Happy birthday to Taylor Griggs, one of the extremely hardworking newsies on the Mercury payroll.
Wednesday, March 4
Bloodshot Bill / Tomorrow’s Goners / Amy Beth and Thee Creeps
For fans of the Tandoori Knights, King Lollipop, Kid Congo
If you’re missing the days of wringing out your t-shirt on SE Grand after seeing Ty Segall almost drown in other people’s sweat at East End, 1) you’re in good company, and 2) this is the show for you. Montreal Madman Bloodshot Bill continues holding it down in the style of Y2K rockabilly punk, running around with the likes of King Khan and local heroes Guantanamo Baywatch. And though East End is no more, that energy is still harnessable at North Portland darling Turn! Turn! Turn! Get loose or get lost! (Turn Turn Turn, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Tortoise / Spacemoth
For fans of Ui, Jeff Parker, the Durutti Column
Playing two nights at Aladdin supporting the late-2025 release of their Touch album are Chicago’s Tortoise. Not not jazz, and not not krautrock, Tortoise have been delivering and defining cool since the early-’90s. Is this what the Grateful Dead would sound like if they were good? Hard to say, but Tortoise are real good and real hard to define with any certainty. Replacing SML as the opener, Spacemoth pulls up sounding like she sat between Broadcast and The Fiery Furnaces in Stereolab’s class. (Aladdin Theater, 8 pm, more info here, all ages)
Thursday, March 5 – Saturday, March 14
Portland Jazz Festival
For fans of jazz
Recently I’ve had several friends and people in prominent Portland bands say they’re keen to check out more jazz in 2026. If not at Portland Jazz Festival, then where? This year, as with all years, the festival’s cup runneth over with local and international talent by jazzists and jazz-adjacent artists. 2026 festival highlights include Portland’s own Shirley Nanette—this year’s “Portland Jazz Master”—opening for the incomparable Mavis Staples; Pickathon favorites SML; Portland’s first all-femme big band, Stumptown Sirens Jazz Orchestra; Rose City rising jazz luminary Charlie Brown III; and the forever homies in Dreckig. UPDATE: Roger Eno, little bro to Brian, has dropped from the festival—read our full-fest breakdown here. (Various locations, various times, more info here)
Friday, March 6
Madeline Stepien / {arsonist} / Flysch
For fans of Dis Fig, Grouper, Doon Kanda
Hot on the heels of releasing their unbelievably distinct Vol. 1 compilation last month, Portland’s Universal Broadcast Network is pulling together this harsh noise and electronic hardware showcase at Lloyd Center’s Virtua Gallery. Madeline Stepien’s dark hum rumbles in from New York, the shimmering black whispers of {arsonist} hypnotize in the middle, and Flysch carries out a sacred noise ritual in the bowels of the crumbling beast. (Virtua Gallery, 6 pm, more info here, all ages)
Trigger Object / Scorch / Hearse Mechanic / Sic
For fans of Pact Infernal, Godflesh, Prison Religion
Known by many names—Avola, Vern Avola, Roadhog Bitch—Trigger Object is releasing their relatably-named new album, Choking on a Crunchwrap Supreme as the World Burns, at Portland’s best venue this night. As the new album’s title might suggest, Trigger Object’s music is beat-heavy harsh noise made to rattle eardrums and asses. Bring both to the show if you know what’s good for you. (Spare Room, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Sunday, March 8
Moment presents Tether / Menche, Katz, Niekrasz
For fans of Irreversible Entanglements, Onyx Collective, Charles Mingus
For this, their first outing of 2026, the Moment curators are inviting Tether to the recently reopened Maps Good Space. Difficult to find anywhere online, Tether is the new two-bass project from NYC saxophonist Alden Hellmuth. If Hellmuth’s solo experimental jazz output is anything to go by, Moment will be continuing as Portland’s premiere facilitators of avant-garde. Speaking of, opening for Tether is the debut of Menche, Katz, Niekrasz—three Portland champions of the form. (Maps Good Space, 6:30 pm, more info here, all ages)
