Seattlest is late to the party (as usual) on this supercool event—“Skiffle” has already been scooped by WSB and other blogs—but in case you haven’t heard: Bison, a (presumably) rocking group formed by members of Pearl Jam (Mike McCready), PUSA (Dave Dederer), Velvet Revolver (Duff McKagan), the Dusty 45’s, and “artists and students from Arts Corps, Rock School and the Service Board” are playing a benefit show at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (Whew) Tonight.......

Stunned and confused, we withheld comment on early 2008 reports that the former Soundgarden frontman would collaborate with hip-hop hitmaker Timbaland. Instead, we waited for a punch line. But the joke’s on us. Not only were those reports accurate, but the first fruits of the duo’s labor are now making the internet rounds….and they're sickly soft-pop sweet. Give "Long Gone" ("ft. Timbaland") a listen. (Listen closely and you may hear Kim Thayil laughing.) The album,......

"Chromeo @ Capitol Hill Block Party, 7/26/2008," by Seattlest Donte. Ahh, Saturday! A chronologically arranged discussion of the Block Party, Day Zwei (Day Eins here): The Physics: It's weird to see them in daylight, but then again, their happy, casual version of hiphop meshes well with a sunny day and a stomach full of the Champagne of Beer from the nearby beer garden. Justo and Thig had Monk Wordsmith (Thig's brother) on stage with......

Yes, you read that correctly. Donut! Eating! Competition! Are your artery walls closing in yet? Don't worry, because all calories from the donut consumption on Saturday will be null-and-voided by the blast of hiphoppy surfer punk rock played live by The Saturday Knights while you cram your mouth full of cakey, frosted goodness at the downtown Top Pot on (appropriately) Saturday. Last year, Bob of The Blakes won; this year, our money's on a......

Sup Pop is well-known for unabashed self-promotion and grandiose overstatement. Thing is, most of that (tongue-in-cheek) hyperbole is deserved. The much-touted reunion of Green River, one of the label's first signees, was no different. It truly was the highlight of Sub Pop's two-day 20th birthday bash. From the moment Green River—drummer Alex Shumway, guitarists Steve Turner, Stone Gossard, and Bruce Fairweather, bassist Jeff Ament, and frontman Mark Arm—took the stage, the crowd (packed tight and......

Seattlest told you about the Sub Pop Big Deal and a bunch of other live music happening this weekend, but we neglected to mention the acts appearing at West Seattle's Summer Fest. Shame on us, too, because the best (in this Seattlest's opinion) already came and went Friday night. Recently reunited Coffin Break, a heavy grunge-era holdover, anchored the South Stage early in the evening. For not having played live but a few times since......

Here's the whole story: Wednesday night we went to Neumo's to hear We Are Scientists (WAS). There. That's not a good story? Ah, okay, okay, we'll...we'll punch it up. More first act? We Are Scientists are not scientists (Ha! Misdirection!) but are two guys called Keith Murray (guitar, lead vocals) and Chris Cain (bass guitar, backing vocals), and then there's two other guys, a drummer and a keyboard fellow. (We're tempted to go on and......

Without Green River in 1984, there might be no Sub Pop Records today. Without Sub Pop in 1987, there might be no Mudhoney—or even Pearl Jam—in 2008. (Green River begat Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone; MLB begat PJ.) And without either in the 80s, there likely would have been no "Seattle Sound" explosion in the early 90s. Fortunately, the timing and location were right for both the post-punk-rock band—originally comprised of singer Mark Arm,......

The Budos Band opened up the night in style! Photo by Seattlest's Abbey Simmons. The Saturday Knights/Budos Band show at Nectar on Friday night was sold out by 9:30 p.m., as in guest lists closed, no further entrance, and crowds of people partying outside the gates. Seattlest arrived at a normally respectable hour of 10:45 p.m. to find the Budos Band's shiny brass horns blaring, congo drums thumping, and every inch of Nectar packed with......

