If you want something to do besides watching the puddles gather rain, then this week's Mercury Music Picks round-up is for you! With the continuation of PDX Jazz Festival, lots of local and national punk, and a DJ from South Africa pulling into town, there’s literally something for everyone. Plus, we’ve added a local music section at the bottom of the page to catch you up on Portland music happenings you may have missed!

Thursday, February 27

Glixen / She’s Green / After

For fans of Trauma Ray, Urika’s Bedroom, My Bloody Valentine

Hot on the heels of their excellent new EP, Quiet Pleasures, we find the Phoenix four-piece, Glixen on tour and, thank goodness, they’re stopping in Portland. Delivering a somehow subtle Wall of Sound shoegaze, the band crushes it while we crush on them. As favorites of the current '90s guitar music revival, Glixen are at a point where they can choose who they bring on tour. They’ve chosen wisely and are bringing Minneapolis dream poppers, She’s Green, along for the ride, with the self proclaimed “trip-poppers,” After, opening. It’s gonna be a dreamy one, this. (Polaris Hall, 635 N Killingsworth Ct, Thurs Feb 27, 7 pm, $15, tickets here, 21+)

Friday, February 28

Spy / Creeping Death / Dry Socket / Greenwitch / Bite the Hand / Secret Service

For fans of Sunami, Move BHC, Gel

In typical DIY punk fashion, the band-to-cost ratio of this show is bonkers. Bay Area destroyers, Spy are one of the toughest bands on the hardcore scene, putting on a high energy show that’ll have you starting your own band, stomping all over stage too. Multi-vocaled death metal outfit, Creeping Death, coming at us from Texas, aren’t to be fucked with either—you’re gonna feel woozy after their set. Portland’s Dry Socket, seething with disdain for hypocrisy, are smack in the middle of the bill along with the trans death metal five-piece from Cali, Greenwitch. Phoenix emocore band, Bite the Hand, are also pulling up—check out their genre-destroying EP from last year, Conned Out of Life, and opening are Secret Service (playing their first show ever)! (ask a punk, Fri Feb 28, 6:30 pm, $20, all ages)

Steve Reich: Different Trains / Nathalie Joachim / Oswald Huynh

For fans of Philip Glass, Rhiannon Giddens, Yasuaki Shimizu

Giving artists their roses while they’re still here is an act of care and community we should all participate in more often—this is exactly what the Oregon Symphony and the Reser are doing with this showcase of living composers. The Oregon Symphony will perform a new arrangement of Steve Reich’s foundational exploration of Holocaust survival, Different Trains. Though Reich won’t be performing for us, we will experience Haitian composer and singer, Nathalie Joachim live, in-person, performing Ki moun ou ye, her celebration of heritage and family. Portland-born composer, Oswald Huynh, will begin the evening with a piece inspired by Vietnamese lullabies. (The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 SW Crescent, Beaverton, Fri Feb 28, 7:30 pm, $34-44, tickets here, all ages)

Saturday, March 1

Translinear Light: the Music of Alice Coltrane ft. Ravi Coltrane / Brandee Younger

For fans of Dorothy Ashby, Don Cherry, Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru

Though the headlining PDX Jazz Festival show had to be rescheduled, there’s still plenty of deeply nourishing jazz to witness at the rest of the fest. One such transcendent broadcast comes to us via Ravi Coltrane, the son of Alice and John Coltrane. Though both of his parents have transcended this temporal plane, their music lives on through performances like this, where Ravi will be playing the 2004 album he produced with his mother, Translinear Light. This is a special night—do not miss if you love jazz, Black futurism, or nepo babies. (Newmark Theater, 1111 SW Broadway, Sat March 1, 8 pm, $70-100, tickets here, all ages)

Lebenden Toten / Malakili / Contrapact

For fans of Träumer, Fogbank, Exil

This lineup is a crash course in Portland punk, not gonna lie. Formed in 2001, Lebenden Toten is some of the noisiest, most distorted hardcore out there and hail from right here in Portland. Malakili, signed to the Portland-based Black Water label, wanna see you open up the pit and do something about everything that’s fucked up with the world right now. Starting us off, the first band plans to shred faces using only their monster riffs and go by the name of Contrapact. Don your battle vests and earplugs, we ride! (Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway, Sat March 1, 8 pm, $15 at the door, all ages)

Barn Radio 80: DJ Lag

For fans of Uncle Waffles, Kooldrink, Major League Djz

Barn Radio, the “work in progress” space in inner SW, is a big part of the rave renaissance happening right now in Portland, and their 80th event promises to be a banger. For this edition, they’re bringing DJ Lag all the way from South Africa. A pioneer of the African electronic dance genre Gqom, Lag is only playing three dates in the US with his stop in Portland being the last of them. Though Lag has collaborated with Tierra Wack and Beyoncé, he’s a giant in his own genre and will be filling the floor for hours. Opening acts have yet to be announced, so stay tuned but, if you’re thinking of going, don’t sleep—this will sell out. (Barn Radio, 215 SW 1st, Sat March 1, time TBA, $20, tickets here, 21+)

Also very worth it…

Hagen Quartet at First Baptist Church, Thurs Feb 27, tickets here

South Sound Experimental Film Fest at Tomorrow Theater, Thurs Feb 27, tickets here, includes live scoring by Sqwrym

Gaythiest / Inny / Semuta at High Water Mark, Feb 28, tickets at the door

A Lot of Water / Pale Violet at Arbor Beer Lodge, March 1, tickets at the door

Portland Music News:

The Musique Plastique label reopened in a new space at 3059 NE Glisan on Feb 21, sharing the beautiful corner with Partly Store. 

Pickathon announced their 2025 with a party at Showdown Saloon on Feb 24, check that out here. 

The Project Pabst lineup was announced today, Feb 25, and it is cuckoo! Peep our write-up on that here. 

The Erykah Badu / Sampa the Great show at Moda Center was rescheduled from Feb 21 to March 7. All original tickets will be honored at the rescheduled show while refunds can be obtained at point of purchase. Grab tickets to the new date here.