

Tying in nicely with our new Cougar-themed column, here is a new song from Jaguar Love. /cat noise.
LISTEN:
Jaguar Love - "Up All Night"
Yep, still bratty. The band relocated to Portland awhile back and are now whittled down to just a pair of original members, Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato, both formerly in the Blood Brothers. This new single—which sadly is not a Boomtown Rats cover—is the first song released from their new record out early next year. The band will be in town, performing a week from tonight (November 13th) at Branx. Or as their press release put it, "Brantz."
I like that name better, it sounds like a deli.

Presented as a limited-edition CD run complete with hand-screened covers, The Sun Says He's God is the first proper offering from the Brothers Young. While the band's boots are muddied by the murky waters of traditional folk—with enough down-home bluegrass to justify your bourbon intake during their live performances—the Brothers' intertwined melodies can occasionally fall into Pinback territory, especially on the dark and sprawling "Waterman." But The Sun Says is not a modern mashup of genres; it's primarily a sleepy-eyed folk record, one that buries even the softest of vocal melodies under a mountain of textured instrumentals. It's the product of a band that proudly rolls a half-dozen members deep—Michael, Dustin and Dillon Young, plus Travis Girton, Trevino Brings Plenty, and Levi Ethan Cecil (he put out the record, so he automatically gets to be in the band). EZRA ACE CARAEFFLISTEN:
You may know that there is a fourth Brother Young—the Andy Gibb of the Young clan, if you will—Ritchie Young, who is not in the band but fronts Loch Lomond and runs tonight's show's venue, the Woods. Also, you should know that BOAT is opening for the Brothers Young. BOAT is really good. We like BOAT. Go see Brothers Young and BOAT. You will be glad.
The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie, 9 pm, $7

This weekend Daytrotter posted a lovely little set from Shelley Short, captured on tape in their Rock Island, Illinois studio. Know what else is from Rock Island? The Rock Island High "Fightin' Rocks," a high school with a macot that is a rock. Exciting!
Anyway, Short performed four songs from her new A Cave A Canoo LP, plus explained how those constantly-flowing Portland water fountains work.
When I visualize this song I think of these little water fountains that are on street corners of Portland, where the water is constantly running, and the waters source is the snow from the top of the mountains.
Well, now we know.
LISTEN:
Shelley Short - "Familiar" (Daytrotter Session)

Oh man, it was so much better living here in Portland back in the day. Hold on a sec, I just spilled something on my first generation Wipers shirt. Sage-dawg gave me this shirt right off his back. Anyway, I was totally at the Pine Street on February 9th, 1990, when Nirvana took the stage a few months after Sub Pop released Bleach. Don't believe me? Take a look at this conveniently archived Twitter post from that night:

See? It's a fact! Twitter does not lie. If you are harsh realming it because you're a cob nobbler who missed the show—or were just born that year—now you can brag to all your friends that you were there, courtesy of the 20th anniversary edition of Bleach, due out on November 3rd. In addition to the original Grohl-free recording, there are eleven live songs (plus the intro) from the Pine Street show. Score!
LISTEN:
Nirvana - "Intro" (live at the Pine Street, 02/09/1990)
Nirvana - "School" (live at the Pine Street, 02/09/1990)

Fu Manchu just released Signs of Infinite Power—the band's tenth album—and is hitting the road, including a stop at Dante's Friday night. Just look for the VW van with smoke billowing from it. Long live Tony Alva!
ROCK OUT:
Fu Manchu - "Anodizer" from The Action Is Go

For the love of all that is holy, the new Owen record is cripplingly sad. Granted, all recordings from Mike Kinsella (his brother Tim is the frontman of Joan of Arc and the “Hey coffee eyes. You got me coughing up my cookie heart" guy) have been sorrowful and intimate, but the recently-released New Leaves just feels sadder than all the rest. Hide all the sharp objects around you...
"If I lie still long enough for my heart to stop, will I find what I lost?"
Verdict: Sad, albeit quite emo.
"The makeup that you use to catch some eyes and hide your imperfections does little to conceal an ego that's been bruised many times."
Verdict: Sad, and mean, too.
"I always thought I'd end up owning my own boat before a home."
Verdict: I don't even know what that means, but I assume it's probably something pretty sad.
But the sadness crown goes to the opening/title track, which is starts with an optimistic outlook, yet is soon swallowed whole by boozing, depression, and cat lying. Yeah, you heard me: "Well I'm tired of sleeping on the couch, like a guest in my own house. Well I'm tired of lying to the cat about if or when i'll be back." I don't care what you do, but don't start lying to the house pets.
LISTEN:
Owen - "New Leaves"