THAT'S SO DOPE: Dope Emporium is a free festival of all things hiphop: DJs, MCs, spoken word artists, graffiti artists, and more. It's going down as part of Artopia, an arts extravaganza in the extremely dope neighborhood of Georgetown, so hop on a bus and experience some of the best Seattle hiphop has to offer. Our picks: Candidt, Orbitron, B-Girl Bench, Waves of the Mind and Dim Mak. Hot! 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.,......

FREE BOOTY: Scion is desperate to be cool, and the latest result of that pathological drive is a CD sampler of work from IHEARTCOMIX, the LA-based label/lifestyle company. The CD is available at Scion dealerships, but the real cool news is that IHEARTCOMIX is sending dj Franki Chan (with Radiocl*t and Drop the Lime) on a limited and exclusive tour to support the release that comes to the War Room tonight. The show's free, but......

Pearl Jam is touring (nowhere near Seattle) this month—they’re kicking off a 13-stop trip tonight in West Palm Beach, actually—and that means more official bootlegs of Pearl Jam shows. Announced yesterday, the band will once again make their sets available via high-quality downloads—and on physical, “made-to-order” CDs. (Fans clamored for the latter option after the band’s last tour was released solely in intangible file format.) Even you crazy kids with Verizon V CAST phones......

"King Cobra's hiphop hymen has been broken!" declared Gatsby of Cancer Rising last night. It's true: The Physics were the first hiphop group ever to grace the newish stage in the rock-n'-roll-ified nightclub, and Cancer Rising made it extra official in a mixed line-up featuring the metal-rock, electric guitar-wielding Emeralds as well as Portland's indie rockers Caves. The night was "magical," as Caves singer Jacob Carey deemed it. Welcome, King Cobra, to Seattlest's short list......

It's easy to be a snarky critic, but really, could Tokyo Police Club have been more over-hyped? Standing inside the sticky heat at Neumo's for a sold-out show on Sunday (which nevertheless felt a bit empty after Smoosh finished their opening set), we were at first a bit curious how a band whose debut LP Elephant Swell had been out all of three weeks could afford a reasonably classy (if utterly uninspired) LED stage......

READING: This weekend, 2008 Seattle Reads author Dinaw Mengestu is making the rounds to the city's libraries to read from The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. This novel about immigrant life in D.C. has gotten so much love from so many corners that we're kind of ashamed we haven't read it already. If you don't want to purchase this book, sign up now on the Holds list at the library: we're currently Hold #424.......

Scottish band Sons and Daughters maintains a fierce sound that fluctuates between rock and punk, paired with catchy choruses. If you still need a sonic picture, they’ve opened for Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand and The Decemberists. Sons and Daughters are playing Neumo’s tomorrow night, a re-scheduled show, due to "logistical problems," from earlier this April. Considering that their latest album tells stories of depression and loss, we can only imagine what these logistical problems may......

We clued you in to this last October, but now it's official: Sub Pop Records is celebrating its 20-year existence with a three-day comedy and music festival July 11-13. And the (initial) lineup, though weighted more heavily in the hipster-ish now, features a few super acts from the label's big then. Per yesterday's press release: The SP20 activities will commence with a comedy show on July 11 at The Moore Theatre. Among the performing......

Seattlest has been uncharacteristically busy this week, so we were looking forward to a couple hours of mind-buzzingly beautiful harmonies at the Sunset. Little did we know that Johanna Kunin would be bringing an entire consortium of bandmates with her, and that they would be performing an entirely new repertoire of music from what we heard last time. Mind-buzzingly beautiful? Yes! But it was also crazier and louder than would fit comfortably in our......

Kurt Cobain shaped the country's rock music landscape while wearing Converse sneaks. He blithely, angrily altered Seattle's future, ripped a hole for the city on the map of pop culture, all while wearing Converse. He went nuts on stage. He whispered and screamed. He played the shit out of guitars. He shot up and nodded off in the shoes. Kurt killed himself while wearing Converse. The shoes were prominent in the image that famously......

