Vikesh Kapoor has his mastery of acoustic folk down to a science. For the last three years, the Pennsylvania transplant took to Portland’s usual grey skies smoothly in the further development of his songwriting and musicianship. Kind of like Portland’s own Iron & Wine, his music progresses in a similar manner to the beverage, only getting better and better as it ages with time.

"Down By The River" is the newest track to come from Kapoor. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, with Kapoor’s vocal delivery and strumming gently guiding the listener throughout the song. It’s a track perfect for a summer evening drive or being stuck inside all day watching the rain fall.

Vikesh Kapoor is officially dropping the single tonight at his show at the Beacon Sound, with accompanying sets from Haley Heynderickx and Claire Puckett of the Austin, Tx orchestral indie band Mother Falcon. The all-ages show starts at 8pm and is just $10.

Dogheart haven’t really taken a break since Real Mood came out almost a year ago to the day. The six track EP was a display on Dogheart’s part of the maturity their sound has reached, leading up to today’s release of their newest full length Family Hair.

Recorded on a Tascam 8-track in various spots around the city, Family Hair shows Dogheart executing the mellow garage rock they do best while at times, embracing a Beach Fossils and Real Estate type of haze. Album opener "Puzzled" kicks things off with a quick and catchy pace, while "Wooden Shrine" chills things out a bit. Tracks of all tempos and for all moods can be found on Family Hair, which can be streamed below.

After getting acquainted with the new Dogheart tracks, join the band along with The Woolen Men at Bunk Bar tonight for the album release show. Word is they’ll be giving free haircuts until midnight, just in case you’re in need of one.

Echo Pearl Varsity were our April artists of the month for a reason. Their jazz fusion meets post-rock compositions are radically fresh and inventive, standing out in a music scene where garage and indie typically reign. The band is back with a new single, a cover track actually, paying homage to one of their favorite new age electro-jazz musicians.

"MmmHmm" was originally done by Flying Lotus featuring Thundercat, coming from his highly touted 2010 album Cosmogramma. It’s the first single EPV will be releasing from an EP of cover tracks, due out in June before they out for their second west coast tour. A love and respect for FlyLo, the artists on his label Brainfeeder and a special adoration between EPV bassist Nolan Henderson and Thundercat were cited as reasons for choosing "MmmHmm" in particular, among other reasons.

"We chose this song to challenge ourselves, knowing it was a catchy track but surprisingly tricky to play," says saxophonist Levi Downey. "It took us about two months to get down, due to the deceptive melody super shredder bass-line. But, after some long arguments and rugged practice, it all came together."

Listen to "MmmHmm" below and be on the lookout for Echo Pearl Varsity’s next covers. You can see them live on May 19 at the Twilight Cafe with The Welkin Dim, Wake of Dark for the Hawking album release.

 It’s no secret that Kulululu and Human Ottoman have received much love from the Deli Portland because of the innovation they both flood into their recordings and live performances. We’ve premiered their songs, nominated them for polls and mentioned their names in show promoting posts, so when it came to the next endeavor Human Ottoman and Kulululu tackled it was sure to catch our attention. This time around, the bands have joined forces to bestow upon all of us a creatively energetic project that’s entirely too good not to love.

Welcome Humululuman.

The premise behind this musical marriage sees them covering one of the best songs by each of their respective bands, "YDKWH" by Human Ottoman and "Freak Out" by Kulululu. Recorded at The Map Room Recording Studio by Hasmood (and some editing by Rollstars Productions), the performance videos are filled with all the craziness we typically see from each band live, with splices of entertaining animations that give a humorous element.

The supergroup will be celebrating the release of the audio downloads for these joint efforts at the Fremont Theater on May 12. Abronia will also be gracing the stage and with tickets being only $5, there’s no reason not to see this sonic force in person.

Until then, get lost in the chaos that is Humululuman by watching the videos for "YDKWH" and "Freak Out" below.

As the sun falls closer to the horizon, the conflict of choosing to stay in on the last night of the weekend or go into the new with a bang is quickly presented. There’s quite a bit going on tonight depending on what you’re in the mood for, so let new outfit Plastic Cactus help you make the decision.

Plastic Cactus have steadily gained traction over the last few months with their live sets, but their recently released collection of mastered tracks is sure to propel them further. Pricks, their debut album, shows the band have an adept mastery of slowed, southwestern psych-surf despite their northern locale.

Their songs are the perfect soundtrack for the setting sun and are even better in person, so check out their show tomorrow at the Know with the Cigarette Bums from Los Angeles, Horse Movies and Strugglers.

Modern Portland adults likely didn’t have the best prom experience in school. Not because everyone definitavely has a shitty time, but because back in our day those that excelled in high school tended to be the jocks, Associated Student Body ruling or prep types that found those types of events the literal social events of the year. Us musically endowed types have a second chance at making prom an actually enjoyable experience thanks to High School Records and their first annual prom they’re hosting tonight.

Come donned in your finest of pieces to twerk, cha cha and slow dance with everyone during performances from Hollow Sidewalks, Sweeping Exits, Volturz and You Said Strange. DJ Joseph Hopper will be spinning in between sets, and all money collected at the door is going directly to Outside In.

