High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week

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Tuesday, November 04, 2014

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Halloween is over, but we’ve got a few spooky leftovers in the microwave, courtesy of England’s The Wytches and horror-punk greybeards The Misfits. The annual Siren Nation Festival is now in full swing, and features an evening with local ladies Swan Sovereign (formerly known as Dirty Martini). Influential New York trio Blonde Redhead is on tour with a new record while the immortal Booker T. Jones will once again hold a clinic in the art of the groove. 

Booker T. Jones

Nov 4 @ 8pm

Just a week shy of his 70th birthday, keyboard giant Booker T. Jones rolls into town with a sexy suitcase full of slinkiest grooves imaginable. As the leader of Booker T & the MGs, Jones applied his icy cool Hammond organ sound to hundreds of recordings for Memphis’ Stax/Volt label and its roster of R&B stars including Otis Redding, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, and Albert King. At the same time, the MGs a scored a number of funky instrumental hits on their own, including one of the all-time classic party starters “Green Onions”, a tune that inspired a young British school boy named Pete Townshend to get serious about his music. If this man isn’t a legend, then legends do not exist. 

$17. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 

The Wytches

Nov 6 @ 9pm

So let’s say you’re a diehard Nirvana fan in search of new kicks. Meet The Wytches, three brooding boys from not-so-jolly ol’ England who specialize in the sort of bludgeoning angst that’s been absent from your musical diet for the last few decades. Temper this emotional firestorm with a sneaky psych-surf sensibility and you’ve got a road-ready Firestone that just needed a needed a patch and some fresh air. The band’s debut album ‘Annabel Dream Reader’ should resonate with rain-soaked Northwesties who fondly remember the early ’90s like they were yesterday.  

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

The Misfits

Nov 7 @ 8pm

Founding bassist and current singer Jerry Only continues to tour under The Misfits moniker, even though 99 percent of the audience will be clamoring for tunes that were written more than 30 years ago by muscle-bound frontman Glenn Danzig. While litigious bandmates Danzig and Only slug it out in court over the rights to songs, images, and merchandise, fans hoping for a reunion of original members do their darndest to remain optimistic. In the meantime, Only, ex-Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena, and drummer Eric Arce will oblige faithful fiends with a generous assortment of trademark fuzzy horror movie-themed punk. 

$22.50. Alhambra Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne Ave. 

Swan Sovereign by Alicia J. Rose

Swan Sovereign

Nov 7 @ 9pm

The Siren Nation Festival is an annual multi-venue art extravaganza that promotes and showcases music, visual art, film, and comedy by regional and national designing women. It’s currently on view till November 12 (schedule at sirennation.org) and includes a reunion and rebranding of the Portland female trio formerly known as Dirty Martini. Now called Swan Sovereign, members Christine McKinley (bass, vocals), Lara Michell (guitar, vocals), and Stephanie Schneiderman (drums, vocals) have evolved from a singer-songwriter collective into a full-tilt band that fashions gorgeous, stubbornly defiant pop songs gilded with unbeatable harmonies.  

$12. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 

Blonde Redhead, Hungry Ghost

Nov 9 @ 8pm

This long-running, noise-hugging three piece from the Big Apple is traveling the country behind its ninth album ‘Barragan’, a record that takes a belt sander to BR’s earlier Sonic Youth tendencies in favor of a slow-cooked wondrous pop minimalism that’s built around sturdy percussion and guitarist-singer Kazu Makino’s wounded butterfly vocals. Don’t miss local openers Hungry Ghost, a superbly inventive group that features powerhouse drummer Sara Lund from gone-but-not-forgotten Olympia indie band Unwound.

$25-27. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell 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.

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