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
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