With all the strangely sunny and dry February weather, getting out of the house to grab some dinner and see a show doesn’t sound all that bad. This week there’s more than a couple promising showcases (and from different ends of the genre spectrum, no less), a couple of new music-minded releases, and an upcoming album from Rose City rapper Serge Severe.

MUST-SEE:
A can’t miss upcoming show.

Dolphin Midwives

Portland-based Dolphin Midwives—the solo future-pop-chaos project of singer/songwriter/harpist Sage Fisher—is having a belated album release celebration in support of her latest record, 2021’s Body of Water, which was recorded the year prior with Grammy-nominated producer Tucker Martine. The project often sees Fisher mutating her vocals over layers of electronic distortion and harp loops. Dubbed as a “crying sanctuary,” the evening is meant to serve as a place to let loose of all those emotions, comprising catharsis, surrender, vulnerability, and joy through projected immersive video, quadraphonic audio, experimental performance, and movement. On another note, Holocene also recently paused their vaccine booster requirement in an effort to better accommodate all the folks who recently got COVID and so have a bit of a longer waiting period to get a booster.

Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, Wed Feb 23, 8 pm, $12, tickets here, w/Crystal Quartez, Min Jung Yoon, Amulets, Hasmood

MUST-LISTEN:
Two great new releases from locally relevant artists.

Xutakes 2, Sxlxmon

Today, stalwart Portland-based producer Sxlxmxn released a new remix beat tape, Xutakes 2, via Bandcamp. Specializing in smooth, instrumental hip-hop, Sxlxmxn’s new project follows up the beatmaker’s 2019 tape Xutakes Vol 1—which starts off with a sweet Sade sample, and later samples Jay Z’s “Lucifer”—and June’s five-track University Park EP, which featured the likes of trumpeter Farnell Newton, and songs named after icons like Kanye West, Jay Electronica, and local landmark Alberta Street Market. Even better: Tonight (Fri Feb 19) Sxlxmxn will play at this month’s installment of local label Thirsty City’s titular hip-hop beat showcase. It takes place at Kenton Club, and also features beatmakers like Oakland’s Stanley Ipkuss (I love a The Mask reference), Elusive (of Alpha Pup Records), and rapper/producer/musician A’Revolution, AKA Alexandra Washington, a relative newcomer to the Portland hip-hop scene.
Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick, Fri Feb 19, 8 pm, $10, w/Stanley Ipkiss, Elusive, A’Revolution

Who’s Listening Anyway: Roundtable, Zyah Belle

Zyah Belle gathers with a gaggle of girlfriends for a roundtable to discuss themes from her recent project Who’s Listening Anyway. The whole thing is glorious, and feels like a particularly lively yet comfy episode of Angela Yee and Stephanie Santiago’s Lip Service podcast. With two episodes out (so far), the six ladies define luxury, debate on struggle meals, and talk only about dating men who are actually into you, giving advice to their younger self, vengeance, individuality, and everything in between. I’m not sure if it’s in the cards, but I’d be really content if there could be weekly episodes of this production, or at the very least, five parts of the Who’s Listening Anyway: Roundtable. For now, we can enjoy re-listening to Part 1 and Part 2.

ADDED TO THE QUEUE:
Some upcoming music buzz to put on your radar.

When Crows Fly, Serge Severe

Portland-based emcee Serge Severe is gearing up to drop a new 12-track full-length, When Crows Fly. The cover for the forthcoming project features Severe standing underneath North Portland’s St. Johns Bridge in a hoodie that fittingly reads “True North.” There are now two previously released singles for the album, the upbeat and catchy “For This,” and slowed down and gloomier track “Moods,” produced by Jack City, which at the end features an automated operator for a prison phone line that fails to connect the call to an inmate. Look out for the full When Crows Fly project on Bandcamp on March 4.