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• Whoever's idea it was to launch 131 WASHINGTON ST.: nice work. We're thrilled to report that the recently converted (and so far nameless) East Bayside warehouse will contain artist studios, a bicycle co-op, and host all-ages, chem-free punk shows. 131 will be an especially crucial spot now that the folks behind the Deering Grange Hall (1408 Washington Ave.) may be getting a permit revoked due to age-old reasons (noise complaints, congregations of weird kids, fear of a decline in property value, blah blah). Ideally, we'd like to see both spots afloat, but the new place is especially promising for being closer to town and generally neighborless. Check out 131 Washington's first show — with HUAK, MOUTH WASHINGTON, Pennsylvania's THE SNIFFLES, PAIGE TURNER, and HEAVY BREATHING — on October 8. As a side note, it's obviously very important that Portland has spots like these, and we'd like to observe that the number of logistical obstacles an all-ages venue has to clear is bananas. Live music and performance art are not the exclusive domains of people over 21.• Rallying in support of METAL MONDAYS is such a no-brainer. In fact, we'd suggest that Mondays are the only suitable days for metal. Most restaurants are closed, 9-to-5ers get to toss their pleats, and it's a prime follow-up to the Lord's Day. Portland hasn't had a true Metal Monday since the days of the Alehouse, but that changes soon. The folks at the ASYLUM, who get a different sort of weird every night of the week, are reviving the day of darkness this fall, starting October 17 with Swamp Witch Revival and Ogre (jk...we wish!).
• A totally thoughtful and interesting interview with the local band THERE IS NO SIN (not a metal group, btw) appears in the online mag The Cud (thecud.com.au) this month. Though they're apparently huge in France, they remain a bit of a mystery over here. Thankfully, their new album, out this month via CLIP RECORDS, clears some of it up. We Are Revealed, which got CD-release parties at Blue and the Big Easy last month and comes with a 50-page book of photography by French artist Christophe Garnier, is an 11-song index of woe by songwriter TROY KEIPER. There Is No Sin are rounded out by guitarist TIM MCNAMARA and former Dead End Armory/Traveling Trees bassist LESLIE DEANE, and are about to embark on a week of shows in England and France. Bon voyage!
Related:
A look behind the latest Asylum mural, Whitcomb's legacy, Fall Music Preview: Stay positive, More 
- A look behind the latest Asylum mural
With a postcard replica and classic Maine lighthouse-as-spraycan motif, graffiti art has never been less offensive than now.
- Whitcomb's legacy
It is unlikely that James Whitcomb Riley, a turn-of-the-century poet for a short time considered the heir to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ever envisioned his work accompanied by music quite like this.
- Fall Music Preview: Stay positive
The face of the local nightlife landscape undergoes a major change in the form of a renewal this autumn, as the State Theatre’s exhaustively maligned absence ends on October 15, with 10 fall concerts on their docket already. But that’s not the only new venue to look out for.
- Huak bring old punk traditions out of history
When people play a genre of music that predates them, sounds nothing like other bands in town, and is all but guaranteed to make them no money, people take note.
- Margin call
Since it's one of the Tablet's duties to explore the margins of Portland music culture, we thought we'd forego an official top 10 in favor of some hidden favorites that won't often chart.
- Old friends return
The sinewy post-punk group HUAK drop Yorba Linda , their first full-length, named for the birthplace of Richard Nixon.
- Sunset Hearts' bright laments
There's something we respond to in the juxtaposition, the pairing of sweet and sour, dark humor, vulnerable heroes. And, of course, opposites attract.
- Foamspun jams
We blurbed it ages ago, but HUAK's excellent Yorba Linda is finally getting the wax treatment it deserves.
- Boo-ya!
Maybe it’s because dressing up as the economy would be kind of lame, but I’m haven’t heard Jack O’Shit in the way of truly scary costume ideas this year.
- Rare treats
They've dined you, they've wined you with meals both wonderful and offal.
- Review: Taam China Glatt Kosher Chinese Cuisine
Theoretically, there could be terrific kosher Chinese restaurants.
- Less
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New England Music News
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