracking blacksmith beats and ominous synth ripples animate songs like “Illisit” and “Solvent” while costume-clad singer Ogre snarls and rants like a cult leader gone mad—who nonetheless might turn out to be the rebel leader that helps mankind overthrow its genetically superior oppressors. Fun fact: Skinny Puppy sent a bill for $666,000 to the Pentagon for using the band’s music to torture prisoners at Gitmo. It’s only fair.

$30-50. Roseland Theater, 8 NW Sixth Ave.

The Muffs

Dec 18 @ 9pm

Muffs’ guitarist and singer Kim Shattuck recently served a stint as Kim Deal’s touring replacement in Boston band the Pixies, but she’s a SoCal gal through and through. She cut her teeth as a member of the Pandoras, a rowdy all-girl garage group in the 1980s, before forming the Muffs in 1991. From there, it’s been a steady diet of bubble-punk ditties like “Sad Tomorrow” and “Lucky Guy.” Their formula of revved-up guitar-bass-drums and bratty vocals doesn’t vary a whole lot, but it’s clearly not broken and for sure doesn’t need fixing.

$13-15. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St.

X, The Blasters

Dec 18 & 21 @ 9pm

After seven albums (and a few breakups), Los Angeles legends X have ceased recording new material, but continue to tour to the delight of fans perfectly content to hear John Doe and Exene Cervenka’s trauma-tossed vocals, and to see grinning guitarist Billy Zoom’s variety of adorable rockabilly poses. There’s very little filler in their repertoire, and gritty standards like “White Girl,” “Hungry Wolf,” and “We’re Desperate” remind us all over again what important songs are supposed to sound like. It also doesn’t hurt that singer Phil Alvin is once again fronting the Blasters, another legendary California crew that opens both shows.

$27.50. Star Theater, 13 NW Sixth Ave.

Satin Chaps by Andy Batt

Satin Chaps

Dec 20 @ 9pm

Maybe it’s the ascots, but this Portland go-go group can make even a blue-collar dive like the Kenton Club swing with sophistication. The Satin Chaps are an infallible groove machine with matching suits and choreographed stage moves, and they generate a funky instrumental abandon reminiscent of the Meters and the Bar-Kays. Just follow your hips to the dance floor and everything will be fine. Keep your ears peeled for the Chaps’ swinging holiday hit, “Hey, Mrs. Santa Claus.”

$5. Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick St.

Psychomagic

Dec 20 @ 9pm

The opening number on this Portland group’s debut collection of songs is called “I’m A Freak,” and it effectively sets the table for what’s to follow. Led by the unhinged crooning of bandleader Steve Fusco, Psychomagic sounds like the new band on a parallel universe oldies station. Familiar ingredients, such as Spaghetti Western guitars, soulful declarations, doo-wop flourishes, and ’50s adolescent yearning, are gleefully pureed and reconstructed into fresh and fearless psychedelic pop like “Elvis on the Moon” and “Heartbroken Teenage Zombie Killer.” It’s psycho. And magic.

$7. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave.

John Chandler has been writing about rock and/or roll for 25 years with The Rocket, Portland Tribune, Portland Monthly, Magnet, Dagger, No Depression, and Puncture. He also writes about beer, booze, and bars for Portland'sBarFly website and plays in a couple goofy bands when the mood strikes him. He can most often be found at the wheel of horrificflicks.com, a review website dedicated to horror movies.