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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2016)
COWFISH Qamron Parq—9pm; Moombah, glitch, n/c ELK HORN Trivia Night w/Elliot Martinez—7pm; n/c EMBERS Karaoke—8pm FIRST NATIONAL TAPHOUSE Open Mic—8pm; Rock, n/c GRIDIRON Karaoke—8pm; n/c OLD NICK'S Supermoon, Glass Cat—9pm; n/c PORKY’S PALACE Karaoke—8pm THE SHEDD Buddy Guy— 7:30pm; $39-$63 WANDERING GOAT Singer Songwriter’s Open Mic—7pm; Originals only, n/c TUESDAY 5/24 5TH ST. CORNUCOPIA Jesse Meade w/Robert Meade— 9:30pm; n/c BEALL HALL Oregon Composers Forum w/UO Flute Studio— 7:30pm; n/c THE CITY iPod Night—6pm; n/c COWFISH DJ Smuve—9pm; Hip hop, dancehall, n/c COZMIC Caskey—7:30pm; Hip hop, $15 CUSH Poetry Open Mic—7pm; n/c EMBERS DJ Victor Plays Requests—8pm; n/c GRANARY Christ Stubbs—6pm; Piano, n/c THE GREEN ROOM Karaoke— 9pm HI-FI ENCORE LOUNGE S.H.I.P. Jam—8pm; n/c HOT MAMA’S WINGS Open Mic— 8pm; n/c LEVEL UP Ninkasi Karaoke Night w/KJ B-Ross—9pm; n/c LUCKEY’S Amusedays! w/Seth Millstein—10pm; Comedy, n/c MAC’S Roosters Blues Jam— 7pm; n/c O BAR Karaoke w/Jared—9pm; n/c SAM BOND’S GARAGE Bluegrass Jam—9pm; n/c SOUTH EUGENE HIGH SCHOOL Eugene-Spfd Youth Orchestras: Little Symphony, String Academy 2—7:30pm; $5-$10 WANDERING GOAT LSD & The Search for God, Spectrum Lake, Holler House—8pm; Shoegaze, psych, $5 WHITE HORSE SALOON Karaoke w/Slick Nick—9pm; n/c WEDNESDAY 5/25 5TH ST. CORNUCOPIA Karaoke w/Slick Nick—9pm 755 RIVER RD. Hanz Araki & Colleen Raney—7:30pm; $15 AASEN-HULL HALL Composition Recital—8pm; n/c AGATE ALLEY BISTRO Lounge Jams w/Bue Brown & Chilly Soup—9pm; Jazz, funk, n/c BLACK FOREST Karaoke w/ Cammi—9pm CUTHBERT AMPHITHEATER Disclosure—7pm; $40-$45 COWFISH West Coast Wednesday w/Ultramafic— 9pm; Hip hop, trap, n/c HAPPY HOURS Mama Jan’s Blues Jam w/Brian Chevalier— 8pm; n/c HI-FI ENCORE LOUNGE Funk Night—8pm; n/c JERSEY’S Karaoke—8pm; Ladies night, n/c KOWLOON Karaoke—9pm; n/c LUCKEY’S Alvin & The Chipfunks—8pm; $3 MAC’S Gus Russell & Paul Biondi—6pm; Variety, n/c MAX’S TAVERN Lonesome Randall—7pm; Rock & roll his- torian, n/c MOHAWK Karaoke w/Caught in the Act—9pm; n/c MULLIGAN’S Open Mic— 8:30pm; Variety, n/c POUR HOUSE Karaoke w/KJ Mike—9pm SAM BOND’S GARAGE The Stray Birds, Evie Ladin—9pm; Americana, $8 SOUTH EUGENE HIGH SCHOOL Eugene-Spfd Youth Orchestras: Junior Orchestra—7:30pm; $5-$10 STARLIGHT LOUNGE Quizzo Pub Trivia w/Dr. Seven Phoenix— 9pm; n/c TAYLOR’S BAR & GRILLE DJ Crown—10:30pm; Hip hop, top 40, dance, n/c WANDERING GOAT Death to Music XI: Mandom, I Died, [view]—8pm; Noise, $5 WILDCRAFT Hipbillies—6pm; Folk, n/c WOW HALL CloZee—8pm; $10- $12 CORVALLIS (AND SURROUNDING AREAS) BOMBS AWAY CAFE TH Curtis Monet—8:30pm; n/c FR Scratchdog Stringband & The Desert Kind—9pm; $5 SA Space Neighbors—9pm; $5 CALAPOOIA BREWING TH Rough Jazz—7pm; n/c SA Mikael Pederson—8pm; n/c CLOUD & KELLY’S TH Freerange Open Mic—8pm; n/c GET HEAVY Heaviness is a fickle descriptive when it comes to music. Is it gauged by the power riffs of a Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin? The hyper-speed assault of a Slayer or Napalm Death? Maybe the slow, brutal chug of a Swans or Neurosis? Some even look to the dark undercurrent of early bluesmen like Blind Willie Johnson or Leadbelly (the name certainly checks out) as the true masters of heaviness. Sumac frontman Aaron Turner has described his band as an attempt to create the heaviest music ever written. Even if no one can really agree on what the hell heaviness is, Turner certainly does have the pedigree to pull off