*photo courtesy We Out Here Magazine

For the longest time, Portland has obviously been either a barren land for hip hop, rap and r&b, or one where the few bursts we see go fairly unacknowledged or get shut down. Despite a whatever Buzzfeed listicle or Google search turning up repetitive results, our town is known on a national level more for its propensity for indie and less for its abundance of lyrical bars. While acts like Cool Nutz and Illmaculate will forever be beloved household names in the PNW, Aminé has rode the radio waves into the cars of people across the country.

Aminé has had a cult internet following for a minute but his name started massively popping up about a year ago, boasting the flurry of Ethiopian culture, hip hop and electronic found on his two mixtapes. The Benson High School graduate need not prove himself more, as the mad catchy chart climber "Caroline" has been evidence enough.

Whether the muse for "Caroline" will be present or not is unknown, but Aminé will be taking the stage at the Roseland (originally scheduled for the Hawthorne Theatre and Wonder Ballroom) tomorrow. Tickets to the all ages show are sold out so if you weren’t able to snag one, you can blast Aminé tracks on his Soundcloud for your own at-home concert experience.

Leave it to Gold Casio to breathe some life back into this tired day of mildly holy appreciation. A particular appreciation of theirs (and anyone else that relishes surf music’s pioneers) revolves around the Beach Boys, their opus Pet Sounds and everything that they’ve done for music in general.

Since 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds‘ release, Gold Casio have used their psychedelic disco elements to cover the most relatable Side two song on Pet Sounds, "I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times." 

On their choice to cover "I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times" specifically, Gold Casio’s Brock Grenfell said:

We wound up choosing this particular song because its got great melodies and it was kind of just resonating with us. Honestly, after what a shit-show year 2016 has ended up being, I feel like it’s pretty appropriate. I think a lot of people probably feel right now like they weren’t made for the times we’re living in. 

SO. MUCH. TRUTH. See Gold Casio play for Do503 at the beginning of the new year with Glasys and Holidae House at Holocene but until then, enjoy their dance pop take on a Beach Boys’ classic.

It’s Saturday. It’s the eve of a grandiose holiday and instead of thinking about that, we’ve got our eyes set on the eve of an approaching year and how we’re going to celebrate it. When it comes to rowdy sprees of festive exuberance, of course two things come to mind: thongs and cheese fries. Thankfully we can recognize both of them, on New Years Eve, with Thong.

Take to Thong’s spacey psych track "Cheese Fries" if you’re feeling particularly hungry and/or you’re so excited you can’t wait for the upcoming Jeff’s New Year’s Plasma Blast! jamboree, where Thong and 11 other bands are set to dominate the American Legion Post 134 on Alberta.

Until then, we’ll be here, thongs and cheese fries in tow.

There are very few things left after this horrid year that don’t cause the most maximum of eyerolls to occur on our faces. One of those things happens to be the quite fiery quartet VOG and their debut demo tape Maximum Eyeroll.

All three songs on VOG’s Maximum Eyeroll are done with incredible wit and a punky snark that challenges you not to chuckle a little bit. Their track "Condos" is sarcastically appropriate for obvious reasons and "D.M.Hex" is brilliance packaged in harsh barks.

You can catch VOG playing all these tracks and more TONIGHT at the High Water Mark for their Ghost Ship benefit show with Cockeye and Piss Test. If you can’t make it out tonight, dig into Maximum Eyeroll below.

 A present wrapped in gold that we were able to open early, Mattress‘s video for "Looking For My People" is another visual gift from director Jay Winebrenner and of course, another aural goodie from Mattress.

The "Looking For My People" video takes a voyeuristic turn, veering the "long winded performance shot" course most music videos typically take by swerving towards mild semblances of David Lynch’s Lost Highway. It’s everything to be expected and loved from a Mattress and Winebrenner collaboration – awkwardly funny and definitely a little strange.

Have a Mattress Christmas and enjoy the weirdness below.