Rarely do I like to refer to a band’s self-referential promo for a new album, because in most cases, it won’t tell you anything about what you will get out of listening to it. This is definitely not the case for the Portland sextet And And And, who dubbed Life Ruiner as a “concept album” covering all the major topics of dairy products, fiddles, being like totally-super-stoked about being in a band, America, alcoholism and out of body experiences, all of which they promise will eventually converge into a singular concept (“NOT.”) Ladies, did I forget to mention that 2/3 of And And And is suffering from involuntary celibacy, and at least one of them is about to get his own place very soon?

Basically, the underlying concept of Life Ruiner is what I like to call kidulthood, especially that of this generation, when being in your mid-to-late twenties means enduring another day living at your parents’ place because even Portland’s low-cost living won’t accommodate an artist’s rent. Nathan Baumgartner has all of us kidults down when he yells, “I hate this town / I’ve just been fucking around. / I want more alcohol!”

Of course, you’ll be lucky if you can make out much of the lyrics from this lo-fi garage-produced jam, but that’s exactly why we love them, right? We love those moments when it sounds like they’re playing in the room down the hall, and what you’re hearing is actually the sound of distant music through plaster, or maybe the meddled buzz of an old radio tuner. And then there are those moments of pure clarity, when you swear you’re standing 5 feet in front of them hollering and dancing at the Mississippi Studios. Maintaining that fantastic balance of high-low styles whilst orchestrating a sextet could be incredibly difficult, but these guys do it well and they make it fun. In fact, it’s pretty obvious that they all are having a good time, in spite of their suffering with kidulthood and involuntary celibacy.

By the by, Life Ruiner releases via Apes Tapes on April 1, so grab yourself a cassette at Mississippi Studios tonight (which also comes along with a free MP3 download, for all you tape-playerless folks)! – April Ehrlich

 Alright, Portland. It’s Friday. We so excited. Like any other Friday of the year, there are a thousand choices for shows tonight. And And And in Northeast, Holocene in Southeast, which show will you taaaaake? (I really hope the Rebecca Black tune was playing in your head while you read that, because that plague of a song is branded into my brain, and I’m going to bring as many of you down with me into the pits of song-stuck-in-my-head hell). Anyway. Seriously, which show are you going to choose?

Dom, Jeffrey Jerusalem, Heavy Hawaii, and Copy @ Holocene. 10 bones. Enjoy the self-proclaimed "Lady Gaga of garage rock", Dom, hailing from Massachussetts, then dance till you can’t with the boop-boop-beeps of Jeffrey Jerusalem, then keep sweating with the relentless track-dropping of DJ Copy. 

The Deli Portland’s own Artist of the Year for 2011, And And And releasing Life Ruiner on Apes Tapes at Mississippi Studios, along with Woolen Men and Blast Majesty. Not to mention that Woolen Men are on the other side of that Apes tape. A definite fiasco of drunken proportions, a race to black out, and a transformation of this springtime night into a midsummer dance party. And this one is free!

There’s tons more, too. OMG.

While my truest love may be flogging a dead horse—particularly in the metaphorical sense, even more so when it involves taking pot-shots at the elderly—I am doing my damnedest to refrain for the sake of Grandparents. They’re a class act and they deserve all the respect and attentiveness of an older family member who’s hard of hearing and thinks your tattoos are whorish—ha cha! Oh, that made me feel hollow inside. Luckily, Grandparent’s music is very unlike my hollow, shambling existence—listening to it feels like driving through the desert in cheap sunglasses while your ass-sweat makes your skin stick to the seat. If you’re all as sickened on the cold, damp (but slowly fleeting!) Portland winter as I am, you’ll know what a hearty compliment that is.

