High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Jan. 13

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Tope by Mike Grippi.

Let’s root, root, root for the home team! Locals ranging from a hardworking hip-hop kid to a striking songstress have albums dropping this week, while another vital venue toasts 10 years of making music happen. Or you can go swing your partner round and round during five full days of old-time Appalachian appreciation.

The Know’s 10th Anniversary

Jan 12-18 @ 8pm

Has it been 10 years already? Alberta Street’s reigning neighborhood dive is celebrating a decade in show business with a powerhouse lineup of bills all week long, featuring 1939 Ensemble, Dragging an Ox Through Water, the Estranged, and Portland hard-rock heroes Danava. It all culminates on Saturday night with San Francisco garage-rock icons the Paul Collins Beat, ably supported by local Ramones acolytes Mean Jeans.

The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St.

Tope

Jan 14 @ 8pm

Since the idea of regularly scheduled hip-hop shows is still an alarming concept to the status quo, it’s not surprising that Portland artists don’t get much in the way of notoriety. For almost 10 years, Anthony “Tope” Anderson has quietly built up a respectable body of work, including seven albums. Tope is hopeful that ‘Broke Boy Syndrome,’ his ambitious new record, will showcase his incisive rhyming skills to a bigger audience and launch the nimble MC to heights beyond the Northwest.

$7. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St.

Old-Time Music Gathering

Jan 14-18 @ 9pm

This annual assemblage of bluegrass, country, and folk musicians is a great way to get immersed in one of Portland’s most vigorous music milieus. More than 40 groups will play over five days at four different venues, with workshop opportunities for newbies to jam and learn more about string-band culture. Square-dance enthusiasts can hop and scoot the night away to the likes of Black Prairie’s Annalisa Tornfelt, California Clodhoppers, and the Tallboys, while expert callers holler out rapid-fire instructions for partner protocol.

$20-30 for weekend pass. Various locations.

Ezza Rose Courtesy Ezzarose.com

And And And

Jan 15 @ 9pm

Say, isn’t that Radiohead getting hammered in the basement on working-class beer? In a live setting, Portland’s And And And concocts a mighty clatter, with singer Nathan Baumgartner wailing against a rambunctious guitar tornado, as on songs like “Desperately OK” and “I Want More Alcohol.” The tussle between vocals and instruments makes for some urgent and unruly angst, periodically undercut by odd melodic passages that serve as a precursor to yet another wave of agitation. Tonight’s show is a record release for the band’s studio debut, ‘The Failure.’ Which of course, it isn’t.

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

Ezza Rose

Jan 17 @ 9pm

Having paid her dues plucking and strumming at open mics and coffee shops all over town, California transplant Ezza Rose brings her band and supple voice to Mississippi Studios for the release of her new album, ‘When the Water’s Hot.’ After the delicate folk austerity of last year’s ‘Poolside,’ Rose’s latest may surprise a few folks as the electric guitar takes a more prominent role in the mix, resulting in timely rocking moments. Even so, it’s Rose’s sweetly expansive vocals that do the heavy lifting, especially on “Tele” and the playfully romantic “Kissing and Shouting.”

$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'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.