Suckers are a Brooklyn based band that has an odd mixture of synth keyboard, 80's rock, electronica, and a dash of Modest Mouse. From what we've heard, we're looking forward to catching their live show. It promises to be interesting at worst, and wiggle-your-butt fun at best. They toured with Local Natives this summer and have started a modest, but growing, fanbase. It's almost as if Brent Knopf misses his other band, Ramona Falls, so much he's filling the void with Suckers. We're ok with it... for now.
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It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Brooklyn musician Kevin Devine is emerging as one of the greatest observational lyricists around today. He writes about what he sees and more often than not, he turns his keen analytical skills on himself. What separates Kevin from a great deal of his peers, however, is his adeptness with the pen, which he has been developing since grade school, building upon as a journalism major at college and strengthening as an extremely mobile touring musician over the past years. more ›

Tonight's bill at Chop Suey has not one, but two bands of interest. Taking the middle slot (after openers Resplandor) is Bell, the Olga Bell-fronted Brooklyn band that's gotten a ton of great press off the strength of last year's Bell EP. Once you get past the Björk comparisons, you can't help but be impressed by how powerful Olga Bell's voice is, both literally and figuratively. For more info, read this Olga Bell interview from Gothamist. more ›

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Lo-fi indie pop band Say Hi used to be known as Say Hi to Your Mom. It also used to based in Brooklyn and now it's found in Seattle. Regardless, the man behind the band is Eric Elbogen, who records the songs at home, playing all the instruments, providing most of the vocals (except for the occasional guest artist), and even mixing the tracks his own damn self. His last album (pre-name change), Impeccable Blahs, was mostly about vampires, though Star Trek got a shoutout too. Now the band's in version 2.0 with a truncated moniker and new album The Wishes and the Glitch, which has a decidedly (*cringe*) more mature sound. Say Hi plays Chop Suey this Thursday, along with Battle Hymns and Siberian (9pm, all ages, $8). We spoke to Eric about getting older, living and playing in Seattle, and being on the low rung of the Sasquatch ladder. more ›

Seattle locals The Hands released a CD unto the world on Friday and a mere four fifths of Neumos could not contain the crowd that turned out to witness the event. No! Midway through the first opening band's set the velvet curtain was lifted to allow the accumulated dirty rocking masses full access to the Neumos floor. more ›

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Brooklyn trio A Place to Bury Strangers bills themselves as "the loudest band in New York," but that's not exactly true. A band's loudness is of course the product of several factors, the volume and intensity assuredly a function of the sound system every night they play, or the sound guy, or the venue itself. So perhaps it's more accurate to describe APtBS as "the effects-pedaliest band in New York" or "the My Bloody Valentiney-est band in New York." Because both of those claims are true, without a doubt. more ›

The American steakhouse--that dimly lit, mahogany-paneled, mafia-chic hideout for fat cats and their trophy molls--you'd think it would never fly in laid-back, egalitarian Seattle. You'd be wrong. more ›

We left it up to Jami Attenberg to pick a spot in a not-so-crowded Bauhaus Coffeehouse this morning, and somehow she managed to find the cavelike area behind and below everything that goes on in a not-so-crowded coffeehouse. Overtired, pre-caffeinated and maybe a little bit getting sick, Attenberg seemed comfortable in the cave. An interview she did with Metblogs on her last book tour indicated that Bauhaus is one of her favorite Seattle haunts, so that explains that. more ›

Hoo-eee, was Chop Suey's stage packed on Friday night! Promised: Macklemore, Gabriel Teodros, Rajnii, Language Arts, Knowmads, Hella Maze, and DJ Marc Sense. Performed: all of the above, plus XPerience, Khingz, and some group called 2012. Sometimes it can be exhilarating and refreshing to have so many artists jumping on and off stage in one night. In this case, it was confusing and overwhelming, and we hardly know where to start when telling you about the night. Mostly, everyone was very loud and there was a lot of yelling. Not every hip-hop night can be an awesome hip-hop night. more ›

