Last weekend was kooky-beautiful outside. Or at least it looked that way while convalescing in my sickbed… That means that Darkswoon, FKA twigs, Only Fire, Six Sex, and more were missed by this lowly music editor. The absolute pits! But I suppose sickness can be framed as a reminder to be proactive about seeking joy.
As the weather becomes increasingly sexier, remember to plant the seeds of community as you plant seeds in the ground. Tend your soul as you would a garden, water and nourish it every day. Check in with it every day. Burn your bras! Get top surgery! Wear short shorts!
All that previous baloney was written before seeing David Byrne last night at the first of two sold out shows at the Keller. Fucking wow—the man turns 74 in May and still sounds just like he did on Talking Heads: 77.
The cast of musician-dancers was giving grownup Sesame Street: a joyful exuberance manifesting through dance and physical storytelling. The word of the day, kids, is LSD. And holy moly Bat Girl, the entire three level auditorium was on their feet most of the show dancing! FUCK YES PORTLAND, let’s go! I’m sure the the Reedies in the room were losing their shit the entire time…
Byrne played a bunch of tracks from his new Who Is The Sky? album, which was delightful. But the real doozies came when the ensemble started playing DB deep cuts and Talking Heads all-timers. They unexpectidly played my favorite Byrne solo track, “Everybody’s Coming to My House,” what a GD treat.
Don’t even get me started on the visuals. It was a performance, it was revelation. After the show let out, the largely silver-haired crowd was belly-laughing, animatedly talking about the experience we had all just shared. Absolutely get to tonight’s show if you’re able.
P.S. If any of the musician-dancers need a date to see Byrne sing Prince at The Alibi tonight, HMU.
Wednesday, April 8
David Byrne
For fans of Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Brian Eno
Indicative of his entire 50+ year career, David Byrne isn’t afraid of asking the tough questions on his new album Who Is The Sky? More cohesive than his last album-turned-Broadway-musical American Utopia, WITS? continues Byrne’s toeing the lines of pure pop bliss, Studio 54 style, and the avant-garde of Max’s Kansas City. All the while, he’s still critiquing us, himself, and the powers that (shouldn’t) be—though in a brighter tone than we’ve heard from the broad-shouldered cutie in a minute. Is the hopeful cheer coming from his recent marriage or the ever-elusive contentment of elders? Hard to say, but it feels good. (Keller Auditorium, 8 pm, more info here, all ages)
Friday, April 10
Clarice Jensen / Chuck Johnson
For fans of Lori Goldston, Arthur Russell, Barry Walker Jr.
Hello Clarice… Jensen. Seemingly living a more harmonious, creative life than the fictional Clarice Starling, New York-based cellist and composer Clarice Jensen builds sonic landscapes with the very real ability to undo trauma. Put Jensen’s new album In Holiday Clothing Out of the Great Darkness in your headphones and lay in the sun in Laurelhurst and feel the cyclical cello loops unfurrow your brow as the minimalist compositions breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Chuck Johnson, the first of two ambient pedal steel players featured in this week’s MMP, opens the night one of two ways: either beautifully or gorgeously. (Holocene, 6 pm, more info here, 21+)
Forty Feet Tall / Monsterwatch / Mister Heavy / Jesus Egg
For fans of Oh Sees, Lumpy & The Dumpers, Spy
Jesus Christ, these dudes just won’t give it up—and thank god! One of several Portland bands poised to blow up, Forty Feet Tall come to this show tour-hardened after their West Coast run last month and grueling SXSW and Treefort schedules. I think they said they played nine shows in four days at SXSW, WTF? If you reckon this show will see the FFT ne’er-do-wells in peak physical and spiritual form, I reckon you reckon correctly. Just have a look at lead hooligan Cole Gann on the show’s poster. Keeping the post-punk neighborhood safe are Seattle’s Monsterwatch. Another one of god’s own creations are Portland openers Mister Heavy, but what about Mrs. Heavy, hmm? Opening opening is Jesus Egg. The only Jesus Egg result on Bandcamp is the Cleveland, Ohio grind band JESUSEGG. Is the Cleveland, Ohio grind band JESUSEGG opening this all ages barn burner? (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages)
Mix Master Mike
For fans of DJ Qbert, Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow
The third CD I ever bought with my own money was the Beastie Boys’ 1998 meteoric insta-classic Hello Nasty, an album with Mix Master Mike’s fingerprints literally all over it. If you’re quirked up on late-’80s and early-’90s turntablism and hip-hop, Mixmaster is a god among DJs. Wildly eclectic collage work, scratching actual vinyl, and deep cut sampling are among the weapons in Mike’s arsenal he mercilessly employs against no taste having ass DJs and their crews. (The Get Down, 9 pm, more info here, 21+)
Sunday, April 12
Ambient Sundays ft. Barry Walker Jr. & Alex Callenberger / Plankton Wat
For fans of Chuck Johnson, Marisa Anderson, Jeffrey Silverstein
Despite its early 2026 release, there is no doubt that Barry Walker Jr.’s new Paleo Sol album will be among the best Portland albums of the year. The soft-focus pedal steel Walker Jr. conjures on his new record meanders like so many rolling Eastern Oregon hills, blushing under the unbearable weight of history and blue sky. Pedal and lap steel have the mercurial power of being both soft and sharp, dusty and bright—how nonbinary of the instruments—an energy Walker Jr. doesn’t harness, rather he embodies it. Seeing the pedal steel alchemist live is akin to the joy of drinking spring water from the source, it’s pure magic. (Speck’s Records & Tapes, 11 am, more info here, all ages)
Related: Read rockhound Alison Jean Cole’s guide to ambient country.