Also very worth it…
Mikey Whalen / Matt Dorrien at LaVerne’s – March 4, more info here
Andromeda / House of Warmth / Baby Grendel / Trans Panic / Star Eyes at High Limit Room – March 5, more info here
Northwest Music Video Showcase at Tomorrow Theater – March 4, more info here
Old Joy at Clinton Street Theater – March 5, more info here
Ages and Ages / Scarves at Mississippi Studios – March 6, more info here
Rock ‘N’ Roll High School at Tomorrow Theater – March 6, more info here
Shifting Harbor / Jenny Haniver / Folian / Proqxis at Azøth – March 6, more info here
The Moment at Tomorrow Theater – March 7, more info here
Shaylee / Star Chamber / Honeydrome / Brood22 at The Off Beat – March 7, more info here
!mindparade / Deep Heaven / Rheumatoid Trapezoid at High Water Mark – March 8, more info here
Arranged in April / Sorrows / Action Roadster / Juno Driver / Left On Read at High Limit Room – March 8, more info here
Jade Dust / TV HWY / Excess Blood / Liquid Cross at Black Water – March 8, more info here
Gurriers / Jewelry Exchange at Polaris Hall – March 9, more info here
New Music Portland:
Gabriel Kahane has announced his latest collaboration with Roomful of Teeth. Their album, Elevator Songs, releases April 3 via Octoverse Media. The first single, “Speaking in Tongues,” features the wry wit we’ve come to know and love from Kahane since his moving to Portland in 2020.
Is Harlan Silverman the busiest man in Portland music today? Actually, maybe. Between his work in The Cosmic Tones Research Trio and his numerous live appearances, including with Visible Cloaks and opening for Khruangbin, Silverman just released his solo record Music for Stillness on Mississippi Records. It’s ambient new age sonically most akin to New York and the ’80s, but this music couldn’t be more Portland 2026. Let it wash over you, breathe with it.
Theatre and soul goddess Lo Steele—daughter of Portland soul legend LaRhonda Steele—just released “Greenz,” her slow burn ode to Blackness asking telling those of us copping Black recipes in all their forms to do the work. If we’re gonna make the greens, don’t water them down, know where they came from, and understand the sacred significance of Black food, art, music, ancestral knowledge, and existence.
After the late 2025 release of their excellent Sips From the Witch Bottle, Portland’s Porcelain Dolls have put out a music video for album-standout “Wait in the Rain.” Gloriously lo-fi, it’s as easy to get lost in the music video as it is the album.
Thanking their cats and the Pacific Northwest in their Bandcamp liner notes, one of Portland’s best-named bands, Rhododendron, announced their first new album in five years, Ascent Effort. Though only one track—”Firmament“—is streamable at present, the album promises to go hard in that psych-freak-out-in-a-good-way only Rhododendron knows how to do.
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Portland producer and beat-maker supreme Tasa D set himself to February Album Writing Month last month to exquisite ends. His new 14-song Hardartt WIP features familiar faces Cosmos Dark and H-Man Coker next to a grip of less familiar, but no less intriguing artists including Barkha Patel and TO$. Peep below and buy for a mere $999.
Portland Music News:
Speaking of Gabriel Kahane, he just announced he’ll be playing Carnegie Hall February 9, 2027. It’s not every day one of Portland’s own ascends to classical music’s biggest stage…
In devastating news, Project Pabst will not be returning in 2026. After their wildly successful—at least from this festival goer’s vantage point—outing in 2025, Project Pabst’s appearance on this summer’s festival circuit will be sorely missed. As Mercury publisher James Deeley said of the news, “It’s hard out there for festivals right now.” Who’s going to take up the mantle of booking one day of hard-hitting punk and a second cooldown day of blissed out indie?
