Sam Chapman – Formed in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson as an avenue to promote and release the music and spoken-word recordings of prominent Olympia bands, the label’s first release, the self-titled compilation Kill Rock Stars, features appearances by a host of Northwest musical luminaries: Nirvana, Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, Courtney Love, Unwound, The Melvins and Seven Year Bitch, among others.
Seattle band Sleeping Lessons will release their highly-anticipated debut LP Red Sprites on October 14 at Chop Suey as part of DJ Marco Collins’ Slumber Party (also ft. Chris Cheveyo, Soft Sleep, and Dreamcatchr.) In anticipation of the show, here’s Gary Horn’s recap of a Sleeping Lessons live show this summer at Barboza.
The lovely and mesmerizing L.A. band Warpaint returned to Seattle, this time at the Showbox, to share their immaculately-crafted brand of swirling, dreamy pop. Newbie Eric Tra was there.
Graham Isaac – Establishing a solo voice can be a challenge for an artist. Eleanor Friedberger, long best known for her work with idiosyncratic indie pop act The Fiery Furnaces, has been developing hers over the course of three solo releases, culminating in this year’s exceptionally solid “New View.” If her fans were expecting Fiery Furnaces songs, it didn’t show during her set at Barboza earlier this year.
Cameron Deuel – I used a 5-saxmoji (saxophone emoji) grading scale to rate each Bumbershoot act I saw over the weekend, mostly because people don’t utilize that one enough. While many acts were vying for the prestigious five saxmoji score, only a handful got close, and some even surpassed it! Here are the highest rated acts from each stage.
