So the big news in Oregon Music right now is that one-man-black-metal-band Mizmor–aka the mysterious A.L.N.–has his own Newks hot sauce.

“Very excited to announce the very first Mizmor hot sauce! I’ve been a fan of Portland’s own Newks Hot Sauce for years now, so it’s an honor to finally collaborate with Jake on something.

“Unleash the intensity with this limited edition collaboration between Newk’s and Mizmor. Roasted garlic, blackened chipotle peppers, and earthy root vegetables blend together with the fiery intensity of Carolina Reaper and Serrano peppers. This sauce delivers a bold, complex and extreme spice that pushes your limits, all while allowing you to experience its nuanced flavor.”

A.L.N. also has a new album coming up, a collaboration with longtime co-conspirator M.S.W. aka Hell. Here’s what the fellas have to say about Alluvion:

”The stories of Mizmor and Hell are, for all intents and purposes, inextricably intertwined. For twenty years A.L.N. (Mizmor) and M.S.W. (Hell) have been orbiting the same fertile creative circles in the Pacific Northwest. They’ve done stints as live/touring members for each other’s solo endeavors and they’ve contributed their distinctive voices to each other’s recordings. A.L.N. and M.S.W. even aligned their cathartic outlets for a now impossible to find Mizmor/Hell split, unleashed upon the world in 2014. A collaboration record like Alluvion feels as if it was always predestined.

”The blueprint for Alluvion had been drafted long ago and it wallowed in obscurity, its memory swirling in the ether, patiently waiting for a rogue spark to manifest its existence. And, as luck would have it, when A.L.N. and M.S.W. once again found themselves in the midst of each other’s boundless creative universes, they were now prepared to undertake the monumental task.

”A.L.N. and M.S.W. intend for the compositions on Alluvion to be used as a map to help navigate the listener through bouts of psychic distress, touching upon emotions both terribly familiar and wholly extrinsic. Pensive, tranquil movements combust into passages of absolutely soul-searing sludge. Suffocating, blackened doom bursts out of unknown crevasses; punctuated by the unsettling voices of beings doing their damnedest to claw their way out of canyons carved by mental anguish. It’s a harrowing journey, but one that seeks to provide a necessary catharsis. Alluvion is meant to act as a lens into the mind’s seemingly mystifying geography; a vessel for the self-exploration of the complex terrains of the human psyche.”

That one’s not out until next month, but you can sample one epic track from it, the aptly titled “Pandemonium’s Throat,” a twelve-minute odyssey that builds from droning sludge to classic black metal sensory overwhelm and back again, like – yeah, let’s just go with the obvious comparison – like Frodo and Samwise climbing the fiery slopes of Mount Doom while fighting off mortal dread and existential woe and one very creepy ex-boyfriend.

***

Speaking of creepy ex-boyfriends, the new Gaytheist album has finally arrived. It’s out and proud! It’s here, it’s queer, get into it! The way this new one, The Mustache Stays, builds upon previous releases How Long Have I Been On Fire and Let’s Jam Again Soon – yes, all the way back to their 2012 debut Stealth Beats – reminds this listener of a similarly uncategorizable band, The Fall, whom the infamous BBC DJ John Peel described as “always different, always the same.”

Still here as always is that special Gaytheist blend of hardcore, psychedelia, thrash metal, elements of prog: To call it “something like Rush meets Minor Threat” would be unfair to all three bands, but you don’t need me to tell you anyways cuz you can listen and decide for yourself right here:

Also still here, as always, is that famous Gaytheist wit, the soul of which is partly, but not entirely, brevity. About halfway through the 31-minute album, after several mind-shaking one- and two-minute tracks that come at you like Matt Dillon scampering behind the pharmacy counter in Drugstore Cowboy, the boys arrive at the seven-minute Smashing Pumpkins cover “Silverfuck,” which they quite effortlessly transmute into something a lot harder and a lot gayer.

You can order this one on vinyl or compact disc via Portland’s Hex Records right here.