The Scion Garage Fest rolls into town tomorrow, invading all your favorite rock haunts. And there's so much to choose from, including some older models like The Dirtbombs, Roky Erickson, Pierced Arrows and Simply Saucer as well as some younger, sexier ones—Black Lips, Box Elders and Harlem. For my money I'll go with Austin's The Strange Boys, who play at Dante's at 8 p.m. If you can tolerate Ryan Sambol's nasally vocals, the rest will fall into place. Think early Beatles rocking out with later Bob Dylan. Go ahead, try it on... it looks good on you.
LISTEN:
The Strange Boys - "Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up"

LISTEN:
The Dead Trees - "Unfortunately for Her" (live at Daytrotter)
Check out the whole session here.

If you've ever read the delicious twitter feed of Portlander Casey Dienel (that's White Hinterland to you) it's abundantly clear that music is not her only love:
ok, made this: duck magret w/ sherry glaze, morrocan saffron cauliflower, roasted sweet peppers w/ goat cheese and chicken of woods mushroom
Turns out that Dienel can really cook, which makes the title of White Hinterland's new tour EP quite fitting: Fresh From the Garden. While there is no recipe book in the liner notes, the EP does include a pair of tastefully done covers from the overappreciated Justin Timberlake and the underappreciated Arthur Russell. The Timberlake cover ("My Love") sounds like it was recorded in an abandoned well, complete with Morse code percussion, while her take on "Lucky Cloud" is adorably sweet and sincere, borrowing just enough from the original to make any listener appreciate the genius of Russell.
LISTEN:
White Hinterland - "Lucky Cloud"
White Hinterland - "My Love"

Word is finally trickling out on album number seven from Laura Veirs, entitled July Flame and out in January—not to be confused with the fictional January Flame, out in July—the album will be the first release on her Raven Marching Band label. And now we can get our first listen with "Wide-Eyed, Legless," a shuffling folk-pop number that centers around Veirs' crisp voice. Have a listen.
LISTEN:
Laura Veirs - "Wide-Eyed, Legless"
Link: Stereogum

LISTEN:
Golden Bloom - "Doomsday Devices"
Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 8 pm, $20

LISTEN:
Throw Me the Statue - "Ancestors"
Throw Me the Statue opens for Minus the Bear tonight at the Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside, 9 pm, $18

LISTEN:
Boo Frog - "In the Beginnin'"
The group first got together earlier this year as a one-off at a memorial tribute show for Lux Interior, but decided to make a go of it. Newman and Meyer take turns writing and singing, and the Boo Frog album was recorded and mixed earlier this year in a mere three eight-hour days (a total of 24 studio hours). The album release show takes place tomorrow, Saturday, October 3 at Dunes (1909 NE MLK), 9 pm.

Uh, what?
No, that's their name. And I Was Like, What? .... got it? The group includes members of other bands like AristeiA, Songs from the Rodeo, and Emma Hill, and the EP is called Grand Delusions. It's the sound of four friends who grew up in the PacNW, crusing from the coast to the forest to the desert, with some hints of pop, country, and indefinable Northwest flavor lining the rough-hewn songs. It's a really good listen. See listen for yourself:
LISTEN:
And I Was Like, What? - "Selfish and With Good Reason"
The release show takes place at the Twilight Cafe and Bar, 1420 SE Powell, 9 pm, $3. Other bands on the bill: Someday Tricycle, Eighteen Individual Eyes, and the Oregon Donor.
Yes, it's time for another rundown of this week's Mercury music section. In futuristic electronic format! Can't stand newsprint smudged on your fingertips? The imminent threat of paper cuts too much for you to bear? We're here to help. Just don't line the litter box with your computer monitor once you're done reading.

