Dishing out insatiable classic pop for the last five or so years, New Move go about their creative exhibition employing hints of glam, indie rock and lurid doo wop. Their new album, Back in the Habit, drops today and it features a variety of local artists, including Illmaculate, King Who, Radiation City and more. For the track we're sharing today, we're focusing on this banger with Chanti Darling and Ripley Snell on the mic.

"The City Life" has an interesting beat from Cameron Spies on keys, Jesse Bettis on guitar and bass, and a soulful vocal melody from Chanti Darling that lasts throughout the track, playing with some very silkily delivered bars from Snell. Everything about it is just delightful, and worthy of many repeated plays.

New Move are having a release show for Back in the Habit tonight at Mississippi Studios along with some sets from Y La Bamba and Hustle & Drone. Minden, Boone Howard and the Domestics will all be making guest appearances as well.

Last month, Portland local and friend of the music community, Nic Gordon, fell victim to a random act of violence that left him with head and brain injuries, and is currently going through physical therapy to regain speech.

The music community is responding by throwing a benefit show on Wednesday, Feb 11th at Rontoms (where Nic worked) to raise funds towards Nic’s medical expenses. And it’s a helluva stacked bill, featuring Laura Palmer’s Death Parade, Us Lights, Talkative, The Shivas and headliners Hustle & Drone. Music starts at 8pm and cover is a suggested donation of $5-10. All door proceeds and ten-percent of bar sales go towards the cause. There will also be a raffle held for band merchandise from Wampire, Blouse, Hustle & Drone, as well as live concert photo prints by Todd Walberg of each band on the bill. In addition, there will be 20 limited-run posters designed by Showdeer and hand-printed by Misplaced AK Screen Printing that will go to the first 20 folks to donate $20 or more at the door.

You shouldn’t need a good reason to see any of these bands by themselves, but all on a bill together and for a cause like this, it might be foolish not to be at Rontoms Wednesday night. 

- Travis Leipzig

There is not enough room on our humble blog to rave about each of the amazing acts playing at Portland State University on Saturday. At the risk of sounding like Stefon from SNL, it has EVERYTHING. The lineup is a delightful sampler of some of Portland’s best acts in a variety of genres, put together by our buddies at Banana Stand Media.

DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid offer a Bollywood/world beat DJ set that will get everyone dancing--they’ll probably even teach you some new steps.

TxE (the “x” means “and,” DAD!) put together some of the hottest hip-hop in town, hands-down. Check out their rad album Vs. Portland where they sample a bunch of killer local indie acts.

Hustle & Drone, who last week relased a new track and Instagram-style video featuring raps by Portland Trailblazer Damian Lillard (unbeknownst to him), will bring their ridiculous energy and giant synth pop to the stage as well as some pretty rad lights that make you feel like you’ve just smoked a rainbow.

Top it all off with the enfatuatingly hazy love-pop/rock of dream babes Radiation City, and it’s bound to be one of the best shows you’ll see all year.

So skip a trip to the pub and invest in local music. Or if you go to PSU it’s free, and you’re all definitely studying and not drinking, anyways. Saturday, October 18, from 7pm-11pm in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, room 355, 1825 SW Broadway Ave. The show is free for PSU students, $10 advance for the general public, or $15 at the door. Reserve your ticket at the PSU Box Office.

-Chandler Strutz

This weekend, the Red Bull Sound Select concert series continues its reign of killer showcases featuring some of the best local music any of us can find. This time around, the show is part of Portland’s long running music festival, MusicFest NW. Because of outdoor noise ordinances (boooo!) the festival will shut down at 10PM leaving a lot of room in the night for music. This is where the Red Bull team comes in to save the party.

Saturday night, at the Star Theater, RBSS have aligned two local acts to open for Com Truise (yes, you read that right). The first is the dreamy, electronic indie rockers, AAN. They are an extremely versatile band that can end a long, slow build up with thrashing guitars and high pitched vocals. Also opening the show is one of Portland’s favorite electronic groups, Hustle and Drone. This duo bases their music in electronic beats and heavy synth use, but play their tunes with a rock 'n roll, high-intensity that few electronic acts can pull off. The entire night is heavily based in electronics as the headliner all the way from Brooklyn is a synth wizard that mixes together music most appropriate for unnamed TRON sequels and robot porn. But I’m into that kinda stuff and will hopefully see you there. The show starts at 10pm, RSVP here to secure $3 entry. 

- Colin Hudson 

Despite the arguably volatile conditions that have developed around the Portland music community as of late – hyper increased development in inner urban areas displacing low-income artist types and forcing venues to close; increased noise curfew enforcement; obtusely racist police interference with hip hop shows – there is still one beautiful, unalienable force that is overflowing throughout our tired and artistic collective: FRIENDSHIP.

PALS FEST 2014, taking place August 9th through 15th, is the perfect celebration of the friendship that ties together Portland’s musical community, and back for the festival's third year, the lineup couldn’t include any better best-bud-bands. This year, the celebration offers seven crazy nights of music, each at a different venue across town and curated by different local tastemakers, and all free or $5 entry. However, if you’re like most day-job slaving humanoids and don’t have the stamina to take in seven nights of live music in a row, here is our abridged list of shows you probably don’t want to miss: