Kula’s corner

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.

Given Carrie Brownstein’s immense local star power following her IFC hit show Portlandia, you’d think Wild Flag would be a name on everyone’s tongue. Unfortunately—even though they’re headlining over hometown favorite The Thermals—Wild Flag still remains relatively undiscussed.

It’s a shame, really, since Wild Flag almost seems to pick up where Sleater-Kinney left off. The band is cobbled together from several other bands that everyone knows, like Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Quasi, Helium and so forth.

Given that kind of local star power and the fact that Wild Flag recently appeared on both Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show, you’d think the world would be abuzz with talk of them. Well, it is—just not in Portland.

Shocked? This is the norm. Don’t take your local acts for granted like everyone else. Come out and throw down some bucks.

Uke-o de Mayo featuring Toucan Sam and the Fruit Loops

Ah, Portland. We have all sorts of kooky bands, and this one is definitely among the kookiest.

First thing’s first: The band is composed of an ungodly amount of members—the stage is often crowded with them. (In fact, oftentimes some of the members will choose to sit out a show.)

Secondly, Toucan Sam and his band of merry persons is a collective of ukulele aficionados that perform covers. But not just any covers! Let me ask you this: Have you ever wanted to hear a 15-plus piece band crank out an all-ukulele rendition of Devo’s “Mongoloid”?

If the answer is no, you either hate fun or you haven’t lived in Portland long enough. Plus, the show is on Cinco de Mayo. And if Toucan Sam and company let out early, you can meander down to the Thunderdome on Northwest Third Street and Couch Avenue around closing time and watch all the weirdoes try to kill each other.

Dragonforce, Holy Grail, Huntress

It’s a sad thing that the hype-train known as Dragonforce has come and gone in such a short time.

Just a couple of years ago, this power-metal super-group from England shredded their way into our hearts almost overnight. When they ascended their mighty dragon chariot and swooped across the Atlantic to perform for us lowly peons of Portland, they played the Roseland Theater.

These days, they have fallen just a bit, playing at the Hawthorne Theatre instead, a place prone to making even the mightiest guitarists sound like a can of bees. However, while they played solo the last two times at the Roseland, this time they have brought Holy Grail. And like their name, the band is about as awesome as you’d expect.

Hailing from the decidedly un-metal city of Pasadena, Calif., they are about as close to an American counterpart as Dragonforce will likely get in our lifetimes. Power metal vocals soar over effortless guitar solos and classic metal song structures in much of Holy Grail’s music. Their first album on their label, Prosthetic Records, titled Improper Burial, is a tour through a power metal blueprint.

But thankfully, the genre isn’t played out enough to sound awful. If you love long hair and falsetto, show up. You won’t regret it.