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......

In January of this year, the Weekly's Brian J. Barr described local trio the Cave Singers as "an updated version of the Anthology of American Folk Music. Not the graduate-student, learned interpretations of folk music circa 1962, but folk music approached by way of punk rock. It's sparse, melodic, and simultaneously creepy and alluring, like the widow mourning graveside in Johnny Cash's 'Long Black Veil'." That was enough to get Matador Records interested, who......

A more dismal Northwest football weekend we can hardly remember. First, on Saturday afternoon--as NYC sportscaster Warner Wolf would say, "If you had Washington State and 45 points, you lost!" Oregon beat the Cougs 53-7, and the game wasn't as close as the final score indicates. The Cougs were down 40-0 at halftime. We flipped on the post-game show to hear the Cougs' radio team explaining why it's hard to recruit top athletes to Pullman.......

Tomorrow, the biggest, bestest band to ever emerge from Seattle—there, we said it—releases a new concert DVD. You can buy (or Netflix) Immagine in Cornice (Italian for "Picture in a Frame") and watch it in the privacy of your own condo, or—lucky us—catch it big-screen-style at the Metro. Cornice is a film from photographer-turned-director Danny Clinch, who knows from shooting big-shots (Johnny Cash, Tupac Shakur, Bruce Springsteen) and documenting their acts on film (Spingsteen’s Devils......

The Pac-10 media pre-season football poll is out--saw it first on the Husky football wonderland that is Bob Condotta's blog--and the Huskies are ninth. USC is a unanimous pick for first. Only Stanford will suck worse than the Huskies, according to the fourth estate. Here's the full list: 1. USC 2. Cal 3. UCLA 4. Arizona State 5. Oregon State 6. Oregon 7. Arizona 8. Washington State 9. Washington 10. Stanford The thing that jumps......

We randomly checked out the Walkmen and Kaiser Chiefs show at the Showbox last night, mostly in the dark about their work. Although we had seen the Walkmen live once before, we couldnt remember if they had made much of an impression. During the opening, a friend summed up their sound as "like the Strokes except not irritating." That's a good enough summary although we'd swap out the Strokes with Rod Stewart, who Walkmen lead......

With both the South Lake Union block party and the KEXP BBQ this weekend and Bumbershoot less than a month away, there's another festival coming up, one that requires taking a couple vacation days. How does Las Vegas at Halloween sound to you? If over the top is your cuppa tea, you might want to look into attending the second annual Vegoose, held this year October 27-31. Vegoose proper is a huge two-day outdoor......

After kicking our collective asses for four consecutive days, the heat is finally backing down. So pull yourself together. Go outside again -- especially to Capitol Hill this weekend. Tuesday 25th >>> The Long Winters at Sonic Boom in Ballard. Putting The Days To Bed, the third LP from Seattle's The Long Winters, combines the lyrical intimacy and melodic complexity of the Ultimatum EP with the guitar pop rave-ups of the bands previous full lengths.......

The Cougars play at USC this weekend. Wazzu has some talent on offense, and an experienced defense. If the Cougs' experienced defenders can limit SC's big play offense, and Wazzu's offense plays well (they should, USC has a very shaky defense), the Cougs have a chance to win. A small one. More likely than not, they will get obliterated. But, if they do win, Seattlest will demand "props." The Huskies, weary of getting their asses......

One of the most-anticipated, most-discussed and most-watched sporting events of 2005 will be played today. You probably don't know what we're talking about. That's because this event is a soccer match. "Whenever I'm watching a soccer game," an American comic once said, "I'm thinking, 'Pick up the f***ing ball.'" This observation has stuck with us because it succinctly encapsulates American feelings about the world's most popular sport. We just don't get it. And that annoys......

When Starbucks announced they were getting into the CD selling business, we were quite pleased with the idea that the local chain could eventually de-throne 'no explicit content' Walmart as the nation's leading seller of music. We decided that we don't really care anymore after Starbucks decided not to sell Bruce Springsteen's latest 'Devils & Dust' since it contains lyrics describing a night with a hooker in the the song 'Reno.' While we are not......

The Washington men's basketball team continued their consistent, poised play with a split of two games in Arizona over the weekend. Even Thursday's 92-81 loss to the Arizona Wildcats demonstrated how good this team is. Despite their worst shooting performance of the season, the Huskies stayed close, in a hostile arena, against the 11th-best team in the country. I don't know if there is a phrase to describe the opposite of a Pyrrhic victory,......