***

And that brings us to Blackwater Holylight’s upcoming EP, If You Only Knew, three-quarters of which has already been released: “Wandering Lost,” “Torn Reckless,” and a surprisingly faithful cover of one of Radiohead’s greatest anthems, “All I Need” from In Rainbows. Listen to all that right here:

Here’s what the band has to say about this one:

“Perhaps the biggest challenge for any musician is to learn to grow as an artist and expand one’s repertoire while retaining a coherent overarching vision to one’s work. Since their inception and across the span of three full-length albums, Blackwater Holylight have consistently conjured an aura of both power and vulnerability, as if the members of the band have found both the space and the vehicle for lowering their emotional defenses by fortifying their position with pure sonic strength. Yet that persistently haunting and enchanting quality has manifested in a variety of approaches. Equally adept at devil’s note doom riffs, narcotic neo-folk melodies, lysergic psychedelic forays, and jagged art-rock abrasion, Blackwater Holylight have used their limited arsenal of guitar, bass, drums, synth, and voice to cover a broad swath of aural terrain. On their newest EP, If You Only Knew, Blackwater Holylight continue to follow a path marked only as further, mining new tactics and timbres across four songs while continuing to address the uncertainties that come with transference and transition.”

If You Only Knew releases in full next month, and you can pre-order it on vinyl right here.

Oh and did we fail to mention? Bandcamp Fee Free First Fridays are back, baby! The next one is this Friday, March 7.

Women, am I right?

Here’s how The Quadraphonnes, Oregon’s only all-women saxophone quartet, describe their upcoming ode to mad saxophonist Moondog:

“Portland’s all-women saxophone quartet, The Quadraphonnes, has a 20-year track record of championing their instrument’s family, and Moondog’s Sax Pax for a Sax features the four members of the Quadraphonnes, Mieke Bruggeman, Chelsea Luker, Michelle Medler and Mary-Sue Tobin, and seven additional saxophonists playing the full range of the instrument from soprano to contrabass complemented by piano, percussion, and four vocalists. The March 7th performance will include the performance of Moondog’s composition, which decouples the saxophone from its intended military use in pursuit of peace, as well as readings of his poetry.

“For The Quadraphonnes, the opportunity to play the music of the eccentric composer with a cult following was an immediate ‘yes.’ Their bari saxophonist, Mieke Bruggeman, states, ‘As a classical saxophone enthusiast, I have been dreaming of performing Moondog’s large-scale classical-meets-jazz compositions for years. The fact that he had an influence on composers from Steve Reich and Philip Glass to Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman is a testament to the talent of this under-performed composer. It’s a tremendous chance for the Quads to spread our saxophone affliction!’”

Have you heard Moondog yet? No? Seriously? Allow us to introduce you to his weird world – which sits comfortably (or uncomfortably, depending on your taste) in the same realm as Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and Sun Ra – with this collection of his early works:

You can hear the entirety of Sax Pax for a Sax, as recorded by Moondog himself and the London Saxophonic in 1994 near the end of the composer’s life, right here:

Quadraphonnes are always a good time; add seven more saxes for a total of (*takes off shoes to count*) eleven saxomaphones; also add piano, percussions, and four vocalists; it’s starting to sound like Magma hanging out with Meute. In other words, this is going to be one of those events you’ll talk about for years, dear reader, and it’s happening this very weekend – March 7 at Alberta Rose Theatre. Get your tickets and more information right here.

***

The eighth – this Saturday, if you’re reading this before Saturday, March 8 – is International Women’s Day. It’s a pinko holiday, naturally, as are most humanist holidays (we’ll repeat this truth again in April and May). Take a moment to absorb this poster from 1914 Germany:

The text reads (in English):

“Give Us Women’s Suffrage. Women’s Day, March 8, 1914. Until now, prejudice and reactionary attitudes have denied full civic rights to women, who as workers, mothers, and citizens wholly fulfill their duty, who must pay their taxes to the state as well as the municipality. Fighting for this natural human right must be the firm, unwavering intention of every woman, every female worker. In this, no pause for rest, no respite is allowed. Come all, you women and girls, to the ninth public women’s assembly on Sunday, March 8, 1914, at 3 pm.”

