THE NIGHT STUFF
Eclectic sounds poppin' at music fest venues

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

The Portland, Ore., trio The Thermals, above, and the San Francisco-based harmonic pop/rock duo Mates of State, below, headline tonight's POPcorn fest at the UH Campus Center. POPcorn, a showcase for indie rock bands, continues Saturday night downtown. Chelsea Mosher

Megan Holmes

The Honolulu Jazz Quartet offers a pair of shows at The ARTS at Marks Garage that should be heavy on jazz standards plus originals from the quartet's debut CD.

4th Annual POPcorn Music Festival 7 p.m. today UH Campus Center Ballroom $10 With Mates of State, The Thermals, Linus, 86 List, teradactyl 7 p.m. Saturday Club Pauahi $10 With Davey VonBohlen, Port Guyana, DJ Monkey, Matt Ratt 561-0090; More information online. Honolulu Jazz Quartet 8 p.m. today and Saturday The ARTS At Marks Garage $18 advance, $20 at the door 521-9699 Get Fresh! 10 p.m. today Indigo Eurasian Cuisine $7 before 11 p.m.; $10 after 11 p.m. 521-2900

Better yet, want 'em all?

Then it's off to downtown with ya this weekend for a trio of post-sunset events worth checking out.

Jeff Sanner and Ara Laylo, two-thirds of sublime Honolulu indie band teradactyl, launched their first POPcorn Music Festival three years ago with a goal of giving young bands like theirs a place to play and be heard. They hardly expected to create a small community of such bands in the process.

"I think it's got a lot better," said Sanner, commenting on the indie band scene's growth since POPcorn's beginnings. "I've noticed a lot more indie bands coming out playing shows. Now there's other venues, other parties (and) more people getting exposed to indie rock bands."

The annual POPcorn fests (and Sanner's Avant POP! monthlies at Club Pauahi) have proven nurturing venues for bands such as Linus, Port Guyana and the Daykillers to build a following. The addition of three out-of-state acts to POPcorn's fourth outing this weekend tweaks the formula a bit for some extra attention.

Headlining tonight's UH Campus Center Ballroom show is San Francisco-based harmonic pop/rock duo Mates of State and punky Portland, Ore., trio The Thermals, with Linus, 86 List and teradactyl. Leading a Saturday show at Club Pauahi is singer/guitarist Davey VonBohlen (formerly of Milwaukee, Wis., emo pioneers The Promise Ring), with Port Guyana, DJ Monkey and Matt Ratt.

Yes, I'm aware that only half of POPcorn is actually downtown. My advice? Catch TheBus.

Jazz, man

On the other hand, both shows by the supremely accomplished Honolulu Jazz Quartet this weekend will be smack in the middle of downtown — at The ARTS at Marks Garage.

"I just came back from New York, where I heard Christian McBride's band at Birdland," said HJQ leader and bassist John Kolivas, discussing the quartet's gig. "We're thinking of (The ARTS) as a similar type of setting. It's not huge. It's intimate ... like a jazz club. And ... it's nice and artsy."

Can't argue there.

Expect a performance heavy on exquisite jazz standards mixed with a handful of original compositions from the quartet's debut CD "Sounds of the City." Released last fall, "Sounds" sold out its initial pressing of 1,000 copies in just over two months — an impressive feat not only for a locally produced jazz CD, but a locally produced jazz CD that couldn't find an interested Hawai'i distributor.

After doing the legwork required to get "Sounds" into Hawai'i music stores on their own, the HJQ recently secured deals for nationwide retail distribution and airplay on syndicated jazz programs. With another pressing of "Sounds" now in stores, Kolivas, pianist Dan Del Negro, saxophonist Tim Tsukiyama and drummer Adam Baron are encouraged by its reception thus far.

"People are starting to expect to hear some of the tunes that we do. And that's been really nice," Kolivas said.

Get ur freak on

And finally, freakbeat ... defined. Well, sort of.

Apparently, the true meaning of the word (at least according to a press release) can be found in the turntable stylings of San Francisco-based breaks DJ Lorin Bassnectar, who will be headlining the first edition of Get Fresh! at Indigo Eurasian Cuisine tonight. Also providing sonics for the new weekly: DJs Sovergn-T and Toki, and Get Fresh! residents DJ Mark, Compose and Eskae. Live percussion from Quadraphonix's Eli Clemens and projections from Cinema Paradise head honcho Sergio Goes provide the atmospherics.

Intriguing? Sure. But the reason this party deserves some support is promoter Essential Entertainment's plans to blend live musicians and DJs from a multitude of musical genres (house, hip-hop, dancehall, etc.) into a constantly changing weekly.

Already planned for Get Fresh! future: house DJ Ira (S.F.) on Jan. 30; a trunk show from designers Fighting Eel and Taharba's Bob Marley birthday celebration on Feb. 6; and live Brazilian samba from Sambanda on Feb. 13.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.