Cee Cee Hill – EMA released one of the best albums of 2011, Past Life Martyred Saints. It was a dark, very emotional album and apparently quite personal. So, naturally, expectations for her next record were very high. Would she keep up?
Tim Basaraba – With each new Raveonettes album, fans are treated to an ever-evolving version of this duo’s fuzzed out, reverb-soaked sex-rock and their 2014 release Pe’ahi continues with that formula. The question is whether the band’s seventh album has what it takes to hook new listeners, entice them to go back through their catalogue and become life-long fans like me.
Adrienne Pollock – Seattle festival crowds put the city’s show-going regulars to shame. You know those people who usually go to shows, who stand there, maybe bob their heads, and hardly move? That’s definitely not who showed to the final day of Bumbershoot 2014.
Bridget Egan – The first listen of Shabazz Palace’s latest release Lese Majeste is overwhelming. The sounds are spacious, the wordplay tight, the beats relentless and then there’s all sorts of stuff that’s beyond description. The 7-suite, 18-track album takes you on a journey through subterranean moods, siren song and cosmic expanses into a brand new musical space-time.
Chris McCann – The first thing I noticed as I walked into Bumbershoot on Sunday was the lack of lines. No lines to get in, no bag-check lines, no torrents of people creating Class 5 rapids near the Shiskaberry’s stand. It was strange.
