Lost Lander is prepping their repertoire of indie rock gems for a tour of the west coast in support of last January’s release, DRRT. The band’s debut is a display of mature, emotive songwriting, rich with complex arrangements and pop sensibility that could attract listeners from a variety of musical backgrounds. DRRT has given Lost Lander attention on a national scale, and has prompted them to travel in order to bring their energetic compositions to a growing audience. They’re starting the tour off at Rontoms on September 9th. Go and give these guys a proper send-off. –Benjamin Toledo     

 If Alameda hasn’t already won you over with their soft-spoken singing and moving crescendos, then now could not be a better time to check them out. Their second album, Procession, is set to be released on September 15th and with it the band is revealing the next step in their musical progression. The album overflows with emotion, which is expressed as much by the moments of minimal guitar melodies, as it by the cascades of strings and brass that add the power of an orchestra to Alameda’s folk ballads. The delicate balance between these two sides of Alameda is what makes the album so effective in its presentation and so moving. Alameda is celebrating the release of Procession at Someday Lounge on Saturday, September 1st with Ezza Rose and Hip Hatchet. You don’t want to miss this one. –Benjamin Toledo   

The surf-glaze rock quartet The Shivas released their second album Whiteout in March 2012. Whiteout is reminiscent of the work of The Beach Boys and other surf rockers of the 60s, with its delightfully nostalgic sounds. The Shivas are trying to bring back something else from the past: cassette tapes. Whiteout is being released digitally and in cassette tape-format. The Shivas are playing a set at the Crystal Ballroom for tonight’s K Records Believe Magazine event "Love Songs for Lamps," a tribute event to bands embracing the quirkiness of cassette tapes in the 21st Century. – Sarah Walters

 Mars Water sound like their name. The music carries elements of surf rock, complete with catchy guitar hooks and driving drum beats, yet at the same time possesses some alien quality in its’ delivery. Somewhere within the reverb-heavy vocals, phased-out guitar lines and steady drum rhythms you can hear the transmission of something unearthly. Their latest release, “Tempus Flight” is a collection of sun-drenched recordings that seem to hover above you as you listen to them, making for a unique release that sounds better each time you listen to it. Their next show’s on Tuesday, September 4th at Valentines. Check it out. –Benjamin Toledo 

 Appendixes play the type of lively, dreamy music that can illustrate the black and white moments of your day to day life. I was listening to their new EP, “False Color”, as I walked to the grocery store today. It turned the usually monotonous experience of buying eggs and Sriracha into a bright and interesting trip in which I was swaying back and forth all the while (I got a few strange looks in the checkout line). The dreamy vocals, effects drenched guitars and distant, lo-fi drumming create colorful, introspective songs that stay in your head for hours after they’ve ended. The EP makes it’s physical release on cassette September 1st at the Record Room, you can also download it here. -Benjamin Toledo

 The elusive indie folk band Great Horned Owl, led by Vanderson Langjahr, just released an LP last month. We Were Fragile is indeed a listening experience of tangible fragility: the whispering vocals and fluttering acoustic guitar create simple, beautiful songs. Not much is known about this mysterious band, and their online presence is minimal, but that’s for the better. Owls fly under the radar; so does Great Horned Owl. The appreciative few will fall in love with this music. Great Horned Owl stops in Vancouver, WA, to play a show at Pop Culture on Thursday, August 23rd. -Sarah Walters

 Pink Slime have been making their rounds through the Portland house show circuit over the past year, spawning mosh pits and drunken dance parties along the way. The three piece surf rock outfit play with the anarchic energy of a punk band, placing piercing low-fi yells atop chaotic drum rhythms and catchy, distorted guitar riffs that breathe a whirlwind of energy into their surfy tunes. You can’t help but dance along with these guys, and you have two chances to this week. Pink Slime’s playing at Backspace with Wimps and The Happening this Thursday night and at the House of Preblon Block Party on Saturday. See you in the pit. –Benjamin Toledo         

 Kite Sun Kid reminds me of dreams that are impossible to put into words after they’ve been experienced. They write complex, fluid songs that borrow elements of folk, math and progressive rock to create some of the most musically interesting pieces I’ve hear out of Portland to date. The lead vocals hover above the instruments, accented by an enticing falsetto and adding a certain pop sensibility to their vivid compositions. It has depth, is well arranged and possesses a tone of maturity that many other bands in this scene lack. You can see Kite Sun Kid play at the Someday Lounge on August 9th and you can also listen to their self-titled release for free here. I recommend giving it a few listens, I just had my fifth in a row and it was the best yet. –Benjamin Toledo    

19-year-old experimental artist Malcom Lacey created something magical with his solo music project Arrange. His 2011 release Plantation generated a lot of buzz, including write-ups in The Guardian (UK) and Pitchfork, and established his identity as an emerging new alternative artist. Arrange’s sixth LP New Memory, released earlier this month, features an ambient, kaleidoscopic sound that reaches out into infinity and then collapses back in on itself. Lacey, who wrote, arranged, and recorded New Memory, succeeds in creating a stunningly vast atmosphere. His vocals float and echo, while soft piano chords and guitar riffs flow beautifully with more non-traditional instrumentals. New Memory is something special.- Sarah Walters

 A Happy Death has had a busy summer. The four piece surf-infused rock outfit has been spreading their psychedelic nihilism all over town, hitting most every venue you could think of and exciting audiences with one of the most energetic performances you can find in the Portland music scene. The wild drums beats, driving bass lines and vintage keyboard tones are enough to drop the jaw of even the most judgmental hipster, while the howling vocals and painfully distorted guitar tones can whip a crowd into a chaotic frenzy. See them at the Kenton Club this Friday night. You’ll be glad you did.–Benjamin Toledo

For their second (professionally recorded) EP, released on Friday (7.27), Fanno Creek revisited some of the material they played as the band first came together; written between 2008 and 2010, the five songs featured on End Is End are a lovely marriage of early Shins influences and that youthful urge canalised in the full, rich sounds of Green Houses, which now comes swinging out, unleashing the cheerful energy of this little record ‘for the fun’, offered for free on bandcamp. Faster than any of Fanno Creek’s earlier releases, End Is End takes the band’s folk-rock aesthetic further into tones of rock and roll and foot-stomping alt-country. What an afwul cover, though. You can see the trio perform on August the 7th at Mississippi Studios. – Tracy Mamoun

Featuring mastered versions of their two Basement Hits released a year ago alongside three new tracks, Still Caves‘ first EP adds a cold, heavy, gritty touch to some of that lo-fi psychedelic stoner-garage-punk à la Black Lips. Most of the lyrics are blurred-out by the consistent heavy reverberation, ergo most of the songs are easily integrated: a simple melody, racing rhythm of a cavalcade, linear structure and some catchy vocal hooks.. some may be remembered as mere sequences of vowels, but hey, that’s good enough to join in with live crowd chants if needed, it’s even easier. Static Lips is already available to stream and download via Still Caves’ bandcamp page, and will be released on cassette tape next Wednesday, August 1st after a show at Valentine’s (7.31) with Orca Team (back from their summer US tour) and Surfs Drugs. Tracy Mamoun