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Mercury Music Picks
Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: There’re Still Deltron 3030 Tickets Available (Sort Of)!

Plus an African highlife legend, electronic music overlords, and Portland music news.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

The Mercury turns 25 this year and we’re throwing a big birthday bash at Polaris Hall on July 31! Pulling up to the function are Pure Bathing Culture, Nonbinary Girlfriend, and Karma Rivera, and you are invited! Sadly (but also happily), the show sold out in less than 48 hours and I didn’t even get […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Michael Hurley’s Final Album and Patricia Wolf’s New Film Score

Plus free outdoor music and Missouri Executive Order 44! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

What does it feel like to hear new music by a cherished artist who has passed away? How do we hold memories of a childhood we barely remember? Who decides how individuals identify and what we call ourselves? Heavy questions on a sunny summer day in July that certainly aren’t answered in this week’s Mercury […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Bijoux Cone Reunites The Mommys, Wu-Tang Brings Da Ruckus!

Plus locals Pale Violet, Shanea, and IX of Swords shred across Portland.
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

What a ripper weekend! Homie Fest VI was everything it was supposed to be and so much more—the vibes were truly immaculate. Everyone who was there were homies somehow, and people who didn’t know each other were besties by the end of the second night. Music has such a powerful impact, able to form community […]

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Mercury Music Picks: First Show at New All-Ages Hardcore Venue, High Limit Room!

Plus so much stellar music and world class hip-hop. 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Has everyone dried out from the atmospheric-river-torrential-downpour over the weekend?? Phew, thank goodness! I was about to start building my ark there for a second…. This week is full to the brim with fabulous concerts, AND—most exciting—sees the release of the Mercury’s 2025 Queer Issue! The issue’s theme is “Be Gay, Do _____.” and is […]

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Mercury Music Picks: The Dream of the ’90s Do Be Alive in Portland with Panchiko and Karate

Plus Esperanza Spalding and Michael Cera Palin are in town! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

AND WE’RE BACK! There’s so much rad(ical) music on the horizon in the coming days/weeks/months, it’s hard for anyone to keep track of! Thank goodness for resources like Mercury Music Picks, huh??  Speaking of, two of our Spotify playlists have been updated! Use them as guides for music discovery and get out to shows! Check […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Casual Hex Record Release Show

Plus, Blonde Redhead open for Bloc Party in the Clouds and Michael Cera Palin play the Mission!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Thursday, June 12 City Cast Portland ft. Nolan Parker I’ve been listening to the City Cast Portland podcast for a minute now, and what a sweet surprise that they’ve asked me to come on the pod! I’ll be talking about the best outdoor music happenings popping off in Portland over the summer—of which there are many—along […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Holocene Turns 22 and the Mercury on the City Cast Portland Podcast!

Plus Bloc Party and Portraits of Past play Portland for the first time in forever!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

I usually try to save the Mercury Music Picks intro for joy… This week’s a little different. I am so tired—exhausted even—of people using the r-word thinking it’s somehow subversive and edgy when it’s actually completely fucked up and ableist. You know what’s actually subversive under an administration that’s currently demolishing resources for disabled communities? […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Take a Hike with Black Belt Eagle Scout and Introducing L.I.E. (Portland’s Best New Band)

Plus get Dragged Into Sunlight, tear it up with Chlorine, and Portland music news!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

This past weekend I was afforded the opportunity to see two bands that I never thought I would have the chance to experience live: Rilo Kiley and American Football. The audiences at both shows knew every word to every song—it was emotional to say the least. Youthful heart break energy and nostalgia coursed powerfully through […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Outsider Portland Album Releases and Berlin DJs

Plus the next gen. of nu-metal and Portland music news!
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

As I’m writing this, I’m still buzzing after seeing Lambrini Girls at Mississippi Studios on Sunday. Their politics are abolitionist, their energy was off the charts, and they cajoled concert goers into building a human pyramid with ten people that the rest of the audience then started a circle pit around. It was one of […]

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The Portland Mercury’s Back on Spotify, Baby!

This is huge for the community, trust us. 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Well well well, what do we have here? Why, it’s the relaunched Portland Mercury Spotify account of course!  We’re dropping three heater playlists on you today with many more coming down the pipe in the weeks/months/years to come! These highly curated playlists have been pulled together by real Portland humans who care deeply about your […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Hyperpop’s Enfant Terrible Alice Longyu Gao and Berlin Darling Nils Frahm at It Again

Plus electronic music daddies, PNW favorites, and Portland music news! 
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

Jesus, it’s already mid-May! Time’s not linear but this year is just whizzing by! I hope everyone kissed their mammies, buried the hatchet, or were able to do something nice for themselves on Sunday! Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and birthdays are celebrations of life that—even if you don’t get on with your parents or dislike […]

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Mercury Music Picks: Uh Oh, Portland’s Alien Boy and Grails Host Album Release Parties the Same Night!

Plus the stacked lineup at St. Johns Bizzare and the nostalgia of the Jesus Lizard, Alison Moyet, and Slowdive
Avatar photo Nolan Parker

God damn, god damn, god damn—as Beyoncé would say—there’s a lotta stellar music being made in Portland right now! Longtime Rip City psych-outs, Grails drop their new album May 16 while up-and-coming pop-punkers Alien Boy drop their new one May 9. And while that’s all well and good, whose idea was it for them to […]

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