Grandparents are playing at a collective art show called Fools, this Friday, April 1st, at the Baboo Grove Salon’s Gallery. They’ll be letting loose their sweet, solid, psychedelic grooves around 11 PM, but do yourself a favor and wrap the toilet seat in plastic before 8 PM, when the gallery opens, so you can get there early and get cultured. There is more to life than Korean bootlegged television, you inebriants! Besides, Early Bird is playing, yes, you guessed it, before ol’ Grandparents, so fill your pockets with Werther’s Originals (stop me!), hop in your Chrystler Town and Country (forgive me!) and shuffle on down this April Fools for good times and good tunes. – Jenn Fritschy

That time of year has come around. Spring is in the air (along with perpetually grey clouds and a weak smattering of rain), summer is around the corner (or, rather, around the corner, but down a few blocks, in that one building that is kind of hard to find, and up a few flights of stairs), and music festivals are ripe for the picking. Portland’s own free, all-ages extravaganza, PDX Pop Now! Fest is sneaking its way slowly into our dreams of blistering daylight, and now is the time to pick who you want on the stage of that dream. And it’s pretty damned simple:

 "Got a favorite Portland band you’ve never seen live? Know about a secret gem of an artist who deserves to play? We want to hear about it. All you’ve got to do is type the name of the band you want to see into the box below and boom you’re off! Have more than one band you’d like to see play? Lather, rinse, and repeat!"

Go here to get to latherin’!

As much as the title of their debut EP, You’re A Winner, reminds me of spammed ads from AOL back in the day, Wild Ones have really done the right thing this time. I mean, they do the right thing all the time. Coming from what was Eskimo & Sons turned orchestra-soul Congratulations, Wild Ones is the newest project from Danielle Sullivan and Thomas Himes. You’re A Winner teems with careful pop melodies that are perfectly ironed down by Sullivan’s captivating coo. Synthy keys careen around the unbearably smooth beats sneaking from Andy Parker’s drum kit on the track "Forever Jam", which presses your body to dance lest the song passes you by, while the naptime track "Pacific" takes you into a daydream of coastline sunrises. Overall, I might call it perfect. I can’t want to see what these Wild Ones have in store for us next.

Playing with The Seedy Seeds and Milagres tonight at Mississippi Studios, it’s sure to be a dance party of epically mellow proportions. Proportionally epic mellowness, maybe? Whatever. It’s going to be good. Just go and dance. –Mike Harper

What Hearts will woo you at The Woods this Sunday.

Another wondrous week of live goodness coming from/through our puddle riddled city. Here are our show picks for this week:

March 28 – Calmly indie goodness: Liam Finn, The Luyas @ Doug Fir, 9pm, $14

March 29 – Indie pop glory: Pepper Rabbit, Miniature Tigers, &&& @ Holocene, 9pm, $11

March 30 – Mid-week dance party! White Fang, Means Jeans, Boom, Therepists, DJ E-Rock @ Holocene, 9pm, $5

March 31 – You will melt on the dance floor, even if you aren’t dancing: Pegasus Dream, Nucular Animals, CC Swim, Ryat @ Rotture, 9pm, $6

April 1 – Apes Tapes tape release! And And And, Blast Majesty, Woolen Men @ Mississippi Studios, 9pm, FREE!

April 2 – Just good: Dan Lurie & Emily Stebbins @ Jade Lounge, FREE!

April 3 – What Hearts @ The Woods, 9pm, $7

If you keep up with Blogotheque at all, you love Vincent Moon. If you watch anything by Vincent Moon, you probably love him. Moon has a way of sirenely capturing the very air of the moment with his camera, stealing songs from the very tongues of some of our favourite musicians and replaying it with the most gentle touch. Recently, Efterklang got together with Vincent to chronicle the music and community that blooms on the Danish Island Als, simply entitled An Island. That feeling of community doesn’t stop at the film. Around the world, private-public screenings have been scheduled to meld with the mood of the film itself. Small communties in homes and bars and venues where people can meet each other and kind of melt into the film. Portland’s very own screening of An Island is scheduled to show at Valentine’s this Thursday, March 24th! The film starts at 8pm sharp, it’s free, and DJ Womb Service is spinning some good tunes post-screening for your listening fancy. –MH

From the mouth of Efterklang/Vincent Moon:

"The community feeling has been a driving force for Efterklang & Vincent Moon throughout the An Island project. In the film itself you see Efterklang arriving to the Danish Island Als (where three of the four core members grew up) and here engage in collaborations with more than 200 local islanders including Efterklang’s own parents. 