If a Saturday night prom sesh isn’t in your cards, consider heading to the High School Records After Prom, which takes place tomorrow. Devy Metal, Helens, The American Weather and Small Field will be playing the Liquor Store for free in efforts to close out High School Records’ first foray into social engagements. 

Tickets for tonight’s prom are still for sale, running on an suggested donation of about $10. 

Portland is the kind of place where vinyl appreciation is taken seriously amongst much of the masses. While we’ve lost some of our beloved record shops, the few that are still around are special places that see much business at times other than just Record Store Day. Green Noise Records has lasted throughout the years, changing locations a couple times since its original southeast locale, but they’ve found yet another new up in northeast that they’re celebrating throughout the weekend.

Starting today, Green Noise is hosting their own sort of welcoming party, slated with sets from djs and bands alike. Most of today’s festivities, which started around noon, are dj sets. Patrons are invited to peruse the shop’s offerings while enjoying records spun by djs like Vera Rubin, Erich Zann and Ken Dirtnap, or tomorrow’s live performances from EMS, Low Culture and Davey Quinn. 

Admission is free and if you scope a few records you’d like to pick up, everything is 15% off the whole weekend. Come check out Green Noise’s new space, some awesome bands and djs, and some new vinyl sounds as well.

Portland has become quite the popular place over the last few years. The influx of new residents has pretty much ruined what old locals have considered to be all that’s in the city, with all the condos going up and old haunts going down essentially serving as proof of that.

But no matter how much Portlandia may have skewed (somehow accurately and inaccurately all at once) their depiction of Portland, The Toads have written their own little ditty about this rainy city. It reigns incredibly true.

With lyrics touching on how open Portland is with nearly every type of social and individual freedom, "Portland, Or" shows how much The Toads love their town in a catchy, pop-punky way. If anything, it should be the city’s anthem. 

Give it a listen below and see how much of it sounds "so typically Portland."

*photo by RoseLeon

Rasheed Jamal is one of the leading voices in Portland hip hop, flowing about relevant, thought provoking subject matter over bumpin’ beats. Many flock to Jamal’s tracks for insight, and he just dropped a new one with a bomb beat and some quick rhymes.

"Better Off $$$" could be a club banger. Jamal goes in expressively hard with his words over the trappy beat. It even landed its own spot on Vortex Music Magazine’s 3rd anniversary collectible vinyl compilation.

Dive into it below.

Shadowlands know what’s up when it comes to brooding darkwave and post-punk. Their sonance aligns more with the horror-esque sounds of a more "traditional" ’80s style of post-punk while still remaining original, and definitely not coming off replicated. It’s for this reason they’re one of the first acts to come to mind when thinking of local bands of this genre in general, and why all of you voted them your favorite band to play the recent darkwave and post-punk festival Out From the Shadows Fest.

Another special victory for Shadowlands is that they’ve been chosen to play the next Brickbat Mansion night, Portland’s female-led goth and darkwave DJ night. Lead singer Amy Sabin will join resident spinners DJ Curatix and DJ Wednesday in being the premiere ladies of the night.

This edition of Brickbat Mansion is an RSVP event held at the steep and thorny way to heaven on May 5, so if you wish to attend, respond via the Facebook event or by sending an email to rsvp@thesteepandthornywaytoheaven.com. Listen to the Shadowlands track "Fade" below and be on the lookout for their video for "Liberation," coming soon.

Poppy indie rock trio The Loved sure know how create harmonious melody, especially out of the simplicity of just three chords.

Driven by Lael Alderman’s expressive vocals, The Loved balances galvanic rock with the tenderness of dulcet songwriting and rhythmic instrumentation from bassist Daven Hall and drummer Jake Endicott. They’re doing a staggered release of their debut album, by dropping a series of singles throughout the first half of the year. The first single, "Back to Me," has a video that coincides with it.

"Back to Me" as an idea seemingly came out of nowhere for the band, and within seven minutes was a finished song. The song has a lot of power and its video compliments it well. On the song, Hall said:

"There was a vision for this album going into the studio, where we could create an album that moved and would move you, that would sometimes rock you, and where there would still be plenty of space for things to breathe, and we walked out off there with all that."

Watch the video for "Back to Me" below.

 Clickit Ticket, a ticket resale marketplace that specializes in helping customers find sold out or otherwise hard to get tickets, has taken the time to compile a list of the 30 best places to catch live music in Portland. For locals, some of the names on the list aren’t surprising. Places like Mississippi Studios and Holocene are essentially household names and recurring weekend haunts at this point.

Where the gets interesting is with its featuring of certain less popular-to-the-masses spots. They’re not all by any means venues but certain diamonds in the rough, like Spinella’s Off the Wall or Andina Restaurant, where patrons can catch more varied arrays of music.

Part list for newscomers and tourists, part reminder of places that haven’t closed down yet for locals, Clickit Ticket’s list is fairly well rounded. Look at it in full and see all the ones you’ve been to HERE.