No, that wasn't a mistake or some wack "clickbait" headline. Beloved and quite missed Portlanders Ghost Mom are doing a (hopefully not) one-time-only reunion show TONIGHT at the Know with adorable Burger Records baes The Shivas. It's been years since we've heard from Ghost Mom (okay, well like 2 or 3 years, since Lou Weed came out), and since we're not sure when they'll be gracing us with anything again, come to the Know tonight. 8pm. Seriously. It's Christmas week and this is their gift to us.

-Cervante Pope

Record Store Day is on Saturday—the best day of the year to stand in line and fight over rare vinyl releases while supporting local businesses. This year, Portland record stores will stock hundreds of RSD exclusive releases, including some local treats.

In October, Blitzen Trapper recorded Neil Young’s Harvest in full at the Doug Fir. Score the live album Live Harvest on Saturday. Listen to their take on “Heart of Gold” before you buy the record.

Eyelids, Portland’s psych-pop super group, are releasing a split 7” with The Phoenix Foundation, produced by Peter Buck.

Pickathon partnered with Easy Sound Recording Company to release a split 7” of Those Darlins and Diarrhea Planet (both from Nashville) recorded live at the festival last summer. Preview the tracks here.

Jackpot Records is releasing a limited edition record of short-lived Portland band No. 2’s No Memory. Mixed by Elliott Smith, the album is “the missing link between the end of Heatmiser and the beginning of Elliott Smith’s major label debut,” according to Jackpot.

In store performances abound throughout the day. Everyday Music on the Westside will feature DJ sets by members of Typhoon, Modern Kin, Laura Veirs, Summer Cannibals, and more, plus performances by Edna Vasquez, Ryan Sollee (Builders and the Butchers), Sam Coomes (Quasi), The Shivas, The Ghost Ease, The Ganders, and the Dandy Warhols. See the full schedule here.

Tender Loving Empire will host an officially unofficial RSD party at their SE Hawthorne store featuring Genders, Ali Muhareb, and Run On Sentence.

Jackpot will pour you free coffee if you peruse their shop or stop in for their DJ sets.

Across town, Music Millennium will host Portland punk legends, Dead Moon.

Make sure you check out early opening times for your favorite record store, and study the release list ahead of time.

Happy Record Store Day!

-Zibby Pillote

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

Portland's beloved surf/psych twangsters, The Shivas, are back at it with the release of their fourth LP, You Know What To Do. The Album is already available digitally through their bandcamp page, with physical copies to be released through K Records on CD and Vinyl and Burger Records on Cassette. You Know What To Do is a lenthy 13 tracks, chaulk-full of their steadfast and throwback vocal harmonies, staccato guitar, hand claps, and reverb.

Album opener and title track "You Know What To Do" teases the listener with a brief fourty five seconds of a slowed down surf-meets-the-wild-west intro before paddling full bore into a wave-thrashing speed ball with hints of Thee Oh Sees influence. Appropriately titled tracks "Beach Heads" and "Stroking Off" eminate their obvious influential references of Beach Boys and The Strokes, respectively. A personal favorite on the LP, "Used To Be Cool," boasts one of the coolest surf guitar licks I've ever heard throughout the song's intro, verses and outro. Catch The Shivas official release show for You Know What To Do this Friday night, November 8th, at Bunk Bar along with Jollapin Jasper and Moon By You.

- Travis Leipzig

Don't miss these great Bay Area events! The Desert Stars Festival is around the corner and the Bay Area is celebrating this massive fest with pre parties in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. All of the pre parties are on the same night, October 1st, so you'll just have to choose which line up you want to see the most:

Kymberli's Music Box & Innerlight Presents: Desert Stars Pre Party at Elbo Room in San Francisco:

Cellar Doors
The Spiral Electric
Ancient River
The Shivas

Dj Vikki Vaden
Visuals by Mad Alchemy

The Shivas

Cellar Doors

Ancient River

The Spiral Electric

San Jose Desert Stars Pre Party:

​Cafe Stitch - Doors Start at 8 pm

SLOWNESS
Silent Pictures
The Soft Bombs
DJs Jafar Green & Jeff Jagged

Oakland Desert Stars Pre Party:

​At Leo's Music Club - Doors at 9 pm:

The Telescopes
LSD and the Search for God
Disappearing People
Magic Castles