We firmly believe that The Intelligence appeals to Seattle folk because their insanely fun, post punk sound mixes perfectly with their hint of snarky dissatisfaction and humor, which (generally speaking) appeals to our grumpy sensibilities. more ›

LIVE LOCAL RADIO: Seattlest Abbey joins Josh from Sound on the Sound (Abbey's other writing gig) to play over an hour of great local bands, who not only have great albums out but also put on an amazing live show. This celebration of the best local live acts of 2008 is courtesy of basement-dwelling Hollow Earth Radio, an internet-only radio station that's on 24 hours a day, despite the fact you've never heard of them. more ›

Seattlest first heard about the Raveonettes from a troubled, neurotic friend. He recommended their '03 release , which struck us as analogous to that friendship: addictive and harping on the same two or three themes. more ›

The Onion AV Club says Mudhoney's 1991 album Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is worth a re-listen. Say they:

[EGBDF] came out two months before Nirvana's Nevermind—and in a sense, it's the Bizarro Nevermind ... Every Good Boy in hindsight sounds like the grunge that should've been: ratty, humble, punky, weird, and catchy without resorting to grunting machismo.

Tonight there's Reverbfest, which looks cool and totally has a solid schedule of local bands, but it's all the way in Ballard, so Seattlest has opted for the equally strong line-up at Chop Suey of BOAT, Fleet Foxes, and Sea Wolf. We do so love a good cello. more ›

It's a weekend full of "fests" this time around. A veritable festival of...fests. Including EndFest with the Smashing Pumpkins in a parking lot somewhere, Oktoberfest in Fremont with lots of tasty local bands and Decibel all over the place. Here's a video for Decibel participant Kill Memory Crash: more ›

Jason Holstrom may be known as a founding member of two local bands, Wonderful and United State of Electronica, as well as a producer for such acts as Dolour and Aqueduct, but now he's got a new group up his sleeve: The Thieves of Kailua, a one-man island-pop project. Through its sunny surf sounds, layered loungey vocals, and a mixture of production techniques both old and new, the self-titled album evokes a Hawaiian vacation--starting with the visitor's first enchanting aloha, the typical tourist encounters, and a brief brush with the titular thieves, all the way to a bittersweet "Hula-Bye." We spoke to Jason about his island adventures on the cusp of the Thieves of Kailua's CD release show: Thursday at Chop Suey, $8, doors 9pm, 21+. more ›

FESTIVAL: The first-ever (official) Lebowski fest in Seattle kicks things off at the Showbox. Tonight's the chubby dance-rock of the oft tighty-whitey-clad Har Mar Superstar and a screening of the Coen Brothers' classic. Tomorrow's bowling with The Dude at Kenmore Lanes. Wear your best bathrobe and pound some white Russians, or you'll be out of your element, Donny. more ›

MUSIC: Dancing on the Valentine features wall-to-wall Duran Duran songs covered by local bands, including Say Hi to Your Mom, Valu-Pak, Speaker Speaker, and Peter Parker, all to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. more ›

Wednesday, February 14 more ›

Tuesday, January 9 more ›

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. more ›

About seventy percent of my iPod contains music that could be construed as a guilty pleasure, and most of that is right out there in the open. I'm just not really feeling a whole lot of guilt over it. However, there's also a playlist so innocuously named that it couldn't possibly attract any attention ever and that playlist contains the lowest of the low; the truly embarrassing shit, the shit that is sure to come on the moment I let random play deejay a party. more ›

Sports: The Sonics are 6-9, on a two game losing streak, and everybody's fighting. The Orlando Magic are 11-4, have won their last four, feature Dwight Howard, and come from some place very warm! What's not to love? Tip-off is right when the next snowstorm is supposed to hit. Worth risking your life for? Yes! more ›

-Starbucks investors are disappointed for some reason. more ›

As avid folk music connoisseurs, we’ve done our time in various Unitarian churches listening to obscure out-of-towners mouth off about Bush in the nicest possible (read: no cursing) sort of way. But for the past couple of years, a small venue on Capitol Hill has been integrating The Lord with great music and free coffee on a whole different level. more ›

The final full week of SIFF is upon us. It's time to get some last few films before the sun sets on this year's fest. This week's got a couple great music events as well: Friday night, Portastatic will be on hand to perform a specially-commissioned live score accompanying circus freakshow-themed silent film The Unknown (more about that in a few days). more ›

Last week, Seattlest visited the KEXP studios, met some of our fave DJ's and spoke with one of the most influential voices in Seattle music. more ›

Now that Independence Day weekend has come and gone, Seattlest has gotten all that nasty "freedom" and "liberty" and "love for one's country" out of our system---so it's back to cynicism as usual. With that in mind, it's the perfect time to hit up Elliott Bay Book Company for the reading/signing tonight by politically-minded cartoonist Ward Sutton. Ward lived in Seattle from '91 to '95, when he illustrated posters for local bands (of the grunge variety, no doubt). He's back in town this evening promoting his new book o' comics entitled Sutton Impact: The Political Cartoons of Ward Sutton. This is his first-ever collection, culled from his weekly strip in the Village Voice, as well as works created for the New York Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, The New Republic, TV Guide, and other hippie commie pinko rags. In fact, his book features the following warning:

The Attorney General has found that reading Sutton Impact may be hazardous to your unquestioning devotion to the Bush administration, the Religious Right, and the Media Industrial Complex.

If you're feeling guilty about missing out on the Bonni Suval benefit Seattlest told you about a little while ago, no worries. You can alleviate your guilt by going to another Bonni Suval benefit, this one with a bunch of local bands playing their favorite guilty-pleasure cover songs. more ›