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City Cast Portland

It’s still sunny and warm — even if the calendar 

Is there anything more summery than a street festival?

Portland’s September calendar is surprisingly full of music festivals:

There’s an out-of-town trip you'll want to take before you can’t:

 | Till Sept. 14 (The trail down to the lake closes this month for at least the next two years for construction. Tip: Last-minute tickets for 

Here’s a hack for the month: The peak of birds’ 

 is expected to get underway Sept. 19 and run through Oct. 19, according to current projections. To help the birds navigate at night, you can do your part by turning off outside lights, drawing your curtains so light doesn’t leave your house, and using warmer color (less blue) lightbulbs outside.

Oregon Bird Alliance and their Lights Out campaign

awaiting word on the annual fall migration of Vaux swifts

: Will they or won’t they show up in spots where we can watch them circle into chimneys for a nightly rest? In years past, they came to Chapman Elementary by the thousands, but started avoiding it last year after too many predators appeared.

More September Fun

It’s still sunny and warm — even if the calendar has flipped over to September. Is there anything more summery than a street festival? Clinton Street Fair,  Belmont Street Fair, and Downtown Sunday Parkways.

The Best of Portland, Oregon, in September 2025

The Best of Portland in September 2025

Find the best of everything that Portland has to offer.

Portland’s Best

Portland's Best

Much of Portland’s cultural identity today is owed to a generation of independent artists making music in the 2010s. From metal to moody soundscapes, this is some of the music that defined the decade.

The term “neo italo disco” might not mean anything to you, but I bet you can immediately recognize the style in the theme music of the show “Stranger Things.” Bands like Chromatics, and this era of PNW music in general, have served as an inspiration to so many of the electronic soundscapes that have filtered into other areas of pop culture.

“All that [electronic music] came from Portland being obsessed with Suspiria soundtracks,” says City Cast Portland podcast host Claudia Meza.

The metal fan contingency is rarely the largest, but it’s probably the strongest. Om was among the top bands fueling west coast metalheads during the aughts, with heavy sounds worthy of even meditation. Some of the band members rotate, but it is anchored by Portland drummer Emil Amos and Al Cisneros, formerly of the legendary California doom metal band Sleep.

Rarely can an R&B classic be translated into an indie rock arrangement, but that’s exactly what English artist Emma Niblet does with “No Scrubs,” her 2012 rendition of the iconic TLC song. Niblet has been calcified into the lore of Portland music since she moved here in 2005.

This trio relocated from their home in Arkansas to Olympia in 1999 and launched a sound that doesn’t quite fit neatly into a genre, but is certainly unmistakable. Led by Beth Ditto’s stunning vocals, with instrumentalist “Brace Paine” and Kathy Mendonça behind the kit, the band’s bluesy queer-punk sound is probably best captured in their 2009 album “Music for Men” — produced by none other than Rick Rubin.

I still occasionally fire up “Dimestore Diamond” and pretend I’m dancing in a 2010 grimy club downtown, except now I’m probably just cleaning my living room.

There was a time when you couldn’t go anywhere in Portland without hearing Grouper, Liz Harris’ solo project. Harris combines instrumentals and field recordings into ambient sounds reminiscent of an overcast Portland day. She’s also an accomplished visual artist and helped shepherd the artists influx into Astoria.

The “Cascadian black metal” band out of Olympia brought cinematic and cathartic weight to a time when people only thought of Seattle when referencing Pacific Northwest music. Even if you’re not a metalhead, the crashing crescendos in their 2011 album “Celestial Lineage” will make you feel like you’re floating.

As the saying goes, what’s old is new again. Listen to our conversation with Nolan Parker to hear 

the bands injecting our ears with Millennial nostalgia

 and bringing back the sounds of yesteryear. And 

 featuring a song by each of these artists.

From metal to moody soundscapes, this is some of the music that defined the 2010s in Portland.

The Music That Defined Portland in the 2010s

What Portlanders have been wondering. We break down why things in Portland are the way they are and how they work.

Portland, Explained

Labor Day weekend is over. Students and teachers are back to school. It can feel a lot like fall 🍁

But here’s your tip for the month: ☀️ There’s still going to be 

There are a couple of events this month that are classically Portland:

This coming weekend, you can watch the dragon boats race along the Willamette River near Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Bonus: there’ll be a beer garden and food trucks to round out the festivities. Registration for the race has closed, but here’s a chance to be inspired to go into training for next year or just cheer on the racers.

For the uninitiated: You can join the crowds of Portlanders who come to watch a swarm of migrating birds as they swirl into a chimney above Chapman Elementary School. The Bird Alliance of Oregon keeps a count each night, so you can figure out when to go. And stay tuned for a 

City Cast Portland podcast with the bird experts

The season of music and other festivals isn’t over just yet:

September has become a local music fest month. PDX Pop Now!, this weekend, highlights local talent each year. Lose Yr Mind Fest, starting the 13th, skews toward psychedelic rock. And Bridge City Fest, also starting the 13th, is punk.