Shelley Short's A Cave, A Canoo is riddled with typos, found recordings, and great music. Short talks about recording the weird and gentle album at home over a long period of time.
LISTEN:
Shelley Short - "A Cave"
Interviewing musicians is hard! So, for our coverage of the Shaky Hands and Panther, who are both celebrating their record release tonight, we came up with the brilliant idea of having them interview each other, leaving us plenty of time to check our fantasy football scores and post on the True Blood message board.
LISTEN:
Panther - "Love Is Sold"
LISTEN:
The Shaky Hands - "Allison and the Ancient Eyes"
The Flaming Lips held a nude video shoot at Portland's very own Mount Tabor Park. Missed out on all the fun and nakedness? We've got you covered.
LISTEN:
The Flaming Lips - "Silver Trembling Hands"
How does Dave Wakeling of the English Beat and General Public like to be interviewed? Naked, that's how. Also, don't play him any Fine Young Cannibals.
LISTEN:
The English Beat - "Save it for Later"
And lastly, but certainly not leastly, we talk with the legendary Nick Lowe—he of Brinsley Scharz, of the Stiff Records roster, of the classic Jesus of Cool album, producer of Elvis Costello's best (early) work, and maker of excellent music for well over three decades.
LISTEN:
Nick Lowe - "Cruel to Be Kind"

You might have read about the Telefon Tel Aviv show tonight in My, What a Busy Week!, but here's some info about the opener, the Race: It's the project of Chicago songwriter Craig Klein (pictured above with cuddly cat dog?), aided by Alfredo Nogueira and co-produced by TTA's Josh Eustis. Klein wrote an evocative essay about the making of the Race's new album Exiles. Here's an excerpt:
Exhausted late one night, we tried to find a motel room near Odessa, Texas, and pulled into the only motel we'd seen for hours. Without so much as looking up from her tabloid, the prickly clerk at the front desk said, "Everyone's looking for a room tonight, son. We got all kinds of men: Oil Men, Machinery Men, Construction Men, Company Men and Sorry Suckers like you. There ain't no vacancies. You won't find anyplace short of El Paso."And indeed, the end result is—for lack of any better term—electro-stripper spaghetti-western Old Testament music. Or, as some might deem it, "pop." Take a listen.Damn if that clerk wasn't telling the truth. Hours later and a hundred miles from anywhere, we wound up flat on our backs pulled over and delirious on the westbound side of Highway 10. The annual Perseid meteor showers were on, and we laid there in awe, staring at the stars and listening to Ravi Shankar on the van's stereo at full blast. Under that widescreen sky, the idea for Exiles came about — it'd be a kind of Judeo-gothic-electric-western, melting the acid westerns and road films of the 60s and 70s with some cracked vision of Old Testament-style fire and brimstone.
LISTEN:
The Race - "Ride the High Country"
Telefon Tel Aviv & The Race tonight at Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $10

We previously spilled the beans on Danny Seim's (the tallest member of Team Menomena Basketball) Lackthereof compilation: A Lackthereof Retrospective 1998-2008, or I was a Christian Emo Twentysomething , and now here is the first available tack. "Safely In Jail" is more than just a song, it's a concept Seim knows quite well, since he did 12 years in Two Rivers Correctional Institution for knifing a kitten to death in a racially charged assault in 1982*.
The limited edition retrospective will be released on October 13th courtesy of FILMguerrero. That is, if Seim doesn't take another trip to the pokey.
LISTEN:
Lackthereof - "Safely In Jail"
* Note to self: Fact check this before publishing.

Laura Gibson—fresh from prison—is currently across the pond and just recorded a BBC Radio 6 session with DJ Marc Riley. In addition to playing a few songs live, Gibson discusses her exhausting trip to the UK, performing in prison (with a hint that there just might be a live album from that show), and her future plans.
You can listen to the interview, and live performance, right here.

While I know most of our dear readers think of me as the rugged masculine type—basically the Steve McQueen of music bloggers—in fact, like most word drones at the Mercury, I'm a total dork. Well, perhaps I'm not quite as nerdy as the majority of our editorial staff, I do have an extreme soft spot for the musical dorkery of They Might Be Giants, especially on their kid-friendly new release Here Comes Science.
It's definitely the first CD I own released by Disney Sound—I said CD, my Little Mermaid soundtrack is on cassette—but Here Comes Science is wildly appealing even for those of us that do not fit the album's intended demographics: children, and those who have children. The band is currently touring and performing "both kid & adult shows," but their Portland date—November 10th at the Crystal Ballroom—is listed as 21-and-over.
Without their valuable lessons about science, looks like it's creationism for kids in Oregon!
LISTEN:
They Might Be Giants - "Why Does The Sun Shine?"

