Review of Genders, Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Rontom’s in Portland, Oregon
March 31, 2013
By: Zak Nelson

After recently discovering various local venues around the city, I was
very pleased to visit the much talked about Rontom’s to see Wooden
Indian Burial Ground and Genders perform.   A seemingly deserted
Rontom’s turned into an explosive night of dreamy beached guitars and
psychotic garage-rock dynamics within minutes.

Portland local Genders, opened the evening with an array of colorful
guitar lines and precise expressive drumming.  After coming off a six
show tour run, including Treefort Music Fest in Boise, this four piece
immediately came off as confident and incredibly capable musicians.
Spacey guitars reminiscent of Mare Vitalis-era Appleseed Cast flowed
perfectly with the Warpaint-esque vocals of guitarist Maggie Morris
and Drummer Katherine Paul.  The very promising set was held all
together by Katherine Paul’s tremendous drumming abilities.
Unpredictable and yet exceptionally controlled, Katherine’s pulsive
energy filled Rontom’s dim insides with a catchy and powerful light
almost immediately.  The entire set continually built upon itself as
more and more people became enveloped in their space-beached
accessible sound.  A band with immense talent and vast potential,
Genders is easily one of the most enjoyable and catchy bands in
Portland.

Wooden Indian Burial Ground finished the night off with one of loudest
sets I have ever experienced.  Although coming off of an extensive
March tour also including Treefort Music Fest, Wooden Indian Burial
Ground blasted away into the night as if it had been one long chaotic
jam session.   Although the amount of guitar feedback frequently
drowned out the vocal hoots and mumbles, the trio played with laid
back punk as fuck chops.  The shrill guitars were fierce and at times
painful, but were approachable and tastful enough to be reminiscent of
Thee Oh Sees and Link Wray and his Wray’s if those guys were spazzy
cokeheads.  With the recent influx of garage and surf oriented music,
it’s very easy to pass through the mix with a closed ear and closed
perspective.  Wooden Indian Burial Ground’s tumultuous energy is
enough to keep them sticking around for the waves of mimicry and noise
to die down.