Portland loves its comic superheroes (and villains), not to mention cosplay. We have an abundance of 

. Rose City Comic Con comes to Portland this weekend. It’ll be followed by Geek Week, a new citywide comic convention. 

? Beginning Sept. 27, one of the largest conventions for old-school video and arcade games comes to town.

 nothing tastes more like September to me than fresh grapes, by the bunch. I plan to visit the 

 this month to get my fill of the end of summer. Maybe I’ll pick up a bouquet of bright dahlias, too. Join me.

More Ideas for September

Labor Day weekend is over. Students and teachers are back to school. It can feel a lot like fall 🍁 But here’s your tip for the month: ☀️ There’s still going to be plenty of warm, sunny days — for biking, hiking, and a sunset in the park! Here’s some ideas for else what to do this month:

What To Do in Portland, Oregon, This September

What To Do in Portland This September

It’s January, and it can be tempting to curl up under a warm blanket and never go out on a rainy night.

But it’s also Portland Music Month, and 

 founder J. Pinky Jansen joined City Cast Portland podcast host Claudia Meza and executive producer John Notarianni to offer recommendations for 

: This yearly three-night event kicks off on 

 at the Crystal Ballroom. Featured performers for the first night are Thunderstorm Artis, Rainbow Girls, Goodnight, Texas, The Talbott Brothers, Brad Parsons, The Parnells, Liz and Pete, and Haley Lynn. Jansen’s recommendation: “That's going to be a good scene and a great time.”

. Notarianni’s recommendation: “They're a local trio that play psychedelic, stoner metal. It's lots of really big grooves but also pretty melodic.” They’ll be at Polaris Hall, also on 

. A tip from Jansen: if you like the headliner, come in time to check out the opening act as well. Jansen’s recommendation: “A lot of metal or post-hardcore bands are a lot of screaming and testosterone, where [Ominyx] is a little more groovy and psychedelic.” Of Billy & the Kidz, this is Jansen’s pick for the next big breakout band. The show is at the Holocene on 

. It’s part of a series “Demystifying New Music.” Meza’s recommendation: “They're gonna be performing music and then talking about it because I feel like a lot of people are intimidated by new music.” It’s at Reed College’s Elliot Chapel on 

. He calls his music traditional Sardinian folk music, but he’s Italian avant-garde too. He has a specially fashioned guitar with three sets of strings. Notarianni’s recommendation: It’s “a homemade instrument that he then runs through all these pedals and effects and he just gets these crazy orchestral groans and swells out of it.” It’s on 

. It’s an electronic music show from Detroit musician and DJ Matthew Dear. Notarianni’s recommendation: “If you've spent any time going out to electronic shows and know that feeling when it's really late and everything's a little bit woozy.” It’s also 

Jansen recommends the Portland-based site and app 

, which offers music listings with samples of the music to plot your own musical adventures around town.

There’s one more reason to go out for Portland Music Month. The events are a fundraiser by nonprofit Music Portland to raise money for the 

, which supports recording projects, tours, and events.

If you’re not getting enough of an ice-cold winter feel during our relatively mild winter, maybe visit an ice skating rink:

 at the Lloyd Center mall. As an extra seasonal treat, there are the occasional indoor snow flurries over the rink.

 in Downtown Portland. It’s an outdoor ice-skating rink!

Live Music This Month

It’s January, and it can be tempting to curl up under a warm blanket and never go out on a rainy night. But it’s also Portland Music Month, and PDX Presents founder J. Pinky Jansen joined City Cast Portland podcast host Claudia Meza and executive producer John Notarianni to offer recommendations for reasons to venture out:

What to Do During Portland Music Month 2024

The anthem of garage rock was recorded here in Portland. Before “Louie Louie” became the most covered song in history, it was dismissed and also banned. Dick Peterson, the last remaining original member of the Kingsmen, talked to 

the City Cast Portland podcast about how the song got famous

How did "Louie Louie" get on the radio at first?

“Arnie ‘Woo-Woo’ Ginsburg, a DJ in Boston who had a 50,000-watt radio station that beamed all over the East Coast, was on a mission to find the worst record ever recorded. He would put records on every evening. And so 'Louie Louie' started winning every single night. If you hear something, even if you don't like it and it's horrible, pretty soon, you hear it enough and you start liking it.”

Tell us about the FBI's effort to ban the song.

“The FBI followed us and they were at our concerts for a year before they had a hearing to have the band lifted. The judge listened to it…so he said, 'I'm going to agree with the FCC that the lyrics are unintelligible at any speed and I'm going to lift the ban because I can't tell what they're saying.’”

“We were on TV. We did 'American Bandstand' several times. Everybody had to have a song.”

Who Came to Concerts With Lyrics Sheets?  

3 Question With Dick Peterson of The Kingsmen

What Portland celebrities, public figures and key citizens have to say about living here.

3 Questions With Portland Public Figures

3 Questions With

 about Portland’s music, its rainy winters, and the possible connections between the two. We also asked for Kyle’s recommendations for Portland’s best gloomy bands right now. Here they are to round out your winter listening.

