On Saturday the 25th of August, 2018, the New York City-based dystopian pop band JOBS will return to Portland bearing the gift of new music, in the form of their new record Log On For The Free Chance To Log On For Free, and new member (!) Jessica Pavone on viola. JOBS is a band that plays with ferocious intensity and precision, weaving many disparate styles into their long-form compositions, while maintaining a bodily kineticism that resonates far beyond usual experimental music circles.
JOBS will be joined by four mysterious Portland warlocks that are known collectively as Wizard Party. While each member’s backstory is complex and befuddling, some of the many terms used to describe this mystical prog-rock quartet inspire narratives of their own: “frog-rock”, “baroque and roll”, and “swamp music”. The men behind the wizards of Wizard Party are and have been involved in too many illustrious Portland bands to list here, but their cooperative existence is deeply rooted in the last decade of Portland’s forward-thinking music community.
On the front half of the evening, gracing the SPACE stage for the very first time is the Brooklyn/Portland-based Stice. The electronic music collaboration of Salt People’s Caroline Bennett and Lunch Cult’s Jake Lichter samples undanceable and otherwise hard-to-listen-to music, trying to make it funky and fun. You’ll never believe that Stockhausen could groove so hard.
Opening the night are Western Mass-based Beige, the electronic-improv duo of South Portland-born Liam Kramer-White and LA-native Stella Silbert. Their music is textural, reserved, and visceral in a way that isn’t often heard in a traditional noise set; that’s probably because this is everything but a traditional noise set.
Tickets are available at space538.org/music and at the door. We’ll see you there!