Regina Spektor is everywhere. You can’t go far without hearing her music in sappy dramas (Grey’s Anatomy), websites for crappy media players (Microsoft’s Zune), commercials for radio (XM Satellite Radio), and even on the radio itself. It’s an odd close-platform assault, but damned if it isn’t the least offensive, if not sweetest, pop-star push I […]
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.
Posted inMusic
Going the Distance
Portland Bands Give Back
Compilations CDs will forever be known as the tombstones that speckle the audio graveyard of unsold and ignored music. Most are haphazardly assembled collections that hold no central theme, like a poorly put together mix CD without the personal touch. Released by local label Arena Rock, Bridging the Distance (in stores April 17, with a […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Music on Film
Four Years of Jackpot’s Film Fest
After last year’s absolutely stellar lineup of films, Jackpot Records has its work cut out for itself with this year’s film festival. Year number four finds the store’s staff curating another year of fine music-related films. All films are free and all ages; hit jackpotrecords.com for more info, and Movie Times on pg. 47 for […]
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Once More with Feeling
Say Anything
Few bands boil my blood like Say Anything does. Without exception, they are the only band that I absolutely hate—and at the same time, with equal fervor, I absolutely love. Simply put, their stellar—and yet, sort of horrible—…Is a Real Boy album shamelessly pulls back the curtain on the emo music scene, exposing the pathetic […]
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Don’t Tell a Soul
Keeping A Weather a Secret
The real story on A Weather is how this seemingly brand-new band—with no tangible tour history or bevy of known ex-members—signed to Conor Oberst’s Team Love record label. For a lesser band, that would be the only story, the lone angle to somehow make them seem interesting. But with A Weather it’s merely a footnote; […]
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Once More with Feeling
I Like Food, Food Tastes Good
File this under ideas I kick myself for not thinking of: The rock ‘n’ roll cookbook. Music and food writer Kara Zuaro beat me to the punch when she spent years tracking down bands and shaking them down for their culinary skills. The result is the fantastic and absolutely fun I Like Food, Food Tastes […]
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The “E” Word
Another Goddamn Article on Emo
I love me some Brand New. This suburban New York band, which teeters on the tightrope between indie-rock and… okay, whatever, I’m lying. This is an emo band. Emo as fuck. E to the M to the motherfucking O. Scarlet “E” emblazoned on their chests forever and ever. It’s about time I come to terms […]
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Once More With Feeling
Mew
If liking a band is a competition, I win with Mew. No one can touch me on my fandom for this Danish band, which, as of late, has started to (finally) experience the soft rush of an avalanche of popularity here in America. But it wasn’t always like that. To namedrop the band just a […]
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Once More with Feeling
The Places
When our daily horizon is speckled with half-built condos and the looming silhouettes of skeletal construction cranes, sometimes it seems like the whole world is moving to Portland. All those years spent touting our city—with its blossoming art scene, sludgy cups of coffee, and houses under $200,000—have finally drawn the attention of the rest of […]
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Messed With Texas
Four Days at SXSW and Over 20 Portland Bands. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
“That is a terrible idea.” I heard this again and again, from the mouths of coworkers and even from the bands I was supposed to cover. There is nothing clever—or practical—about traveling halfway around the country to see bands I could see on a weekly basis in my hometown. Yet here I was on assignment […]
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Her Latest Flame
The Slow Soul of Maria Taylor
To know Maria Taylor is to know fire. This cindering singer has sharpened her skills in Georgia bars and all-ages dives alongside Orenda Fink in the famed slow-core duo Azure Ray. The ladies’ slow-burning dirges led to drinks with Eric Bachmann, duets with Conor Oberst, a record deal with the most respected of indies (Saddle […]
Posted inMovies & TV
I Think I Hate Chris Rock
Chris, Your Fat Suit Is Waiting
What do we know about Chris Rock films? Well, we know that they suck—every single last one of them. Much like fellow African American comedians Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, and Martin Lawrence, Rock has struggled with transferring the smallest iota of his hilarious standup comedy to the big screen. Sure, the premises that […]