As one of Santa's original eight reindeer, Blitzen wasn't much help in the ice storm of '91 - I mean, you don't need a luminescent red nose to shovel out the mailbox. Or maybe I'm getting my stories mixed up. Both in name and sound, Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper fosters confusion. The band's 2007 album, "Wild Mountain Nation," astounded with its incomparably weird take on mountain folk, rubbed with synths, banjos, Jew's harp, and references to acts varied as Skynyrd and Radiohead. For "Furr," the band's 2008 Sub Pop debut, the Trappers gussied up their sound, trading in harried furs for a few weeks of cozy boom-town living. That's to say they got cleaner and less wily on the ears. Here's hoping the local date finds Blitzen Trapper at its most unhinged and bizarre.

Blitzen Trapper

Tuesday, February 24

Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave.

8 p.m. | $10-$12 | 454-2966