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Posted inSpin Cycle

Spin Cycle: Songs From the Wild

Hearing music everywhere is what summer is all about.
Avatar photo by Ryan J. Prado

A favorite pastime of mine is to take long walks in the Buckman neighborhood, trying to determine from where the echoes of practicing musicians are originating. Depending on the day, an acoustic performance thrums through a barricade of bushes behind my yard, where an unseen troubadour routinely serenades the streets in anonymity. Multi-home applauses are […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Boot Scoot Your Boogie at Friends in Low Places

Plus, crush a Capri Sun with Juicebox, and get primitive with Marisa Anderson.
Avatar photo by Nolan Parker

This past week was kooky-busy with extraordinary shows, showcasing but a fraction of what Portland, and the world, are on musically. The Mercury’s Music Issue launch party was a great success; the bands—KEEKS, La Isla Electronica, Isabeau Waia’u Walker, and the Barbaras—all crushed their sets. When, not if, you have the chance, check out all […]

Posted inMusic

GZA Makes Up for Lost Time at Hawthorne Theatre

But he needs to buy himself a watch next time!
Avatar photo by Holly Hazelwood

As Portland-grown rapper Vursatyl finished his set on May 12, he demanded the crowd get hyped for GZA, the Wu-Tang Clan deity visiting the Hawthorne Theatre in celebration of 30 years of his classic Liquid Swords album. The respectably sized crowd squealed with joy—after all, it’s not often you get to see one of the […]

Posted inMusic Issue 2026

The Mercury 2026 Music Issue: “All Genres, All Generations, All Genders”

Now is always the time to lock in with the music around you.
Avatar photo by Nolan Parker

What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Music Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds. Portland music, and Portland in general, is currently experiencing a renaissance, and all that […]

Posted inMusic Issue 2026

Justin Townes Earle’s Portland Years

The late singer-songwriter’s time in town was pivotal and painful.
Avatar photo by Jonathan Bernstein

What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Music Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds. On November 6, 2016, Justin Townes Earle made an important proclamation: He was moving […]

Posted inMusic Issue 2026

Get Into the Groove

How Discogs evolved from a Portland vinyl collector’s dream to a worldwide phenomenon.
Avatar photo by Ryan J. Prado

What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Music Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds. Like many dot-com era ideas ushered into use just below the radar in the […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: The Portland Mercury Music Issue Launch Party!

Plus Echo & the Bunnymen are mad cute, Andy Stott is mad moody, and Carlos Niño ain’t mad at all.
Avatar photo by Nolan Parker

Happy Mercury Music Issue to all those who observe! Today marks the release of the Mercury’s first Music Issue since pre-pandemic. Edited by yours truly, the issue is stuffed silly with heaps good music features, including a Portland music map, album reviews, a summer festival roundup, Justin Townes Earle’s Portland years, a Turn! Turn! Turn! […]

Posted inSpin Cycle

Spin Cycle: Call It By Its Name

A trio of menacing albums to rally around in the face of a perilous world.
Avatar photo by Ryan J. Prado

I didn’t set out to cover two Portland metal bands in successive editions of Spin Cycle, but here we are. The laws of the muses operating as they do, the heavier end of the audio spectrum has been dominating my brain space in the weeks leading up to summertime. Even a weeklong sojourn to Kauai […]

Posted inMercury Music Picks

Mercury Music Picks: Cabaret Voltaire’s Portland Debut, Yuvees Back in Town, and Texas Is—in Fact—the Reason

Plus, Ashanti plays the Portland Fire’s franchise opener, and Portland Music News.
Avatar photo by Nolan Parker

You miss Mercury Music Picks the last few weeks? Well, I missed you too! But the absence was for a good reason—next week sees the launch of the Mercury’s first Music Issue since pre-pandemic. Editing a print issue takes an incredible amount of time and effort by a huge crew of hard working people—and we’re […]

Posted inMusic

Curbside Serenade Makes Portland’s Street Corners More Musical

The nonprofit offers several free, weekly outdoor music performances in Laurelhurst Park, Director Park, and more.
Avatar photo by Cody Tracey

“Hey there!” David Pollack hollers into the microphone in the direction of a passing cyclist, halfway through his acoustic set. “Nice day for a ride!” he shouts before slipping back into an Elvis Costello cover.  The moment unfolds in front of a laid-back crowd on Rainbow Road at SE 28th and Ankeny where the nonprofit […]

Posted inMusic

The Long-Awaited Return of Electronic-Music Innovators Cabaret Voltaire

Stephen Mallinder talks “Nag, Nag, Nag,” reinventing the group’s music for their farewell tour, and more.
Avatar photo by Dave Segal

Anticipation to see British electronic-music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire perform has been building among some Americans for almost 50 years. Luckily for these diehards, the band—led by 71-year-old bassist/vocalist Stephen Mallinder—are touring North America for the final time this year, with a Portland date at Roseland Theater on May 8. Coming together in British industrial hub Sheffield during the mid-’70s, Mallinder, […]

Posted inMusic Issue 2026

Spin Cycle: Go Your Own Way

Dispatches on three wildly different artists just doing what they gotta do, man.
Avatar photo by Ryan J. Prado

It probably goes without saying that it’s difficult to choose just three albums to feature for each edition of Spin Cycle. Inundated by a flurry of cultural crib sheets, personal recommendations, and last-minute rando diamonds in the rough, whittling down to what ends up in this column can be an internal struggle. And being off […]

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