Gran Ritmos
Portland’s favorite Pan-American dance party Gran Ritmos is kicking off summer’s dog days by inviting Riobamba to headline their next showcase. One of Brooklyn’s most fire DJ acts, Riobamba is a multitalented artist with Ecuadorian and Lithuanian roots who delivers energetic sounds from around the world. In addition to producing her own mixes, she founded the label and creative agency APOCALIPSIS in 2016 to empower the voices of other Latinx artists. Riobamba spent a year in Bogota studying the connections between politics, identity, and digital music production through a Fulbright Scholarship. Her sets integrate a wide variety of audio sources ranging from YouTube clips to underground Panamanian bass to urban field recordings as a means of intentional disruption. Lace up your dancing shoes and get ready for a night of the unexpected. EMILLY PRADO
Jul 1, 9 pm, Holocene, $10
Gaytheist, Nasalrod, Drunk Dad
Gaytheist plays the kind of rock music that’ll pummel your eardrums with the force of a thousand fiery asteroids (in a good way). Tonight the Portland band celebrates the release of their new album, Let’s Jam Again Soon—14 furiously fast tracks that bring new meaning to the word “heavy.” CIARA DOLAN
Jul 1, 8 pm, The Know, $10
Ralph Lawson, Tripwire
With a career spanning two decades and an influential off-kilter style that stays ahead of the curve, Jay Tripwire never fails to impress. He’s one of the most prolific house and techno producers around, with over 200 vinyl releases to date. His versatile mixes reveal keen sensibilities that can make a believer out of even the harshest of dance music critics. Ralph Lawson is a legend in his own right, and widely regarded as one of the best house music DJs in the world. His record label, 2020Vision, showcases a well-rounded catalog that gives interesting insights into electronic music’s ever-changing landscape over the last 20 years. These two heavyweights will perform an outdoor daytime concert at the White Owl Social Club to allow for maximum sunshine fun time. CHRISTINA BROUSSARD
Jul 2, 2 pm, White Owl Social club, $10
Gardener, On Drugs, Monsterwatch, FLRT
The Chicago-based Gardener trucks in equally hazy and often beautiful melodies that take cues from early electronic pioneers like Charles Wuorinen and Tangerine Dream, while giving some of his work an extra layer of distance between the listener and the heartfelt creator by recording onto hissy cassettes and using noisy, shortwave-radio-frequency tones. ROBERT HAM
Jul 2, 9 pm, Twilight Cafe & Bar, $8
Lithics, Tender Age, Mattress, Media Jeweler
Lithics minimalist post-punk pulses and chirps, manically pushing forward and pulling back, while building insistent loops before pretending to fall apart, as vocalist Aubrey Hornor brings an understated, bordering-on-spoken-word nonchalance. This restraint, at least on record, keeps the tension high, while also keeping something bubbling below the surface, waiting. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON
Jun 30, 9 pm, The Fixin' To, $7
Skull Diver, The Dead Ships, Pacific Latitudes
Last month Portland rock trio Skull Diver released Chemical Tomb, an unapologetically dark sophomore album that wanders with a zombie's sinister drive between proggy riffage, pop swagger, and stoner metal haze, exploring shadowy corners while never quite settling into a groove. The record is united not just by this densely curated sense of disquiet, all fuzzy guitars and cavernous organs, but by a gripping melodicism and singer Mandy Payne's nimble voice floating over the darkness—less ethereal and more a foreboding siren's call. Two covers round out the second half, Nick Drake’s “Parasite” and the Violent Femmes’“Good Feeling,” both evidence of Skull Diver’s flexible mastery over their expansive sound. It’s not the most cohesive album, but anyone who likes their music on the heavy side will find something to enjoy. NATHAN TUCKER
Jul 1, 9 pm, Bunk Bar, $7
The Day Fade
Some Saturdays, you ignore the creeping growth of your dandelion lawn and put any thoughts of self-betterment out of mind. Some Saturdays, you get out of bed late and head to the bar, where there will be drinks, and dancing, and DJs spinning really, really good tunes. The soul needs such Saturdays, and lucky for you this is one of them. DIRK VANDERHART
Jul 1, 2 pm, White Owl Social Club, $5
The Thermals
Portland pop-punk stalwarts the Thermals aim to spice up your Fourth of July weekend on the cheap with a 5-dollar show at the Doug Fir Lounge. Deathlist and Loveboys provide support.
Jul 2, 9 pm, Doug Fir, $5
Bombay Beach, Wave Action, Craig Brown Band
After more than a decade spent fronting various garage punk bands (Terrible Twos, the Mahonies, Liquor Store), Craig Brown is a legitimate Detroit city personality. For instance, the trailer for Drunk History’s Detroit episode features Brown’s ruminations about the city’s lawlessness, punctuated as he yells, “Judas Priest is better than Iron Maiden!” into the cold night. Brown is a funny and memorable character, and that likability translates onto his debut album, The Lucky Ones Forget, from his Third Man Records-backed country project, the Craig Brown Band. It’s a love letter from a punk rocker to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a surprisingly smooth marriage of Brown’s cut-the-shit songwriting, nasally punk vocal tricks, and honky-tonk slide guitar—all filled out by the warm backing vocal harmonies of the band’s Drinkard sisters. SUZETTE SMITH
Jul 1, 8 pm, Turn! Turn! Turn!, $5
Ice Queens, And And And, Ah God
Local indie rock shredders Ice Queens return to Rontoms for their second Sunday Session of the year, this time in celebration of the release of their self-titled debut album.
Jul 2, 8:30 pm, Rontoms, free