Seattlest's music team had their hands full with Bumbershoot last year, so we brought in a pinch-hitter to cover the weekend's other mammoth musical event-- the Dave Matthews Band Caravan. This post and these photos come to you courtesy of Dave fan and master photographer Cheryl Luellen, who is not only a most excellent guest writer--she's also writer Zach's mother. Because, you know, we like to keep it in the family. more ›

This weekend the DMB Caravan arrives at The Gorge at George, Washington for a three day extravaganza. The weekend is full of a great variety of bands including Lemolo, Blind Pilot, The Roots, Devotchka, Tim Reynolds and the Dave Matthews Band. Great music and a great atmosphere for those who would like to get out of town this three day weekend. The weather is going to be beautiful and you just can’t go wrong with spending Labor Day weekend with Dave Matthews Band and friends. more ›

As we expected, Gogol Bordello blew the roof off the Showbox Sodo. Their Brazilian openers, Forró in the Dark, got the crowd fired up with an amazing set of latin dance beats and sexy accents to boot. Below is a taste of the shots Seattlest grabbed in the short time we had to grab them. Come back for more and a link to the full flickr set in the next day or two. more ›

October is nicknamed Rocktober for good reason. The fall touring season has officially begun and there are more choices than ever no matter what kind of music lover you may be. This week is chock-full of musical goodness due to the City Arts Music Festival. City Arts has surprised us all with the heavy hitters the small local publication has managed to book throughout the city for the next four days. Seattlest is excited to be at many of the goings on throughout the fest. For the next few days we'll tell you where we're planning to be and why you should be there too. Let the insanity begin! more ›

We posted a little something something about this fest earlier this month and if you haven't heard of the City Arts Music Festival being held October 20th through the 23rd, then you must have been camped out under a sound-proof rock. Now that you've come out of hiding, let us give you the skinny. City Arts Magazine was founded in 2006 as a source for residents of Tacoma to get their arts-related news. It's grown in the past four years to have a web presence and spread its coverage to include Seattle, the east side, and Tacoma. They seemed to stay below the radar, however, until they announced an unbelievably star-packed festival earlier this month. Even the announcement was low-key, printed on the back of their magazine and seemingly nowhere else. A few days after the print version appeared the slow creep of whispers and discussion started, then the media got a hold of it and the word is out. The lineup boasts huge acts the likes of She & Him, Gogol Bordello, The Weepies, and Belle and Sebastian. more ›

FUN TEENAGE ANGST: As noted earlier, Speech & Debate is currently in production at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and we hear this play is pretty darn fantastic. Written by Stephen Karam and directed by Andrea Allen, Speech & Debate is reminiscent of The Breakfast Club; a mismatched group of teenagers from different social packs that begin an after school Speech and Debate team in hopes of making sense of important issues and the messiness that is being a teenager. Ah, the joys of being a teenager... it's always much funnier when you're not the teenager. more ›

Last Friday, before X-Ray Press took the stage at Chop Suey, we ran into an acquaintance who described them as "math rock, circa 1994." After their set, another friend described them as "intellectual" musicians. Both are fair assessments: we wouldn't credit it as "original," but "skillful"? Hell yeah. Jumping between jerky time signatures, with a jagged, frequently dissonant guitar opposite thundering bass-lines and fuzzy keyboard melodies, X-Ray Press got down old-skool Don Cab-style. more ›

Dengue Fever falls uncomfortably somewhere between Gogol Bordello and Beirut in the musical spectrum: unlike Gogol Bordello, this really isn't traditional music, nor are the band members--mostly indie rockers from LA--as diverse or international as Eugene Hutz's crew; but unlike Beirut, Zach Condon's Balkan brass band, Dengue Fever does have itself anchored to its musical pedigree: lead singer Chhom Nimol. Nimol comes from a family of successful Cambodian wedding singers. She moved to the US in 2000 at age 21, and wound up in Long Beach, California where her sister already lived. more ›

When the Crocodile Cafe abruptly closed down a month ago, we turned to a friend of ours looking for the inside scoop. Kultur Shock guitarist Val Kiossovski was bar manager down for quite a while (he's now running his own place in Lower Queen Anne, Solo, one of our favorite hangouts), so we figured if anyone knew, he would. Unfortunately, he was busy with problems of his own: rescheduling his band's show. more ›

Our first taste of the 2007 Bumbershoot lineup leaves us hungry for so much more. more ›

The first time we saw Kultur Shock, they were opening for Gogol Bordello at Neumo's, and we have to admit, we'd never heard of them. It was an all-ages show, so we were drinking our fill in the Bad Juju lounge next door, until the insane sounds of the band dragged us away from our beers. Quickly we came to regret missing the first half of their set. more ›

Seattlest serves up musical jambalaya for the masses… Delicious! more ›

In all the annals of music, it's hard to imagine anymore specific a genre than "gypsy punk." But that's just the sort of cabaret-esque insanity that Gogol Bordello brings to their shows. more ›