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Nolan Parker

Nolan Parker is the Mercury’s music and Blazers editor. They also run the Portland-area community resource, Government Palace. Follow them on Instagram and Letterboxd. Send pitches, releases, and collaboration ideas here.
Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: 8th Annual Dead Moon Night, Karma Rivera Releases Debut Album

Plus Bijoux Cone, the sophisticated sleaze of Minus the Bear, and Portland music news!
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Many life-giving shows have transpired since the last Mercury Music Picks two weeks ago: NxWorries at Crystal, Cosmic Tones Research Trio album release at Hollywood, The Barbaras album release at Showdown, my DJ set at Dream House (plug), Grandaddy at Rev. Hall, Sun Blood Stories at Bunk Bar, 45th Parallel Universe performing Philip Glass’ Quartets. […]

Posted inAlbum Review

Album Review: The Sophisticated Sleaze of Menos el Oso Turns 20

Minus the Bear’s opus gets the deluxe treatment, heralding massive US tour
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In the mid-2000s, Seattle was exploding with bands pushing genre envelopes: Schoolyard Heroes, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground, Mon Frere, Idiot Pilot, These Arms Are Snakes, The Blood Brothers, and so many more.  Among them were Minus the Bear, a phoenix band rising from the ashes of beloved Seattle hardcore […]

Posted inAlbum Review

Album Review: The Barbaras Take Us For A Ride

Rollercoasters has it all: The ups and downs of yearning, self-awareness, and boobs! 
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In your teens and 20s, there’s a pervasive feeling that love and having your shit figured out will undoubtedly happen for you in some distant future, manifesting out of nowhere—or somewhere, depending on your style of falling in love and problem solving.  On Rollercoasters, The Barbaras remind us it’s okay—and often more fun—to not have […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Album Release Parties for The Cosmic Tones Research Trio and The Barbaras!

Plus Menopunkapalooza, Grandaddy, and lotsa good country.
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Four things to keep in mind as we move through the week: FREE PALESTINE, ARM TRANS WOMEN, LANDBACK, FUCK ICE. Tuesday, September 16 The Cosmic Tones Research Trio For fans of Sun Ra, Don Cherry, Dorothy Ashby  Cosmic Tones Research Trio—alto sax/composer Roman Norfleet, multi-instrumentalist Harlan Silverman, and pianist Kennedy Verrett—conjure astral jazz and healing […]

Posted inFall Arts 2025

Do This, Do That: Fall Arts 2025

Portland’s grandest, thinkiest, most-engaging displays of art and culture! 
Avatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photo Lindsay Costello, Wm. Steven Humphrey, Nolan Parker, and Suzette Smith

Find a copy of the print issue! Subscribe to print issues! Support us! Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt Through December 6 (VISUAL ART) Marie Watt’s balance of technical precision and expansive vision melds in larger-than-life textile processes and multimedia explorations. Storywork centers stories from her Seneca Nation ancestry, pairing them with references to everything from […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Dungeon Synth, NYC Rave, and Zambia’s WITCH

Plus Lose Yr Mind, the baby making music of NxWorries, and PDX Pop Now!
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Writing about topics outside of music, and music-adjacent happenin’s isn’t really in my wheelhouse, but good god damn was Drama Tops’ show Dads one of the most beautifully unhinged things I’ve ever seen! Their Time Based Arts festival appearances are now in the past, but if you EVER have the chance to see them here or […]

Posted inFresh Cuts

Fresh Cuts, the New Floral Design Workshop Series Launches Sept. 24

The Mercury is teaming with Fresh Cut Flowers for a new music and floral design workshop series… with Rico Nasty! 
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Floral design is hot right now, as is Rico Nasty. Ever dream of combining the two? Here’s your chance—the Fresh Cuts floral design workshop series launches September 24 at Crystal Ballroom with an intimate performance by Rico Nasty ahead of her near sold out show that same night.  Already sold on the workshop?? Tickets here. […]

Posted inMusic

UPDATE: Eye-Popping Eyes & Ears Reframes, Moves to Barn Radio

Bijan Berahimi talks to us about curating his massive survey of visuals in music at PNCA, now on view at Wieden+Kennedy
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UPDATE 9/4, 2 pm: The spectacular Eyes & Ears: A Survey of Visuals in Music 2020-2024 closed at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in February. If you didn’t get a chance to check out the original show, Bijan Berahimi of FISK—curator of Eyes & Ears—is locking in with former FISK designer and founder of […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Doom Legends Earth, a Slint Documentary, and Jivebomb are in Town

Plus, download Patricia Wolf’s field recordings, nugaze, and Third Angle announce their 40th season!
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Visiting cities that don’t have as robust music scenes is so helpful in appreciating what we’ve got going on in Portland right now. I had a family wedding in San Diego over Labor Day weekend and the only things that sounded interesting were a DJ set by someone I can’t even remember, and a rooftop […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Ural Thomas Brings the Pain, Fred Cole Turns 77

Plus Hazel and Red Pine are back, and Portland Music News!
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For some, Labor Day Weekend is a signifier of the end of summer. And it is for those heading back to school as students, teachers, and school administrative staff (big shouts to the lunch ladies and janitors of the world). But y’all know this is the PNW (in the year of our Climate Collapsing Lord, […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: The OO-Ray Album Release Show, Ces Cadáveres, Femi Kuti

Plus immigrant rights fundraisers, Club Alive, and Northwest Hardcore Fest! 
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Several of Portland’s best summer music festivals are behind us for the year: Pickathon, Project Pabst, Homie Fest, and others have melted our faces and hearts. But fret not, for there are still plenty of fests coming our way! We’ve still got this weekend’s Northwest Hardcore Fest, Lonely God Fest, and TBA to look forward […]

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