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Every show I've been to so far here has been at least two-thirds full; no matter how obscure I thought the band was, Portland's full of people who like them. Last night was the exception—San Francisco's The Drift played a wonderful set to a crowd of nine or ten. The Drift plays a jazz influenced post-rock in the vein of Do Make Say Think (without such heavy dub influence). Their album Noumena is excellent.

Other shows? Deerhoof was fantastically absurd. The Chicks on Speed had their ups and downs, but opener Blevin Blectum (formerly one half of Blectum from Blechdom) was highly enjoyable, what with the clogging and banjo playing and all. Calla were mediocre, but Celebration were lots of fun.

If I had to pick one, though, it'd have to be Rachel's, Tristeza, and Invert. Tristeza I had seen before, back in 2000, and they've improved quite a bit. But Rachel's—I don't know how to describe how intense this show was. The entire bar was silent. For the first half of the set string quartet openers Invert joined them on stage; six strings are quite a force for a rock band.

There's not much left on the list before I head back home for the holidays, but what's there should be great - !!! is playing at Berbati's on the second.