his claim. With his seminal band Isis, the singer-guitarist helped establish post-metal, which combined post-rock, heavy metal and shoegaze into something more crushing than the sum of its parts. After disbanding Isis a few years back, Turner formed Sumac, recruiting one helluva cast to support him in his quest for heavy. Bassist Brian Cook, with the decade he’s logged in Russian Circles, brings a proggy experimentalism and rhythmic coherence to the band’s low end. Filling out the rhythm section is drummer Nick Yacyshyn, whose drum-kit assaults with Vancouver crust- punk outfit Baptists earned him raves from the likes of Dave Grohl. The trio’s first show together came in December 2014, opening for metal band Deafheaven — an auspicious start, to be sure. Together, those post-metal, prog and crust punk influences have coalesced into something lumbering, brutal and, yes, heavy. Sumac’s debut from last year, The Deal, saw the band stretching tracks — “Thorn In Lion’s Paw” and “Hollow King” were glacial in size, showcasing Turner’s ear for primal riffs and the band’s gift for gradually ratcheting up tension. There’s also a wandering, improvisational feel to tracks like “Blight’s End Angel,” which suggest the band will take a similarly exploratory approach when it aurally assaults the tiny Boreal venue May 23. The Louisville, Kentucky-based Jaye Jayle will open with his drunken blues and psychedelic Americana stylings. It should make for an intriguing counterpoint — but then again, heaviness comes in all forms. Sumac and Jaye Jayle perform 7 to 10 pm Monday, May 23, at The Boreal; $8, all ages. — J.D. Swerzenski MOON POP The music of Canadian indie-rock group Supermoon is built from elements so delicately stacked it seems a cool breeze might knock them over. You want to catch the sound in a butterfly net, put it in a glass jar and keep it safely tucked on a shelf. “It’s pretty poppy with a dark undertone,” says Supermoon multi-instrumentalist Adrienne LaBelle, describing the band’s new release Playland. The album is out this month on Mint Records. Central to Playland is the jangly, fluid and clear guitar work of Katie Gravestock. Gravestock knows just when to add the right amount of atmospheric dirty fuzz and feedback, like in the noisy denouement of “Bottleships” or in the gritty kick-off to the surf rock-inspired “Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves.” Beneath it all, metronomic bass and drums build otherworldly but childlike grooves, recalling New Zealand bands like The Chills or other acts from the catalogue of legendary record label Flying Nun. The band shares vocal duties, with Alie Lynch singing most of the tunes, and lately, LaBelle says, the band has been experimenting with switching instruments. LaBelle describes Supermoon as inspired by Joy Division; you can hear the influence of the immortal English band in Playland’s economical, dry production and minimal arrangements. However, while Joy Division signaled relentless and foreboding doom, Supermoon are sweetly melancholic and romantically optimistic, particularly in Playland’s endearingly bummed-out vocal work. “We try and write short, catchy songs, but we never want them to be too sweet or too happy,” LaBelle says, adding, “we like the juxtaposition of dark lyrical content with happy pop songs — short, catchy pop songs that leave you scratching your head if you listen closely enough.” Supermoon play with Eugene’s Glass Cat 9 pm Monday, May 23, at Old Nick’s; FREE, 21-plus. — William Kennedy eugeneweekly.com • May 19, 2016 33
