Another week, another Mercury music section to cling onto for dear life as we all slowly succumb to our watery graves. Sweet lord Christopher, it is wet. Perhaps there is a whimsical British psychedelic pop song about this soggy state of affairs. Oh, there is?

Speaking of wet, Youth Lagoon is not actually a body of water, but the recording name of Boise's Trevor Powers, who brings bedroom pop out of the bedroom. If I was in the habit of compounding words, I might call his marvelous debut, The Year of Hibernation, something stupid like "intimat-epic." Thank goodness I don't ever do that.
LISTEN:

Youth Lagoon - "Montana"

NOFX show how punk rock can grow old gracefully. The secret is in the number three. Just like Catholicism!
LISTEN:

NOFX - "The Quitter"

California's Gardens and Villa recorded their debut album in Oregon with Richard Swift. Now they're hanging out in Portland to write their next record. I bet there's a song about rain on it.
LISTEN:

Gardens and Villa - "Star Fire Power"

Vampires are sooo over. Just ask Concrete Blonde. The cool thing now is unicorns. Yeah, unicorns are badass!
LISTEN:

Concrete Blonde - "Joey"

Plus the usual rash of Up and Coming shows.