Kula’s Korner

Origin, Cattle Decapitation, Decrepit Birth, Aborted, Rings of Saturn, Battlecross, Loculus

If you like metal, chances are that you’ve heeded the $2 discount and had your tickets to Origin’s show purchased eons ago. Although the band started in the late ’90s, it has only played Portland once in the last five years. On top of that, they are incredible musicians and showmen.

Origin’s style is essentially ultra-technical death metal. From Kansas. For you non-metalheads out there, “technical” in front of any genre, but especially metal, means a whole cacophony of jumbled-up notes. Upon first hearing such a racket, it can sound quite overwhelming, but metal is a genre of returns. Put in some work, and you’ll reap the rewards quickly.

Cattle Decapitation is a vegan metal band, so they are never very out of place in Portland. Funnily enough, the singer sounds like he’s dying every time he opens his mouth, so that should pique your interest somewhat.

The rest of the lineup, especially Decrepit Birth, is outstanding. And because metal shows always seem to have one band for every five concertgoers, you’re definitely getting some bang for your buck here. Just Origin is worth the $18, but toss in Cattle Decapitation and Decrepit Birth, and baby, you got yourself a stew going.

Mrs. featuring DJ Beyondadoubt, DJ Il Camino, DJ Trans Fat

Beyondadoubt is the best DJ in Portland. There, I said it. Seeing her perform at Mississippi Studios, surrounded by one of the best sound systems in the city, should be a real treat.

Having freshly rocked London, Beyondadoubt is perhaps most famous for her soul and booty bass vinyl acrobatics. She plays Rotture’s “Hole in My Soul” and Holocene’s “Booty Bassment” with regularity. However, Mrs. is not your garden-variety dance party.

Mrs. is a “body-positive” queer dance party, and participants are encouraged to dress up. Each Mrs. soiree features some kind of theme, and the attire of the evening is expected to coincide within this theme. May 12’s theme is “What’s Your Fantasy?” and Mrs. offers up pictures of hydra-like creatures and the evil queen from Snow White. With suggestions like these, the $5 cover might be worth it for the costumes alone.

Palo Verde, Fucking Lesbian Bitches, Older Women

Say whatever you want to say about Lauren K. Newman, she is continually one of Portland’s most exciting entertainers. It is unfortunate that Portland spends its time preoccupied with people like Storm Large when LKN is still out there sucking in mold from dank basement venues and spewing out molten punk rock.

You might know LKN from her solo act, also titled LKN. For a long while she was Portland’s punk rock darling, with her shows getting covered in every rag from the Portland Tribune to our beloved alt-mag the Mercury. Apparently, LKN either pissed off the music gods or she just became jaded with music, because there was quite a sizeable gap where she just didn’t seem to play much. Then along came Palo Verde.

Billed as a “metal improv” group, Palo Verde consists of LKN on drums with an accomplice, TJK, to keep up with the LKN naming schema. Either way, Palo Verde brings raw punk-rock essence to the masses via its incredible show-stopping performances. And tonight should be extra special because the Record Room is such an intimate space.

Watch as LKN and TJK breathe new life into the almost catatonic Portland punk scene, and do so inside a record store, just as our punk forefathers would have wanted it.