The idea behind the Private-Public Screenings is also more than just distributing a film. It is about community. The Private-Public Screenings create a platform where people can meet in each others homes and on common ground which is the love for music and film. A thought and project that has proved its worth by far. The many group photos at An Island’s photo site shows how a community can exist in a global and very big world."

See you there!

Portland’s live scene is unbearably sopping with variety. House shows, the big venues, tiny clubs, secret bar shows — any night of the week could potentially have a handful of shows that you want to go to, but you only have so much time to bike to all of them. We’ve got touring bands looking for a good time and the cornucopia of local talent lighting up stages around town! The Deli Portland can only hope to help by telling you what’s on our plate for This Week’s Menu. Here are the writers picks for what’s on the menu for March 22-28:

Tuesday – KPSU Presents a night of indie friovolity: Music For Animals, The Foreign Resort and Wax Fingers @ Holocene $5, 21+

Wednesday – Cooing folky orchestral genius from What Hearts, Ah Holly Fam’ly, The Clampit Family Band @ Doug Fir $7, 21+

Thursday – Soft Tags, Autopilot is for Lovers, Shenandoah Davis, Benoit Pioulard @ Ella St. Social Club $6, 21+

Friday – Pop perfection and a lineup to make you lose it: Cloud Nothings, Toro Y Moi, and Braids @ Doug Fir  $12, 21+

Saturday – Throwback, indie, and psychedelic awesome: Monarques, Yours, Hosannas @ Slabtown $6, 21+

Sunday – Garage goodness: The Hugs, Rocky & The Proms, Charts @ Rontoms FREE, 21+

Third in their series of five EPs, the insatiably beautiful Parenthetical Girls release Privilege Pt. III, Mend and Make Do this March 22nd. "The Pornographer" opens the four tracks with sopping pop and seductive synth that wraps around you, drums breathing heavily behind the sensuously soaring warmth of Zac Pennington’s voice. The danceable "For All The Final Girls" whispers strung beats to your tapping feet, before opening up to the 80’s soaked "Be Careful Who You Dance With". The title track, "Mend & Make Do (Found Drama II)" sails off the end of the record, softly pitting the cooing of Rachael Jenson against Zac’s calm harmonies.

If the music of Privilege Pt. III can’t capture you, despite being as well rounded as a full moon beaming blue light on the snow, you might pick up the limited edition vinyl to be numbered in the blood of its cover star Jherek Bischoff. Yes, blood. I’m not even kidding. I’m partially scared, but mainly in love. -Mike Harper

The Pornographer

Anyone feel like getting awesome on a Wednesday night? Rotture’s NIGHTSHIFT is exploding with awesome this week with Doubleplusgood, Pocketknife, Magic Fades and DJ Gwiski. Definitely the best way to start the end the middle of the week. It’s perfect for those of us who needy a sweaty romp every so often. It’s five bucks and for big boys and girls only (sorry, under 21 crowd), and it’s worth every sweaty penny. 

Forever will I remember the first time I heard "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", and (I shamefully admit, now) that I didn’t even know it was Paul McCartney. I bought the album Ram as soon as I could, and grappled with the beautiful horns of that beast for ages. I could easily say that Ram is one of my top ten albums of all time. All time. Sorry George and John (and Ringo, I guess), Paul did a good number on this one.

Portland’s own multi-project-multi-instrumentalist Dave Depper has taken this sweet lamb with horns under his musical wings to create quite the cover album, full of intricate liberties that sets The Ram Project apart, just enough to give you chills. I’ve been listening to it for the past few days, and I have to join multiple other music journalists in saying that at times, when I heard Dave Depper’s falsetto hanging in the air from another room, there is a moment where I forget that it’s not Paul and Linda on the turntable. The album comes out on Jackpot Records May 5th. 

Expect a full review of The Ram Project soon (it’s like getting to review Paul McCartney right after The Beatles broke up! Kind of…kind of.), and for now, enjoy Dave’s rendition of "Dear Boy"   – Mike Harper 

From one of our favourites, And And And –  Is It Any Wonder?