• Was this photo taken out in front of the Florida Room?

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.

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)

• He probably lies to his dog as well.

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"

• Illustration by Johnnie Cluney

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

• Seim picture in jail with a "conjugal pug"

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.

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.

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)