High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, May 12-16

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo courtesy of Peter Brötzmann (image cropped)

Looks like we’ve got the United Nations in town this week. Let’s put out the welcome mat and get ready to hug the stuffing out of German sax man Peter Brötzmann, Brazilian metalheads Sepultura, and recently reformed Scottish punks the Rezillos! It really is a small world, after all.

Peter Brötzmann

May 12 @ 8pm

With over 100 albums and 50 years of world touring to his credit, 74-year-old German saxophone/clarinet explorer Brötzmann has carved out an astounding career while influencing a ton of experimental, skronk, and free jazz players—including drummer Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, who serve as his improvisational accomplices on this tour. There’s really no telling what escapades this adventurous trio will get up to, but a recent review described the musical landscape as “the deserts of Africa met the mountains of the Balkans.”

$12-15. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

May 12 @ 9pm

You can’t keep a good band down. Howling frontman Spencer, guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Timins have returned with a new record called ‘Freedom Tower,’ and it’s a highly danceable freak-out of gritty rock ’n’ roll, punk, and funk, that pays homage to Spencer’s beloved New York City. Songs like “Born Bad,” “Down and Out,” and “The Ballad of Joe Buck” are brimming with frantic grooves and jerky tempo shifts that could lead to spontaneous combustion. Dress accordingly.

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

Cool Whips, Reverberations, Slutty Hearts

May 13 @ 8pm

Three of Portland’s finest purveyors of artisan rock materialize at the former home of the Blue Monk on SE Belmont Street. The Cool Whips and the Reverberations make jingle-jangle joy inspired by their vintage ’60s record collection, while Slutty Hearts, led by guitarist Marty Smith (aka, ‘Willamette Week’ columnist Dr. Know) and singer Marisa Laurelle (a dangerous kitten, indeed), take girl-group sass and Debbie Harry’s luscious languor on a joyride to a sketchy party in the bad part of town in a car with no seatbelts.

The Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St.

Sepultura

May 13 @ 6pm

Despite the departure of all of its founding members, other than bassist Paulo Jr, this pioneering Brazilian death metal band continues to hammer the living hell out of its constituents. Currently celebrating 30 years and 14 albums worth of grueling guitar and guttural vocals, Sepultura’s most recent record, the vaguely Lovecraftian ‘Elder Gods,’ is a joint release with venerable American thrash outfit Exodus.

$28-35. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St.

Rezillos courtesy of Metropolis Records

Rezillos, Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds

May 16 @ 9pm

These high-spirited party punks from Scotland released one album in 1978, the absolutely essential ‘Can’t Stand the Rezillos.’ Now, a mere 37 years later, they’re back with a new one called ‘Zero’ that sounds every bit as ferocious and fun as its predecessor. Kid Congo Powers is a guitarist with a resume that includes Gun Club, the Cramps, and Nick Cave. His own band, the Pink Monkey Birds, is a kitschy combo of garage-rock primitives dedicated to glittery trash-culture detritus and late-night horror movies.

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

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.