High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Jan. 20

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Aesop Rock Courtesy of Rhymesayers Entertainment (image cropped).

Buckle up for a wild ride as we mull our impending concert options. This week, you can expand your vocabulary, curse your working-class existence, descend into two days of howling hell fire, or just bask in the glow of an artful cellist.

Aesop Rock

Jan 21 @ 8pm

Who says hip-hop isn’t educational? Who says hip-hop isn’t crucial to the development of young minds? It just so happens that Bay Area MC Aesop Rock has the largest vocabulary in the genre (finishing ahead of GZA—not to mention a couple guys named Shakespeare and Melville), according to a study conducted by data scientist Matt Daniels, and reported in ‘Rolling Stone.’ Dutiful concertgoers will get an earful of Aesop Rock’s new single “Cat Food”/ Bug Zapper.” On the latter track, the verbose rapper namedrops H.P. Lovecraft and announces he’s “too freaked out to leave the house.” Hopefully, he’ll have gotten over that by show time.

$20. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th Ave.

My Life in Black and White

Jan 23 @ 8pm

Local hotheads My Life in Black and White have been ruffling feathers since 2005, dropping four albums of full-throttle, Social Distortion-flavored cowboy punk, including last year’s impressive ‘Columbia.’ If by chance you’re feeling the need to blow off steam after another crap day at the office, then by all means come get ’faced and holler along to seething blue-collar anthems like “Hell or High Water” and “Working Man.” By the way, Sandy Hut is currently hosting some of the best shows in town.

$5. Sandy Hut, 1430 NE Sandy Blvd.

Famine Fest NW

Jan 23-24 @ 5pm

Portland’s Headsplit Records presents two days of extreme aural brutality, headlined on Friday by local death metal legends Engorged, who haven’t played live since 2009. Known for their bathed-in-blood lyrics, hellhound vocals, and more beats per minute than the human heart can withstand, Engorged will be joined by more than two dozen similarly malign groups, including Los Angeles’s Terrorizer, Nekrofilth, Blood Freak, Drawn and Quartered, and Panzergod. No, this isn’t nice music. Not nice at all.

$13-20. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd.

The Vaselines Courtesy of Rosary Music (image cropped).

The Vaselines

Jan 25 @ 9pm

Glasgow’s Vaselines will immediately ring bells to the casual listener as the authors of “Son of a Gun,” “Molly’s Lips,” and “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam,” all three of which were famously covered by those nutty Nirvana cats. Principal members Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee reformed in 2009 and have since released a pair of zesty records. Last year’s ‘V for Vaselines’ demonstrates that Kelly and McKee haven’t lost a step and are still masters of tilted fuzz-pop beauties like “Hide Tide Low Tide” and “Number One Crush.”

$18-20. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St.

Skip vonKuske’s Groovy Wallpaper

Jan 26 @ 7pm

Let’s hear it for longevity! Cellist Skip vonKuske (Vagabond Opera, Portland Cello Project), along with a revolving door of guest artists, has been holding court every Monday at McMenamin’s Edgefield Winery for 10 years! For this week’s installment he’ll be joined by Floater vocalist Rob Wynia and Sneakin’ Out percussionist Don Henson for a session of sonically challenging string music that’s also tastefully trippy.

Free. Edgefield Winery, 2126 SW Halsey St.

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.