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Music
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By Ben Allen
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Wednesday, 03 September 2008 |
Bumbershoot Blog 2008
Day 1: Saturday, August 30
  Don't Fear the Bumber
I arrived at around 2:30 p.m. to a large line at the gates. This was to be a reoccurring theme of the day. This year more than ever, Bumbershoot resembled Disneyland with clusterfucks of people everywhere. At times, it became difficult to move at all, and being claustrophobic, on a couple of occasions I began to get The Fear.
Girls, Girls, Girls
With all this simultaneous live entertainment, planning your day is often a little overwhelming. So I was delighted to stumble upon The Girls. I'd heard their name around town, but had no idea what to expect, and their dose of high octane rock and roll really hit the spot. The song structures were fairly straight forward and "Ramones-ish," but a keyboard player with plenty of noise-creating pedals and a guitar player with spazzed out feedback style kept their set intriguing. Lead singer Shannon Brown was over the top in all the best ways. Rocking tight white pants (with a bulge I could have done without), a black leather vest, and matching gloves he flamboyantly pranced all over the stage.
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Music
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By Augie Hanson
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Sunday, 03 August 2008 |
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 Pela at the Tractor Tavern
May 28, 2008
My first time out to see Pela in Seattle, they didn’t make it.
The lead singer fell off the stage during a performance in Chicago and
sliced a tendon in his hand.
The second time out I almost didn’t make it, but thanks to the
kindness of the girl working the door at The Tractor, I was able to get
in despite a packed house.
Live, this Brooklyn band is impressive in many respects. They enjoy the
support of an exceptional rhythm section – a solid bass player and a
drummer who plays with mechanical arms and a human heart. This easily
explains their ability to achieve studio quality dynamics live, and the
absence of ringing in my ears after the show. The Tractor’s trusty
soundman gets equal part credit for this.
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Music
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By Adam Grant
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Sunday, 13 July 2008 |
ALive & Kickin’
The Georgetown Music Festival
June 11-13, Seattle WA
Dear Seattle,
Not long after moving back from New York City, I was fortunate enough to see some of Seattle's best bands at the Georgetown Music Festival. Unfortunately, I also had to face the fact that this city has not matured past its love of what I would call 'dick-rock.’
The most notable evidence of this assertion is the over-hyped and over-glamorized Thee Emergency, a band who relies solely on stage presence but lacks solid song-crafting or lyrical prowess.
I am offended that, in a city known for its embrace of incredible music, a band like Thee Emergency would be placed on such a pedestal; many individuals being solely impressed that someone has the guts to grow out an afro or that a girl fronts a garage rock band.
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Music
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By Ben Allen
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 |
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 Sub Pop is 20 and aging Gracefully
20th Anniversary Festival
Saturday, July 12th and Sunday, July 13th
Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA
Seattle record label Sub Pop came to fame in the late 80's/early 90's as the ultimate showcase in the "Seattle sound," which later became known as "grunge" or "punk/garage" or whatever you want to call it.
Over the years, the label has continued to release quality material that spans the wide musical landscape. Everything from over the top noise destruction (Wolf Eyes) to electronic Indie-pop (The Postal Service) has been fair game. In more recent years, the label's roster has mellowed significantly with bands like Fleet Foxes, Grand Archives and Blitzen Trapper exemplifying a new, post-hippie folk vibe.
No matter the musical style, the label's emphasis has always been on exceptional artists, regardless of their widespread commercial appeal. Luckily for the label, some of these great bands have garnered some widespread success, most notably The Shins, the aforementioned Postal Service and Nirvana's debut record Bleach, all of which have all sold hundreds of thousands of units.
To celebrate twenty years of outstanding music, Sub Pop is throwing themselves a big 'ole birthday bash in Redmond's Marymoor Park next weekend. The roster features a variety of artists throughout the label's history. Do yourself a favor and soak in the sound of the reigning label of cool.
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Music
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By Milo Anderson
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Thursday, 22 May 2008 |
 We can assume that many unusual and surprising things happened on
Capitol Hill last Halloween. Even if bombs had dropped from the sky,
though, it probably could not have overshadowed Orkestar Zirkonium, a 14-piece brass marching band, playing the strange, sad, yet
frenetic music of Southeast Europe’s Roma to people out in the streets
that night.
Marching down 12th Avenue from Cal Anderson Park, the percussion
rattling and the tuba adding inertia with syncopated bass lines, the
band paused outside True Value Hardware, had “a rousing time” in The
Wild Rose, the famous Capitol Hill lesbian bar, and stormed down the
aisles of QFC before the night was over.
“You can imagine what people thought,” said Kevin Hinshaw, clarinetist
and founding member. “Not just a 14-piece marching band, but 40 strange
people following us—who then paraded through the produce aisle and back
out the door.”
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Music
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By Andy Bookwalter
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 |
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 Dropkick Murphys at Showbox Sodo
February 28, 2008
Dropkick Murphys are the
greatest band in the world, and I’ll stab anyone who says otherwise.
Lumped in with plenty of great-but-inferior street punk bands like The Swingin’
Utters, Flogging Molly and The Bouncing Souls, DKM remind me what punk rock
meant before my life crushed my delicate spirit.
I was a small town teenage slacker in the early 80’s, and punk promised
me a community and an escape from suburban mediocrity. Punk then broke that
promise, as will any subculture based on teen angst and beer.
After a few years of watching one dive punk bar after another become
condos and parking lots, I got bitter. Then one day I heard “Cadence To Arms,”
the opening shot from DKM’s Do or Die
and it all came back to me.
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Music
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By Tyson Lynn
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Tuesday, 25 March 2008 |
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 The Wig Fits All Heads Bday Bash!
With: Shim, Das Llamas, Birdmonster, & Hockey
March 28, 2008
High Dive - Seattle
Local wordsmith shop The Wig Fits All Heads celebrates its fourth year of existence with commensurrate shows, including this Friday's gig at The High Dive with local heavies Shim, Das Llamas, Birdmonster, and Hockey.
But what is The Wig? It's the lively and growing three-headed baby of Seattle University alum Ashley Graham. Head No.1: A Seattle-based website featuring writing about music -- interviews, live reviews, album reviews, previews, occasional rants. Sorta like a little place you already know and love. Head No.2: Concert promoter booking local bands (and the occasional out-of-stater) at venues about the city. Head No. 3: Indie pr firm working with bands deserving of love and devotion. Bands like Shim, Das Llamas, Birdmonster, and Hockey.
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Live 
