Happy Mercury Music Issue to all those who observe! Today marks the release of the Mercury’s first Music Issue since pre-pandemic. Edited by yours truly, the issue is stuffed silly with heaps good music features, including a Portland music map, album reviews, a summer festival roundup, Justin Townes Earle’s Portland years, a Turn! Turn! Turn! update, Portland musicians’ favorite food spots, and more. Scoop it at hundreds of places across the city and don’t forget to pull up to our Music Issue Launch Party at Turn! Turn! Turn! on May 14 from 6 pm to 10 pm featuring Keeks, Isabeau Waia’u Walker, the Barbaras, and La Isla Electronia.
And just like that… Summer festival season is upon us thanks to the immaculate music programming of the St. Johns Bizarre! It’s the summer opener Portland wants AND deserves. A rare Barbaras performance, the hooded mysticism of the Dreckig dancers, and the Forty Feet Tall “FUCK ICE” call-and-return with the locked-in crowd busted my kundalini wide open over the course of the glorious day in beautiful downtown St. Johns.
What really unwound the snake at the bottom of my spine was Ruminants. I hadn’t done a ton of research on the three-piece before the Bizarre and was fully bodied by the experience. At what was only their fourth show ever, the Ruminants world-builders were the perfect transition from the Bizarre’s hardest-hitting band to date, Forty Feet Tall, into the hushed musings of Alan Sparhawk. Consisting of real Portland weight in plucker supreme Marisa Anderson, Unwound’s low-end punisher (and fellow Master of Library Science recipient) Sara Lund, and the many-fingers-many-pies key twinkler Sam Coomes, it’s a PNW supergroup of the highest order. Don’t miss their fifth show, when/wherever that may be.
Last week played host to another unfuckwithable Portland lineup at Swan Dive, thanks to the deeply nuanced booking prowess of Lonely God. Brooklyn expats Yuvees were back in town, drawing Mercury news reporter Jeremiah Hayden out before a meeting he had scheduled for literally midnight that night. The Mini Blinds rockers pulled up quick, replacing the Talking Contest friends who needed a night off. Papi Fimbres resurrected his weirdo solo electronic outfit Paper/Upper\Cuts, YOLOing all over our faces. The real crowd pleasers for the night were Public Pleasure. Deadpan post-punk with a serrated low-end designed to make you need to dance like babies need skin time. They’re Portland’s actual best new band.
And lastly, a full bodied happy birthday to Mercury writer Jenna Fletcher. To know her is to love her, to read her work is to revere her.
Wednesday, May 13
Echo & the Bunnymen / The Cosmic Tones Research Trio
For fans of The Chameleons, Talking Heads, Bauhaus
Picture it: Berlin, Halloween 2018. A group of your closest friends are rallying around a single show to attend, planning costumes including Cathy from Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and Chris Angel. The venue, Admiralspalast; the show, Echo & the Bunnymen; the objective, to dance. It wasn’t until the post-punk godfathers launched into their bluesy 1987 single “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” that I thought to myself, “Christ, I can’t wait to see this band in 2026 at Revolution Hall in Portland.” The revelation shook me to the core, mainlining hits of dopamine to my brain for the rest of the incredible set. If the energy at Cabaret Voltaire last week is what you’re after (or, if like me, you missed it because Public Pleasure), this is your concert this week. Opening the cabinet of curiosities is the Cosmic Tones Research Trio, a deep breath before the plunge. (Revolution Hall, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Thursday, May 14
Andy Stott / LU
For fans of Blackest Ever Black, Carla dal Forno, Pact Infernal
We haven’t heard much from Manchester’s Andy Stott since the dark minimality of his 2021 Never the Right Time. Thankfully, Stott’s discography of spooky atmospherics is deep, and not always under his given name. The casual Stott listener—if there is such a thing—might clock his mid-paced sonics as only dark and doomy, but upon further aural investigation, one picks up on subtly eclectic instrumentation, warped vocals meant to entice and sooth, and house-y backbeats that, if you a real one, can incite very sexy dance parties. (Holocene, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
The Mercury’s Music Issue Launch Party
For fans of free alternative journalism, community, local music
It’s been a long time since the Mercury dropped a Music Issue. So long, in fact, that we’re throwing a party about it and you’re invited! Us Mercury ne’er-do-wells are taking over the (NOT CLOSING) Turn! Turn! Turn! for a two-part concert featuring four of our favorite Portland artists. This here Music Issue launch party will have door prizes, raffles, and exclusive—very VIP—merch. It’s also a fundraiser for the incredible work being done at Ethos Music Center. Two parties, one night—that’s an odd way of describing a concert taking place in one location on the same night. Well, by law, to sell alcohol in their space, Turn! Turn! Turn! must transform from an all-ages glass slipper into a 21+ pumpkin when the clock strikes 8. But fret not, Cinderella, we’ve booked two powerful sets with four powerful bands: Isabeau Waia’u Walker and the Barbaras for the all-ages among us, and Keeks and La Isla Electronica for the 21+ revelers. 1) We love our under 21 friends and will be back with more for y’all ASAP, and 2) your $10 donation gets you into both sets if you’re an over 21 hun. (Turn Turn Turn, 6 pm, more info here, all ages, 21+ after 8 pm)
Related: Get all the details for the Music Issue Launch Party and we’ll see you there!
