Everyone knows Seattlest loves Pearl Jam. Which means we love Eddie Vedder. Which means we would have loved to see him play a tiny little venue in West Seattle on Monday night. And last night. Since this Seattlest lives in the neighborhood and all, we could have freaking walked to Kenyon Hall. But no. We weren't in the know. And, ignorantly, we decided to stay home Monday night. And last night, we decided to......

Musicians who remain active in the recording industry for over 20 years usually become internationally famous and aim to save the world, or quietly cultivate a devout fan base by emancipating humanity one pair of ears at a time. Mark Pickerel—drummer, vocalist, and Ellensburg native—has followed the latter career path. While in high school, Pickerel joined what would become one of the most notable—and yet most overlooked—bands of the grunge era. Seven years later,......

Vedder’s first solo music video—for his critically lauded and Grammy-nominated Into the Wild song “Guaranteed”—airs on VH1 (and VH1.com) on Monday. Perfect timing, then, for the ever-more-famous guy to bump into his 1992 self while browsing Easy Street’s vinyl bins. Serendipity! 1992 Eddie (strokes soul patch; sings to himself): I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution… take a bow for the new revolution… 2008 Eddie (spots 1992 Eddie): Hey, are you ... ? Young......

The past few months have seen Mr. “Wes C. Addle”—Eddie Vedder—looking more like Mr. Tinseltown than just another (incredibly talented) Easy Street customer. Times don’t look like they’ll be a-changin’ in 2008. Vedder recorded a song for the Cate Blanchett Bob Dylan study I’m Not There, penned two for the documentary Body of War, then a whole soundtrack for Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. He’ll appear in the upcoming singer-biopic spoof Walk Hard. He’s just......

The last time multi-culti multi-genre singer-songwriter Manu Chao hit the Seattle area was at Sasquatch this summer (see above). Singing in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. So this ain't your grandma's drum circle's world music. There's no word as to when he's headed back to the Northwest, but if you're looking to experience the Spanish political punk......

This summer Manu Chao showed his love to Seattle (and the rest of Washington) with an explosive set at Sasquatch (above). The seriously broadly multilingual and multicultural songwriter—he's French-born and -raised of Galician-Basque origins and sings in French, Spanish, Arabic, Galician, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Italian, and Wolof, often mixing languages within the same song—Chao fuses a variety of styles, including rock, reggae, punk and ska. With his hodgepodge of genres and tongues, he crosses......

After kittens yawning and cross-species friendship, dear sweet Jens Lekman may be the most precious thing found in all of nature. The Gothenberg Swede makes orchestral pop songs in the vein of Morrissey or the Magnetic Fields without even being gay (just European). To promote Night Falls Over Kortedala, one of the best reviewed albums of the year, Jens has been touring around the States with his almost-all-girl backing band: For the 10/23-11/10 leg......

Finally, after five years of screwing around, making babies and whatnot, Imperial Teen are back with a new album and touring the country with their made-in-California indie pop. The not-so-teenage rockers roll into town today for a free in-store at Easy Street (Queen Anne), then on to the Crocodile. 8pm // Easy Street Records // Free! 9pm // The Crocodile Cafe // $12......

First things first: the Tegan and Sara show at the Triple Door tonight is sold out, but we did see a lot of SRO happening last night, so you might take your chances. Or simply show up at the Queen Anne Easy Street Records at 4pm today for their in-store appearance. Either way, they come highly recommended by us, and you might as well make plans to see them at the Showbox on December 3.......

We've seen Rocky Votolato's name splashed all over the web and heard the DJs out there mention him enough times that we finally had to stop and say, OK -- what's the deal with this guy. We streamed yesterday's live in-studio on KEXP and well, we didn't get much work done. So enthralled were we that it was all we could do to wiggle the mouse around, do a little tappy tap of the keys,......

Atlas Clothing at the corner of Pike and Broadway has been having a lot of success with their all-ages music shows recently so they're stepping up to two nights a week. Tonight are the Young Sportsman and tomorrow is Central Services and Shorthand for Epic. If you've been to Atlas for the clothes but not the music and are wondering how it's set up, it looks something like this. Here's the Young Sportsman from last......

MUSIC: For the nine millionth time, get your ass to Easy Street to see Aqueduct's all-ages in-store performance. 7pm // Easy Street Queen Anne, 20 W. Mercer St. // Free OPERETTA: The Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society presents their production of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. Expect lots of romantic entanglements and disentanglements rife with misunderstandings and mistaken identities. 7:30pm // Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave. // $26 DANCE: Get your rumba on with......

Have we mentioned that we're really enjoying the new Aqueduct? Because we are. Pitchfork hasn't weighed in on Or Give Me Death just yet, but we're fully expecting a glowing review. How could they not appreciate David Terry's catchy-ass pop songs chockful of witty lyrics? Come on! Do yourself a favor and stream the album here. Or, y'know, you could go out and buy it, now that it's available for purchase. So, one more......

If there's one thing singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist David Terry loves, it's a juicy pop hook. On his third Aqueduct full-length, Or Give Me Death [stream the entire album here], along with big drum sounds and ELO synth riffs, he's incorporated mariachi horns, string arrangements, layered vocals, and piano lines, making it his most mature release yet. And yes, we say that knowing full well that the album contains "As You Wish" [mp3], which just so happens......

Steve Jobs announced yesterday that he'll advocate eliminating copy protection for downloaded songs, also known as DRM. We asked our various music dorks what they think. Donte: *yawn*. He doesn't say anything that wasn't already out there, so he spends however many words to say "drm sucks, it's the riaa's fault." Uh, thanks. itunes means squat to me other than a huge proof-of-concept. I'd love for non-drm'ed music to be sold more on principle, but......

