Lily reviews rocker Kurt Vile's Easter Sunday show. Check it out! more ›

EIGHT TRACKS 'N EIGHT TRACKS: Oh wait, that was the predecessor to Tapes 'N Tapes, the band playing at Neumos tonight. Everybody loves a little celebratory Midwestern indie rock on Inauguration Day, right? To prepare, or if you can't make it to the show but still don't want to Miss It, check out this Lollapalooza feature from a year or two ago where you can download the tracks from their set-list. more ›

The eerily dusky orange skies never did stop dumping snow on our plans last night. Instead of screaming and ripping out our hair in a cabin-feverish craze, we clicked over to Raindrophustla, a dependable source for entertainment and strange, local-music-oriented Youtube videos, to see what the Hustlas could offer us in terms of musical distraction. The Seattle blog didn't let us down. A downloadable, punk-spirited, indie rock-rinsed, effin' wonderful mix, entitled "Snowed In," is available on Raindrop--you should immediately left click, save as, extract, and play in your favorite media player, for sanity's sake. The Thermals, Velella Vellela, Raphael Saadiq...yessss. more ›

Mog, a pretty cool music site (tagline: "Because The Web Mostly Sucks"), posted a cute video interview with guitar player/producer Chris Walla and drummer Jason McGerr of Death Cab For Cutie. They talk about lots of things, including music (shocking), and there are plenty of dramatic shots of the guys' fidgeting hands. It's just...cute. They're still our Seattle boys at heart! more ›

SMALL BUSINESS SKILLS: SeattleSCORE, the people who help small business people learn stuff, have put together a 4-hour seminar, Marketing 101. On the syllabus! Identifying your customers, packaging your product or service, creating effective marketing tools, and getting repeat customers. Now, in this market none of this will help, but it will get you out of the office for a bit, and you might meet some new people. more ›

It's easy to be a snarky critic, but really, could Tokyo Police Club have been had been out all of three weeks could afford a reasonably classy (if utterly uninspired) LED stage set. Then they began to play, and we started to wonder what it is about Pitchfork and rest of the indie-rock, SXSW-obsessed crowd that gets their panties in a twist over a band that sounds like they started out aiming for Built to Spill but landed somewhere between Weezer and The Strokes. "Post-punk" is the label most often affixed to these Canadian rockers, which is apparently short-hand for: "They have long, drone-y, bass-heavy interludes between bleeding guitar/keyboard melody explosions, so that we can clearly hear the lead-singer's yearning, garbled singing." It's not that they're not a tight outfit or that they don't manage a few catchy hooks, but what's there to be so excited about over another band churning out an album of single-ready, three-minute pop songs? more ›

Austin-based band Monahans do to music what poetry does to words. Tonight, they'll bring their stylin' tunes to the Tractor. Also on the bill is local songwriter J. Tillman and the very pretty Zera Marvel. We called up Monahans frontman Greg last week during their brief stint with the Cowboy Junkies to find out why he thinks people should come to tonight's show. more ›

We'd always thought of Rilo Kiley as a band hazy with L.A. cool, and it's true, they aren't into between-song soliloquies--Lewis, in her spangly dress, was short on banter, saving that for lyrics that gained a second meaning at a live show. When she sang about out-reaching arms, arms shot up all over. Rilo Kiley songs often feature yearning women making "bad choices" and ending up not quite sure what happened there. Frog-kissed, there's still no prince. (They're also conflicted about money and sex appeal; "Dreamworld" had us wondering what Lindsay Buckingham has been up to lately.) more ›

Have you outgrown Adam Sandler, yet long for foul-mouthed, self-effacing, Jewish-themed humor? It would be too Borscht-belt to make a yarmulke and dreidl joke here, but we'll leave to your imagination to suppose we did. Tonight at the Triple Door, Good for the Jews rocks the house. Or shtetl. If that's what a shtetl is. Oy! more ›

Mateo Messina, a Seattle native, has been composing television and film scores and penning symphonies for 10 years. His most recent score is for the upcoming, buzz-magnet comedy Juno. His latest symphony will be heard tonight at Benaroya Hall's (sold out) Symphony Legacy concert. (That's him above, at last year's show.) more ›

Bumbershoot 2005 hosted the inaugural People Talking and Singing show, where 2,800 festival attendees packed McCaw Hall to see Dave Eggers, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Mike Doughty, Sarah Vowell, and Death Cab for Cutie, all the while raising $18K for 826 Seattle, the youth writing center in Greenwood. Last year's event, also at Bumbershoot, was hosted by Daily Show Resident Expert™ John Hodgman and singer Jonathan Coulton. Eggers, Handler, Gibbard, and Vowell were back for more, along with Decemberist Colin Meloy, Smoosh, and Stephin Merritt. All together, the benefit raised another $10K. more ›

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

Yes, British indie rock quartet Editors are headlining at Chop Suey tonight, but we're more excited for super-catchy opening-opening band Ra Ra Riot. The Syracuse-based six-piece has guitars and cello and violin (oh my), and they've got one certifiably awesome song ("Dying is Fine") that's based on an ee cummings poem and reminds us of "Come on Eileen"--in a good way. Earlier this year, they wowed the critics at SXSW, ending up on NME's list of top 10 bands at the 2007 conference, before tragedy struck and their drummer died a few months ago. But the band has soldiered on, putting out a self-titled EP and touring non-stop with such acts as Tokyo Police Club, Art Brut, and The Cribs. Tonight they bring their big sound and bigger heart to Chop Suey. Catch them now, because they aren't going to be under the radar for much longer. more ›

Seattle. Portland. Which one's better? You may say: "How can you choose? Each has their good points. It's like asking which religion is better." Guess what, asshole, that Negative Nellie attitude is the reason nobody ever asks for your fucking opinion. Jerk. To the debate! First up, it's a pro-Seattle opinion. more ›

In Slate today, Taylor Clark declared our -Ist-less neighbor to the south "America's indie rock Mecca," then spent several paragraphs dropping names and figuring out why. His conclusion?

