BIG FREEDIA, BEYONDADOUBT, ONUINU
(Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) When I was young and in college, I never dreamed of getting breast implants, like other girls. No sir! I wanted ASS implants. See, I went to school in Detroit, and back then ghettotech ruled all the best dance parties. I would only DREAM of dancing the way girls at those parties could. I haven't really thought of it much since moving to the Northwest—not until I saw Big "Queen Diva" Freedia at MusicfestNW this year. Holy shit! A friend from New Orleans had been sending me YouTube videos, but I had no idea that this entire movement—New Orleans Bounce—was happening. Some people think it's new, but Freedia, along with Katey Red and Freedia's "daughter," Sissy Nobby, have been ruling NOLA's dance parties since the late '80s. Similar to ghettotech, bounce is a high-energy, booty-centric call of the wild(est). Better than ghettotech, bounce is gay-friendly. (But stop calling it "sissy bounce"—sayeth Freedia in a recent Fader interview, "It's just 'bounce music' in New Orleans, you may have a gay rapper, but you have straight rappers too.") Gay or straight, it's time t'shake those hips like BATTLESHIPS! KELLY O
WILL WEST AND THE FRIENDLY STRANGERS, GROOVY WALLPAPER
(Secret Society Ballroom, 116 NE Russell) Tonight's show sees Will West and the Friendly Strangers sending Take This Moment... out into the world, a new full-length boasting West's trademark acoustic songwriting. Originally from North Carolina, the Portland resident has miles of American road under his belt—including some of the blander, strip-mall aspects, like the Jack Johnson shuffle of "Falling," from the new record. But there's also fine stuff like the delicate "In a Dream," which contains an old-time country gospel feel. And there's the hollow-log swamp of "Banjo Groove" and the lilting bluegrass and call-and-response of "Everytime." The Friendly Strangers are a formidable ensemble, boasting fiddles and banjos and mandolins, all guided by West's casual ringleading. NED LANNAMANN
THEE OH SEES, BARE WIRES, CYCLOTRON, ORCA TEAM
(East End, 203 SE Grand) Thee Oh Sees are undeniably one of the best American bands going now, and they always bring the infernal heat live. What I wrote about them the last time they came through still applies: "Leader John Dwyer elevates the band above most in the genre with songwriting chops that somehow find limber, lubricious ways to invert garage rock's creaky tropes." Oakland's Bare Wires are not quite as challenging or as exhilarating as their billmates, but they apply an endearing neo-glam glaze to garage rock's well-worn machinations. DAVE SEGAL
Stornoway, the Greenhornes, and DJ Rob Swift, as well as a link to the complete show listings, after the jump.