Many of you may have already gotten your hands on the Decemberists album The King is Dead, set to hit the shelves tomorrow. While it hasn't been officially released yet, the public has done a disservice to the band byspreading a pre-release version throughout the web. We don't want to condone downloading anything from the Internet; it's just one of those things we all accept as a typical occurrence these days. However, there are times when it really sets our blood to boiling--and this is one of those times. more ›

Heading to the Sunset on Saturday we had a sneaking suspicion it was going to be a night to remember. The doors didn't open till 9:30, so in true hipster style (please don't hold it against us) we showed up at around 10:15. Unfortunately for us the first band AgesAndAges had already gone through about half their set. It was unfortunate not only due to the huge crowd that had already gathered, but also because they were fantastic! They're a large group of musicians with wonderfully harmonious voices on top of subtle acoustic instrumentation and upbeat percussion. more ›

If you care at all about surprising chamber folk music, the kind that will move you and make you question what you thought you knew about chamber folk music (did you know there was such a thing?, for example), then you'll get out to Ballard tomorrow night to catch Portland's Loch Lomond. They're the kind of band that we really believe can do anything. We've seen them rip a sheet of paper as a form of percussion before. Brilliant! They'll be joined by Seattle's own equally fabulous Carrie Biell and Husbands Love Your Wives. more ›

WHAT A WICKED GAME YOU PLAY: There's some pretty good national names hitting town tonight. But, since Emmylou Harris is sold out at the Zoo, perhaps you'll enjoy the warbling sounds of Chris Isaak at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. Tickets for that are still on sale. more ›

Casey Neill is one of our personal favorites from that other Northwest city with the other great music scene. He and his Norway Rats play hard-drinking folk-rock ala the Dylan meets the Pogues, meets early R.E.M, and they'll be joining some great Seattleites, Kasey Anderson and the Crying Shame's Arlan and Dylan, at the Sunset this Thursday. more ›