Tuesday, January 30 >>> Jacob London at Baltic Room. Jacob London is known most widely for their house music releases (they've put out material on the legendary Classic Music Company label), but tonight they'll be exploring their more techno-oriented output with a live set. We don't know if that makes it more or less likely that they'll bring their microphone monkey, but expect quality music with a lot of quirky turns. 10:00 pm //......

In the spirit of an earlier post in which we asked you to vote for your top-five albums of 2006 via KEXP, Seattlest would now love it if you'd narrow it down to your top-five Northwest albums via Three Imaginary Girls. In addition to letting your voice be heard, the girls are promising that every ballot cast will be entered into a drawing for a "prize pack of fun imaginary goodies." We admit, this one......

Tuesday 7th >>> Foreigner at The Paramount. Be warned: whether you're cold as ice or hot-blooded, this is the kind of rock that leads to double-vision. *video: Urgent 8:00pm; $40-$150. The $150 includes a pre-show wine tasting and meet & greet. >>> Bonnie Prince Billy at The Tractor. Will Oldham has been keeping us at arm's length with the "Bonnie Prince Billy" moniker for years. We can pretend it isn't true, but it is.......

Wednesday 25th >>> Cut Chemist and Lyrics Born at Neumo's. If Cut Chemist's contributions to Ozomatli are a highlight of your personal musical history, Seattlest will buy you a drink. We're just praying that Lyrics Born actually has some new material this time around, sheesh. 8pm; $18 adv/$20 door. Pigeon John opens and it's all ages, shorties. >>> Ziggy Marley at The Showbox. Bob's best-looking son does reggae just like daddy. 8pm; $30 adv/$32......

Seattlest doesn't find this picture funny at all. We know firsthand how hard those awkward years of high school can be. The pimples, the pants that didn't fit right, the God-awful hours spent wishing Heather Cannon would think of us as more than that creepy guy staring at her. If you think this picture is funny, well, you're a bad person. Tuesday 22nd >>> Reigncraft Vol. 6 Record Release Party at Chop Suey. It's......

This was filmed at Easy Street in April and should be a pretty good indicator as to what to expect at the Showbox tonight. Give or take a bunch of smoke and water damage.......

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.......

Continuing on with Musical Muwednesday you should pay attention to the band with the coolest name, if not the most original sound, ever: Editors are at Easy Street for a 6:30 in-store today if you're looking to get all close and personal with the boys. The Brits absolutely crush on these guys and when have they ever been wrong. Still, you haven't made it until you've rocked Easy Street Records. I saw Editors play to......

Back in 2002, the Crocodile had a perfect storm of a show, and not-yet-Seattlest was lucky enough to be in attendance for a bill whose lineup still gets followed to this day. The earnest indie rock of Mellowdrone, followed by the Brit-rock-with-tender-voices of both South and Elbow prompted Seattlest to spend more on merch at that show than has been spent since. As album release cycles go, they all still tend to hit Seattle on......

Seattlest serves up musical jambalaya for the masses… Delicious! Monday 27th: >>Listening Party at Easy Street Records! First chance to hear The Flaming Lips’ At War With The Mystics and Built To Spill’s You In Reverse, have some drinks and win some prizes! Drink and appetizer specials on hand of course! And who knows, maybe you'll see a bunny or two... 6-8pm, all ages welcome, 21+ over in the bar >>Metric at The Showbox… Intense,......

Thursday night Norwegian Even Johansen of Magnet and Isobel Campbell of Isobel played at the Triple Door. Ah, the Triple Door! Seattlest had the mocha chocolate chip souffle, which takes about a half hour to cook up, but it's worth it. We thought a pint of Guinness might complement the one-boy-band vocal stylings of Magnet, as we were very familiar with Guinness and not at all familiar with the band. Even [sic] is touring in......

Call Rumsfeld! The United Kingdom is exporting weapons of mass distortion to the U.S.! [Insert laugh-track] Hovering between #7 and #10 on the Sonic Boom Top Seller lists is the debut album, “Everything Is,” by Nine Black Alps. (Easy Street is nearly a week late in posting their list, so who knows what’s going on over there.) Hailing from Manchester, England, Nine Black Alps traveled to Los Angeles to record with producer Rob Schnapf......

Oh how the tides will change… For weeks now, low-key bands Cat Power and Belle & Sebastian have been holding the top 2 spots on the Easy Street and Sonic Boom Top-Seller lists. Not this week. This week is all about pure bravado, and it’s about smoking too much and wearing too many belts. Firmly planted at #1 at all Sonic Boom stores is Seattle band, The Lashes with their debut album, “Get It.” At......

Would you believe us, if we told you the little girl who gave Ben Seaver his first kiss on the lovable TV show “Growing Pains,” has an album on the Easy Street and Sonic Boom Top-Seller lists? Truth, it seems, really can be stranger than fiction. We are of course, talking about Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, the new solo album by the lovely Rilo Kiley front-woman. This week, Rabbit......

Over at the mass-market music stores like Sam Goody and FYE, the “Best-Seller” lists are occupied by those finger-puppets artists you’d expect to hear on KISS 106.1 or KUBE 93 (i.e. Black-Eyed Peas, Kelly Clarkson, Jamie Foxx). Meanwhile, at Seattle’s two most successful indie-music shops, Easy Street Records (West Seattle, Queen Anne), and Sonic Boom Records (Ballard, Capitol Hill, Fremont), they too maintain Top-Seller lists—along with earthy atmospheres, scruffy sales clerks (many of whom are......