On their new album, Federale isn’t just an Ennio Morricone cover band.
CK Dolan
Formerly a senior editor and the music editor at the Mercury, CK Dolan writes about music, movies, TV, the death industry, and pickles.
Posted inMusic
Stream Turtlenecked’s Pure Plush Bone Cage on Stereogum
Sydney Chen Head over to Stereogum today to stream Pure Plush Bone Cage, the first full-length from Portland musician Harrison Smith’s project Turtlenecked. Smith—who is, full disclosure, a friend of mine—originally self-released the album on Bandcamp last spring, but will be re-releasing it via local label Good Cheer Records this Friday. Pure Plush Bone Cage […]
Posted inMusic
A Fleeting Utopia
PFARMERS But what do they pfarm? SHAUN GIBSON NOT LONG AGO, in the dusty deserts of Central Oregon, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh—an Indian philosophy professor turned entrepreneurial spiritual leader—bought all 64,000 acres of the Big Muddy Ranch. From 1981 to 1985, Rajneesh turned it into his vision of a utopia, calling it Rajneeshpuram. Rajneesh called his […]
Posted inMusic
Pfarmers Revisit Rajneeshpuram
Our Puram Recalls the Dark History of Central Oregon’s Fleeting Utopia
Our Puram recalls the dark history of Central Oregon’s fleeting utopia.
Posted inMusic
Mo Troper’s Cover of Sheryl Crow’s 1996 Hit “If It Makes You Happy” Is Cathartically Nostalgic
SAMANTHA SUTCLIFFE Earlier today Mo Troper—who is, full disclosure, my friend and a longtime Mercury contributor—premiered a cathartically nostalgic cover of Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” on Consequence of Sound. I first heard him perform this at a Mercury music writer karaoke night last February, and needless to say we all lost our […]
Posted inMusic
Premiere: Haley Heynderickx’s “Construction at 8 AM” Video for Banana Stand’s Unpeeled Series
August’s video from Banana Stand’s monthly Unpeeled series features Portland musician Haley Heynderickx performing “Construction at 8 AM.” It’s a two-toned, ambling love song, where she sings about “sentimental mornings” but also reassures the song’s subject that “the world isn’t out to get you.” Heynderickx is an expert mixologist of the bittersweet, and this gloomy, […]
Posted inMusic
Modest Mouse Frontman Isaac Brock Crashes Car in Southeast After Falling Asleep at the Wheel
Ben Moon Good news for people who love bad news: Earlier this evening the Oregonian reported that this morning Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock caused a multi-vehicle crash at Grand Avenue as he exited the Morrison Bridge. Brock claimed to have fallen asleep at the wheel. Sgt. Pete Simpson said he “hit the rear of a […]
Posted inMusic
Pickathon is Portland’s Little Big Festival in the Woods
Musicians Explain Why They Keep Going Back
Musicians explain why they keep going back to Pickathon year after year.
Posted inMusic
Marisa Anderson’s Into the Light Sounds Like One Long Ride into the Sunset
JODI DARBY PORTLAND GUITARIST Marisa Anderson’s newest full-length, Into the Light, sounds like one long ride into the sunset—a journey that gradually but magnetically moves toward the horizon. It’s no wonder Anderson’s album bears this cinematic quality; a press release says it was created to soundtrack an imagined sci-fi western featuring “a visitor lost and […]
Posted inMusic
Record Review: Marisa Anderson, Into the Light
The album sounds like one long ride into the sunset.
Posted inMusic
Woods’ New Record Is Sinister Grooviness
WOODS You can call them Al. All of them. Matt Rubin CITY SUN EATER in the River of Light is Woods’ Graceland. This is the prolific band’s ninth album, but their first to explore East African rhythms—an odd but intriguing choice for a psych-folk group from Brooklyn. This introduction echoes Paul Simon’s incorporation of South […]