High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo Courtesy of Domino Recording Company

Boo! It’s Halloween week! Throw on some smoky eyeliner and a leather jacket and get ready for the Kills at Wonder Ballroom. Or dust off your disco duds for Chromeo at Roseland Theater—on the very same night! Middle-aged headbangers should do a little yoga before the Raven gig at Tonic Lounge, and anyone in need of spiritual guidance ought to spend Halloween night at Ash Street Saloon with tribal elders Fred and Toody Cole. Of course, there’s also the chance you’ll be stolen by gypsies at Vagabond Opera’s annual Day of the Dead jamboree. The possibilities are endless.

The Kills

Oct 28 @ 8pm

A night spent in thrall to singer Alison Mosshart and guitarist Jamie Hince, known collectively as the Kills, is a fine way to ease into an appropriately dark groove this Halloween week. Mosshart, who also sings in Jack White’s side project Dead Weather, is an elusive shape-shifter, able to morph from venomous vixen on “Cheap and Cheerful” to tired torch-song siren in “The Last Goodbye.” But these aren’t costumes she’s wearing; despite a penchant for drama, Mosshart isn’t faking it. Hers is a voice of experience.

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

Chromeo

Oct 28 @ 8pm

Sorry rockers, but disco never died—it just went underground and developed some muscles. And now, trying to find a recently produced popular tune without some kind of EDM embellishment is nigh impossible, since it’s become the ideal fodder for our high-energy cardio playlists. Montreal men Dave 1 and P-Thugg are the prime movers in Chromeo, a group that isn’t afraid to declare its public affection for such pulse-pumping pioneers as Giorgio Moroder, Cameo, and Chic. Chromeo’s beats and flourishes are state of the art but their influences belong to a time of matching jumpsuits and fevers born of Saturday night moves. Dance you fools!

$28. Roseland Theater, 8 NW Sixth Ave.

Raven

Oct 30 @ 8pm

It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to pay homage to one of the most influential bands from the NWoBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) in a modest-sized club setting. Led by bassist and singer John Gallagher and his guitar-grilling brother Mark, Raven originally hailed from Newcastle, and was among the first bands to combine serious metal chops with hurtling breakneck tempos. More than 35 years later, the lads are still at it, and lord knows it can’t be getting any easier to hammer out thrash classics like “Screamin’ Down the House” and “Hard Ride”. Certainly not at their age.

$12. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd.

Fred & Toody Unplugged

Oct 31 @ 9pm

Holiday gigs with Fred and Toody Cole are way, way better than seasonal sit-downs down with your relatives. Why? Because Fred and Toody have a thoroughly committed rock partnership that continues to inspire even as it ages like Chateau Lafite. Your family? Not so much. Oh look! Uncle Gus dipped his beard in the gravy boat again! That never gets old!

The ageless Portland power couple behind such venerated groups as Dead Moon, the Rats, and Pierced Arrows, is an unbending testament to Northwest-grown grit and gumption. Battered anthems like “54-40 or Fight” and “Johnny’s Got a Gun” represent rock music stripped of all artifice, but surging with redemptive energy and righteous anger. Fred and Toody are a necessary part of any complete Halloween experience.

$7. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. c

Illustration by Ben Z. Mund

Vagabond Opera’s Transylvanian Voodoo Ball

Nov 1 @ 9pm

If you haven’t completely blown your revelry budget for the weekend, then save a slice of your soul for Vagabond Opera’s latest Day of the Dead sensory overload. Even amidst all the fire-breathing fakirs, darkly darling dancers, and prehistoric divination, it’s impossible to ignore VO’s multi-culti cabaret sorcery or Chervona’s madcap Slavic dance meltdown. There’s also a costume competition spectacle that should confound the imagination. Trust us; with this crowd a sheet with a couple eyeholes won’t get you a second look.

$17. Star Theater, 13 NW Sixth 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.