It's safe to assume that Sharon Jones is cooler than you. The current queen of neo-funk/soul grew up in Macon, Georgia and Brooklyn, singing in church before ending up doing session work in the '70s as the anonymous vocals on dance and disco records. Without a solo contract of her own, she left the industry and took odd jobs like corrections officer at Rikers Island and Wells Fargo armored car guard. more ›

that have been backing up on our TiVo. But alas, we had agreed to check out some band from Portland called Casey Neill and the Norway Rats. We'll be honest--the main draw for us was Jennie Conlee (the Decemberists). We had been so stoked about seeing the Decemberists and Laura Veirs next week, and then a Decemberist came down with some illness bad enough to make them cancel the tour (we hope they're okay!). This was going to be about as close to the Decemberists as we were going to get this year. more ›

Sometimes we just want a slice of pizza. Not a pie. Not a square. Not a round. We’re talking a slice – one that you can grab with a hand, fold inward, and then tilt downward to watch the grease drip to the paper plate before you take that precious first bite more ›

Thanksgiving doesn't allow for us Seattlesters to partake in our usual rock and roll lifestyles. Instead it's friends and family and mellow times about the house. Our drinking's liable to be more restrained and coordinated with a heavy meal of rich food. (Seattlest Geoff offered some choice beer recommendations earlier this week for those who've got a pit-stop planned on the way to grandmother's house tomorrow.) And according to the weather report, it's going to be cold but clear tomorrow, with morning to afternoon sunshine to make that drive a little more pleasant. more ›

It's been a while since we've heard from The Forms. The Brooklyn four-piece put out their debut album Icarus in 2003 to widespread acclaim, with the Steve Albini-produced work earning an 8.5 from Pitchfork for its "wiry, punchy, indie pop with refreshingly un-hackneyed time-signature games and judiciously placed dissonant chords." more ›

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Ravens & Chimes [myspace] have been artist of the day on Spin, and you've heard them on John in the Morning. Their new album, Reichenbach Falls, "dropped" last month. They are hot. Two Ravens, Abe Pollack and Brittany Anjou, are Seattle types. Pollack went to U Prep, Anjou's a Roosevelt grad. Word! We emailed Pollack some questions, he emailed back answers. 1) How did you end up in Brooklyn? I moved to New York six... more ›

Industrial Brooklyn? No! In fact, this old building sits between Safeco Field and Qwest Field on Occidental Street. On game days, it's fronted by dozens of vendors and throngs of fans. more ›

We'll be honest, Ms. Friedberger, we'd listened to the new album, it was...different, we thought why not hear a live show. We were not planning on getting home at 1:30am. But we had never heard a band like this before -- not live -- maybe back in Weimar, maybe back in bienvenue, wilkommen, the perfectly Weill -- but not with this Brooklyn inflection. more ›

Seattlest feels dirty (not in a good way) after reading the Oxford American's article on indie rock and Seattle. more ›

The trio of authors Akashic's showcasing includes the novelists Felicia Luna Lemus and Joe Meno, neither of whom we've read and therefore can't comment on. But trust us--it's worth going for Chris Abani alone. An exiled Nigerian playwright and novelist, Abani was such a thorn in the military regime's side that they even tried to assassinate him in London (prompting his move to the US, where he currently teaches at UCLA). more ›

Brooklyn duo Project Jenny, Project Jan heat up the dancefloor through frenetic vocalist Jeremy Haines' lyrical kung-fu and Sammy Rubin's full-flavored, bass-heavy beats chockablock with samples galore. The boys are touring the country, bringing the party to promote their debut full-length XOXOXOXOXO. Expect ridiculous rhymes, the occasional cowbell, and some monster dance moves. more ›

We've been anticipating this show for some time now and it's finally here. Tomorrow night at the Showbox, Brooklyn's The National bring their beautiful brand of brooding, soulful rock fronted by the man with the rich, deep voice, Matt Berninger. more ›

Jim Riches, Deputy Chief of the FDNY, is one of the producers of the Urban Legends video that questions the supposedly heroic actions of Mayor Giuliani on 9/11. Jen Carlson recently interviewed him for our sister site in New York. more ›

It's east meets west tomorrow night at the Crocodile. Come for the psychedelic rock of Brooklyn's The Comas, stay for the indie pop goodness of LA's Great Northern. more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles. more ›

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It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by poop. Finally D.C. contemplated taking Vermont's place as a state and marveled at the GOP lessons learned from the "Macaca Moment." more ›