First of all we are fucked, people. Panic. Sell your Trail Blazers season tickets, trash the “Number One” foam finger, and invest in a Seattle SuperSonics Kevin Durant replica jersey. Now. When it was announced that number-one draft pick, gift from the gods, Greg Oden wouldn’t be suiting up in Blazers red and black until […]
Ezra Ace Caraeff
Ezra Ace Caraeff is the former Music Editor for the Mercury, and spent nearly a third of his life working at the paper. More importantly, he is the owner of Olive, the Mercury’s unofficial office dog. His writing has appeared in The Fader, The Stranger, The Onion's A.V. Club, ESPN's TrueHoop network, and countless fanzines that are thankfully long out of print. He makes a mean tofu scramble and yes, Ace is really his middle name.
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The Cello Liberation Front
The Portland Cello Project Is for the People
For Doug Jenkins, the allure of the cello came not from childhood lessons demanded by strict parents, the seductive call of the orchestra, or whatever mysterious pull draws musicians to brave this difficult and esteemed instrument. Jenkins picked up the cello because the lessons came with his rent. “I was 19, in college down at […]
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Once More with Feeling
The Parson Red Heads
The Parson Red Heads are a band of grand ideas: In 2005, the entire six-piece band packed up and fled Eugene for Los Angeles, a city which is a far better home for their jangly ’60s-rock melodies and addictive bubblegum psychedelia. The group has a fresh new record, King Giraffe, to show off, and they […]
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Once More with Feeling
Fall of Snow
Over a year ago Stephanie Casey pulled up stakes and made the move from Los Angeles to Portland. In doing so she bid farewell to a career in cinema as a film editor (Freaky Friday and The Wedding Planner, among others) for a chance to relocate here and create music fulltime. True to her plan, […]
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Kiss the Bottle
The Whiskey Talk of Lucero
Not a whole lot of folks stop in Neosho, Missouri, unless of course you’re Lucero, and your trusty van decides this small Midwest town that skirts the western edge of the Ozarks is as good as any to call it quits. “A pulley came loose and the belts didn’t break, but they came right off. […]
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Once More with Feeling
The Everybodyfields
Sad songs just sound better. It’s true, and while I’d love to gush about the delicate sorrow of Tennessee’s the Everybodyfields, it would take space away from their wonderful interview answers below. I will say that the duo (Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews) is part of an exciting new movement in contemporary bluegrass-influenced music (alongside […]
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Heaven Is a Feeling
A Moonlit Ride with Bat for Lashes
During the softest whispers of Fur and Gold—the debut recording from the UK’s Bat for Lashes—Natasha Khan’s delicate voice cries out like a child stranded in the woods. But her worry and fear among the trees is heightened by lyrics that read like childhood nightmares. Her voice is the only soothing factor, a vocal apparition […]
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The People’s Champion
The Sweet Science of Sandpeople
There is an unseen pressure that rests upon Portland hiphop acts. While other musicians who fit under the comfortable span of the rock music umbrella are free to bask in the glow of a city known for being an artist’s mecca, local emcees and DJs are saddled with the mighty burden of not just succeeding […]
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Once More with Feeling
Loch Lomond
With Paper the Walls, the large (ranging from six to nine members) sweeping pop ensemble of Loch Lomond have crafted a beautiful, waltzing, and adventurous pop record. Frontman Ritchie Young shares the ambition (and voice) of Sufjan Stevens, with gentle songs that are heavy on the whimsical details and dramatic arrangements. Young took a moment […]
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The Birdhouse & Your Soul
25 Years of They Might Be Giants
The last time Sapphire Bullets played, it was 2003 in San Francisco, just one of three shows the band ever performed. Confidently billed as “The Only They Might Be Giants Cover Band That Matters,” the Bullets blazed through a set of older TMBG material (including songs the original band no longer plays), all the while […]
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Once More with Feeling
Tractor Operator
If you are curious how uplifting and welcoming the new album from Tractor Operator is, just take a gander at its title: Bleeding Hearts and Severed Legs. As a record, it’s about as warm and comforting as a punch to the throat, because this solo project from Eric Jensen is a confident, dark, and playfully […]
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Your Latest Flame
Pseudosix’s Less Really Is More
It’s not a stretch to say that the music of Pseudosix glows and cinders, but ultimately refuses to take flame. They are a pristine example of a tempered band; a musical outfit whose emotional range and loose instrumental builds are properly curbed by restraint and a dedication to the “less is more” philosophy. This is […]