High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, June 30-July 5

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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Our nation is in a celebratory mood this week, so make it your patriotic duty to report to the concert frontlines. From traditional blues to future trends in pop, from metal chainsaw sculptures to country comforts, there’s a place at the table for everyone. 

Rabbits

July 1 @ 8pm

Don’t you boys know any nice songs? When parents lecture their impressionable children about the evil that lurks hidden among the riffs and crannies of rock ’n’ roll music, they are referring specifically to this menacing Portland trio. Celebrating 10 years of concocting the greasiest, grimiest caterwaul this side of the Melvins, Rabbits will once again demonstrate what happens when you fearlessly mix metal’s most corrosive elements in a plastic two-liter bottle, shake the hell out of it, and pour it on the audience. Your brain will never be the same. 

The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St. 

Waterfront Blues Festival

July 2-5

Looks like another star-studded lineup for this annual Oregon Food Bank fundraiser, as Gregg Allman, Macy Gray, Buddy Guy, Charmaine Neville, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint serve up sizzling sets for a crowded house clustered beneath a burning Oregon sun. Make time for Phil and Dave Alvin of the Blasters paying tribute to Big Bill Broonzy, and get a gander at 15-year-old guitar phenom, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. 

Festival Pass $40. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, SW Naito Pkwy. 

Melt Banana

July 2 @ 9pm

Descriptive phrases generally fall short when applied to these tireless Japanese no-wavers, though suffice to say if you can roll with Sonic Youth, X-Ray Spex, and Lightning Bolt, you’ll be in the vicinity of your happy place. Their current tour coincides with the release of ‘Return of 13 Hedgehogs,’ a singles collection that lingers lovingly over the band’s unfettered femme-fronted punk (including a brutal cover of Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge”) with occasional nods to MB’s more conceptually dense explorations of sound and satori.  

$15. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St. Sandy Blvd. 

Sons of Bill

July 3 @ 9pm

For wistful countrified harmonies that quench the soul like sweet tea and a little whiskey, Sons of Bill, a quintet of three brothers and two others from Virginia, deliver the goods. Their most recent record, ‘Love and Logic,’ is an all-you-can-eat buffet of radio-friendly Americana, from the hopeful chorus of “Brand New Paradigm,” to “Lost in the Cosmos,” a tender tribute to Big Star singer Chris Bell. Above all, Sons of Bill wield a deft songwriting touch that combines Southern comfort with thoughtful optimism. 

$10-12. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 

Trans Am

July 5 @ 9pm

Twenty-year veterans of the same post-rock pod that spawned the likes of Tortoise, Sea and Cake, and Big Black, Trans Am has been able to keep itself afloat for 10 albums that seem to spring from a parallel dimension where Kraut-rock, prog, and disco are just as important as whatever’s currently residing on the top of the pops. Newer numbers like “Reevaluations” and “Ice Fortress” from last year’s ‘Volume X’ record sound like what we’ll all be listening to in another 10 years or so. So why not beat the rush?

$10. 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's BarFly 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.

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