portland
friday 1
Cut Copy
Cut Copy is everything that is awesome about psychedelic electronic house music. Acid house is an extremely danceable genre that the Melborne, Australia group has nearly perfected, weaving deftly placed samples seamlessly with live instrumentation and catchy pop hooks. Sounds like New Order mixed with Hot Chip, Duran Duran and Daft Punk. 8 pm. Roseland. $25-$27.
saturday 2
Iron & Wine
Sam Beam belongs in the Pacific Northwest. The South Carolina native is a folk singer with a deep comforting voice that echoes the shadows of lush and rainy fir forests interlaced with poetic story-telling and soothing, picked acoustic guitar melodies. Plus, he's got an excellent beard. Beam's elegantly crafted songs make you listen close and will make you fall in love with his nearly whispering baritone. 8 pm. Crystal Ballroom. $30-35.
seattle
monday 4
Mazzy Star
When I announced to my co-workers last month that Mazzy Star had released a new album the reaction was consistent, "What? Awesome, I used to love them!" After a nearly two-decade absence, the band returns with Seasons of Your Day, an album that has been called Mazzy's own Chinese Democracy. Retaining fluttering bluesy guitars, borderline creepy, down tempo darkness and an absolute shit load of reverb on the lonely female vocal tracks, the old tricks are still working well, and the new album makes even more obvious the band's prominent influence on contemporary lady-acts like Cat Power and Beach House. 8 pm. Neptune Theater. $35.
wednesday 6
Of Montreal
Of Montreal surfaced in 1997, a lo-fi indie-pop duo out of Athens, Ga. Eleven albums later, the group has snowballed, picking up four more members, and inspiration from vaudeville, The Beatles and funk. Their 2013 album, Lousy With Sylvianbriar has some of the group's most linier songs to date, but remains highly psychedelic and meandering. The album was recorded at home on a 24-track tape machine giving it Of Montreal's signature crackly vintage charm. Opener La Luz is a throwback, all-chick surf rock group that wants to make you bikini grind. 8 pm. Neumos. $18.