Maria Sommerville / Patricia Wolf
For fans of Grouper, Claire Rousay, Lucy Liyou
There is something profoundly magical about West Ireland. Removed from the yolked out gaff parties of Trinity College and Wigwam lock-ins, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way is peppered with druidic rock formations and incredible natural beauty, both in the form of the dramatic Burren and the Cliffs of Moher, but also the rolling bogs and hills slightly inland from the the coast. The hushed power of Maria Sommerville’s 2025 album Luster—her first studio album for 4AD—is possibly the most perfect music to soundtrack a walk from Galway’s Coffeewerk to Nuns Island Theatre, or perhaps driving from Galway down to the Burren. Luster is modern Irish nature music, moving from pastoral to cityscape with effortless profundity. Patricia Wolf is the perfect Portland opener, her modern Portland nature music deeply in conversation with the birds of our bioregion and beyond. (Holocene, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Nashville
For fans of Richard Linklater’s Slacker, James Szalapski’s Heartworn Highways, ensemble casts
Robert Altman could have been a novelist. His 1975 film Nashville demonstrates a literary understanding of interlocking character arcs—each of its 24 characters lead strange, memorable lives that braid together and fray apart in the run-up to a populist presidential candidate’s benefit concert. Altman’s a director who trusts his actors. Some wrote their own music for this film, and all were encouraged to ad-lib their dialogue.
The deeper you look into the construction of Nashville, the more you’ll discover surprises. Yes, Shelley Duvall wears proto-Spice Girls platform boots, and Elliott Gould plays himself. But past Nashville’s familiar faces and country gospel jangle is a critique of American apathy so deeply embedded it almost seems to stumble upon itself. Without giving away the tragic irony of the film’s closing scene, know this: It drew an authentic Nashville crowd, enticed simply by 10-cent hot dogs. This is the kind of restless, chaotic authenticity Altman does very well. Plus, the songs are good! (Whitsell Auditorium, 2 pm, more info here, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Monday, April 13
Bijoux Cone / Elnuh / Ayla Loon / House of Warmth
For fans of Kim Gordon, Nonbinary Girlfriend, Glixen
We are so incredibly blessed—nondenominationally—to have such robust local music scenes in Portland. At the fore of our small city’s big queer music scene is Bijoux Cone, a multi-disciplinary artist blurring the lines between pop and the underground, a liminal space that, if done with authentic vim and vigor, can change worlds, even consciousnesses. Cone’s first new music since her fabulous 2023 album Love Is Trash came in the form of stand alone single “Don’t Hold Back,” a post-fallout torch song wishing the unnamed other wouldn’t have held back. Is the song about an ex of Cone’s, a dominatrix, or is Cone looking in the mirror while she sings? Catch Bijoux while you can—she’s often touring South America solo or playing keys for Gossip on tour, so this intimate Monday show isn’t available often. (Turn Turn Turn, 7:30 pm, more info here, 21+)
Also very worth it…
Hannah Glavor / Charles and Ritchie / Katy & The Null Sets at Holocene – April 8, more info here
Night Heron at Mississippi Studios – April 8, more info here
Dwelling Unit / Only Only / Public Pleasure at Turn Turn Turn – April 9, more info here
Mortiis record signing ft. DJ Dennis Dread at the Coffin – April 9, more info here
UADA / Mortiis / Rome / Wraith Knight at Dante’s – April 10, more info here
Hey There / Poppyfield / Simple Shapes / Neilson Family at Star Bar – April 11, more info here
Sacrament / Eyesore / Anubi / Conscript / Mein at High Limit Room – April 11, more info here
Crush On Everyone ft. Onelinedrawing / Alien Boy / Said Goner at Twilight Cafe – April 12, more info here
New Music Portland
Ok folks, this week is the week, New Music Portland coming at you tomorrow or Friday. Hold on to your butts!
Portland Music News
Swedish dyke-goddess Cobrah blew the minds of all the shes, gays, and theys at Wonder Ballroom last week when she stopped by on her tour supporting her new album Torn. It was hot, it was sweaty, it was a lesbian fever dream. Andrew Jankowski was on hand to metastasize the energy of night, sharing it with the fools not in attendance and the homos who were.
Portland’s club and rave scenes are hot as hell right now—much of that heat coming off the Process PDX dance floor. Mercury writer Kendall Porter interviewed the owners of Process as well as local DJ C. Powers. Read all about the new-ish space and we’ll see you center-left.
Thank the Lordt Jesus Christ that Turn! Turn! Turn! has found new owners in Joel Christerson and Annie Ostrowski. As of April 1, in the year of our Lordt 2026, the new duo have taken over the beloved North Killingsworth corner space. Read our announcement of the splendid news and hip hip for Christerson and Ostrowski!
