Brett's House Party brings improvised house music to The BAD Space on Nov. 20

The Portland collective plays Santiam Brewing's event hall on a Friday night for $12. No setlist, no backing tracks.

There's no setlist. That's the first thing to know about Brett's House Party, and it's the reason to go. The Portland collective plays house music the way a jam band plays a second set: built live, on the spot, with no backing tracks underneath. On Friday, November 20, it brings that experiment down I-5 to The BAD Space in Salem.

The details: doors at 9 p.m., music at 9:30, and tickets are $12 through Showpass. The show was announced October 21, so you have a few weeks, but at twelve bucks for a Friday night, there's no reason to wait.

Who are they? According to the band's event listing, Brett's House Party is led by bassist Brett McConnell, and the lineup is built for groove rather than for show: two basses, electronic drums, synths, guitar, lap steel and processed vocals. The same listing calls the sound "jamtronic" house. Think four-on-the-floor rhythm, but with live players steering it and nobody quite sure where the next twenty minutes will go.

The band sharpened that approach through recurring residencies at Portland's Goodfoot Pub & Lounge, a room with a long memory for funk and late-night dancing. In 2025, the group won Cascade Equinox's regional Band/DJ Contest, and it has since been working outward into regional touring and Pacific Northwest festival dates. Its debut album, Hunker Down, was set for release August 15, 2026, with the stated goal of capturing what the band does live. A studio record from a band that doesn't plan its sets is a tricky thing to make; the live show is where you'll hear what they mean.

Why this room? The BAD Space is Santiam Brewing's event hall at 2572 19th St SE, used for concerts, comedy and private gatherings, and most of its shows run on Friday and Saturday nights. It's not a big club. Our data has Brett's House Party usually headlining rooms of about 275 capacity in Portland, so Salem is getting the band in a tighter, more neighborly setting than most of its home crowd does. For a group whose whole method depends on reading the room, a smaller room is not a downgrade.

There's no setlist. That's the first thing to know about Brett's House Party, and it's the reason to go.

What to expect: a late start, a long set, and music that rewards the people who stay on the floor rather than the ones checking their phones between songs, mostly because there may not be clear "between songs." If you've ever drifted from a jam-band show toward an electronic set at a festival and wished somebody would split the difference, this is that band.

Salem doesn't get a lot of genre-blurring dance music on a Friday night, and it gets even less of it for $12. Grab a ticket and give the band a room that's ready to move. Nobody, including the band, knows exactly how the night will go. That's the point.

Sources: Brett's House Party — Showpass tickets (showpass.com); Bret's House Party — event listing with band bio (HappeningNext) (happeningnext.com); Santiam Brewing (The BAD Space) — Eventective (eventective.com); The BAD Space — Whirlocal (whirlocal.io); Dance Clubs - Travel Portland (travelportland.com)