“Part of why I like his stuff is that it is all home recorded, and it has this really unique atmosphere that comes from him using a lot of sounds that are traditionally considered maybe cheesy or culturally camp — like eighties Casio sounds. He weaves them into his music in this way where they take on this really sad atmosphere and wistful feeling like a childhood memory.“And then I also just love his songwriting, and I really love the way that he combines electronics with these sad low-fi guitar parts and stuff. I definitely think Taylor [Malsey]'s a totally underrated genius of Portland.” 


“They also play solo, mostly home recorded music. It's much more in that lineage of Pacific Northwest Metal. It's not black metal, but it has that doom-and-gloom atmosphere to it. It’s very dark, but then it has an almost uplifting appeal to the vocals. “Devan [Stefáni Fylstra] also creates these video collages when they play live and they perform while watching them and sync their sounds to them in a way and improvise spontaneously to the visuals. And a lot of the video collage material is just taken from scenes of Portland and surrounding areas and beautiful nature shots. Their recordings are great, but as a live performer, they're really amazing.”


“I guess you would call it indie, more traditional but pretty downcast. They're drawing from other bands that have lived in and around Portland, like Duster or Grouper, but then making it a bit more poppy and accessible. They have really driving songs. Annie [Fifer]'s voice — the singer — is just really beautiful and has this melancholy to it.”



More Gloom

The Best Gloomy Bands

Want to figure out where to go for a show? We asked City Cast Portland 

, a volunteer with Portland Music Month, for his top three picks of local venues.

There are “a lot of outstanding venues,” says Jansen. “Some are good for some things and others are better for other things, but my personal favorites currently — drumroll please —”

For color, I love the Lollipop Shoppe — beautiful projection setup there. It also sounds really good. Nice, big, beautiful bar. That's a really cool spot to see a well-lit show.”

“I love The Fixin’ To for its sound and its size. It doesn't take a lot of people to fill the room, and it feels really good. For sound, I vote for The Fixin’ To.”

“The Doug Fir is the kind of venue that artists are honored to play at and you can feel that reverence in their performance. It's got a very unique aesthetic and sound and so that's the kind of venue that somebody's gonna be stoked to play in, even if they've played larger venues throughout the country. There’s just no place like it.”

 was a little like asking Pinky which of his children was his favorite, so he offers this disclaimer on his picks: “The right band at any club can really be the best house any night of the week.

Where to Find Your Next Favorite Band

Want to figure out where to go for a show? We asked City Cast Portland podcast guest J. Pinky Jansen, a volunteer with Portland Music Month, for his top three picks of local venues. There are “a lot of outstanding venues,” says Jansen. “Some are good for some things and others are better for other things, but my personal favorites currently — drumroll please —”

The Best Music Venues in Portland, Oregon

Get to Know Portland’s Best Venues

Everything to know about Portland neighborhoods: Where to go, eat, shop, drink, and more.

Portland Neighborhood Guides

Neighborhood Guides

 [at NW 6th and Davis] this place was the perfect 

 (originally before the gentrification and addition of Fellini's). We played there with The Rats, Western Front, and Range Rats, as well as too many times to count with Dead Moon and later Pierced Arrows. Our home away from home with [Dead Moon guitarist] Fred and [Satyricon owner] George arguing about the PA costs again, [longtime doorman] Bruno at the door, the immortal jukebox blaring Ace of Spades one more time, familiar faces behind the bar (including [Dead Moon drummer] Andrew at one point) and the insane horse trough latrine in the men's head. Totally legendary and 18 years of amazing shows. Now gone but never forgotten. 


 at NW 10th and Everett was the 1st club to put on punk rock gigs on a regular basis after Fred and [King Bee bass player] Sten talked the manager 

 into giving it a try. Again, too many shows to count, mostly with The Rats on the bill with DOA, Black Flag, The Subhumans, crazy and wild gigs, both bands and audience losing control and having a blast. Later moved to the basement stage, early Dead Moon gigs with bands like Dharma Bums and others that became main acts later at Satyricon once it opened up. 


Pine Street Theater, also called La Luna later 

in SE off 7th and Burnside area. This was the big-time venue at the time, booked and operated by Monqui [Presents] out of Seattle. Touring out of town acts used Pine St. as their Portland pit stop before or after playing in Seattle. We shared the bill mostly as the opening band for DOA, The Cramps, Husker Du and Soul Asylum and others on their way up the musical ladder at the time. Great stage experience for me in those early Dead Moon gigs before we started touring on our own. That stage and room seemed so big at the time, another great Portland rock venue that faded away.

music

The Best of Portland in September 2025

The Music That Defined Portland in the 2010s

What To Do in Portland This September

Latest articles

The Best of Portland in September 2025

The Music That Defined Portland in the 2010s

What To Do in Portland This September

What to Do During Portland Music Month 2024

3 Question With Dick Peterson of The Kingsmen

The Best Gloomy Bands

Get to Know Portland’s Best Venues

Latest articles

What to Do During Portland Music Month 2024

3 Question With Dick Peterson of The Kingsmen

The Best Gloomy Bands

Get to Know Portland’s Best Venues

Get to Know Old Portland's Best Punk Venues