MUSIC: Saul Williams--actor, poet, musician--comes to Neumos with his album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. In our interview, he said: "I characterize Niggy Tardust as an angel of mercy. You know, I think that in the face of America and our changing times there’s a lot to be said, a lot that could be said, and a lot of ways that it could be said. And if, you know, your revolutionary......

Last month, four-fifths of Pearl Jam touted their own Obama-song, unofficially signaling the band's endorsement of the (delegate) leading Democrat. Unofficially, because Eddie Vedder wasn't involved. Then Ralph Nader—Eddie's favorite former candidate—joined the presidential race. Would the frontman split from his bandmates or maintain political solidarity? Now we know. Eddie likes Barack Obama. Evidence: The Body of War soundtrack-contributing artist is one of 24 "celebrity judges" (our quotes) to judge the entries of MoveOn.org's......

Girls Rock! is a documentary about a week-long summer camp in Portland where girls between the ages of 8 and 18 go to learn how to make music, form bands, and perform in front of a live audience at a showcase. Tonight it opens at SIFF Cinema. We got to watch the movie earlier this month and loved it. The stories of the girls the filmmakers followed were funny, touching, entertaining and illuminating. The movie,......

Try as they might Tuesday, Great Northern couldn't bring much levity to a heavy night at the Showbox. Their fuzzy, bordering-on-pop sound was like the prologue of a bad dream—when you know something bad's coming, but for the moment, things are truly swell. In this case, badness (in the coolest sense of the word) was the looming presence of Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli: The Gutter Twins. While the place was still pretty well-lit, Rachel......

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,......

On Saturday night, we took one of our oldest and best friends to her very first hiphop show over at the Sunset in Ballard. She's typically more of a KT Tunstall/Garden State soundtrack kind of girl, and we had to bribe her with $2 mojitos at La Isla's late Happy Hour to get her to even leave the house after 9pm. Her feedback after three hours of Elefaders (trippy), N/NW (loud) and dj100proof's mixes?......

Sometimes we'd rather experience a new (or new-ish) band's sound in person, rather than be tipped off by their recorded work. So we haven't listened to Great Northern's streaming songs, played their (first) 2007 album, or let fly The Gutter Twins' online teaser. (We didn't even listen to that live Twins clip; sorry if the sound sucks.) Tomorrow night, when the former opens for the latter, we expect to experience true aural pleasure. Great......

Hillary Clinton's conviction that our next president must be a "fighter" now has literal representation: Fighter of Foo Dave Grohl has announced his candidacy as an Independent. HARP magazine's new issue showcases the "worldwide exclusive" scoop; the online version of the piece highlights the former Nirvana drummer's "politics" and electability likability. A few snipped-up snippets: On why he’s the right candidate for the job: “Every night when I’m on tour, I bring my message......

If you weren't lucky enough to nab a pair of tickets to an April Eddie Vedder show via Pearl Jam's fan club presale or Ticketmaster's sale last Friday, you're only screwed if you aren't extremely wealthy—and charitable. Though his six-city, expanded-to-10-date tour sold out within minutes, there are a few sweet seats reserved for big-time, big-money fans who also wouldn't mind seeing the West Memphis Three go free. Per the press release: For all......

We think of Kurt Cobain’s short, violently-ended life like Clarence Worley does The King’s: "In Jailhouse Rock he was everything rockabilly's about. I mean, he is rockabilly. Mean, surly, nasty, rude. In that movie he couldn't give a fuck about nothing except rockin' and rollin', living fast, dying young and leaving a good-looking corpse." In most respects, Kurt lived—and died—just how he wanted. But it would be nice to still have him around. He’d......

"Where have all the crocodiles gone?" by jaycoxfilm We can't help but gaze at the now-empty belly of the dead rock-hosting beast. Thanks for dropping it in the Seattlest Flickr pool—so we can feel depressed nostalgic all over again.......