We should take a moment to define “suffrage” for the The Kids. It doesn’t have anything to do with suffering, necessarily; it means being “allowed” to vote. I know, I know, to you guys voting is this pesky little burden, something you have to do every four years and it doesn’t even matter anyways, one more skibidi chore your parents think still matters.

Well goddammit it does matter! And get off my lawn! Ahem, anyways, back when voting meant something several distinct-but-overlapping groups of humans had to fight – sometimes quite physically (read about Emmeline “Deeds Not Words” Pankhurst) — for the right to have a say in the activities and constitutions of the governments established over them. Seems quaint now, doesn’t it? But we used to take this sort of thing seriously.

The seven singer-songwriters of Song Suffragettes PNW still take this sort of thing seriously, and they’d love to share that with you on Saturday at the McMenamins Kennedy School Gymnasium in Northeast Portland. It’s an impressive lineup, and frankly, we’d be interested even if it weren’t a special occasion. Here’s a little sample of each:

Naomi LaViolette, “Sunrise”

Rosa Linda, “Jaguars and Wolves”

Yawa, “Revolution”

Kathryn Claire, “Quiet Sound”

Marianne Thielen, “Clinton Street”

The Cider Janes (LaViolette / Aliyih Bristol / Heather Schrock), “Go to Sleep You Little Baby”

Now, we know what you’re thinking. “LaViolette, LaViolette … where have I heard that name before?” Well, right here at Oregon ArtsWatch for starters, in Daryl Browne’s recent profile. You may also have seen her at one of Portland Chamber Orchestra’s genre-bending concert-lectures, for instance last month’s “Every Brain Needs (Love) Music” or last year’s “How Your Brain Responds to Music, Love and Chocolate” (read about those here and here). Maybe you’ve heard Oregon Repertory Singers performing her choral compositions, or maybe you’ve heard her solo piano recordings as Lucente Skye.

Or maybe you just saw her at a Blazers game.

Song Suffragettes PNW happens at 7pm on March 8 at McMenamins Kennedy School. Tickets and more information available here.

***

The following weekend, two magnificent women – pianist Yoko Greeney and flutist Amelia Lukas – present an afternoon concert at the Portland Japanese Garden (it’s the one up in Washington Park, one of the most beautiful spots in the entire city). “Music of the Birds” presents bird-themed music by Japanese and Oregonian composers, including one who’s both: Kenji Bunch’s “Vesper Flights” shares a bill with music by Dai Fujikura, Kazuko Sugiyama, Deena Grossman, Kirsten Volness, and Lisa Marsh.

We freely admit to being totally unfamiliar with these two Japanese composers; you can get acquainted with them for yourself here (bilingual) and here (Nihongo only), or with these two samples of their work:

Bunch, Grossman, and Volness are familiar to all ArtsWatch readers and devotees of the Oregon School of Composition; read about them here and here and here. Greeney and Lukas will be premiering a new work by Volness, “Shima Enga (Snow Fairies),” and if we know these two you’ll probably get multiple chances to hear it again all summer long – for example, on this concert Lukas is playing Grossman’s “snowy egret, january messenger,” a solo piece she’s been performing all over the place (including at Chamber Music Northwest) for years now.

One name remains: Lisa Ann Marsh. You might not have heard her music, unless you’ve either passed through PSU’s Lincoln Hall as a music student or attended plenty of Cascadia Composers concerts. She was one of the latter’s original “Crazy Jane Composers,” and you can check that out here:

Why yes, Very Attentive Reader, that is indeed Oregon composer Renée Favand-See! Good eye! And although Marsh is well-known for her piano playing (that’s her in the above video), connoisseurs know that she is also a fine composer of music for percussion; a good recent example is “Wind, Water, and Song,” performed here by Wanyue Ye:

Oh yeah, and ArtsWatch published a profile on Marsh too; read Bennett Campbell Ferguson’s feature right here.

And now for the bad news: “Music of the Birds” is sold out! But you can get yourself on the waiting list right here.

***

We end this womanly segment with two pieces recently shared by Resonance Ensemble on their very fine YouTube channel, both from 2023’s “Portland Protests” concert.