It's easy to live here. In the words of a friend of mine who used to be the music editor at the local alt-weekly, Portland is like a resort community for indie rockers who spend half the year working themselves ragged on tour. You can venture into public dressed like a convicted sex offender or a homeless person, and no one looks at you askew. It's lush and green. Housing is affordable, especially compared with Seattle or San Francisco. The people are nice. The food is good. Creativity is the highest law. For young, hip Portlanders, financial success is a barista job that subsidizes your Romanian-space-folk band or your collages of cartoon unicorns.

Rob Gordon once said, "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules." more ›

Early during Sunday's Vampire Weekend set we sent a note to a friend asking, "Has KEXP frat-rock been coined a genre yet?" It was a half-flippant statement, based on the overly-enthusiastic fratty dudes standing to our left and the band's J. Crew ad appearance. In our more bitter days, we would have allowed those two factors to color our impression of the band and their output, but we'd already enjoyed Vampire Weekend's eponymous EP, so we quieted our inner hater (frat guys are people too) and judged the band on their own merits, not the hype, their appearance, or their audience. Sure, being impartial should go without saying, but if you're a long-time reader you know us bloggers are a fickle sort. more ›

Pretty much everybody loves Mirrored, the debut LP from electro-happy post-rock quartet Battles. Ok, maybe not your mom, but all the critics, indie rock snobs, and definitely dudes who work at record stores. As touted by an uncharacteristically exuberant Pitchfork, "this foursome's first full-length is a mix of over-the-top whimsy, extreme rhythms, vise-tight musicianship, and a 21st century man-machine interface between live and laptop." more ›

Ladies, now that Pride is over, are you looking for a rock show chockful of straight men? Tuesday at Neumo's, jazz-leaning post-rock godfathers Tortoise will play to a room full of guys, and you can have your pick of the litter. Whether your type is the indie rock snob, the closet prog lover, or the patchouli-reeking Phish fan, they'll all be in attendance, and they'll be glad to see a woman or two who also appreciates the experimental Chicago five-piece's genre-defying instrumentals. You won't have to buy a drink all night, guaranteed. more ›

While Neumo's hosts SIFF's second Face the Music Rock Party, featuring the dreamy pop of Viva Voce, the fragile and spooky soul of Jesse Sykes, and the swoon-worthy indie rock of Siberian, local cutie pie sister act Smoosh opens for sassy Brit girl-group throwback The Pipettes tonight. Here's a video of Smoosh's cover of Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" from a show earlier this week: more ›

Apparently, there's some other annual festival this weekend besides Sasquatch. That's right, Memorial Day also hearkens the return of Folklife, Seattle's hippiest fest, held every year at Seattle Center. Local singer-songwriter/friend of Seattlest Ali Marcus will be playing the festival (Sunday, 4pm at Cafe Impromptu in McCaw Hall), so we turned to her for an expert opinion on what's worth your time this weekend, besides hackysack and drum circle. Seattlest Kim's already given you her picks, but if you're looking for a few more options this weekend, Ali's selections are listed below. more ›

Now, we must admit to never having really listened to Dinosaur Jr. before reading Azerrad's book. We were a little too young to remember the days when the coolest vinyl you could own was while we were drunk at some college party, but that's about it. more ›

Another sold-out Saturday night at the Showbox. Another amazing performance by another amazing band it’s taken us too long to see. more ›

Dammit, she auditioned in Seattle. Can't we claim her? more ›

This Saturday, Seattle's own The Long Winters will spread indie rock all over the spacious interior of our favorite venue, The Showbox. more ›

About two years ago we caught Dinosaur Jr down at the Showbox. It was the first tour in about 20 years that the three founding members of the group--J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Emmet Patrick "Murph" Murphy--were performing together, and they were showing their age. Murph was balding or bald (he'd finished shaving his head to obscure the fact) and was huffing behind his trap kit. Mascis looked kinda like something the dog drug in off the street: Overweight, long hair all scraggly and white, with jowls to boot. And then there was Barlow: Trim, fit, and dancing excitedly. more ›

Jesse Thorn, member of sketch comedy group Prank the Dean, produces his public radio show from his own living room in Los Angeles. At first, Seattlest thought that was code for "I am unemployed and play a lot of XBox" but it turns out he actually does have a radio show (this is still ambiguous on the "unemployed" detail), and even more to the point: it is very good. more ›

might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. more ›

Tuesday, January 30 more ›

Friday night's show was a good sign that the mustache craze has gone too far; Jesse Hughes, sure, but Stephen Malkmus? Even he seemed uncertain of it when, upon arriving onstage, the audience didn't seem to recognize him. more ›