Along with Akron/Family's "Everyone Is Guilty" I cannot stop listening to "Ladies" by Lee Fields & Expressions. Jesus—when it takes that step up to the chorus where the usually restrained Lee's voice begins to burn and the horns pop... A shaker if there ever was one. Dancing around the house, wearing grooves in the hardwood floors... The track comes from this summer's My World. Listen now and listen loud:
Lee Fields & The Expressions "Ladies"
You can learn more about Fields, who is enjoying a sort of renaissance from his early days of the 70's the Stones Throw site. You can also grab the MP3, which of course, I recommend you do immediately. Then you'll need a low light, some soft sheets, and sex appeal, but the rest are up to you.

My, oh my, there is a lot of good music to see tonight. Not only is De La Soul doing up the Roseland (8 NW 6th), but you've got the Casualties playing at Satyricon (125 NW 6th), Explode into Colors performing at TBA's The Works (531 SE 14th), Starfucker doing two shows at the Doug Fir (830 E Burnside), and Norwegian disco king Prins Thomas pumping out beats at Holocene (1001 SE Morrison). Like this one:
LISTEN:
Jape - "Floating" (Prins Thomas remix)
We wish your showgoing decision-making options were limited to that. They aren't. And it's not going to be easy to make a choice.

Sunday night's show celebrates the release of Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives' brand-new single, "Bootstraps," but there's more to it than that: It's the launch of new label Amigo/Amiga, run by Pastors' Wives drummer Jeremiah Hayden and gathered from the ashes of NAT'L Recordings, Hayden's previous label. Grow and the Wives are planning a series of 7-inch singles (sold for a mere $2—cheap!) over the coming months, and they're starting strongly with "Bootstraps," a catchy bootstomper with rattling acoustic guitars and wide-open mass backing vocals. But the real cherry is the Richard Manuel-esque B-side "Friendly Fire," a deliberately plodding country gospel number that's absolutely breathtaking, as Grow's voice urgently raises a vaulted ceiling of harmonies before tumbling back down to earth.Take a listen to "Friendly Fire" below. In just a few short days, this has rapidly become one of my favorite songs. I literally cannot stop listening to it. Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives have been making criminally underheard music in the saturated Portland scene for a long while now—most recently, Sow to Sow, last year’s magnificent collaborative EP with Katrina Skalland—and with both them and Kelli Schaefer on Amigo/Amiga’s budding roster, I bet the label becomes one of Portland’s most vital outlets.
LISTEN:
Drew Grow & The Pastors' Wives - "Friendly Fire"
Drew Grow & The Pastors' Wives w/Birds & Batteries, Bryan Free; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, Sunday August 23, 8 pm, $8

LISTEN:
BOAT - "We've Been Friends Since 1989"
LISTEN:
BOAT - "Prince of Tacoma"
BOAT just wrapped up a tour, and while they were in Sacramento, they appeared on radio station KDVS, playing a seven-song set—not in the studio, but over the phone. Talk about lo-fi. On "Phoning It In," BOAT performs some new songs, some older ones (including the excellent title track from last year's Topps EP), and a Dear Nora cover. Take a listen here. It's like having your best friends playing you a personal show over the phone.
BOAT plays the Someday Lounge on September 18.

Chubby is now celebrating his twilight years, not by doing the Twist, but by hawking beef jerky and steaks from his website. Want to buy a tenderloin from Chubby Checker? It only costs $141.48 for a box of 12. And on the way to checkout, you can pick up a CD too!
There's a CD, though, that you can't buy on his website. The Chequered! album came out in 1971, and was the Twistman's surprisingly soulful stab at acid rock. (Checker apparently hates it, refusing to talk about it.) It was obscure at the time of its release, only being initially released overseas, but it's become a bit of a cult classic amongst music collectors. Check out one of the tracks:
LISTEN:
Chubby Checker - "Goodbye Victoria"

Recently the fine blog Aquarium Drunkard was generous enough to share a few different version of the Replacements classic song, "Can't Hardly Wait." The song—so good it possibly inspired the title of some Jennifer Love Hewitt movie you hopefully never saw—is a staple from the Minneapolis band, one that spawned numerous different takes, all of which have their own unique charm.
I also was happy to find this 'Mats/Portland comic that originally ran in WW—thankfully it was not drawn by Callahan—dealing with their particularly debaucherous 1987 performance that is now local legend. It was the show that spawned their audio apology, "Portland."
A drunken performance from the Replacements? Shocking, I know.
LISTEN:
The Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (alternate version)
The Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (alternate demo)
The Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait" (acoustic outtake)