Portland gets psyched

Ducktails / Big Troubles / Herbcraft
The Apohadion, 107 Hanover St
8 p.m. $5 donation, all ages.

When first hearing local psychedelic/mystical-folk outfit Herbcraft, one might ask themselves, “where did these guys come from?” and then quickly start constructing elaborate fantasies about a subterranean proto-Portland where stalactites drip onto amps, brahmins crouch to adjust their effects pedals and high-fidelity recording has not yet been invented.

 Last month’s show at Mayo Street Arts — above ground but in an former church that fits with the quasi-spiritual tone of their music — featured sitar-wielding contemporaries Sacred Harp and seemed to capture the Herbcraft experience; a sensory landscape of sounds, smell, and vision inspired by the Acid Test and Trips Festival and Exploding Plastic Inevitable events from the 60’s.

 “That was all about everyone just being bowled over by sensory overload, but being on the same crazy trip together,” said Matt Lajoie. “When we start the set, it starts before any of us play a note. We prepare on many different levels, and then when the first note is hit, it's like we all inhale together and don't exhale until the final note is finished its vibration,” said Lajoie, who is also the creator of Portland DIY record label and musical collective L'Animaux Tryst (Field) Recordings, which has released a slew of CD-R’s, seven-inch vinyls and cassette tapes since 2006.

 At Mayo Street and tomorrow's show, the full "Earthcraft" live bands are along for the trip, which usually involves sacred basil tinctures, incense, bright Mexican blankets and the sort of sweat lodge humidity that is likely to produce visions, or at least lead someone to their spirit animal. That’s even without local experimental musician id M Theft Able's video feedback projections, which will be rolling during Thursday as Herbcraft returns to town with friends in tow for a performance at The Apohadion.

Tonight's show features Ridgewood, New Jersey surf-riding mandala-rock from Matthew Mondanile, a/k/a  Ducktails, a member of indie-rock rising stars Real Estate, whose appearance in Portland is — how to put this without sounding like blog-surfing, mp3-gorging elitists? — kind of a big deal.

 But Lajoie says this will not be a typical Ducktails performance with Mondaile balancing looping, synth, and guitars duties, but a full band experience thanks to openers Big Troubles, who will back Mondaile’s performance.

Lajoie and Mondaile are joined at their restlessness; both musicians perform with a roster different bands, with each new idea or sound launching a new offshoot.

 “Matt [Mondaile] and I have been doing shows together for a few years now, back when I had a group called Cursillistas, and I'd say we both sort of keep busy in a similar way playing with a bunch of different groups to satisfy all of our different tastes in music,” said Lajoie, who recently released his debut Herbcraft Discovers The Bitter Water Of Agartha LP on Woodsist sister-label Hello Sunshine.

 “I think we look to similar eras and areas of music for inspiration, and there's a sort of similar vibe I think with the phased-out, delay guitar stuff we do, but his music is generally a lot more instrumental with fewer vocals,” said Lajoie of Ducktails.

Lajoie describes openers Big Troubles as “garage-fi rubble-pop; spectral voices & fuzz guitar haze put in motion by sock-hop beats, with melody and atmosphere that connect the 80's British underground with 80's/90's New Jersey underground.”

 Herbcraft shows, both locally and on the road, have dealt with issues of low attendance, a hazard of their niche, sometimes ambient sound, but something Lajoie said doesn't really get to him. “I'd rather play to a room of 10 folks who are enraptured by what's going on than to try to appeal to 100 folks in a bar or something,” he said.

 And even if you don’t see yourself getting enraptured, the $5 donation is a reasonable fee for two national touring acts, home-cooked visuals and guided acid flashback to the 60’s.