If you’re the dancing type, you may have noticed the distinct lack of EDM events in Portland. EDM is an all-encompassing genre standing for “electronic dance music.” Essentially, it is the catchall term for electro-house, dubstep, moombahton and everything else people dance to these days.
Everyone knows that Portland is well known for its plethora of haircut rock, but our fair city is also host to several punk and metal staples, such as Poison Idea, Agalloch, Millions of Dead Cops and Tragedy.
Harsh noise, the genre that moms everywhere have been conflating with metal since the ’80s, is a real thing, and it has some history in Portland.
Portland is a great town to be in a band. There is no shortage of people lining up to see you, and the community is very tight-knit. Unless you play punk rock.
If there’s one thing this country needs more of, it’s family-like bands that people see as cultish institutions. AgesandAges fit the bill rather nicely, but in a good way, and not so much a Heaven’s Gate kind of way.
Much like the band’s name implies, Youthbitch just doesn’t give a shit. The band plays fuzzed-out, grimy garage punk, and that’s just how it is. Got a problem with it? Nobody cares, wussy.
It’s tough to build up star power in Portland. Unless your jeans are painted on or you happen to know all the right people, most would-be fans don’t give much of a rip, even if you have semi-obscure unsung rock heroes in your band.
Dangerous Boys Club features members of bands who were making aggressive emo back before emo meant peacock hair and angled washed-out photographs.
Zach Hill has his fingers in lots of stuff: Hella, Goon Moon, Team Sleep, Crom-Tech, et al. Every time he tries his hand at a different music style, it becomes relegated to the scope of the “musician follower,” the most esoteric kind of music fan.
As far as metal bands go, not many are known for being as melodically diverse yet as indie cred-soaked as Torche.
Wild Flag, The Thermals, Ema
Yeah yeah, The Thermals. They’re all right and everything, but the real star of this show at the Crystal Ballroom are white-hot newcomers Wild Flag.