Seattle pop music has always seemed a bit off-kilter. Still, the birthplace of Grunge has birthed a few outstanding pop artists. What A Lovely Surprise To Wake Up Here may not have taken Curtains For You into that realm yet, but it properly demonstrates that the band is heading in the right direction. Read More »Curtains For You: What a Lovely Surprise to Wake Up Here [Album Review]
“On A Frozen Beach” finds Seattle’s Feral Children traveling a slightly different path for their upcoming sophomore release, Brand New Blood. Where their debut Second To The Last Frontier featured ferocious yells and wild erratic percussion quite true to their given moniker, “On A Frozen Beach” is in comparison quite tame. Those early elements remain, but they are now masked by a so-called return to civilization. Read More »Feral Children: On A Frozen Beach [mp3]
Seattle is known for a few things. Fish is one, salmon in particular. Grunge in another. And then there’s rain. Salmon Thrasher, the latest (literally) garage band from The Emerald City, is a moniker that fulfills two out of three of those items. Apt title. So this news has is twofold: an introduction to the newest Seattle band, and the announcement of their first ever show. Read More »Here’s a First: Salmon Thrasher Live!
Seattle’s M. Bison creates light pop songs with an emphasis on keys and the awkwardness of an educated youth not constricted by the constraints of conformity. M. Bison doesn’t mind being that nerdy kid with the pocket protector, greased down hair, and comic book carefully preserved in a plastic sleeve visible in-hand for the world to see. They enjoy writing fun piano pop songs that range from the upbeat soft to the rockin’ loud. Read More »M. Bison [Feature]
I recently sat down with Levi Fuller, a Seattle singer/songwriter, to talk about his recently released album Colossal, as well as several other somewhat related topics (ranging from cephalopods to the digitalization of music).
Levi, who originally hails from Boston, has been a fixture in the Seattle music scene for several years now. He is often described as “the DIY mayor of Seattle” and is both a distributor of music (as the editor of the Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly, a quarterly compilation of mostly local artists, and a DJ on Hollow Earth Radio) and an artist.
Read More »Interview with Levi Fuller, “DIY Mayor of Seattle”
The Family Curse … good god. When people tell me a band is “crazy” I usually chuckle to myself heartily and think about Edward Ka-Spel. That makes me feel better, usually …
But in this case “crazy” is actually a fairly apt descriptor (hear it for yourself; listen to all 6 minutes of “Bodies in Rooms” for free down below). The Family Curse are dollars-to-donuts one of the kookiest combos around, dealing in an unseemly din of death loops, car-crashing crescendos and hyper-banshee shrieks.
Read More »The Family Curse: White Medicine [Album Review] 
In defining folk rock, one rarely sees an association made with rockabilly. But it’s a pertinent inclusion in the music Charles Leo Gebhardt IV makes. On his recent GGNZLA Records EP, Unfaithful, it’s the jangle in his guitar – that almost country sound that definitely fits the rock genre (as opposed to jangle pop). “Look Out, Look In” and “Better At Love” have that old-time 50s rock feel, which fits the rockabilly persona, but it’s not nearly as rockin’ as some of those artists tend to be, hence the folk. Read More »Charles Leo Gebhardt IV: Unfaithful [Album Review]
It’s been approximately three and a quarter years since I first wrote about BOAT, what was once a Seattle by… Read More »BOAT [Feature]
When Panda Bear gave us Person Pitch a few years back, the album’s popularity was bound to create a movement of like-minded experimental psychedelic electro-pop. Already this year, we’ve been introduced to some pretty amazing artists that fit the mold, like Candy Claws and Golden Ages. Big Spider’s Back is the latest to please us with collating infectious instrumental loops that build into an atmosphere of sound. “Warped” is the visual accompaniment of that uncanny audible delight. Like the music of Big Spider’s Back, the video for “Warped” compiles bright colors and layers of imagery for what can only be called an experience. The result is cosmic. Read More »Big Spider’s Back: Warped [Video]
Here’s a name we (or, at least, I) haven’t heard in a while: Nouela Johnston. The former front-woman of Mon Frere gives us her self-titled solo debut under the moniker People Eating People this week and it includes the joyous pop romp “All The Hospitals”. The track finds People Eating People dishing out precocious percussion, hints of bouncy jazz piano, and vocals slightly reminiscent of something between Regina Spektor, and… err… a better version Regina Spektor. And yeah, there’s probably hints of Annie Clark (St. Vincent) in there as well; after all Clark is known for throwing in elements of jazz, and “All The Hospitals” definitely has that. It’s entirely upbeat, something you wouldn’t expect from a song whose lyrics include All the hospitals are closed tonight, but it works and does so quite well. Read More »People Eating People: All The Hospitals [Track]