Friday, May 15
Telehealth / Buddy Wynkoop / Nonbinary Girlfriend
For fans of Forty Feet Tall, Lithics, TV Star
On their first album for the venerated Sub Pop label, Seattle’s Telehealth are in love with calling out the bullshit of modernity, and we’re in love with them for that. The young post-punks offer up angular guitars backed by self-assured lyrics holding a magnifying glass up to the neighborhood watches, artisanal hops, and golden doodles of the world. If you feel called out by Telehealth, let them call you back in, but only after you donate your Tesla to Planned Parenthood. Need a Pickathon scratch to get your summer going? Buddy Wynkoop will certainly be playing the Barn Stage for one of their Pick26 sets, and I’m betting they’ll bring that heat to Swan Dive. Opening the show—hopefully their last opening slot ever because they’re one of Portland’s best bands—is Mercury favorite Nonbinary Girlfriend. None of us are pretty and we’re all happy about it. (Swan Dive, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Saturday, May 16
Carlos Niño & Friends
For fans of Nala Sinephro, Cole Pulice, Angel Bat Dawid
Carlos Niño came to town on André 3000’s New Blue Sun tour, where he played, among other things, a tree branch. It made sense within the context of André’s ascent into a jazzy, spiritual realm, and makes even more sense when you consider Niño cites Alice Coltrane, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Pharoah Sanders as inspirations. Niño and his band pack their flutes, gongs, and leaf bundles for two shows in Portland, describing their new album Bubble Bath for Giants as “a reverence for Oceans, for the Mighty Magnificent Power of Fairies, to the energy that we are all everything, whole, well, but in different sized and shaped vessels at times.” Multi-instrumentalist Aaron Shaw opens; grab your corporeal vessel and fill your cup. (Jack London Revue, 8 pm, more info here, 21+) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Fake Dust / Cyberplasm / Lazer Bullet / Failure To Comply / Miracle Max
For fans of whatsdysmorphia, Lebenden Toten, Carny Cumm
You know the maximalist crust of gutter punks Fake Dust is good because they got Cyberplasm to open for them. Celebrating the release of their new LP Decrepitizing Din of the Cerebral Psyopticon—out on Seattle’s Iron Lung Records—Fake Dust drops monster breakdowns amidst the chaotic evil of sloppy-good black metal drum fills and screech-growls dominating their tracks. And Cyberplasm, oh Cyberplasm. Now split between Oly and Brooklyn, their once-or-twice yearly Portland appearances have become the stuff of legend. The last time I saw them was at Alleyway a few years ago and I’m still vibrating. Imagine what the hard tech, hardcore crossover crushers will do with all that High Limit Room space. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)
Sunday, May 17
Dry Cleaning / Hotline TNT
For fans of Kim Gordon, Smerz, ESG
It may catch your attention that Dry Cleaning’s new record, Secret Love, was produced by angel diva of the avant garde Cate Le Bon. But the no wave-influenced Londoners bring something singular to the table, too: Singer Florence Shaw’s spoken word witticisms stand out, as does the album’s unexpected catchiness and caustic response to violent political atmospheres. Take the lyrics to “Blood,” par exemple: “I’m in an underground bunker with my computer-controlled flying bomb / It’s numbness without end or change.” If that sounds like your thing, you already know it—and if not, get into it. YHWH Nailgun was originally slated to open Dry Cleaning’s Portland show, but after tour rescheduling due to “hostile economic forces,” Hotline TNT has slotted in instead. (Wonder Ballroom, 8 pm, more info here, all ages) LC
Also very worth it…
Laurie Anderson Big Science listening party at Mono Space – May 13, more info here
Liquidlight / Ghost Frog / Abnorms / Queen Chief at Dante’s – May 15, more info here
The Naked Mole Rats / Clark Engine Company / DJ Dentside at Kenton Club – May 15, more info here
TV Star / Grolixes / Lucky Star at Turn! Turn! Turn! – May 15, more info here
Brood22 / Starzdust / You are Something True / As Above / Hewn at Musicians Union Local 99 – May 16, more info here
Black Water’s 16th Bi-Annual Punk and Metal Record Fair at Black Water – May 16, more info here
The MerKaBa Brotherhood listening party at Mono Space – May 16, more info here
Wen’ípt at Keys Lounge – May 16, more info here
Enya Birthday Celebration featuring Blesst Chest / Love In Hell / Talking Contest / Leather Jester at Turn! Turn! Turn! – May 17, more info here
Monte at Super-Electric Records – May 17, more info here
Two-Piece / Texas Ketamine / Fentacart / Gutbath / Spore at High Limit Room – May 19, more info here
Walkaway Wendies at LaVerne’s – May 19, more info somehwere
New Music Portland:
One of these days imma lock back in for New Music Portland… but that ain’t today 🙂
Portland Music News:
After a long community effort, the Sellwood Community House is open and hosting a free Friday afternoon summer concert series from July 10 to September 11. The lazily named venue “The Shack at Sellwood Park” will see a handful of Portland-area bands perform, including the Apricots and Essie & the Hum. As of the publishing of this article, the September 4 date is unbooked—this could be your chance!