Judy A. Rose, “RE-FLEC”

Kimberly R. Osberg, “Seek What You Want To Find”

Resonance Ensemble is performing this month, too – on March 15 & 16 it’s time for their long-awaited collaboration with Orchestra Nova Northwest (whom we will continue referring to as “formerly Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra” for probably the remainder of the season and maybe most of next season as well). There’s a Ralph Vaughan Williams piece on the concert, his evergreen Dona nobis pacem, but it’s the other two that have us excited.

Margaret Bonds is quickly becoming one of the Great Unforgotten American Composers, alongside Amy Beach and Florence Beatrice Price: Bonds’ music, like Price’s, has gone through a process of loss-and-rediscovery. Resonance and ONN will perform her setting of the W.E.B. DuBois Credo, which you can hear Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare performing right here:

And here’s Resonance themselves performing Bonds’ setting of the “St. Francis Prayer” in 2023 (at the same “Portland Protests” concert where we heard the Rose and Osberg pieces):

The other composer on this program is Caroline Shaw, about whom we shall for once resist enthusing. Resonance and ONN will perform her Emma Lazarus setting “To The Hands,” which Resonance previously sang in 2020:

They call me Mister Boogie Cat

Get a load of this guy:

That, my friends, is Norman “Boogie Cat” Sylvester standing in front of his portion of the “A Place Called Home” mural created in 2019 by Portland artists Alex Chiu and Jeremy Nichols (it’s out at the airport if you want to see for yourself). Sylvester and his band were at the very first Waterfront Blues Festival forty-odd years ago. They’re still cooking, and you have at least two chances to hear them in Portland this month.

First up is Clyde’s Prime Rib Restaurant and Lounge up where NE Sandy Boulevard crests Alameda Ridge – you can see Clyde’s for miles, and it’s been a beacon for lovers of meat and music since the goddamn fifties. Boogie Cat and the band play there this Saturday, March 8; they don’t go on until 9 p.m., so you can probably catch the Song Suffragettes PNW show at Kennedy School and hop the 75 bus to the 24 to Clyde’s with just enough time for a quick smoke before downbeat.

The big Norman Sylvester Band show this month is also in cozy Northeast, at Alberta Rose Theatre on the 16th, and this one’s extra special: It’s their 40th anniversary celebration, and features not only the current lineup but also an all-star cavalcade of former performers. More information and advance tickets right here.

Jazz hands

We end with another Cascadian, former board president Ted Clifford. The present author – full disclosure – once sat on the Cascadia Composers board for a very exciting two-year term; we remember fondly many 100% friendly arguments with Ted over exceedingly boring things that neither of us can remember anymore (at least one was about microphones, probably). What we remember most is that Mr. Clifford is, like so many of us Oregon composers, not exactly content in the stuffy and staid role thrust upon us by that pesky label “composer.” Ted’s a jazz guy, see, just like I’m a metalhead (proof here), and every time he puts together a Cascadia concert you can expect some of the finest in more-or-less controlled chaos.

Here’s how CC describes their upcoming “Paths of Departure: An evening of Jazz and other explorations” shindig:

“Showcasing the diverse facets of Ted Clifford’s music, this concert will focus on improvisation — from solo piano, to jazz combo charts, and always with some quirks and occasional chaos thrown in. Performers will include: Ted Clifford, with Nat Caranto, Kenny Franklin, and Brian Winn, plus special appearances by David A. Jones, Carson Lattimore, Kevin Bryant Lay, and Ben Lincoln. This performance will be held at a private home in West Linn, with appetizers and wine included.”

And here’s what sometime OAW contributor and gauntlet thrower Maria Choban had to say about Clifford on the occasion of a 2019 concert at The Old Church:

“Cascadia’s current president, Ted Clifford, is not only the best hook writer in Cascadia, but his jazz chops are formidable. I’d like to hear his improv-inflected numbers played by jazz musicians.”

And here’s the man himself, performing his “Song of Remembrance” in January 2020:

Cascadia Composers present “Paths of Departure” on March 29 in West Linn. More information and tickets available right here.